I'm officially retired but since I suck at being a beach bum for more than a few days at a time I took a part time seasonal job this summer.
I just finished my last day of work yesterday and am ecstatic to be done although I thoroughly enjoyed my work.
I was the alternate cook (meaning only one of us in the kitchen at a time...
) for a small off the grid resort log cabin that seemed to be miles out in the bush. If you knew the back way in, it was only 8 miles out of internet service.
I cooked for up to 21 on a cranky 100 year old stove fueled with propane, heated water for dishes in 10 gallon pots on the stove and had to use my headlamp to see my way down to the pantry/fridge in the 'dungeon' of a basement.
Good thing I was used to doing without electricity already, having grown up with an off the grid summer home and a lot of years of experience of cooking over a wood fire and out in the wild on canoe trips. Having a large kitchen lit only by sunlight and propane lanterns and using a hand pump at the sink to draw water was nothing to even dwell on.
While I'd cooked for 50 years and thought nothing of hosting house parties for 50 when I owned a house, I'd never cooked professionally so this was a bit of a challenge and something new for me.
I will say that it upped my cooking skills by several notches. My friends will benefit by it this winter when we do pot-luck dinners....
Next summer I will be looking for campground host positions in British Columbia!!