Super Chill.
The holiday season at PJP Buttonwood is notoriously rough on Team PJP. For the past two years, we've tried to plan time for a legitimate Team PJP holiday party...and it has never happened. The date is inevitably chosen and then plans aborted after we all work a 14 hour day and face a 2 am start time the next day. You know what Team PJP likes for Christmas? Bengay in bulk. Over the last month, we've added a lot of staff who have no clue what they face in the coming fall months. More than a few of you have stopped by and noticed our baking space packed with new faces. There was one day last week where I actually broke into hives thinking about the amount of payroll accumulating by the minute in our 1,050 square foot space...but then when a massive baking schedule was finished by noon, I decided to get over being itchy. (Remind me of this when it is time to pay the quarterly payroll taxes.)
So with all sorts of new people and all sorts of people in transition (Mac headed to Ireland for the summer and Mitch headed to Denver FOREVER), we decided to finally have the long overdue holiday party. In June. Which could be the most Jeanne and I thing ever. (And as it turns out, Jeanne couldn't even be there...making it definitely the most Jeanne and I thing ever.)
In short, I cooked an absolute ton of food (but not pie) and most of Team PJP showed up at my house. We ate a lot and had conversations that weren't interrupted by oven timers. We also watched a lot of Naked and Afraid together, which I believe signifies the fact that we are all comfortable with each other because eating ribs together while criticizing the decisions naked people make in the Cambodian jungle requires a special level of chill.
In other news completely unrelated (yet important) news, we've decided to close for the day on Tuesday, July 5th on the theory that everyone will be tired and bloated from a full day of holiday fun on the 4th. Ourselves included. I'll second guess myself the entire day, but would you expect any less?