Hurry Up and Wait

Before I start getting ready for an impromptu trip to San Francisco to see my sister (thanks to my Dad) I thought I’d jot down a few thoughts.

I’ve been on a bit of an emotional roller coaster the last week.  My husband is talking about joining the Army due to issues with our income and lack of stability with a new baby on the way.  Of course, I will support any decision that will put us in a better place financially, but I’m not thrilled with the idea of him leaving for months to train and then being shipped out, while I have a newborn to care for.

So, I have been sending out his resume like a crazy woman.  Not one bite!  Not one!  Recently while I was running through the newly posted jobs on Craigslist I ran across an ad for a Bed & Breakfast Manager.  I read the ad and it seemed as though the poster had described the need for a person with all of the random things I’ve done and learned in my life.  I’ve often wondered if one day all of these “careers” would culminate into one awesome career.  And it seemed to me that the position described on my computer screen was THAT career.  Knowing this would mean that I would not be staying home with my new baby, I quickly responded to this ad.  I went to bed that night and basically said a prayer, asking for an answer to this dilemma I’ve felt about Randy joining the army and the idea that staying home with Lilly may not be a luxury I have right now.  Up until I read this ad I felt stuck.  As I fell asleep that night I felt free, light and hopeful.

The next morning I jumped on my laptop unrealistically hoping for a response from the poster.  To my surprise, he had responded!  He was happy with my resume and cover letter and asked me to fill out a questionnaire.  I carefully answered his questions and decided that to start out on the right foot I would let him know that I am pregnant.  Some of my friends think I should not have done this.  But I put myself in his shoes for a moment.  What if he was as excited about me/my experience as I was about the position?  Then I walk in to meet him and my pregnant belly screams at him, “Oh no!  She’s going to be taking 3 months off work in a few months!”  That is a major let down for an employer, and I did not want to start that way.  This gave me the opportunity to assure him that Lilly will be here during the slow season and that I would not be looking to take too much time off.  I reiterated how excited I was about the position.  I sent the email off and waited.

I didn’t get a response to that email.  So in another email I asked if he was considering me for an interview, he replied saying that he was.  Now, I’m waiting again.  We all know that I am not a very patient person, so this has been like torture!  Now I’m leaving for close to a week and I will need to keep waiting.  It is hard for me to focus on anything else.  I keep checking my email looking for a response.  When my phone rings and it’s a number I don’t know I get my hopes up.  Blah, blah, blah.

So, I’m off to San Francisco with my family.  I’m sure that will be enough to keep me from worrying about the job.  I hope to get a few unique food experiences in while I’m there.  You can’t take a foodie to San Fran without testing the food!!!  I’ll post my food findings and experiences for you all.  🙂

What it all comes down to…

Well, it’s hot as h-e-double hockey sticks here in the North Georgia Mountains and I’m about five months pregnant.  Things are going well.  I have some of my energy back and my brain seems to be seeking the business world again.  Eating still remains to be an issue.  As I told Randy the other day, it’s a curse and a blessing.  The curse is that food is not as fun as it use to be and I can’t pig out like I would like to, using pregnancy as an excuse to taste and consume everything.  The blessing is that I am not gaining much weight (in fact I lost one pound since my last weigh in two weeks ago).  It should be pretty easy to get back to my pre-pregnancy state.  Although I’m really not sure how my stomach can possibly stretch more.  My stomach muscles already feel stretched to the max!  But, Doc says baby is doing great!

We are having a girl, and her name is Lilly Kathleen (Kathleen is my grandmother’s name).  Lilly is already squirming around like crazy.  I think she is just as excited as I am!  We are almost done painting her room.  It is pastel green.  We’ll decorate it in Winnie the Pooh.  Not because I think she’ll like it, but because I will like it.  I’ve wanted a Winnie the Pooh room for so long, Lilly just has to deal with it (and Randy, too, for that matter).   I already have a collection of new-in-the-box Pooh stuff that is just waiting to be put in its place.

