Art

They say all art is a confession. Today I'm going to recount how I got to know Igi and why he is and will always be one of my best friends and one of the few people I can always trust.

Let's rewind to when I was nineteen and held the very prestigious title of executive chef and bar manager at a medium-sized restaurant where I grew up. I'd worked my way to the top in this god-forsaken pit (but I didn't think it was that bad at the time, that's a later assessment), and when it came to putting things straight after my predecessor left in a huff I turned to someone I'd only known for a couple of weeks: Igi. He and I had met through the guy I was with at the time, a very confused Czech person who was either a high-school teacher or a PT (it varied) but who had to take up the job of KP at Bloom to pay his share of the bills. I'd dropped by a couple of times to help sort out all the paperwork for his employment, and Igi and I got into a very deep discussion about Lobsters state-side. Anyway, I called Igi when I was faced with a restaurant that resembled the apocalypse and he gave me a few tips that helped me set things straight (actually, what set it straight required 16h work-days that gave me the nickname Ms Smith&Wesson and also a heavy bout of pneumonia).
So, one day in late July of -08 I was yelling down the phone at one of my suppliers who'd f*ked up an order (I got 25 kg's of plums instead of 2,5kg's of plum tomatoes) when one of my employees came into my office with my phone. "It's Ricky", she said (she wasn't very bright, bless her). Well, it was Igi, and he was facing running Bloom after the fallout with his previous partner, and he wanted me to come on board. I said I would.

About a month later, I was working full time at Bloom as both a wine waiter and an administrator. I've probably never had such a challenging job in my life. When business partners fall out, the "divorce" is always messy, so imagine how hard it was for Igi if I tell you I had a hard time. Also, I dumped my Czech BF, and he was still working in the kitchen with the chefs, so there was always that hint of a possible second Olga's murder in the air.
If there's ever a person who is going to tell you things straight, it's Igi. When you work as hard as we did back then (and he still does) and your very messy private life is right there slapping you in the face, you need someone to keep your perspectives straight. Igi did that for me. Somehow we managed to get Bloom through the financial crisis and the messy business-partner divorce without losing our minds. In fact, despite all that lack of sleep, we managed to have a very good time. He taught me everything I know about food and wine (because although I wasn't clueless before, there's only so much you can lean from mediocre teachers), and everything I know about making people laugh. He took a very young biomedicine student and never stopped believing I could pull off both a masters degree and a Master of Wine, and it's very possible that I succeeded because of it.

Igi also introduced me to my husband, for which I am eternally grateful. I remember a staff lunch very early in the summer of 2009, when we had just recruited Titti. We were sitting out on the terrace eating pulpo and discussing feminism, when Titti and I declared that we'd never get married because we were not that type of woman (we also compared star-tattoos - very butch I know). Well, we're both married now.

So this is my confession. As much as I'd like to be able to say that strong women have influenced my life, it's more like the story of a very inspirational and strong man. When I write a scientific article or I blind taste wine I fall back on knowledge gained at Bloom (you don't want to know how many times I fell asleep in the office with a biomedicine book over my face). And when I talk to my ex the Czech guy, I know we're staunch friends because Igi wouldn't have it any other way. And I'm so grateful. That's why, with my half-time check for my Ph.D pending, I know who I'm going to dedicate my thesis to.