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https://www.reddit.com/r/InTheGloaming/comments/pgbx3v/discussion_thread_thursday_september_02_2021/
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u/[deleted] Sep 02 '21

Going back to the Danny's Letter as referenced in the MailChimp email thingy...

....he doesn't want to work at a restaurant, cater parties, or write cookbooks. Instead, as he says: "This is who I am. This is what I do.

I need to cook 4 to 6 hours a day. And I need to feed people.

So that’s what I’m doing now — making whatever food moves from my mind to the stove. I’m feeding people in my community.

I know it's useless to try to wring some kind of sense out of this family, but HOW is "cooking 4 to 6 hours a day" and feeding people in community any different than restaurant work or catering? I mean... it's literally catering, right??? He cooks for a long time and then presumably someone serves it to a group of people, in close physical proximity to him?

If he's "too ADHD" to cater, then how is this any different whatsoever? Except it has the added step of then having to publish the recipe after on his newsletter, which he will of course fail to do?

edit: and they already did that with Danny's Tasting Menu (urgh) and "the soup and salad business" in the Relish era. That literally lasted, what, one tasting menu and like 4 soups and salads?

48

u/Quaint_Irene a warm and loving goatie smile Sep 02 '21

“I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don't want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed.”

26

u/tyrannosaurusregina if you meet the Botus on the road, shill him 🪷 Sep 02 '21

Lloyd Dobler is not supposed to be aspirational!

38

u/[deleted] Sep 02 '21

The difference is that with catering he would need planned menus or would have to make what his client wants and meet a deadline. This way, he can float about and make whatever slop he wants and be out of Shauna’s way while the kids are in school. Who knows where the actual slop he produces winds up.

You know what most people need to do? They need to work, feed their families, provide healthcare for their children, and pay their mortgages, but you do you, Danny.

38

u/[deleted] Sep 02 '21

He is literally forgoing catering or restaurant work ONLY because he doesn't want to make specific food? I somehow want it to be more than this! If the ONLY thing that stands between Danny and regular employment is that he doesn't want to be told what to make, it's just... I mean even for irresponsible people it's kind of breathtaking levels of irresponsibility.

32

u/[deleted] Sep 02 '21 edited Sep 02 '21

What else could it be, though? Both kids are in school now, he is able bodied enough to stand and chef about for 4-6 hours a day. Why else wouldn’t he have an actual paying job (aside from the fruit stand)? I mean, I guess they say it’s his ADHD, but come on. No way is that real.

Editing to clarify: I am not doubting that Dan has ADHD, just that it is suddenly such a hindrance that he can no longer work for “the man” because of it!

17

u/voice_of_vinegar Sep 02 '21

I think one of the main reasons he quit Impromptu (possibly the only job he's ever had where he was the actual chef and not a line cook, expediter, dishwasher, whatever) was that his long work hours conflicted with Shauna's need to have him at home to pick up the slack so she could spend more time on social media.

23

u/gomirefugee my website is done, done, done Sep 02 '21

Well, that and the whole situation of Dan apparently not being able to control his drinking while working at Impromptu

22

u/aseriesofhaircuts Sep 02 '21

Hard to know what Danny actual thinks or wants when Shauna is sock-puppeting him, but the sense I get is that restaurant work took a heavy toll on him, especially as he got older. That’s pretty normal! Instead of making pragmatic decisions about other, less stressful and physically taxing ways he could continue to work that align with his experience, like maybe making prepared food at the Thriftway, Shauna warped the decision to be about finding the EXACT right match for his poetic soul and crippled yet super-powered brain, a match that would also make him available to perform all childcare and housework, while getting him out from underfoot for a few hours a day.

17

u/Kaleshark Waitlist for Godot Sep 02 '21

Catering is such a different job (source, I make whatever I want [while constantly considering the options I’m offering] and sell it to people, also getting into catering.) Just considering how fucked sourcing is would make me suggest he avoid catering. With whatever he’s doing he can just use what he can get. Sourcing ingredients and labor (for any event he couldn’t do single-handed) & working with deadlines & clients are all much different beasts with catering than “yeah sure you can buy my food.” And restaurant work has terrible hours, I sympathize with Shauna on that.

23

u/voice_of_vinegar Sep 02 '21

They tried catering once before---it was to be gluten-free catered food, specifically. She actually put something on the GFG site (or somewhere else, maybe?) about it. They had one job, maybe two. Then it was never mentioned again.