My business brain has been shut down for five months and I can feel it coming alive again.  So far since the beginning of July I’ve come up with at least five new business ideas.  Even though I know I will have an infant to take care of in a few months I can’t seem to stop the need to do something with myself.  Of course I don’t want a full time paying position because I don’t want to lose the freedom of being home with my baby when she’s born, despite the fact that if I did find a position like that it would make a huge difference in our current way of life.  I’ve always wanted a business that allowed me to be with my children.  I usually pictured it as a restaurant.  I’ve seen it over and over, the owner’s kids in their own little room watching TV and doing their home work.  That won’t be happening anytime soon, so…what else?  Why can’t I just relax and wait for the chaos of having a newborn?  Hmmm…at least two reasons I can think of:

1. This is the first time in my adult life that I have not made my own money.  I do not like it at all.  I am too independent to constantly ask my husband for money, to be chaperoned at the grocery store or to be stuck at home because the car has no gas.
2. I feel terribly useless!  At a time where we need more money now than ever, I’m not contributing, financially at least.  If I were making money we could buy more fresh vegetables and less cheap packaged crap.  I could enjoy lunch with my friends occasionally.  My husband could be less stressed all of the time.  I have about a million more examples, but I won’t list them all.

Now I find myself struggling daily over what I should do.  Finding part-time temp work is not as easy as it once was.  And any business idea I have needs money to start it, some waaayyyy more than others.  I also suffer from F@#k it! Let’s Pack Up and Move syndrome.  Because you know its gotta be better somewhere else!  Even though I know its not, my brain won’t believe me.  So, I sit here, starring at my computer, day in and day out, like it’s going to tell me what to do.  I check my email (only junk 90% of the time) and I check Facebook (only junk 90% of the time).  I do help my dad’s company with some minor social media marketing.  I cook unappealing meals every night, dreaming of a life where I cook inspiring meals, make my own baby food and am wildly famous for it.  I yell at the reality show contestants on Hell’s Kitchen and Masterchef, because I know exactly what to do, how to do it and why it’s done that way (not!, well…yeah I kinda do).   And I continue to wish that I had gone to Culinary school.  Despite everything I’ve done, learned, tried and have coming in the future, it all comes down to that.

Once again, I’m back to food.

100% Whole Wheat Bread – Homemade

I decided to make my own bread today.  After flipping through recipes I found one that I thought would be good.  I was looking for a recipe with the least amount of animal products and processed products.  And since this was my first real go at making bread (I cook, I don’t bake…at least not yet), I wanted to stay in the “simple” range.  I found a recipe and tweaked it to fit what I was looking for.  So here it is.

100% Whole Wheat Bread

Makes 1 loaf

INGREDIENTS

1 cup warm water

1 tbsp almond milk

3 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp organic sugar

1 tsp salt

3 cups wheat flour

2 tsp instant active dry yeast

1. Combine first 6 ingredients (using only 2 tbsp of the olive oil reserving the rest for later) in a large mixing bowl; stir.

2. Add flour and yeast, and knead until dough is smooth and elastic, about 10-15 minutes if kneading by hand or 2-4 minutes if using a mixer. Grease a bowl with 1/2 tbsp olive oil and place the dough in the bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover with a clean towel and let rise in a warm area until doubled, about 40 minutes.

Dough ball ready to rise

3. Punch dough down; knead for a few minutes until smooth and then form into a loaf. Grease a loaf pan with 1/2 tbsp olive oil and place the dough in the loaf pan and cover. Let rise in a warm place until almost doubled in size, about 30 minutes.

4. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. If loaf starts browning too soon, lightly lay a piece of foil on top of the loaf to prevent too much darkening.

Fresh baked bread resting

5. Remove bread from oven and allow to rest in pan for a few minutes. Remove to a wire rack and cover with a cloth. Slice and enjoy while still warm! Leftover bread can be stored in an airtight bag or frozen until needed.

100% Whole Wheat Bread

My bread stayed fresh for almost a week without freezing or placing it in the fridge.  My husband liked it (that means it must have been good!) and my co-workers liked it as well.  I think I still have a little tweaking to do for my taste, but I tend to be over critical.  🙂

This took me about 2 hours and most of that time was spent doing other things while I waited for the bread to rise and bake.  Making this recipe was surprisingly easy and something I could easily do every week or two to avoid consuming preservatives and chemicals found in store bought bread.

