Anthony, Ordained
Two chefs shaped my culinary journey more than any others: Alton Brown and Anthony Bourdain.
I remember reading Kitchen Confidential while manning the wine cellar of a fancy hotel back in Hamburg (Germany). At that point I already experienced the grueling work, survived 14h shifts on sometimes 3h of sleep I’d wake up from with cold sweats, back to back late housekeeping orders and early buffet openings, and soaking up every word hoping laying things out in broad daylight like he did would somehow change the culinary world by the time I was done with culinary school.
It didn’t. At least not while I was wearing the hounds-tooth patterned pants and white handkerchief.
I know somewhere out there are dream kitchens. Farm-to-table, locally owned, without yelling, never understaffed, Front-of-House staff acting as the guardians of the kitchen and won’t take an order 10min to close, paid fairly, unionized (hey, it’s my dream kitchen).
When I think of him I want to think of the curiosity that made me interested in food and culture in the first place since I was growing up in my “multikulti” German city with Europe’s 2nd largest harbor.
Soaking up (and eating) what I could with flavors from Turkey, Lebanon, Italy and many more a short walk away. Starting the days being able to smell the spices from the warehouses by the docks when the wind blew just right. And teaching others that want to learn.
To see that his story is not over even after losing him in 2018 makes me want to keep exploring and share the spoils of adventure.
Suicide Hotline
USA (800) 273-8255
https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines
Theater of the Grind
Beloved rogue-like video game Hades is many things: Beautiful, art historian and classicist showreel, funny, hectic, and overall a stunning finish (?) of SuperGiant Games dungeon-dweller trilogy that started with Bastion and Transistor.
Like many independent video games it released on pretty much everything but a toaster, showing that console exclusivity is something that hopefully goes the way of the Dodo. (Please bring back the Dodo, though)
It also has a huge following of creative people that end of this month want to do something very ambitious: Stage the entire Iliad in it.
The Iliad Project streams live on Wriste’s Twitch channel on June 20 at 6PM EST
Flat-packed most days, jam-packed always
Pumpkin-Facing the Music
It’s only 146 days until the most wonderful day of the year, Halloween.
So why not for a second sit back, relax, and pretend we live in the apple cider filled days of fall by listening to the quintessential album of the season? We can all use a breather like this.
Brew’s Clues!
Brew's Clues! - 17 - Happy News! 🥳
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMeTKenvF/
Brew's Clues! - 18 - Amazon 🥬
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMew9eRJw/
Have a fantastic week, everyone!