Some people hate change and some people love it. Those who hate change become paralyzed and those who love it, embrace it and welcome the challenges, know the opportunities it can bring. I moved to Florida 8-years ago simply for a change and the opportunities came not because they already existed but a positive attitude and my faith. Seek and you shall find, sit idle and nothing will change.
Many of you who follow The Social Chef know how this all transpired. Starting with a 21-day prayer and fast (Daniel Fast) that I decided to do with my church almost exactly 1-year ago and dinner with a fb friend who felt I should follow this path. I had no idea where it would go but I had a million ideas and the ideas continue to cultivate.
I started off just creating a blog with recipes, photographs, and even some video recipes, which I just so happen love to do. One of my best friends Isa Souza who has her own TV cooking show thought her and I could do a show together. My speaking and communication ability with her cooking ability, we hoped would be a great duo and so we created Isa & Michael Food Lovers. We cooked, videotaped and traveled to Brasil, Italy, NYC, Pennsylvania and numerous times in my own kitchen. We cooked, we laughed, we ate and we shared a passion together only Food Lovers can identify with. But Isa being she is from Brasil living in Miami has had so many offers in Brasil she had to focus her efforts there and has signed huge contracts that required her to be in Brasil much more than before. While good for her it was not good for Isa & Michael Food Lovers and certainly not for me. However, that did not deter me from moving forward. I continued to cook, film, blog, fb, and seek new opportunities in the culinary world.
The idea to relocate was not an option for me…so I thought because I love Florida. My best friend has numerous businesses and had an idea of a new startup business, which requires a public speaker and those who know my past, I was a platform speaker for almost 10-years. He has solicited me since July of last year and while the opportunity was fantastic I really had no desire to relocate. Literally on a weekly basis he tried to get me to bite on this opportunity and I just had no desire. But with Isa forced to travel to Brasil more frequently for her TV cooking shows I felt my dream of cooking on TV becoming much more difficult. Finally in November he asked me if I would just come and sit in for a few days on one of their events. I made a few trips to Philadelphia and while there I traveled to numerous restaurants because I had a new idea. I have several friends in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey that own very successful restaurants. I decided to go visit them in person and share my passion to see if I can come and cook with their chefs, filming, photographing and blogging. Just how does my best friend factor into this? Well, the only time I get to do any speaking currently and fulfill my passion for public speaking is on my cooking videos. Telling my best friend my idea to share the kitchen with other chefs he said, Michael, this is perfect. You can hone your speaking skills doing my events and have all the time in the world to do your cooking thing. His offer of only working 20-24 hours a week was not a hard decision and the ability to hone my speaking and communicating skills was a great fit. So in late January he sent me another ticket to fly back north in which he made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. And so here I am back in Pennsylvania looking for a place to live. I’ll be just 30-minutes north of Philadelphia doing the speaking events and another new location he wants me to open will be determined in the next month or so.
The most exciting part of this has been the connection with a TV company that I will be meeting with next week that liked another concept of The Social Chef. So while I will miss south Florida, the beautiful ocean, year-round shorts and t-shirts, I can say there are some things I will not miss. I won’t go there for now. I do however love the fact that I will be living within 60-minutes of NYC, 60-minutes to Philadelphia and 60-minutes to where my friends and family live. Not to mention my best friend has a kitchen that should be in cribs that I will be utilizing.
I will still seek my dream to share the kitchen with Guy Fieri…just in case you thought I would give up……..the answer is………..NEVER!! I am so excited not because anything has happened but because the things that are about to happen are extraordinary. You will for sure time to time see videos, images, blogs, fb posts of my friends, Eddie, Angelo, Stephania, Chris, Larry and Joe, just to name a few. I know I just said it but I really am excited about this new venture. So wish me luck and please support me and my passion to cook with the world.
Thank you for following The Social Chef and joining my Food Lovers blog.
PS…I received a text message yesterday that my best friend from Florida Isa is coming back from Brasil for a week and she and her daughter Mariana are going to fly to PA to celebrate my birthday. I cannot even tell you how excited I am. One thing for sure…I am blessed with the most incredible and supportive friends any person can ever ask for.