I have to admit, I like having control over what I put in my body.

Please try this recipe and let me know what you think!  🙂  Enjoy!

Look at that beautiful loaf of bread!

Choc-ful-o-Veggie Soup

Now that I can use my gas stove I can’t wait to get home from work and cook dinner.  Tonight’s creation has been in the works for a couple days.  I decided I wanted a nice veggie soup.  Fall is here and it’s time for hot soups.  I had a veggie tray left over from a poorly attended Open House, so I decided to make soup!  But, instead of chicken, beef or ham as a source of protein, I decided to use beans.  Since I do like to cook healthy most of the time I chose to skip the canned beans and cook my own.  After a night of soaking beans I came home to perfectly cooked beans ready for my veggies.  (I cooked navy beans and black beans together, which gave me black navy beans!)

I dug around in the fridge and found some fresh spinach, broccoli and a few red potatoes that needed to be used or kissed goodbye!  I added those to carrots, celery, green onions, zucchini, yellow squash, tomatoes and the beans.  I used a little chicken base and a little ham base for added flavor.  If you prefer to stay on the vegetarian side just use a little sea salt and garlic (fresh or powdered).  That will complement everything nicely.  Once the veggies were tender I added some avocado chunks just for fun.

I tend to do these one-pot, mystery concoctions a lot.  I find them fun, my husband seems to dread them.  This one came out quite tasty (in my opinion)!  We’ll see if Randy eats it.  🙂

Holy Crap, I can cook!

Can you believe that after 3 months of living in this house I now can cook?  What…?  I’m so excited!!!!  I have gas!  Yes, finally.  I’ve asked my beautiful, wonderful, non-handyman-like husband to at least pay the gas company to come out and get the gas going to my stove (for the last 3 months!).  As most of you women can guess, no calls were made!  At least not by him.

I woke up this morning and decided that I was tired of waiting.  So, I put on my big girl panties and called the gas company myself.  (Ok, so I make it sound like I finally found the courage to call the gas company myself but the women reading this know where I’m coming from.  I gave my husband ample opportunity to be “the man”.  At some point he decided a working gas top stove was not on his list of priorities.  So, after the given amount of time, I called myself.  I allowed my husband his right to take care of it himself, when that didn’t happen, surprise, I did it myself.)  And tonight, I cooked boxed Chicken flavored rice!  Yeah baby!  That’s what I’m talkin’ ’bout!  I was so excited I had to take some pics.

Which one of these do you think I indulged in tonight?

🙂  Your favorite Foodie/Wino,

Shanna  🙂

The Beginning of a New Chapter

Let’s start with this: I am 32 years old and I’ve spent 13 years in the restaurant industry.  I’ve done it all.  I’ve been a hostess, server, bartender, manager, cook, cashier, food runner, trainer and most recently an owner. 

In my 17 years of working I’ve been a cashier at a supermarket, cook/cashier at Pizza Hut, I spent a week working at McDonald’s, I’ve worked at an internet cafe, Claire’s Boutique and a few other retail stores in the malls along with an emergency clinic.  Then there was Laughing Pines Restaurant and Brewery, Rafters (restaurant), Copeland’s of New Orleans (two locations), Razzoo’s Cajun Restaurant, Longhorn, Paradise Grille, Jock’s and Jills (two locations), Danielle’s Great Eats and Antonietta’s Italian Grill.  I’ve owned Culinary Creations, “Diet” Free Living and Blairsville Downtown Grill.  I’ve also been an independent consultant for The Pampered Chef, The Traveling Vineyard, Melaleuca and Vemma.  I ran the service department for a used car dealership, been the Office Manager at my father’s consulting company, Energage, and at a construction company that I can’t even remember the name of.  And believe it or not, I’m sure I’ve left out a handful of jobs from the years.

Now, back to my career in the restaurant industry.  Man, what a ride!  I LOVE restaurants!  I love the chaos of it all mostly.  I know, that seems weird, but I do my best in high pressure situations, and restaurants hemmorhage high pressure, chaotic situations.  I’ve always loved food.  I can’t remember if, as a teenager, I had dreams of owning a restaurant or even working in one, but I’ve been cooking since my early tweens.   Thank you, mom, for selflessly allowing me in your kitchen to feed the family!  (wink, wink)  I quickly discovered my natural talent for tasting individual ingredients in the food I was eating.  “Shanna, taste this and tell me what that flavor is.  I know it’s familiar to me but I can’t figure out what it is” my mother said.  After a bite and a moment of concentration, “Mom, it’s lemon.”

