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Before moving to Los Angeles, “craft services” meant something to me like scrapbooking displays. If you don’t know, and I didn’t know, craft services or crafty, as the production crew refers to it, is food service on a production set. Craft service provides meals, but the real attraction is the constant supplying of snacks and treats to keep that burly guy who’s wearing an undersized Hootie & the Blowfish t-shirt and dirty cargo shorts, constantly fed so he’ll hold up a boom mike for eight straight hours. That’s how he became burly, it’s how we all became burly during production. Our friend Ron called it Shoot Butt.

When my daughter’s friends were planning a music video production this summer on a shoestring budget, I offered craft services. At first, I’m thinking a few sandwiches and some Snickers bars, but then as always the case, I went for it.

The video was shot at night, 6p-6a, in the graffitied bowels of downtown Los Angeles. Throughout the summer they built the set. My daughter came home physically exhausted, but had just enough energy to blurt out recaps like theseWe killed 3 black widow spiders today. We found a dog skeleton in the lot. I haven’t slept in 34 hours.I should have read the book What to Expect the Twentieth Year.

I envisioned serving dinner and pulling my cool-kid all-nighter to serve breakfast in the wee hours when we’re just getting started. And then I served dinner the first night and bailed for sleep at home. They’d have to make a donut run on their own and my breakfast plans for the army would have to be eaten by my family. For the next 2 months, my family chiseled away at the five pounds of maple slathered baconthat I had precooked and mounds of homemade ricotta cheese & blueberry jam meant for burly guys on set.

This recipe from the hot, or is it the cool, chef of the moment in LA, Jessica Koslow, from Sqirl, a cafe so awesome it doesn’t need a U. Jessica is known for many creations, but perhaps her most famous is Burnt Brioche Toast.

There’s something about a charred brioche bread that gets a smoky, caramelized crispy bite combined with creamy sour ricotta topped with intensely sweet jam that makes it the perfect food for mornings. A reason to get out of bed. Despite her culinary made-from-scratch talents, friends, I’ll tell you, this is all doable in your own kitchen.

With store bought brioche bread (and frankly store-bought jam and ricotta), you can make this on even school mornings. We, in our overdoing it mode, made homemade ricotta cheese that is so super easy and homemade jam just to see if we could. We can. You can. So we’ve provided you those recipes with thanks to some online superstars.

Production wrap-up – crew worked like dogs, director and creatives pulled off exquisite effects, and no one suffered food poisoning. Quite remarkable to witness a team of friends, young film students, and music talent unite in the roughest conditions – all in the name of art. And yet, no matter how exhausted, distracted, frustrated or filthy, each person had time for multiple thank you’s and kindness.

GRAFFITOWN CAFE