Alex and Jess
With Josephine we get the benefits of having the control to do things exactly as we want to do them without as much of the weight of owning a business.
Her — “We moved to California to work on a fruit and vegetable farm. We were going to do a 6 month internship at a place that specialized in stone fruit. When we got there Alex suffered and injury to his finger that was going prevent him from being able to work on the farm so that required us to leave and get good medical attention. We’re from Cleveland and we’re used to really good coverage. People fly in from all over. Maharajas fly in for heart surgeries. Beyonce had her baby in the Cleveland clinic. We’re used to that. When we went to the clinic by the farm they said we’d have to drive 4 hours to Redding and then they wouldn’t be able to take care of him for 4–5 days. We were gonna go back to Cleveland but we were driving down the 1 staring at the ocean at the ocean and it was so beautiful. And then we were driving through Napa and it was everything I dreamed it would be and I started crying. Then we just turned to each other and were like ‘what if we didn’t go home’. We turned around, got an AirBnb on Telegraph in Oakland, told the people what our situation was, and they let us stay for the week for like $10/night and we found him a doctor who told us ‘everything is gonna be fine’.”
Her — “So there we were in Oakland getting immersed in the food culture. Then we stumbled across a Josephine ad and it made sense because Alex is a professional cook. So now we make meals with them. He really likes to finish cooking in front of people. It’s not just pulling a container out of a refrigerator.”
Him — “I try to make it restaurant style and do it mise en place. I heat food up to order. I want people to have their food be as fresh as possible. Sometimes we turn our table around and do dine in where people can eat here during a 40min time slot.”
Her — “So now we’re making it work. You know that couple that gave us that AirBnb? We did the rehearsal dinner for their wedding.”
Her — “We also do pop-ups. We did 7 courses of sustainable seafood + surprises.”
Him — “I did a toasted baguette with mayonnaise that I made from the clam cooking liquid that I reduced.”
Her — “We have a lot of hustles. There’s Josephine. We do multiple catering jobs. We do canning and pickling. We’re just trying to find the time because there’s a lot of red tape. Whereas with Josephine we get the benefits of having the control to do things exactly as we want to do them without as much of the weight of owning a business. My dad went grey in the span of 4 months when we started his business so…”
“What ways do you think he compliments you as a person and partner?”
“He is so driven to be a better cook. Even though he’s not in a restaurant he doesn’t pick up the bad habits that you can pick up in catering. He has such integrity for the quality of the food and the presentation being exactly as he communicated it to the client. There’s no corners to be cut. He’s always reading about ingredients, hiking and foraging for new stuff to put in the food. We’re trying to do something special and he’s constantly reminding me of how special what we’re doing is. I get bogged down in the details of money and scheduling and time and he keeps me that it’s all worth it.”
“Jessica is so diligent at things that I am not. She’s supported me all the way. She enables me to do everything I do. If it wasn’t for her I wouldn’t be able to stay motivated…this is making me emotional. We’ve just been through so much together and she’s there…always.”
Find out what your neighbors are cooking at https://josephine.com/
Originally published at www.soulsofsociety.com on July 5, 2016.
