Regain our sanity? You mean we are actually sane?....
What I like to do, and what I did this year was close down the place from the 1st of Jan to the 6th. The first couple of days are spent topping up my "sleep account". Then some house cleaning, activities with the kids, etc. The last couple of days are spent in the kitchen at work, but not with food. For instance, I fixed up the foot pedal operated handsink that was busted back in Sept.,(broken off cold water nipple, spent almost 3 hrs on my gut with a screw extractor getting out the broken off 1/4" of threaded nipple out from the faucet housing), brought most of my pans and forms to get re-glazed and then picked up, hung up some much needed shelving, some paint and trim work, finally installed an oven stand I made back in October for my two deck ovens ( made of wood, wedged through tennons and blind bolted stretchers, rock -solid, and looks great too). Now on my hit list for the slow season (next 2-3 weeks) is to develop new menu items. This is a bit more complicated then it seems at first, I am a one man show in the kitchen. Daily I must put out 15 varieties of pastries and 18 varieties of chocolates--everything made in-house. Not only do I have to select for variety, originality and cost, but also in regards to time, equipment and if I can fit it into my multi-tasking daily routine. There's only the three of me: Me, myself, and Joan Armatrading....  | 
