Taking the plunge: life in the Walnut Lane

Hello folks

When you decide to start your own business, it's a thrilling and exciting prospect but as your journey continues you come to realise that living life in the walnut lane is hard: the highs are high and the lows are lows.  If somebody expresses even a passing interest in your walnut oil or compliments you on your blog your heart soars and your excitement knows no bounds....and then the doubt creeps in..."what do you think you are doing?"..."you will never make it"..."stop wasting your time."

There is no map for life in the walnut lane.  There is no manual entitled "how to set up a walnut oil empire".  Nobody has heard of a walnut oil tycoon, magnate or Queen.  It's uncharted territory and that's why it's both exciting and scary.  Sometimes it feels like you are Bear Grylls who has been dropped off in some foreign and dangerous location with only a pocket knife and a plastic bottle to keep you alive, except you don't have Bear Grylls' survival skills.  I think taking a risk is always terrifying.

Sometimes the risks are small but we struggle to overcome them nonetheless.  I was out at dinner last night with friends on Smith street....the restaurant's ambiance was perfect: trendy but not pretentious, it had a high ceiling but with an intimate feel, the type of place that had the right amount of sophistication, where you can still be yourself.  We were served by a male waiter who was clearly of the other persuasion, slight body, who moved elegantly, swiftly around the restaurant like a conductor of an orchestra.  The restaurant was his domain, he owned it....he moved gracefully, poetically.  I was so struck by his lyrical movements and the way it made us feel like we were the only customers in the whole place, I had this immense desire to tell him that he moved like poetry in motion. This is how the battle in my head played out:

"Do it. Tell him.  It's a compliment.  He needs to know."

"Are you crazy? He may think you are coming onto him."

"But clearly he is not interested in girls and what do you have to lose?"

"To lose? Your dignity. He may laugh in your face."

"Gawd, it's only a compliment...why shouldn't it be shared?  What's the point of keeping compliments in your head?"

The next time the waiter approached our table, I turned and said to him "excuse me, I want to pay you a compliment....you move like poetry in motion."  There.  It was out.  I had done in.  He was pleased..."oh thank you, he gushed." I was elated.  He did not laugh in my face.  He was genuinely pleased.  The rest  of the night continued wonderfully....we were treated like royalty (quite befitting of my royal status really).

If you have taken a risk lately and it has paid off, please let me know as I would love to hear your story.

Please see below a picture of the walnut, pear and blue cheese salad we had last night.  It had crushed walnuts through it but it struck me that the salad would have been perfect with a little walnut oil dressing drizzled through it.  You can make walnut oil dressing, using a table spoon of walnut oil, a little grainy mustard or Dijon mustard and a splash of verjuice or balsamic vinegar. Walnut oil and pears are a winning combination.

It's time now for the walnut fact of the day:

Walnuts are known as brain food and preliminary research has found that walnut extracts appear to have anti-inflammatory affects on brains cells.

Bed time for me now so until we meet again get the good oil.

Signed,

Your humble Walnut Oil Queen.