Dream analysis and the smoking unagi

This morning I woke up in mid-dream. I was laying on the floor of an old house trying to get to sleep. I noticed something move out of the corner of my eye up near the top of a very tall wall. When I looked more carefully I saw that it was a tiny little bat clinging to the wall near the ceiling. Another flutter out of the corner of my eye and another bat clinging to the wall. Almost immediately there were four huddled together hanging. Huh. Not good for me getting to sleep.

I shined a flashlight in the eyes of one of them to see if I could get them uncomfortable so it would fly away. When I did the bat was startled from the light and all of a sudden a flurry of bats filled the room - hundreds of them all fluttering around heading toward the wall, and finally all of them clinging to the wall above where I was trying to lay.

I obviously decided it was time for me to get out of there and sleep somewhere else. As I started to gather up my bedding, one bat flew toward me and I realized that they weren't tiny bats, but huge bats - the size of large papayas. AND, not only were they large, but they were wearing Mr. Roger's periwinkle blue cardigan sweaters! Not quite sure what that was about. Right at that moment, Tyler's alarm went off and I woke up.

So, what's this all about? We've been packed almost every night, but we're having very few reservations. Last night we had two reservations for two people and so I assumed it would be a slow night with maybe six or eight total joining us. That was nice since I just finished another week of 18 hour days. I've been running on caffeine and sugar just to make it to the end of the shift. (My prep cook's grandfather died and he had to go back to Boston for the week. He'll be back tomorrow so my more sane hours will return.)

It appears to be the norm that I can triple or quadruple our reserved number now to estimate how many will show up. I told Tyler about this dream and he said when he was a server back in college he had dreams like this all the time - stress dreams about rushes of customers flooding in. But, I still don't know what the deal is with the Mr. Roger's sweaters.

Moving on...one of our most popular dishes has been the smoking glass. Its actually evolved a number of times and probably will again this weekend and I regroup, but the basic concept is unagi (sauced broiled eel) in the bottom of a glass, smoke blown in and capped with a savory tuile, a quennelle of white chocolate savory risotto and a bit of caviar. The customer taps the tuile with their spoon, releasing the smoke and combining the flavors. Its a fun dish that always brings laughter (and sometimes shrieks) into the kitchen. Always the highlight of my night.