where does the time go?

wow.  i can't believe we've been in portland for over a year now.  it's been an amazing experience thus far.  katie is always busy with work and school, and kaci is settling in quite nicely.  me, i've found my home in the kitchen of tabor tavern.

it's amazing to me how quickly time flies...seems like just a week or two ago we were painting and putting finishing touches on the place.  now, we've been open for nearly six months!  the reception has been amazing.  and the people...they have certainly been eating!  we've seriously been doing our best to keep up with all the prep work.  the volume is pretty crazy.  for reals.  thankfully, i've got a pretty kick ass crew.  (think island of misfit toys, but with fire and knives) if it weren't for all the hard work these guys have been putting in, i'd have gone mad months ago!  i really do owe a lot to them.

so six months in, and we're getting to a point where we've hit our stride..finally.  we've got a pretty good handle on things, now it's time to really start having fun.  not to say we haven't been, but it's going to get a lot better!  there are some interesting rumblings from the kitchen at TT and i can promise you, it's going to be exciting.  it's been awhile since i've been this excited about FOOD.  sort of feels like i was on a big sabbatical since we left florida...and missing the qh....but now, really feel like the future once again has a LOT of promise.  i'm pretty excited about life right now, and it's an awesome feeling.

here are some highlights from then til now.

kiddos downtown portland.

multnomah falls

playing in eugene

camping!

the coast.

the beach isn't nearly as warm as FL!

this year i plan on getting back into the swing of this blog thing, and maybe i'll actually do a series from the road trip..you know, like i promised i would.  until then, later peeps.

settling in...and technical difficulties.

first off..no.  we didn't forget to take pictures on our road trip. 

along the way we were dumping pictures from our phones/camera to my laptop.  and about 2 ish days before we arrived in oregon, the power cord died.  so there are tons of pictures just waiting to be shared... but you'll have to wait!  i'll post more as soon as i get a replacement power cord. 


it's hard to believe we've been in portland for 3 weeks now! 

apartment/job hunting has consumed the majority of my time, but we have managed to check out some pretty cool places!  we are all pretty excited to be here.

road trip. day 1.

well.  we did it.


we managed to pack the moving pod, load up the car and clean the house.  apparently that was the easy part.  and by easy, i mean freaking exhausting.


day 1.


i fully anticipated some things to not go as planned...i mean, that's the kind of luck we have...


after we finally got the car loaded (after many failed attempts) we squeezed in and set off...a meager 6 hours later than scheduled.

if the windows weren't tinted, you would see how much stuff was jammed into our car.


first, a brief stop at the beach to dip our toes into the gulf of mexico one last time,  and then lunch before hitting the road , ocala bound, for our first scheduled stop.  now we're 8 hours behind schedule.

 our feet in the gulf.

the ever so spacious inside of car.  i think it took me about 12 attempts to get all of us in the picture, which doesn't really do the situation justice.

the command center.  i had a pretty sweet set up going on.  charging mp3 players/cameras/gps/laptop/phones.  

once we arrived in ocala, we stopped at don garlit's museum of drag racing.  we got there about 20 minutes before they closed so we were pretty rushed, and then ended up getting kicked out.  all in all, a brisk walk through the place was really all we needed...and actually sort of glad we weren't able to spend much time in the gift shop after seeing the prices...i know most gift shops are rip offs, but this was pretty ridiculous.

museum of drag racing checked off the list, we loaded back into the car and set off for our final destination for this leg of the trip: winston-salem, north carolina.

as we got close to jacksonville, we decided we needed to stop and eat and hit the bathrooms.  we chose jacksonville beach as our picnic spot..and a perfect place to dip our toes in the atlantic ocean.  after searching for what seemed to be hours (time drags when your bladder is at full capacity...) we found a parking spot.  spilled out of the car and went searching for the restrooms, only to find out they had all closed maybe 15 minutes before we arrived.  

awesome.

we ran towards the pier in hopes for bladder relief only to find they were for customers only.  but, for $1 each, we could be passed the chain link fence barrier and in restroom heaven. 

wait, you only take cash?  that's messed up dude.

i was seriously tempted to let the kids pee on the guy...just to prove a point.

but, alas, i didn't.

we ran back to the car to search for a restroom.  thanks to katie's quick driving and lavatory locator sense we pulled into a DQ and finally were able to breathe.

now that the urgency had dwindled, we made our way back to the beach.  we got in a couple pictures before it started pouring.

our toes in the atlantic ocean.

we didn't make it back to the car in time.  we were all soaking wet.

as we assessed the situation, it started raining a bit harder.  and that's when we realized the rain was making its way into the car via the straps holding the roof top cargo carrier.

awesome. 

the night before we left, we let danielle put some temporary color (red and black) in the girls' hair.  it was almost magical how adding a little water to their hair transformed the inside of our car into a tie-dyed wonderland.

double awesome.

thankfully, the rain didn't last very long and we were able to have our dinner and dry off a bit.  as we pulled away from jacksonville beach,  it was (i think) 9:30pm...the time we were scheduled to be in winston-salem...it was apparent that we would have to drive through the night to make it to our destination at a reasonable time.

many hours and lots of exhaustion induced conversations later, we stopped at a rest area somewhere in georgia...it was 3 am...and there was a torpedo.

