Blogger guilt...

So yes, I've been neglecting the blog.  What's interesting is that some folks assume that I'm not doing well when I'm quiet, but the truth is quite the opposite.  My life has just been so "full" lately that I've just not taken the time to sit down and digest it.  When I'm not feeling well, I spend a good deal of my time in my own head, over-thinking, over-analyzing, and yes, over-blogging.  I've been served quite a few helpings of blogger guilt lately, so I thought it high time to sit down and catch up.

I've been using Twitter quite a bit to micro-blog photos and random thoughts.  I started using Twitter during my brain health scares earlier this year and find it to be a great way to capture the stray ideas that leap through my head.  I'm not really sure how to explain Twitter, but if you're looking for updates from me, follow me at: http://twitter.com/hanscooks And you can see recent "tweets" here on the blog on the right-hand side of your screen.   We've also set up an account for the Woodbridge Inn and I encourage you to follow that one as well.  We'll be posting about new food finds, specials, and whatever else floats our boat.  Here's a link for the woodbridgeinn Twitter page: https://twitter.com/woodbridgeinn

Christmas was excellent and I have a shiny new stack of cookbooks to devour.  I'm currently reading the Blackberry Farm cookbook, which is both beautiful and inspirational.  I kicked around the idea of bring Amy there for our upcoming anniversary, but then I saw the prices...damn!  I just can't see spending $990 for one night's lodging.  So I'll enjoy the book and the Farm vicariously through it.

Sleep is tugging at my eyelids and I think I'll succumb to it.  In case I don't get back to the blog before you flip the calendar, Happy New Year.  Thank you for all of your support in 2009.  It was a tough year for us, and I cannot thank you enough for your love and friendship.

Gesundheit!

Hans

I'm that guy...

I always dreaded school assemblies.  My best-friend Sean's mother was the high school librarian, so Sean and I skipped as many of those pep-rallies and other assemblies as often as we could, hiding out between the book shelves or in the A/V room.  We'd sit around playing Ace of Aces or Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on the computer while our peers whooped and cheered on whatever was happening in the gymnasium.  Yep, we were (are) geeks.  But the library couldn't shelter us from all the school assemblies.  I remember sitting in the gymnasium while the principal introduced the guest speaker d'jour.  As interesting as they probably were, I really don't remember any of them clearly.  They all overcame some great adversity or tragedy...there was the reformed cocaine addict turned FBI agent, a car-crash survivor, and so on.  If I were to hear their stories now, I'm sure I'd be riveted and walk away fully inspired.  But back then, they were just words echoing off the gymnasium walls during a mandatory assembly.

And now I've been asked to speak tomorrow at the local high school and I just realized...I'm that guy!  I'm the guy with the "overcoming adversity" story that's going to stand in a gymnasium full of kids who'd much rather be hiding in the library!   To be honest, that's a little intimidating.  I never really get nervous or anxious before a speech, but there's something about the idea of speaking to a room of half-interested (if I'm lucky!) teens that makes me feel a little fluttery.  And moreover, I have a bad habit of using some of life's more "colorful" words in my speeches...I'm going to have to watch my tongue tomorrow.  Here's hoping I can think of something clever between now and then to grab their attention.  Maybe I'll tell them I'm was an extra in Twilight...

Gesundheit...

all Inn the family...

My parents purchased the Woodbridge Inn in 1976 and Jasper has never been the same.  You could go so far as to say (and many have said) that the Inn put Jasper on the map.  I was just a snotty-nosed 4 year-old at the time, but I remember feeling like I belonged to something larger than life...something unique.  My parents managed to take a failing, over-French, "fancy" restaurant and, with a considerable amount of effort, revive the place as one of North Georgia's finest dining destinations.  And now the torch has been officially passed to my wife Amy and I and we hope to continue to build on their successes.  We're hosting a bit of a retirement party this Sunday (December 13th) from 4:00 - 6:00 pm as a way to celebrate their accomplishments, and everyone is invited to stop in and wish them well.  We're not bidding them farewell (they still live on the property), but more thanking them for their important role in the community.  It'll also be a time to share stories and raise a glass of wine in their honor.  They deserve it.  So please drop in anytime between 4 - 6 for a small bite and some wine.  We'd love to see you...

Some photographers from Georgia State University's alumni magazine were up last night to shoot some shots for an article their putting together.  It was literally freezing cold outside and I won't be surprised if they come out blurry from all the shivering I was doing.  So when they asked me to flame some bananas table side, I leapt at the opportunity to add a little explosive warmth to the dining room.  Perhaps a little too much rum?

Silver linings at 30,000 feet

Inflight:

It's easy to find a cloud's silver lining when you're flying at 30,000 feet.  Forced perspective I suppose, but sitting in a bumpy jet for 5 hours leaves me feeling quite introspective.  Modest Mouse is singing about Guilty Cocker Spaniels in my ear buds and sleep is starting to flirt with my over-tired eyelids.  The lady in the row ahead and to my left is snoring with her mouth wide open, her breathy outbursts drawing stares from my fellow sardines.  I'm not sure if I can sleep through that, but I'll certainly try.  Amy says sleeping is my super power, and I don't disagree.  I can usually fall asleep within about 90 seconds of shutting my eyes, but this snorer may be my kryptonite.

