I worked for my old employer the last few days, but not doing my old position. I had been the pastry chef, a self motivated, independent sort of job. Instead, I was filling in for a line cook, who moved over to the sous-chef's position, who moved to the chef's job. The chef was out of town due to a death in the family, and the only other line cook was out of town for a wedding. I was glad to help out, but it's not the type of work I do anymore. Line work is a young person's workout.

I am used to setting up my own timetable and then working steadily, rather than working like crazy and then standing around until it gets busy again. I will be working there doing desserts for a party on Wednesday, which is what got me in the pipeline for filling in when they got in a a bind.

I imagine a lot of small businesses will run into problems like that. Employers have pared staff to a minimum, and there isn't any back-up when someone gets sick or needs to leave town. So you end up with people doing double duty and going crazy, in an economy where someone else would love to work. It was one of the disagreements I was having with my assistant manager when I got laid off at Christies. I felt like she was setting us up for trouble, cutting the staff back. I wanted more people on the staff, even if they didn't work a lot of hours, but I couldn't get her to understand that I was the manager because I had done this before, and could see what was coming.

It is not my problem anymore, and neither is she.

I think a big problem with older, experienced workers who got laid off is that we had built up seniority, and don't want to move backwards. I don't want the position that's only nights, weekends and holidays, while somebody else has the main hours. Been there, done that. I've paid my dues. And a lot of places move people up within the company, so that the open positions are entry level. Even if we wanted them, we're over-qualified.

Going back to the Acorn was good for my confidence. I didn't know a lot of the staff, because I worked in the daytime and we were only open for dinner. But it was nice to see the ones I did know, and even the ones who didn't know me remembered the desserts, and were highly complimentary. I'd like to go back to working there. Good, fun, intelligent people.

No recipe today, but I will point out that it's easy to forget that one reason restaurant food tastes so good is that it's loaded with fats or butter. I've worked in restaurants for years, and I forgot. So enjoy it now and then, but don't fool yourself into thinking the veggie plate is healthier than everything else. As in all treats, moderation is the key.