Stepping outside my comfort zone

But still doing things I love

At a Portuguese Tapas evening at Tale to Table, Kate and I made nine menu items to serve to attendees, the day of the event, all of them for the very first time.

It could have gone wrong in all sorts of ways, but everyone had a great time, and it is one of the best days of my life.

That’s what we’ve done at Tale to Table for the past five years. Several times a week we gather a group together under a theme, like Foods and Wines of Spain, or Pizza Making, or We Can Waffle That. And we prepare food for them and show them how they can do it themselves, all the while sharing the stories that go along with the food. And every single time it’s a lot of fun for everyone.

Tale to Table happened after 12 years of Kakao, where I became known by many as “the chocolate guy.” Which is great, don’t get me wrong! But I love to cook and learn new things and make new things and try new recipes and find new foods. I’m not just about chocolate. So opening a second business with a focus on specialty foods and cookbooks and sharing them all with people, well, that seemed like an obvious step.

And it was. I got to do things I never would have dreamed. Well, to be honest, I got to do some things I did dream about. Like buying a meter-wide paella pan and making paella for hundreds of people at a time. Like learning enough about Port and Sherry to host classes and teach others. Like going to Jerez, Spain, and drinking Sherry in the only place in the world where it’s made.

It was always fun to be stirring the giant paella pan at a market or festival, and someone sees me and does a double-take and says, “Aren’t you the chocolate guy?”

Yes, but I do a lot more than chocolate!

So many other things! Making a huge sandwich with bread baked in a bundt pan. Touring an olive grove of 300,000 trees in Spain. Visiting a tinned fish factory in Portugal. Tasting wines, cheeses, and honey from the same farms in Italy. Baking pizzas for dozens of people who just made them. Staying overnight in a castle in Spain. Grilling salami over an open flame. Meeting so, so many people who make really great food.

All that wouldn’t have happened if I just stayed in the chocolate lane. I needed to step outside my comfort zone, take some risks, do some new things, and explore more things about different kinds of food. I had to make nine different new dishes for Portuguese Tapas Night. (We don’t do quite so many new dishes now…)

I didn’t realize how much all of that was preparing me for my next step.

But when the opportunity to attend Slow Food University knocked, I was glad I was able to answer the door with more than just chocolate.