Nervous for Nell's

I bought a whetstone and steel today along with my very own copy of "The Joy of Cooking". The first two in large part because I'm as sure as hell not showing up at Nell's without my own knife and a dull one one would be almost as bad as no knife at all. It looks like I'll be working there Tuesdays and Wednesdays for the rest of November. That means my next day off will likely be Thanksgiving. Working long periods of time with no days off is something most cooks have to do at some point in their careers, some more than others.

I'm not saying I have to do this. I don't. However there are multiple reasons I want to. Nell's is a very nice restaurant where lots of people who could potentially benefit my career work. Jason told me, "Phil [the chef] knows a lot of people" and I believe him. Second, at Nell's the food is pretty. Not that it isn't at The Jones, but I've mostly only worked the pantry station (and about 35 minutes on the grill spread out over 3 days) and the plating for the food is comparatively inexact and I still manage to fuck things up more often than I should. I think I'll learn a good bit. Third, I'm feeling the need to test my stamina. Oh, I heart money as well.

The reason Nell's needs me is because they're part of something called the "25 for 25" promotion. Apparently there are 25 restaurants in Seattle that offer a $25 dollar 3 course menu during the month of November. This causes them to do a lot more volume than what's normal for them this month. And I think they might have lost a few people. You can see a complete list of the restaurants here. When I was told about it I really wanted to try a couple but now I've realized that will be impossible. Oh well.