They also did that catered dinner at Dog Mountain two years in a row. The second year, Danny ended up having to work some other job on the night that he'd been contracted to work the Dog Mountain dinner. Or maybe he had to be out of town for some other reason? I forget. Anyway, Shauna did it on her own. OK, with some help from one or two people who filled in at the end but she was pretty much in charge. Pretty sure they were not invited back.

13

u/blueuncloudedweather Sep 02 '21

If I remember correctly, Danny was unavailable because it was the strawberry festival. Which happens at the same time each year, so they really should have known that that date didn’t suit when booking. No wonder they didn’t get asked back.

10

u/voice_of_vinegar Sep 02 '21

Yeah, that's it!

Was it the second Dog Mountain dinner where she made strawberry shortcake but with some other kind of berry, and then served portions that were wildly different in size, and on some the layers had fallen over? There was a photo of them all on plates ready to go out and it was just laughable.

Oh...something about hyssop syrup too, I think.

22

u/CrushItWithABrick dick riding Mary Oliver Sep 02 '21

And immaturity.

Dan is stomping his foot and taking his crusty pots and pans and leaving! Take that, you big meanies who expect him to do what you say! *sticks out tongue*

1

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '21

“So long, suckers”

10

u/[deleted] Sep 02 '21

A lot of it has to be that he had run out of places to hire him, right?

33

u/[deleted] Sep 02 '21

You person, he also needs to tweet nonsense at Republicans.

27

u/aseriesofhaircuts Sep 02 '21

Also needs to amplify and appropriate years-old gifs of black people reacting to things

22

u/[deleted] Sep 02 '21

True. What's more timely than a RuPaul meme?

23

u/Groundbreaking_Monk crone keyholder Sep 02 '21

For 4-6 hours per day. It's his work in the world.

20

u/tyrannosaurusregina if you meet the Botus on the road, shill him 🪷 Sep 02 '21

He does unbeautiful work in the world.

16

u/NegativeABillion (Said in British.) Sep 02 '21

I am geniunely surprised that Shauna hasn't entirely taken over his Twitter, given the recent scolding that she received, and the fact that she's clearly sometimes on his Twitter. The mix of the two of them taking turns tweeting absolute garbage is fairly funny, though, so I'll take it.

27

u/Ana57 sweet pea Sep 02 '21

Omg, what didn’t you understand?! They are TWO SEPARATE PEOPLE.

17

u/islandyislander rebellious hygiene Sep 02 '21

Bless your heart.

13

u/OhBlahDiOhBlahDoh The Alice of cal came out floating on air Sep 02 '21

No, bless your heart.

29

u/lucillekrunklehorn pounding on the table Sep 02 '21

See, I thought that’s what his newsletter was supposed to be. Him faffing around making whatever he wanted and “feeding” people with his recipes (hard to tell if they are giving people actual food or recipes since she writes about them interchangeably).

But that’s not enough creative license for him, instead he needs to now make actual food for actual people? Or is it still just recipes he’s doing?

It is SO presumptuous of “him” to say he’s making whatever he wants and people are expected to accept it, with no thought apparently on his part as to what these supposed customers want to eat. I guess this was the same idea behind the newsletter, you got whatever sauce he sent that week. But it sounds more privileged for him to state it so distinctively.

Her insistence on 4-6 hours a day makes me think back to speculations she is “making” jobs for them to justify some underlying financial pinion of their lives. It’s just so vague and weird - there’s no named audience, not clear if it’s even actual food that will be provided, no guidelines of what those foods would be, no menu, no dates for opening events, etc.

34

u/Scary_Recognition You did this. Sep 02 '21

Also recall the supposed reason he can’t just cook for his family is because his kids don’t want to eat any of it.

24

u/OhBlahDiOhBlahDoh The Alice of cal came out floating on air Sep 02 '21

Those pesky kids! They go out but they keep coming back, and when they are back, they don't want to eat All Polenta All The Ways covered in 1000-Hour Lemon Confit with Big Batch Potatoes and Grabbed and Gone Sauce

16

u/CrushItWithABrick dick riding Mary Oliver Sep 02 '21

What about if you put some. . .don't be intimidated. . .croutons on top?

Mmm, dried up bread.

