ALLOOOOOOOO!!!! jesus, been a while huh? ive been workin like a slave, gettin shit done in the restaurant. its been great but i dont think im gonna continue much longer. in theory tomorrow is my last day of work, but im gonna stay on until saturday or sunday to do a tasting for the owner with the new dishes ive come up with. then starting monday its the guelaguetza, oaxaca's annual festival that lasts 2 weeks, and i wanna enjoy it. especially since i still havent seen ANYTHING here. add to that the fact that a week from tday im turning [View Full Entry]

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He caved in!!!!!!! Im the one and only chef of Los Danzantes Oaxaca!!!! Plus there is this other chef who'se doing a consulting job for them analysing all 3 of their properties in mexico and i think ill be able to learn smth from her too. Plus on monday a group from Slow Food in Italy are coming for dinner and im doing the menu!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIGHT!!!!! On a far more serious note yesterday i went to the funeral of one of the cooks that worked with me. he was 21... he had warts on his back, and instead of applying the [View Full Entry]

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ok, so im possibly unemployed right now... my prior agreement with the owner of Los Danzantes was to stay until sunday... i spoke to him on friday, and told him i wanted a lot more money if he wanted me to stay on bc i found out i was being grossly underpaid. if he wants me to do a chef's work he has to pay me like one. up to now i've been making 8,000 pesos a month (500 euros) while i shouldve been makin at least triple that!! i found out after talking to a friend of mine here who's [View Full Entry]

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ok, been a while since my last entry... thats cuz im not in a hostel any more so i dont have 24h access to internet. i rented a room for the month (120 euros, and thats fairly expensive here!!!!) and its GREAT e my own space, privacy, not have to lock up my valuables in a locker.. etc. work is going well. things are progressing slowly but surely. the main problem is the chef has been goin to DF (thats how the refer to mexico city here... for u uncultured folks... ;) ) every weekend to take a course on molecular [View Full Entry]

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so im staying after all. hopefully found a room for rent. gonna check it out 2mrw. about 950 pesos a month... thats 60 euros!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! gonna stay on for another month, help them get los danzantes up to where it should be. exhausted so ima go to sleep. met a really cool girl by the way, and no, im not gettin tied down, no worries... ;) n [View Full Entry]

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ok, so i cant sleep bc i have something on my mind.... i actually REALLY want to stay on here for at least a month, so istarted thinking of extending my trip... which led me to consider that i might as well include time for central america. so here's the tentative itinerary: today, 16 may 2.5 months mexico and cuba 1 august 2 months central america (belize, guatemala, honduras, nicaragua, and costa rica) 1 october 1 month Colombia 1 november 1.5 month brasil 15 dec 2 mths argentina 15 feb =3 months more so if i can change my ticket without [View Full Entry]

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I take back everything i said about the restaurant!!! I spoke to the owner and the chef 2 days ago and realised i had been way too hard on them in my Drunk comment... pun intended. as it turns out the chef has only been there for 3 months and has already made a lot of changes. the reason we clean so much is that when he got here and gave the kitchen a thorough cleanin he found thousands of cockroaches... literally.... and as it turns out we dont work 14 hour days all week, i just got there at a [View Full Entry]

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i was graced with a day off today... and it was one of the best days of my life... I met up with one of the waiters of los danzantes (la rana/diego) around 13:00 and went to have a post hang-over beer.. we ended up talking till 16:30, then went to the 2 main markets in oaxaca. I finally realized 3 dreams of mine: to see a stand at a market that only sells chiles, to eat a chapulin (a dried spiced cricket... they're actually good.. although the small ones are better than the big ones for obvious reasons....), and to [View Full Entry]

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drunk as shi t, been a rough couple of days... started workin yesterday (my moms bday... AUGURI MA!!!) and ended up wrkin a 15.5 hour day!! yohoooooooooooo!!! today i worked from 10 am till midnight, and this place is a fuckin joke... we didnt have water froom 10 am till 13.15,,, the place has a tank for the water, which was empty...they filled it up and by 13.30 we were ok, but then around 19,00 the pump broke down and we had no water during dinner service... meaning using 10, 5-gallon water bottles throughout the night (we started out w 2...) [View Full Entry]

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Madonna mia...... mexico city is damn chaotic....... Amazing city though, even if i havent seen much of it. Been running around delivering various presents and such from rome, which allowed me to get a glimpse of the city. Im leving for oaxaca in a little under 2 hours!! i have a 6 and a half hour bus ride and then start work tomorrow!!!!! I absolutely cant wait!!!!!!!!! Mexican food is sooooooooooooooooo good, and really cheap. Cant wait to start learning!!!!!!! DAJE!!!!!!! (for those who dont speak roman slang.... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIGHT!!!!!!!) [View Full Entry]

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