Learn about Houston Rodeo Cook-off from the new guy on a cooking team.  And the 4 ways this experience can grow your comfort zone.

Sometime late on a Saturday evening, after opening beers, dishing up beans and restocking portable toilets with paper for the fourth consecutive day, a friend took a picture of me. 

My hair was stringy from the humid weather and my proximity to our giant barbecue pit.  The starched team shirt was limp with sweat and wood smoke.

And I’m smiling broadly.  

Working as a rookie with the Third Coast Cookers at the Houston Rodeo Cook-off was testing the limits of my comfort zone.  And that felt good.

Don’t think – just say yes

My friend Carole has been on the Third Coast Cookers team since its inception.  Six months before the Houston Rodeo Cook-off,  she and I were at our usual Tex-Mex/Margarita Friday gathering.

Carole suggested I join the team.   Both of us were shocked when I said yes.  The word just snuck out there like a lager-fueled burp.

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