Did I Make the Finals for TasteMaster?!?

Friends, I woke up this morning, eager to find out if I was among the 3 finalists for Tourism Australia’s Taste Master…the dream job of a lifetime.

And the vegemite jar was empty.  No Western Australia for 6 months for this crazy cook!

I want to deeply thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for participating in this journey with me.  So many of you all around the world took time out of your lives to snap a photo for me, or take a video for me.  The response has truly been overwhelming.  I’m no celebrity, and I never will be.  But the fact that thousands of you who I’ve never met would actually take time to do something for me to help me follow my dreams…that’s just miraculous.  I can’t thank you enough from the very bottom of my heart.

For those of you who’ve been sick of my crazy and incessant Facebook posts and Tweets the past few weeks, I deeply apologize.  I’ll be a bit quieter from now on, and not so needy.  I promise!  Ha ha ha…

There are 21 other shortlisted TasteMaster candidates out there in the world today (and 116 candidates for other “Best Jobs in the World”) who are dejected and very sad.  I’ve been through this type of crazy casting process a half-dozen times, so it’s old hat to me.  (I went to bed last night rather than waiting up for the results.)  So my thoughts go out to them right now.  They spent endless money, time, and effort doing NOTHING but Australia stuff the past month, endlessly hopeful and optimistic.  And when that momentum suddenly stops and you face rejection, its hard.  The first few times, at least!

For me, this simply means that my garden won’t grow wild with 6 months of neglect…my chickens won’t forget who I am and I’ll get to taste their first eggs…my family and friends won’t have to manage my life while I’m gone…my puppy and partner will continue to have a snuggle buddy at night…FRANK will continue to capture the excitement of Dallas foodies each month…and you all will just be getting photos of tomatoes, kitchen experiments, and chickens rather than wallabies and wombats and Western Australia beaches.

As with everything in my life, I see this as a sign that there’s something wildly more wonderful waiting in my future.  And if I was in Australia, I’d have missed it.  Opportunities knock every day for everyone.  And we’ve gotta be ready to jump when it’s the right one!