Accepting the job

I received a phone call on September 13, two days after I sent the letter, from Dario, the owner of the yacht. The first thing he said to me on the phone was, “I assume you can cook. What I really want to know is whether or not you can live with yourself. Why don’t you tell me what kind of personality you have?”. We talked for 45 minutes about what life is like aboard a boat; what living with five people for six months was like; what people did during down time on the boat (lots of reading) and so forth. Funny enough, not a single question came up about food or cooking…

September 16th was my birthday. I had a great week going to wine tastings, seeing live music and visiting friends. I had a dinner party for some friends on the night of my birthday and made a Middle-Eastern feast; pomegranate marinated pork, sumac crusted whole roasted salmon, kibbe, tabouli, moujadra, babaganoush, hummus, fresh baked pita bread and za’atar bread, etc. 25 people came and we drank 19 bottles of wine – a pretty good ration…

On September 17 at 11am I had my interview with Dario and I was so excited (and also a wee-bit tired and hung-over)… We met in the city. He’s a very tall man, about 65 years old, friendly and easy going. I’d “googled” his name prior to meeting him and learned that he was a commercial real-estate developer and he had recently crashed a plane while flying. When I met him, he walked slowly and with a bit of a limp and told me that he had broken both ankles in a “little accident”. The man must definitely love adventure…

We talked more about life on the boat. His previous chef had been with him for three years but had recently moved on and Dario of course understood that cooking aboard a boat was not something someone would want to do forever. His girlfriend joined us and they both told me that they were interested in hiring me because I stated on my resume that I cooked Mediterranean, Middle-Eastern and Asian food and that was their favorite way to eat. They said that there would be a lot of down time on the boat, but that there would also be times where they had parties for 150 people, and at those times the rest of the crew would pitch in and help in the kitchen. Dario also said that I would be expected to learn a thing or two about sailing and help out with the general maintenance of the boat. And he asked if I got sea sick; I told him I had a strong fortitude and thought I could handle it…

With everything we had talked about, I needed to go home and really think about things before accepting the job. The crew that live aboard the boat now don’t have apartments they go back to; they only live aboard the boat. Living and working aboard boats is there life. Was I ready to make that my life? I wasn’t so sure.

I met up with my friend Mike for brunch right after my interview. Mike is also a very adventurous spirit and great person. He has a very colorful background; he grew up on the Oregon coast – probably one of the most beautiful area’s of the Western U.S – he’s traveled, lived as a park ranger in the middle of the dessert, is one of the greatest foodies I know (as he says, “I would date a restaurant, if I could”) and is pretty level headed and calm, so I trust his judgment and appreciate his feedback. We had brunch at Prune, a great little restaurant on 1st and 1st in the East Village. Although I wasn’t in the mood for a Bloody-Mary this time – Prune has the best bloodies in the city with nine different themes. There are ones with lemon vodka, fresh squeezed Meyer lemon juice, garnishes like white Spanish anchovies, pickled vegetables, caper-berries, beer chasers, etc. Mike had a caraway and crème fraiche omelet which he swore he wouldn’t share with me because it was too good – and he really didn’t! Hrrrrrumph… I had soft scrambled eggs and house smoked, thick cut bacon, and potato roasties which was all divine. I talked to Mike about some of my hesitations with accepting the job; giving up my apartment and changing my life completely for something I wasn’t entirely sure about; giving up my freedom and flexibility with my schedule, etc. I appreciated that he understood where I was coming from and wasn’t overly “starry-eyed” about the whole thing… He said to me that he thought the job would be great if I could do it for six-months. That sounded like a good idea to me too. So, I called Dario and asked him if he would be willing to take me for six months and that after five I would tell him if I would be continuing on or I would help him find a new chef. He said he had no problem with that as long as I committed to staying through the season in St. Barth’s. I told him he had found his chef.

And up to now, I still haven’t cooked for him! Should I be nervous?