Aggravated

I went to the emergency room on Thursday. No broken bones or anything of the sort, just severe jaw pain brought on by wisdom teeth. Those suckers should have been yanked five, six years ago; however I am petrified of dentists. And nowadays, a bit more.

I am one of many Americans sans insurance, a lovely side effect of my chosen profession. So, many medical issues I may have I either handle on my own or ignore completely because I can't afford it. And it's not just the procedure costs, it's also the lack of income coming in if I have to stay home and recuperate for any duration. It gets frustrating because I know I'm just making things worse for myself, but when I'm trying to effectively support my younger brother and myself, priorities shift to survival mode and medical treatment hits the 'luxury' column.

I also have this fear of my own independence. I know, that sounds weird. But Thursday, I walked myself to the ER and back. I made myself go to work later that afternoon (thankfully they had the sense to force me to go home). My independece was the greatest gift my mom raised me with, but at the same time, how stupid can I get about it? I hate asking for help these days because I have had so many people flake out on me. But when I do eventually get these teeth out, I don't have anyone around to help me stop myself. It's a sobering, lonely, and infuriating condition. Hopefully I'll get it figured out sooner rather than later.

Fishy! (In A Good Way!)

J cooked for me Saturday night! Hell, J stayed over that night! I suppose I should back up...

I recently moved into a new apartment, downsizing my life to a comfortable, manageable degree. My place now is easy to maintain, I get to spend more time with my dogs, and ultimately it isn't a Shame Shack of a residence as I had taken to calling the former. And, since I still talk to J (I know, I know, really ought to quit that cold turkey already!), I mentioned i was in a new place that I was actually proud of and he was welcome to visit anytime. He decided to come over Saturday.

Now, I know him. I highly doubted he'd show- after all, he was coming over after he left work (late-ass o'clock) on his restaurants' busiest service night. In fact, I was convinced he wasn't coming. So when he told me he was going to bring food and cook for me, I made alternate plans.

I made Forelle Blau, also know as Trout au Bleu based off of a Lower Saxon recipe. Live-tweeted it the entire time as well (follow me @andiwredonkulus). It turned out really well, and I flipped on reruns of 'A Cook's Tour' to doze off to. 10:17pm, I got a text- "Just left 15 min ago"

I was flabbergasted. He was actually going to show up? Hell, I was getting a second dinner?? (Food shows make me hungry) And show he did. With food. At about 12:30am. I didn't care, I was over the moon and starving at this point.  He wound up making me a shortrib dish that is popular at one of his restaurants, and I can see why- granted, it wasn't my thing necessarily (it used whole grain mustard, which I am nooot a fan of), but the fact that he cooked for me was incredibly sweet. And even better? In the morning we collaborated on a frittata, and that turned out goddamned delicious. I'm feeling really good about things with J! I might even have hope for a future with him again.

In other news, going to be spending my morning making a couple different condiments- a special German hot mustard that my former boss taught me, and Jägersauce for schnitzel that I'll be making later in the week. I'll live-tweet the Jägersauce around 12pm EST if you are interested! In the meantime, here's the Forelle Blau recipe I used.

Forelle Blau
*serves two*

2 whole trout, cleaned
1pt stock (fish preferably, but chicken works too)
1c white wine
1/4c white wine vinegar
Salt
Black peppercorns

Boil your liquids together. While those are getting started, tie your trout into a u-shape by tying their lower jaw to the tail. Put the fish in a deep, roomy pot. Pour your boiling stock mix over it, then season with the peppercorn and salt to taste. Cover, let simmer for 15 min, then serve. Quick, easy, and pretty tasty!

Launching!

Friends, Family, Mysterious Denizens of the Internet,

I am finally ready to officially make an announcement.

I have been vaguely speaking about this for months, divulging bits and pieces as I saw fit. Now I can comfortably say: it's happening. I am ready, with a new partner on board, to begin moving forward with plans to create Atlanta's newest member of the Food Revolution. All goes well, and Trinken will be operational by 2016!

So here's the skinny: Trinken is unashamedly German, with local Atlanta sentiment. Specializing in German food utilizing locally sourced products, I have teamed up with Rob "the Brewru" Merrick to develop it into a full-on brewpub. We will also be featuring guest taps of other excellent Georgia breweries, and of course a quality import list of some of our favorite German beers. I want this to be a pub for Atlanta, by Atlanta- so next month, I will be launching a crowd funding campaign as well as searching for investors. Over the course of the year, I will also be hosting a variety of dinner parties and other fundraising efforts. We're going to make this happen. It will be incredible.  And if you want to get more involved, email me at TrinkenBarAtlanta@gmail.com. Join the future of Atlanta's food scene!

Wilkommen auf Trinken- Not Your Grandma's Biergarten!

Once Upon a Time...

And just like that, it's finished. Four years of conceptualization. Three months of research, mathematics, procrastination, and cooking. Cumulative five days of typing, reformatting, and typing again. Over fifty pages of relevant materials,  nevermind the obscene amounts of other materials I have yet to polish because they are irrelevant to potential investors (Though those will be done soon enough). More work invested in this one project than I ever put into any of my school projects combined. And I can finally call it DONE.

DONE!

I no longer have this aggravating leech of an idea, just sitting on my brain and nagging me constantly with thoughts of, "You haven't done enough research!  Your idea probably won't work. But hey, you'll never know- you keep procrastinating!  Lazy. You could TOTALLY be working on it right now!"
Well screw you, Brain! I finished something. For once. And my math actually supports my research,  my bar can be a viable business. This lunacy of mine may just work!

Of course, now the first leech has been replaced with a newer, bigger persistence- "Way to go, smartypants.  You got your shit figured out. Now, let's try this whole getting your shit actually together and get this place built, eh?" (The voices in my head seem to all be grizzled old Brooklynites... I can't even begin to explain that)

So, the prelude is over. I guess it is now safe to say my story actually begins today. Cool. :)

The Final Countdown?

Decided to be productive today.

It's a bit scary.

I am sooooo close, I could honestly finish this damn plan today if I had physical copies of this information in front of me. I have the hardest time focusing on screens. However, I think I'm going to make it happen. Notebooks will be filled with numbers and nonsense before today is over. Oh man. Oh man oh man. I'm even doing financial stuff! And while yes, my brain hates me at he moment,  it's getting DONE. PHASE TWO IS IMMINENT. SOON THE WORLD WILL BE MINE!!!

...Or, you know, my bar. Whatever.