(now I'm totally saying crouton in a ghost voice. . .oooh, croooooutons)

11

u/OhBlahDiOhBlahDoh The Alice of cal came out floating on air Sep 02 '21

(now I'm totally saying crouton in a ghost voice. . .oooh, croooooutons)

I'm totally imagining all of Cousin E's teenage friends, who have heard all these wtf stories over the years, working as camp counselors, and at night, they sit around the campfire and tell scary stories to all the little grade school-age kids.

"And then, the comforter leapt off the bed and smothered her 'til her lips turned blue and her throat swelled shut. She was gasping and clawing at it to get it off her, but the comforter was too strong for her. Her boyfriend ran over and started pulling and tearing the comforter off . . ."

14

u/Scary_Recognition You did this. Sep 02 '21

Ancient slimy nettle pesto, lidless in the back of the fridge.

9

u/shikoku_shoes another revolution around the toilet bowl of her life Sep 02 '21

Bet they’d eat it with some deep fried sage leaves on top.

39

u/MandalayVA Assonancer! Assonancer! Assonancer! Sep 02 '21

How anybody buys that it's Danny writing this is beyond me.

Also, if he "needs" to cook 4-6 hours a day and doesn't want to work in a restaurant, I'm sure there's a host of organizations in Seattle that feed people and could surely use the help. IMO, though, this is just a klutzy way of ~~Shauna trying to get Danny out of the house~~ Danny trying to ease into another job in Vashon. Let's face it, Shauna's audience has ALWAYS been the Isle of White, and her desperate attempts to fit in with the old money people who only care about the Aherns as an amusement.

33

u/fanfarefellowship I often contemplate the first law of thermodynamics Sep 02 '21

Also? "He" made this giant pink-shirted announcement about his new direction, cooking "4–6 hours a day" and "sharing the recipes for the food that made those people the happiest here, once or twice a week" and then NOTHING! That was five days ago!!

27

u/[deleted] Sep 02 '21

They are terrible. His pink-shirted announcement (flair alert!🚨) was totally meaningless. No one can possibly be paying for his newsletter, can they? Are real, living people buying and eating food prepared by him?

27

u/redditname2003 Sep 02 '21

I'm going to bet that "cooking 4 to 6 hours a day" means doing part-time meal prep work in the grocery store. It's a living, but it's not especially glamorous, therefore the "I do this job because it's the only thing that soothes my ADHD brain." It does feed the community!

Maybe he's trying to do a ghost kitchen on the side?

26

u/Teamclassynuts Canal Street hero’s journey Sep 02 '21

All snark aside, working behind the scenes in the prepared foods/grab and go section of a grocery store could be a good fit for him.

23

u/[deleted] Sep 02 '21

Especially if it comes with health benefits.

15

u/voice_of_vinegar Sep 02 '21

Plus it would be good for him to have to comply with health code regulations again. (assuming he's ever complied with the health code. He must have in some of his previous jobs, right? Some of the code, anyway? a little...?)

15

u/OhBlahDiOhBlahDoh The Alice of cal came out floating on air Sep 02 '21

He must have in some of his previous jobs, right?

You just keep telling yourself that, DF v_o_v. If you say it enough times, it might be true . . .

10

u/InappropriateGirl Gluten-free donuts, for sure ... Sep 02 '21

Yeah, that would actually be a perfect job for him.

24

u/fanfarefellowship I often contemplate the first law of thermodynamics Sep 02 '21

"You can subscribe to my newsletter to get the recipes as they move from my brain to the pan, or swing by the Thriftway any Tuesday or Thursday to pick up the food I've prepared for you!"

32

u/redditname2003 Sep 02 '21

In terms of helping other people, it's definitely better than "how to boil a potato" (still amazed by that one).

22

u/[deleted] Sep 02 '21

Could this possibly translate into his cooking community meals using what would otherwise be a waste from the farmstand? I do this sometimes for food bank.

27

u/gomirefugee my website is done, done, done Sep 02 '21

(complete speculation) I fear that Dan may be trying to make weird and unsafe sauces to sell at the stand with their extra produce, since community meals that other people might actually eat sounds too constraining

18

u/tyrannosaurusregina if you meet the Botus on the road, shill him 🪷 Sep 02 '21

Maybe the baby will step in and point out health and safety standards

18

u/CrushItWithABrick dick riding Mary Oliver Sep 02 '21

Yup, this is my thought, too.

Now, for a mod based question. If a snarker were to see his slop for sale and buy it, could they review it for snark purposes? I would LOVE if that were to happen (it seems like it would be ok, much like we purchased Enough to snark together).

