It's official...

I have the BEST. JOB. EVER.

Before today, people just thought I had the best job ever. But now, I really do....

After eight years of pimping myself out to the gluttonous masses, I have FINALLY landed my dream job. And, I do mean DREAM JOB!

My trial period was supposed to last 2 weeks, but on the 3rd day my soon-to-be new boss came into the kitchen beaming like a ray of sunlight, gave me a big hug and said, “would you like to work for us? We’d just love to have you. We love your cooking, you have great energy, you’re so free spirited. We like having you around. What do you say?”.

And so, over a bottle of Veuve Cliquot, I said, “ok, but I need a month off every 4 months so that I can throw a backpack on and go trekking across the globe”. No problem. “And I need a sous-chef on the yacht”. No problem. “And I need to be paid well”. No problem. “And I need this whole list of kitchen equipment.” No problem. “But I have to go back to New York for a friends wedding”, No problem, the jet will take you. “you make it really hard to say no”.

I’ll be spending the remainder of the summer at their house on Lake Michigan – with my very own vegetable garden and the biggest, most abundant herb garden I’ve ever seen, much less had use of!

And when I ask for anything whether it be a car to get around in, a bike to go exploring, or a day off, it’s always “no problem". And when I wake in the morning, I go swimming in the 30 meter salt-water lap pool. And I can work on my menus sitting in the Japanese gardens outside the kitchen, among the ponds and a stone fountain and with a giant Buddha looking over my shoulder. And there are farms everywhere brimming with sweet Michigan cherry’s (which made a great compote for my lemon cheesecake), baby vegetables the size of my thumb nail, local organic beef, lamb and pork, smoked whitefish from the lake, and so on and so forth. And every person I have met in town that knows my new boss says, “oh, you’re very lucky. That’s a dream job. They're great people to work for.” And every person I’ve met that works for them says, “oh, you’re very lucky. That’s a dream job. They're great people to work for”.

My new bosses are very happy people, very creative and fun. Unassuming, and a bit eccentric, nice as can be, in that mid-western way – which is totally cool (I’ve completely underestimated the mid-west). If I had written a list of what my dream job would be, who the ideal people to work for would be – it could not have been any better than the people I am cooking for now. They know and love food, aren’t dieters, love to talk about food and are always happy to try something new.

In my first week we took a culinary trip around the world. I did a big Indian dinner one night with chicken in a curry-yoghurt sauce, halibut vindaloo, spicy green beans, fresh coriander chutney, fresh mango chutney, na’an bread and pappadamns. The next night I made fresh pasta and pesto with basil from their herb garden and the next night Mexican with a chorizo stuffed pork tenderloin (the chorizo is locally made) with tomatillo sauce and goat cheese stuffed chilli releano’s to start. Even their 3 year old grandson who is just the cutest thing in the world, came bounding down the steps while I cooked Indian food and said, “mmmm, something smells good!”. He also ate my fresh pasta, loaded with vegetables – which made mom proud.

So, life is good. Life is great actually. And when my feet are back on the ground I’ll get back into more food blogging.

Oh yeah, and theirs lots of talk of doing a circumnavigation of the globe once the yacht is launched. But really, the itinerary is just the icing on the cake.

Someone pinch me.