 K & E posing on the torpedo.

Q riding the torpedo.

two very tired people.  on a torpedo.

the pictures didn't turn out so well, but it was dark...

we persevered. 

even more exhaustion induced conversations...i remember something about ducks and their anger about bread rationing...and the quote of the night "oh, sporadic leapfroggers! i don't want to be part of this game." (katie talking about the caravan of late night/early morning semi tractor trailers...)

you just had to be there.  you would have laughed too.

we finally arrived in winston-salem, north carolina at around 7am.  

sunrise in north carolina.

found the hotel.  unloaded what was needed from the car, and made our way to the front desk to check in.  the woman standing behind the counter, of course, had no reservation for us.  it had been cancelled.

luckily it was sorted out quickly and we made our way to our rooms, ordered breakfast from room service and passed out.

i can only hope the rest of our journey is as eventful and exciting as the first day.

in print.

this makes it feel so much more official.


Here is a link to a quick paragraph about my leaving the queens head and moving to Oregon.


almost time to hit the road.


twelve billion things to do....

changing gears.

i'm going to be taking a break from this blog for a little while.


don't freak out!


i know how you all sit on the edge of your seat eagerly awaiting a new post. (sarcasm.  seriously.)


my kids will be here for the summer starting monday. (i'm flying up to michigan sunday to retrieve them, flying back monday morning.)  so i want to spend some quality time with them.  not to mention with the big move looming, we have a gazillion things to do.  a moving sale.  packing. road trip planning.


but wait.


i will be changing the purpose of this blog for the summer.  i will *try* to use this as a road trip documenting outlet.  and maybe share some of the cool places we go/see.  i'm sure there will be great stories to tell at the end.  

bittersweet.

well... its officially official. 

my last day at the queens head will be june 25th.

my wife katie and i will be moving to portland oregon.  we'll be packing up the car and going on a cross country road trip with the kids that will be EPIC.

but before i get too far, i would like to reflect on the last 2 years...

as exciting as the prospects of a new town are, i'm equally saddened by leaving this amazing place of st. petersburg.  i've shed a lot of blood, sweat and tears over the last couple years.  i've laughed until i cried.  and cried until i laughed.  there were times when i honestly didn't think i would survive the work week...but through all of it i did my best to make the best food possible and never compromised my standards.  i'm proud of the mini legacy i've built for the queens head.  i'm proud of all the articles, tv appearances, gushing emails, handshakes and smiles i've received.  i'm proud of the person i've grown into...someone i never thought i'd be.

i'm so thankful for the opportunity i was given to run one of the best kitchens in the city.  

i've had the pleasure of meeting a lot of amazing people since i moved to florida almost four and a half years ago.  you all will be missed.

if you ever make it to portland, look me up.  i'm going to take it by storm.  portland is the foodie town that st. petersburg is a decade behind.  there are people doing the kind of food there that i yearn for.  the kind of freedom of expression through food that can only be accomplished there. 

ok, now to the EPIC-ness of the summer road trip.

we have a big map, in that map are push-pins.  those push-pins are places we want to see on our road trip this summer.  we are planning on taking 2-3 weeks for this endeavor.  

it. will. be. awesome.

garden update. 6/8

here's the update on the garden... overall, most everything is still alive.  the beets have pretty much been killed off.  

the zucchini isn't doing so hot.  thinking it was traumatized after the last trimming...but it has some new growth popping up so i'm hopeful.

the tomatoes are by far doing the best.  they are probably 4' tall now.

the tomatoes are rapidly catching up to the corn...

speaking of corn...the corn is still alive... although its been attacked by a plethora of things.  first it was the caterpillars.  then grasshopper and ants.  now by either rats or squirrels.

the carrots are doing well.  i think they should be ready to harvest soon.

watermelon is kind of touch and go lately.  the appearance of new buds gives me some hope.

the lemon and orange tree seedlings are doing really well.  this is the lemon.

and last but not least... the mexican petunia plant!  this thing is thriving.