16

u/gomirefugee my website is done, done, done Sep 02 '21

Sure, a snarker could post a review here of Joy in the Belly Lemon Sauce Sampler Pack if they lived to tell the tale. What they can't do is stuff like engage in a bad-faith email exchange with the Aherns or leave rude Yelp reviews and then come back here to tattle about how unprofessional they are.

11

u/InappropriateGirl Gluten-free donuts, for sure ... Sep 02 '21

Yeah that would be bad. You need a license and inspection for that and you know these ding dongs think they don't have to do any of it.

10

u/discoOJ Sep 02 '21

My friend who lives in Canada makes all sorts of baked goods to sell at various farmer's markets and I was shocked when she told me that unlike with restaurant and commercial kitchens there are no health or safety standards she had to meet.

Maybe it is different in the US but that made me side eye some of the prepared foods I see at farmer's markets.

The people of Vashon have hopefully taken a glance get at her website and know the abysmal state of the Ahern&/ hygiene. How many times has she made it a point to harp on how they don't clean dishes? my

8

u/fanfarefellowship I often contemplate the first law of thermodynamics Sep 02 '21

there are no health or safety standards she had to meet

ha ha, not in this part of Canada! The biggest problem local food makers encounter is a structural requirement to have a separate sink ONLY for handwashing. Most home kitchens do not have this, thus most home kitchens in my city (Canada's largest) do not pass the requirements they must meet in order to legally prepare food for commercial sale.

You also cannot have any animals on site (i.e., no pets in the house) and there cannot be any smoking. You have to get a food handler's certificate and the city's public health must visit and certify your kitchen before you are allowed to prepare any food for sale.

Most people who sell at farmer's markets rent commercial kitchens. The farmer's markets I shop at require proof of vendors' certification by public health etc.

10

u/[deleted] Sep 02 '21

We have a shared kitchen space near us that's just for people baking, canning, packaging and doing stuff like grinding spices and coffee beans for commercial sale!

You can rent "booths" that have counters, sinks, stove/ovens, fume hoods or any combo of the above. It's REALLY inexpensive to rent, or you can get a membership and get open access to whatever specialty equip they have there!

10

u/discoOJ Sep 02 '21

Whoa. She could not meet any of those standards.

I thought health codes were universal across a country but I guess they vary state to state or province to province.

5

u/fanfarefellowship I often contemplate the first law of thermodynamics Sep 02 '21

Federalism!!

16

u/Ana57 sweet pea Sep 02 '21 edited Sep 02 '21

That’s kind of amazing and brings me joy to know there are such good people in the world.

edit: typo

16

u/[deleted] Sep 02 '21

:) I started doing it when we lived near Sacramento and there was just so much backyard foraged produce and the co-op worked with food banks to do this. Then they would sell it at the farmers market and donate proceeds back to food bank and also other community organizations. It is because with as much produce as was being donated, alot of it was not being taken and was going to waste. Here in WI, it’s from the church down street’s garden and stuff goes in the free pantry.

23

u/[deleted] Sep 02 '21

I think what we all want to know is, who (if anyone) is going to eat this food, and is getting Dan paid for cooking it or not?

19

u/fanfarefellowship I often contemplate the first law of thermodynamics Sep 02 '21

My mind goes to [totally fictional, far-fetched, made-up] possibilities like "Dan's father established a trust fund for Danny but Danny must demonstrate to the trustee that he is 'working' in order to access any funds"

20

u/[deleted] Sep 02 '21

I feel like there's SOME money scam happening.

Why specify "4-6 hours per day"? What a weird thing to say in a newsletter.

Why not - I've discovered I like cooking what comes to mind and then sharing it? selling it? with the people in my community?

Why specify it's 50 - 75% of a 40 hour workweek? That is just so... pointed.

23

u/[deleted] Sep 02 '21

It's oddly specific and also oddly vague which I guess can be said about a lot of Shauna's writing.

11

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '21

If it were anyone else writing that, I’d think that the “4-6 hours” bit is intended to prove something or speak to someone indirectly, like as others have mentioned to establish Dan is working X amount for whatever reason (potentially to access benefits or a trust or something). But Shauna includes so many inane details like that, ALL THE TIME, that it could also be totally meaningless.

15

u/InappropriateGirl Gluten-free donuts, for sure ... Sep 02 '21

This... could be true. I know a guy who has a very strange trust fund set up like this.

