February Update
January was a challenging month, but wow I have certainly learned a lot and leveled up my commercial real estate IQ! So there’s a silver lining. It’s fun to feel like you know what to look for, the questions to ask, and even just how to navigate some of the listing sites.
I’ve been following a lead on a production kitchen in Fremont, but there are a handful of complications that may make it mute to pursue. A lot of my time has been spent sending emails, googling electrical and legal terms, calling the health department with permitting questions, and just in general trying to get more information from a long list of people in different areas. Could be worth it, or it could be a dud. Only time will tell!
A friend referred me to their broker, so I’m hoping to get some “inside help” moving forward, whether it’s pursuing the aforementioned space or something else.
I’ve been feeling a wide range of emotions as I enter month two of this unplanned break. Ample amounts of sadness, aimlessness, loneliness, and hopelessness being among the bummer ones, but I also have an immense amount of gratitude for the support I’ve gotten from my friends, family, and so many of you. Your messages saying you miss the bread & pastries, the routine of coming to the store or Sunday market, and seeing me have all made me tear up regularly. Thank you…
As for what I’ve been up to, I have wonderful friends at Good Luck Bread who swooped in to give me work that helps pay my bills, takes my mind off things, and offers me a group of wonderful people to brainstorm & laugh with. It’s been fun for me to work with gluten again, and I’ve been learning about pizza which I hadn’t previously had experience with in my culinary career. While I can’t eat much of what we do, the minimal amount of gluten I can consume has been pushed to its limit because everything is just fantastic quality and so good. Pass it on to your gluten-eating loved ones!
I’d like to say I’ve been deep in recipe development for Gloria, but the honest answer is that I haven’t baked at all with the exception of making the frozen cookies I had leftover from Bake Bake 2023 late at night. I think I needed a break, and in many ways I think it just makes me feel all the levels of heartbreak that I’m still very much processing through. On a lighter note, I’m learning how to fall back in love with cooking again (something most of us in the industry struggle with when you make something you love into a career), and have been making a lot of food at home. I’ve been toying with the idea of starting the self-published cookbook I’ve been dreaming of writing for a few years. And I’ve even been drawing a bit when the mood strikes. My animals are over the moon about the fact that I spend time at home with them now, I see my friends more, and I’ve gotten more sleep and exercise than I have in years. I’m both incredibly sad and on some level the happiest version of myself that I’ve been in many years. Life is so complex…what can you do but just lean in and go with the flow.
More soon… xoxo
