That weird stair landing in the old house on Maple Street took me a full day

It was a 1905 place with a landing that went from 4 feet wide to 2 feet in a weird curve. I figured maybe 2 hours to cut and fit the pad and carpet. Ended up being 8 hours because the floor was so uneven I had to build up the low spots with plywood strips and then hand-cut every piece. Anyone else run into a crazy floor like that and have a better way to handle it?

Tried a new way to sear scallops and it totally backfired

I was working a dinner service last week and decided to try a tip I read about, searing scallops in a mix of half butter and half grapeseed oil. The idea was to get the butter flavor with a higher smoke point. I got my pan super hot, dropped the scallops in, and they just steamed. No crust at all, just this sad, pale look. I mean, I was sure I patted them dry, but maybe the oil ratio was off? It took me two more tries to figure out that with my particular pans, which are pretty thin, I need to use almost all oil and just finish with a cold butter baste at the very end. The first batch was a total loss, maybe 12 big sea scallops. Has anyone else had a searing method just fail on them out of nowhere with a different pan?

Rant: Had a close call with a load swing on a job in Charlotte last month that made me rethink my whole approach to wind checks.