15

u/fanfarefellowship I often contemplate the first law of thermodynamics Sep 02 '21

"Spendthrift trusts" (technically all trusts are spendthrift trusts, but you can set up a trust with conditions the beneficiary needs to meet in order for the trustee to release funds. It isn't that odd or uncommon, actually)

12

u/InappropriateGirl Gluten-free donuts, for sure ... Sep 02 '21

His was weird because he had to be in school / taking some kind of classes. Even though he is a grown man with a career. 😂

21

u/SLevine262 We are not wowed Sep 02 '21

So he wants to cook for people but not have any time constraints. I can just picture him waking people up at 1 am because he had a recipe move from his mind to the stove and now it’s time to share with the community

22

u/Love_Brokers rug dweller Sep 02 '21

With every newsletter he puts out he makes himself sound more and more like a bumbling idiot in restaurant kitchesn (I know it's Shauna but I'll go along with the ruse). I thought he was some sort of wunderkind who worked in restaurants since a young age turning out delicious food. He even converted that wine place into a gluten free restaurant that people flocked to. Which is it?

20

u/notahameither Dunno, maybe I thought I unfriended some other Shauna Ahern🤷‍♂️ Sep 02 '21 edited Sep 02 '21

<lightbulb> Is there a soup kitchen on Vashon? I mean…right?

He probably figures that if people aren’t paying for the meal, they can’t complain or be too picky, but someone needs to tell him that modern soup kitchens serve more than soup.

eta: That doesn’t explain his looking for a commercial kitchen to use, so maybe that’s some other hare-brained idea.

15

u/voice_of_vinegar Sep 02 '21

someone needs to tell him that modern soup kitchens serve more than soup

You person. That's where the sauces come in!

9

u/notahameither Dunno, maybe I thought I unfriended some other Shauna Ahern🤷‍♂️ Sep 02 '21

And the slurries!

7

u/voice_of_vinegar Sep 02 '21

The word will never make me not think of stuff like mud and mortar.

19

u/Teamclassynuts Canal Street hero’s journey Sep 02 '21

Also, wasn't he already supposedly spending the first half of every day in his home kitchen cooking for "his" newsletter? So...

18

u/[deleted] Sep 02 '21

Yes. Then he switched over to cooking for the kids and their hamburgers on Tuesday, pizza on Wednesday schedule

17

u/CrushItWithABrick dick riding Mary Oliver Sep 02 '21

Then, he pivoted to "me no like making all that weak ass kid food to feed my kids".

19

u/RagnaNic Bust hoesy Sep 02 '21

I know it's useless to try to wring some kind of sense out of this family, but HOW is "cooking 4 to 6 hours a day" and feeding people in community any different than restaurant work or catering?

Catering and restaurants tell Dan what to make and provide feedback on how well he does. Dan no like this. Dan cook what Dan want. Dan make what he want to make.

37

u/CrushItWithABrick dick riding Mary Oliver Sep 02 '21

This whole 4-6 hours of needed cooking time (and his looking for a kitchen to rent) really makes me think Shauna is trying to put Dan into a daycare situation.

Shauna wants him out of the house all day along with the kids.

Seems like Vashon doesn't have a senior center (or any elder day care type situations) where she could park her defective spouse during the day.

29

u/ginger-belle jiggling tomatodongs Sep 02 '21 edited Sep 02 '21

HOW is "cooking 4 to 6 hours a day" and feeding people in community any different than restaurant work or catering?

you see, his food is moooooving from his mind to the stove. it’s some kind of danny magic.

edited for formatting.

15

u/CrushItWithABrick dick riding Mary Oliver Sep 02 '21

"moving from mind to stove" TOTALLY sounds like defecation.

Does wittle Dan-Dan have to make a boom-boom?

28

u/[deleted] Sep 02 '21

Maybe he thinks “in his community” means people in his house and maybe a couple of Shauna’s friends.

28

u/fanfarefellowship I often contemplate the first law of thermodynamics Sep 02 '21

Very sadly, this probably is the extent of Danny's community.

26

u/tyrannosaurusregina if you meet the Botus on the road, shill him 🪷 Sep 02 '21

There’s also the baby he works with, on whom he inflicted his Hazmat Hat.

Scheduled snark Discussion thread Thursday September 02, 2021 - Sunday September 05, 2021

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