Groovin' right along

The first real week of being a cheesemonger *and* small business owner, I have to say it suits me well.

Despite the agonizing pain stubs that are now my feet, and the slightly thawed frozen pineapple that has become my brain, I am exceedingly comfortable and as ease in this new role. I never had any precise expectations, but I certainly had many a vision of myself behind the counter flustered and unable to handle the unending chaos that can be running your own business of any kind. Many a nightmare involved me with a bare case and a line of customers panting for cheese, or conversely a case packed with cheeses that I didn't know and could not rightly talk about to my customers. As it has turned out thus far, each and every cheese in there right now is a little baby of mine; I know their stories and talking them up to people comes so naturally I'm constantly amazed at myself (and the cheese, of course).

I see this ease of transition as a real testament to one of the basic tenets I held closely in this whole process: never let a speedbump throw you off track, learn how to use it to your advantage. All those months that passed due to the lag of making finances and finding the right space come together were a big opportunity for me to continue learning about my newfound craft, and it has paid off in spades. Last year when it became apparent that I would not be able to open shop in the spring as planned, I took that as a chance to attend educational seminars and conferences, work on a sheep dairy, consistently pester and work with the amazing Steve Jones of Steve's Cheese, now The Cheese Bar, and read, read, read about fromage. So I'm waxing a little poetic here, but I must say that had I not done these things I would never feel so naturally at ease behind the counter. While I'm no ego-centric freak, I do know when I do something well, and this is it. Sometimes the key just fits, and it's cheesetastic.