Wednesday

7 a.m. Out of bed. Pack for apple picking; print jam orders for wholesale distributors.

8 a.m. The plumbing inspector arrives at Sqirl to see our under-construction kitchen. He’s tough — he gave us a whole bunch of notes the first time, and we still didn’t make the cut the second time he came to inspect. Third time’s a charm — we get a pass.

9:30 a.m. Back home to meet my friend Josh Solomon, who’s flying with me to Sebastopol and driving back down. The first year I opened, I did this trip alone and decided “Never again.” Getting there and picking the apples is easy, it’s the crazy-long drive back that makes company necessary. We’ll be staying with a winemaker friend, Ketan Mody.

12 p.m. Land at Concord (less traffic than SFO), rent a car, drive up to St. Helena. Well, Josh drives while I call Sqirl’s general manager to discuss catering.

12:30 p.m. Stop at Gott’s Roadside for burgers and the “off-menu” spicy chicken sandwich.

3:30 p.m. Find a local hot yoga class, and while driving over, call Gabriela to discuss her trip to L.A. next week. Working together happened quickly. We met in 2016 at René Redzepi’s MAD Symposium in Copenhagen, and then a chef who worked with me went on to work with Gabriela. I found out about the space at the Proper Hotel and contacted her: “I have a really weird idea to do a restaurant where the guy who’s worked with both of us could be the chef de cuisine, we could be partners, dream the dream with me and look at the space.” I felt like it could be a beautiful story.

5 p.m. Yoga.

6:30 p.m. Head to a restaurant called the Charter Oak. I’m cooking brunch there in December and want to see the kitchen. I like moonlighting at other restaurants because it gives my culinary team a chance to get out there and see what else is going on. They’re typically in a bubble. Last year, Sqirl cooked lunch at MAD, so two of my cooks got to go to Copenhagen.

9 p.m. Highball back at the house. I reminisce with the guys — we’ve been friends for 15 years — and excuse myself for a Spanish lesson and probiotics.

Thursday

6:45 a.m. Wake up and get coffee at Farmstead. Ponder how I can open Sqirl Away in wine country.

8 a.m. Catch up on email.