What I did yesterday:

Made at least 4 pots of coffee.
Turned carrots, parsnips, and rutabagas.
Peeled many, many shallots.
Julienned 3 large bulbs of fennel.
Made a blood-orange gastrique.
Chunked up the largest celeriac I have ever seen. (As big as my head. Seriously.)
Obsessively small-diced potatoes.
Obsessively small-diced honeydew.
Obsessively even-smaller-diced red onion.
Put together a melon salad, with Derrick.
Chopped a few shallots.
Practiced croquembouche II (Variations on Warrior I & Chattaranga involving molten caramel, lots of cream puffs, and a huge metal dunce cap.)
Did a little dance repeatedly after successfully pulling the dunce cap away from the tower o' treats.
Washed, dried & fluffed frisee.

Set out a cheese and fruit plate with Derrick.
Dressed a frisee & black truffle-oil salad (for the proscribed terrine).
Cooked off & plated winter veggies with harissa with Derrick & Tim.
Plated a whole lot of "Steak and Eggs". (Rare & seared sesame-coated ahi, fried potatoes with creme fraiche and wasabi caviar, melon salad, tamarind steak sauce.) I was on tuna & caviar. Fun.
Cooked off haricot verts with clarified butter, shallots, salt & pepper.
Washed a whole lot of dishes.
Much plate mopping and holding during saucing and plating.
Tested deep fried chocolate trufflles as they came out of the oil. (Rough work. Someone's gotta be responsible for ensuring they're molten just under the crust, and cool in the middle. Really.)

Laughed and giggled and sang and joked and talked with good friends in a small kitchen. Participated in feeding 35 people a ton of truly great food. As Tom wrote on the menu this year: "The only true nobility is found through giving food to your friends." -- Anton Carême. Happy Birthday, Tom!