There was never any doubt that I was a natural with food, at least not for my family.  I’ve had my doubts over the years, mostly fear of learning that I really sucked and my parent’s had been blowing smoke up my ass all these years, but it really boiled down to a lack of confidence in my ability.  Any chance I had to go to Culinary school I ran from like my hair was on fire.  Why?  Well, I’ve already told you.  So, I took the hard road, like I usually do, and worked my way through the restaurant industry.  Let me tell you, restaurant work is not for sissies!  You have to be able to take a bunch of crap from people and also give it back when they push too far, customers and staff alike.  People are nice to your face and will stab you in the back when you turn around, customers and staff alike!  The most hours I’ve ever worked in a week was at the second Copeland’s of New Orleans location during the last month before we opened, 88 hours, in one week.  I spent a full month working like that.  Home at 3 or 4am, (after some late night fun) up at 6am to be back in the restaurant by 7am to do it all again.  My best friend, who rode this particular roller coaster with me, kept a case of Red Bull in her trunk for us.  Actually, now that I think about it, the most hours I’ve worked in a week were 107.  That was when I opened my own restaurant.  A month straight, no day off, in at 5am (we served breakfast) and passed out around midnight, up at 4am to start all over.  So, you get the point, not for sissies!

After climbing my way up the ladder, in an economic down fall I decided to take advantage of an opportunity to buy a restaurant, at what I thought was a great price, and finally have my OWN restaurant.  It was GREAT, everything I thought it could be…at first.  Long story short, I learned that small towns could be wonderful and cruel at the same time.  I had to shut down my dream and pretend that my experience did not devastate me.  But…it did. 

 I could blame it on the town, myself or my lack of formal training (school), but that wasn’t going to make me feel better.  That was not going to help me dust myself off and bravely start again.  As time went on, it stung less every time I saw one of my regulars.  But, I was lost, completely disenchanted with restaurants and the state they’re in with this economy.  I found myself back to waiting tables in someone else’s restaurant, giving that fake smile to every rude customer, trying so hard to keep my mouth shut regarding (in my opinion) the  terrible lack of structure that gave way to despicable customer service.  After 13 hard, exciting, stressful, exhilarating, dedicated years in the industry this was all it could offer me? 

Since I was known in my small town as an entrepreneur all of my wonderful friends and colleagues offered me jobs, business opportunities, advice and encouragement.  I said no to the opportunities they presented because none of them had anything to do with restaurants or food, or they required start up money (that I did not have).  I sent out dozens of resumes and kept a close eye on the classifieds of our local paper.  One day, I woke up with the thought, “What if I stopped say no to people?  What opportunities would I find and how might that change my attitude?”  So, I decided to give it a try.  And lucky for my friend, Donna, she asked me for the 50th time to sign up for Vemma, a direct marketing company that sells health supplements.  She offered me a sweet deal and I said, “Yes!”  I continued leaving “no” behind and found myself answering an ad in the newspaper for an Admin Asst. to a local real estate broker.  He told me the position was really a training opportunity for someone who wanted to get their license and be an agent.  “Would you like to be a Realtor?” Mike Kelly asked.  Now, refer back to the list of jobs held in my lifetime, what do you think I said?  “Sure, can I come talk to you tomorrow?”

I’ve started this blog because I’d like to document my journey into real estate and the next chapter of my life.  I’ve been working  at Mike Kelly Realty for a month and I absolutely love it.  I find myself in a place where I am appreciated and my knowledge and experience is valued.  Please don’t judge me on my grammar, language or frustrated rants.  My intention with this blog is to “talk” to my family and friends, to keep a journal of my daily life and to just have fun.  While I may not be done with restaurants in the grand scheme, I’m ending that chapter.  Food and Restaurants are in my blood.  I will always come back around to them.  But, this is the direction I’m going now.  Let’s see where it takes me!

Cheers!