The coffee can trick" sounds silly but I used to roll my eyes at stuff like that. My mom told me to write down every single thing I spent for a month and I thought it was a waste of time in the debit card age. Then I actually did it one January and found like $80 of little app subscriptions and drive thru runs I had no memory of. Now I keep a note on my phone and dump whatever I skip into a savings folder, same idea as your uncle, just without the can. The part that held up is making it a pain to get at the money, that still works no matter if it's cash or a phone.

Sounds like you unlocked the secret level where your hands turn into claws and you get two days off whether you like it or not. A tasting menu for 120 on top of a normal 90 cover night is just mean, that wedding party better have tipped like royalty. Recovery for me usually means a long hot shower, a nap that scares the cat, and not touching a knife for at least a day. 1,000 covers is wild though, you basically ran a marathon in a hot kitchen with a pen you couldn't even hold after.