I'm on my way to San Francisco to attend the Gastric Cancer Fund's big Gastric Celebration fundraiser.  The event is the GCF's first big shindig and the thing sold out!  Not bad for a fledgling non-profit, I'd say.  I'm meeting my dear friend & food brother Michael Thomas (Next Food Network Season 1)  and he's offered to help with a speech and cooking demo I'm giving at the soiree.  He's driving up from LA and bringing along some giant 40-serving paella pan.  I imagine the thing to look more like a trailer-side satellite dish than a cooking implement, but we'll see.  He's picking me up from the airport just before midnight...hopefully.  Tomorrow we'll be on the hunt for some tasty & healthy things to cook up in the satellite dish, and I imagine that won't be hard to do in San Fran's famous markets.  There's usually some monumental eating when Michael and I get together, which for me means little bites of exotica throughout the day.  Our last eating adventure in LA was a multi-continent themed tour of some of the city's hidden gems...better than TV, I promise.  Is there a Pinkberry in San Francisco?  Oooo...Pinkberry...

So back to that silver lining.  I was just thinking that as truly awful as my gastric cancer has been, it really has enriched (seasoned?) my life in ways I would've never imagined.  The people I've met, the survivors and their stories...amazing.  And now I'm flying across the country to meet 150 more people whose lives have been affected by this terrible disease.  We're not assembling to bellyache (and many of us have lost much of our bellies), rather we're celebrating hope, remembering the friends we've lost, and raising money & awareness in an attempt to eradicate gastric cancer.  Pretty neat I'd say.  If you're at all interested, check out the GCF's website at: www.gastriccancer.org  In the storm that is gastric cancer, the GCF is the silver lining in the clouds.  I'll try and Twitter some updates from San Fran and from the event itself if I can.  Stay tuned...

Quick note, there's an article about the Inn up at: http://www.pickensprogress.com/articleinfo.asp?Link=1717

Now about that sleep thing...

Hanzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Hope is contagious...

I'm exhausted from a solid week of work and three days of classes/demos at the Cancer Wellness Center.  It's the good kind of exhausted though...well earned.  The CWC held it's public open house on Saturday and it was jam packed.  My new friend Kaedy Kiely and I held a demo on Power Foods for a group of CWC regulars and a flock of Kaedy's friends and listeners.  If you're not familiar with Kaedy, be sure to  check out her blog

Her personality is contagious...full of life and constantly smiling.  I'm looking forward to working with her again.

Speaking of contagious, there is nothing more inspiringly contagious than hope.  This is my third year teaching at the Cancer Wellness Center and the atmosphere there is charged with hope, love, laughter, and support.  If you're here in the Atlanta area, please come and check it out: http://www.piedmontcancerconnection.org/
It's for anyone dealing with the "big C", whether you're a patient or a caregiver...and it's FREE!

The Inn is going to be totally packed on Thanksgiving...hungry people coming out of our ears.  We'll be preparing for the onslaught all week.  And if you weren't one of those fortunate enough to grab reservations for "turkey day", be sure to make reservations for the weekend after.  Lots of families in town and the place fills up quickly...

Much to do!  Be well...gesundheit!

Hans

the Wall...

20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the whole thing still seems surreal.  Here's my father talking about his experience escaping over the wall from an Atlanta news broadcast:    http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/dpp/news/gorbachev+thanked+on+wall+anniversary


I'll be interviewing him for Story Corps on December 12th and I'm really looking forward to it...pure history.


We're running a few special menu items to celebrate German Reunification this week at the Inn, and we're also pouring Henkel Trocken as well.  Come by and help us celebrate.


Much to do...Gesundheit!


Hans

Reservations?

The line began to form around 1:30 for this past Sunday's lunch.  By 2:00 it stretched out the front door of the Inn and spilled out on to the porch, a slow river of local late-lunchers and leaf lookers.  It's interesting to witness the different personalities of folks as they queue up for lunch.  Those who made reservations are, naturally, seated first and the "walk-ins" typically wait patiently for the first available table.  It's a bit of a dance really, a shuffling two-step to coordinate time, tables and traffic.  We had one gentleman walk-in and casually announce that he had reservations.  When I couldn't find his name on the list, I asked him when he'd made the reservations.

"Right now!" he said.  "I'm making reservations right now for four people."
"Oh...well, we're running a 30 minute wait right now unless you phoned ahead to reserve a table," I told him in my most hospitable voice.  "Can I put your name on the waiting list?"
"But I just made reservations right now for four people!"
"Hmm...did you phone ahead to make a proper reservation", I asked, feeling that perhaps I was missing something in this strange exchange.
"No, but I'm making them right now for four people...right now!"
"I'll tell you what," says I, somewhat frustrated and far too busy to continue the game, "all of the tables are either occupied or reserved, but if you'll give me 15-20 minutes, I'll find something for you and your guests."
"To HELL with this!  Let's GO!"  And with that, he was out the door, leaving his wife and guests looking as confused as I and genuinely apologetic.  

So the moral of the story is (if there is one): make reservations at least 60 seconds prior to your arrival!

The restaurant is staying busy and the reservation book is filling up with Christmas parties.  No rest for the weary, but I'm not complaining.  I like hungry people...

Much to do!  Be well, eat well...gesundheit!

Hans