Sean Hogan - Cosmic Kitchen; Breakfast, Lunch and Friends

Cosmic Kitchen; Breakfast, Lunch and Friends ISBN 978-1-890692-34-6 eISBN 978-1-890692-35-3 2016, Sean Hogan and Michelle Wilson Text by Sean Hogan Main photography by Gary Sheridan, Gary Sheridan, and Michelle Wilson, Michelle Wilson Additional photographs by Tim Steinberg, Tim Steinberg; Paul Baylink, Paul Baylink; Scott Dickerson, Scott Dickerson; Alan Parks, Alan Parks; Ian Reed, Ian Reed. Bumper stickers courtesy of Chris Etzwiler and Ginger and Denny Van Wagoner Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders. The authors will be glad to correct any errors or omissions in future editions. Cover Design: Dan Coe All rights reserved, No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission of the authors. Wizard WorksP.O. Box 1125Homer, AK 99603 To Aileen & Hambone for bringing us joy and happiness always Table of Contents IN THE BEGINNING When Cosmic Kitchen first opened its doors in May of 2003, it was the culmination of more than 13 years of travel and culinary experience gained at restaurants from Florida to California, Alaska to Arizona, Switzerland to Hawaii.

At last count, before opening our own business, I had worked in more than 40 restaurants, hotels, and catering companies. I believe it was a subconscious training for the inevitable step off the deep end into self employment. Id cooked in Zurich, Switzerland (lots of Rosti), Asian food in Honolulu, Hawaii, French food, Mexican, Italian, Gourmet dinners in Palm Beach, and Cowboy lunches in Scottsdale, Arizona. The spark finally ignited in the winter of 2003 to open our own restaurant. So with a collection of great recipes, and years of experience, Michelle and I put together a business plan for the restaurant. We came to Homer in a roundabout way, and that is a story in itself.

I grew up in Dublin, Ireland, attended UCD, and, like thousands of Irish students, went to the U.S. on Summer Work Visas. College isnt for everyone, and for me the stimulation of the work environment, versus the inertia of school, seemed more attractive. Michelle and I crossed paths in Phoenix in 1985 and have been together ever since. We moved to San Diego, where I got work at a busy little French restaurant called Caf Chanticleer, owned by a Danish Chef, Erik Pedersen, and his wife, Marna. With practically no experience, and only two years of college science, it was challenging to meet Eriks expectations of culinary knowledge and taste.

Even though hired as a dishwasher, I soon became his protg, learning and developing skills that have served me to this day. Michelle helped out occasionally in Caf Chanticleer also, and we still joke about Eriks martinet ways, akin to the soup nazi, much beloved and feared, but with undeniable good taste. Erik encouraged us to take on a second location of his, The Crown Bistro, in Coronado, CA. Michelle and I got our first taste of being entrepreneur restaurant managers. A highly popular and successful restaurant over the bridge from San Diego, we were very happy, but somehow wanderlust intervened, and I knew I needed to broaden my skills through travel, education, or both. And so we did.

Michelle and I first came to Homer in 1990 to visit her parents, who had been spending their winters in Florida. Aileen and Hambone, (his long-time nick-name) had been traveling up to Nikiski from Florida for years, and had told us lots of stories about their adventures in Alaska. So one year Michelle and I thought wed take a trip up there also. We bought a small travel trailer and truck, loaded up our belongings, and headed off from Florida, stopping along the way to visit with family and friends in Minnesota before picking up the Alcan Highway. Michelle read from The Milepost as we side tripped up the Cassiar Highway, pointing out the sites and history of different areas. Aileen and Hambone delighted in showing us around their summer home, and we took frequent day trips with them, even sightseeing in Hams Cessna 180.

A retired United Airlines Captain, Hambone shared Alaskans love of flying, especially off gravel strips. One day we drove down to Homer, and Michelle and I were wowed by the little town as we came down the hill, with its surrounding glaciers, mountains, bays, and wide vistas. I fished at the Fishing Hole on the Spit, and Hambone took us to his favorite dive, being on first name basis with the waitress (as always!). We sensed this was somewhere we would return, and we did, the following summer. Again towing our little Jayco trailer behind us, loaded with bicycles and surfboards, we prepared to get jobs and work the season like all the other spit rats who make Homer their summer abode. On Memorial Day weekend, we landed jobs with a local baker, who needed help for the busy summer season, and so we settled in to being summer locals drinking at the Salty Dawg, fishing and actually catching salmon, and getting to know some of the colorful Homerites, such as Brother Asaiah, who would become significant later in our lives.

We headed back to Florida after that summer of work experience in Alaska. I had planned to attend Florida Culinary Institute, and Michelle resumed her profession as a Dialysis Nurse. Upon graduating Florida Culinary Institute, I took the opportunity to do a Stagiaire (apprenticeship) for a year at a Mvenpick Hotel just outside of Zurich, Switzerland. So Michelle and I headed off for the Grand Tour. She, not being eligible to work, played the good hostess, socializing with the other stagiaires, holding impromptu gatherings and fondue parties. She always says it was one of the best times of her life.

Europe is nice, but now the U.S. was my home, and after a year, we were glad to be back in sunny South Florida, where we settled down in Juno Beach. Well the road called again, and this time it was Hawaii. Somehow I talked Michelle into combining my culinary interests with my love of watersports (windsurfing back then, kitesurfing now) into another great adventure, so we packed up, and headed off to the land of Aloha. Little did we know that jobs were scarce, but Dialysis Nurses were in high demand, luckily for Michelle. I worked for Marriott Corporation at University of Hawaii, catering and preparing the Shintani Diet, a Hawaiian Native Foods diet plan.

It was a great education in the polyglot culinary world of the Islands, with influences of Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, Korean, and Hawaiian styles all fused together, as are seen in the Cosmic Kitchen menu of today. And of course, the wind-surfing was excellent! Though we loved Hawaii, Homer was calling, and the offer of summer work lured us back as surely as the shorebirds return every spring. And so we became summer visitors for a few years, wintering in Hawaii, just like our friends, the Golden Plovers. I guess the nomadic years were coming to an end when we decided to over-winter in Homer. It seemed so fun in summer, winter couldnt be that bad, could it? So we settled down in 2001, Michelle taking a nursing position at the medical clinic, and I took a job at the natural food store. We learned to cross-country ski, skated on the frozen lakes, took yoga classes, and spent more time with friends.