Introducing Colby

I met Thom Stevenson last summer through Cancer Support Community of Central Ohio, and it was this instant click of oh, there you are. Our friendship has blossomed since then, to the point that when one of calls the other and says, hey, wanna do a thing? The answer is invariably, Yes. When and where do I need to be?

Thom is a professor in the Patton College of Education at Ohio University, teaching classes in restaurant operations, intro to food production, and the senior capstone class, so when he called and asked if I wanted a summer intern, my answer was immediate.

Yes. Yes I do.

I’d had met Colby earlier this spring when Thom brought one of his classes up to Columbus for a field trip to any of a variety of Columbus food facilities, and we talked that day about getting together to shoot, so when I found out that the intern that would be spending the summer working alongside of me was Colby, I was thrilled.

Without any further ado, meet Colby C Caldwell.

Hello! My name is Colby, like the cheese, Caldwell. That’s right, C.O.L.B.Y. Like the cheese.

Writing an “about me” is probably one of the worst things as a person you have to do. You have to sit down and dive deep inside yourself in order to show the world who you want them to see. And harder yet, you have to do it largely with words.

I’m a visual person. I’m not a big fan of writing or speaking (sometimes) a sentence to save my life. I can tell you just about anything and odds are, you’ll believe it. Why? “because you read it on the Internet.”

I can tell you just about anything and odds are, you’ll believe it.

I love to go to the gym, you’ll see me at the bars every night and I love cats like no body’s business.

All that? Damned lies.

It’s so easy to fall prey to false information on the internet. A photo doesn’t tell the whole story and a being a headline doesn’t make it true. I want to write a blog with the intentions of being real and authentic with my readers.

I’m a wannabe city boy who grew up in the country, surrounded by a family of truckers and farmers

I’m from a small town in Southeastern Ohio where the grass may seem a little greener but the hills – a little steeper. I won’t start all the way back at the beginning, but I’ll sum it by saying I grew up a gay male in conservative Gallia County. I’ve learned to see the world A LOT differently than your average Appalachian, having to tiptoe everyday through the mine fields of bullies, ignorant comments, and religious persecution.

I’m a wannabe city boy who grew up in the country, surrounded by a family of truckers and farmers, and I’ve never had the desire to get down and dirty on the farm or in the garage. No, I don’t want to plant tobacco or feed your cows and I’d rather not crawl look under the 3 ton semi. Thanks, but no thanks. I love my family, don’t get me wrong, but this apple fell far from the farmer’s tree.

I want to travel and see the world outside of small-town Ohio, meet other passionate people, take photos of good food and pet all of the dogs along the way. I live my life seeking authentic interactions, big and/or small adventures, phenomenal food and lots of it.

Currently a student at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, I study Commercial Photography and Restaurant, Hotel and Tourism. I began photographing portraits and weddings but soon found I had a passion for food and how it should be portrayed. Sure, I could take a standard portrait. But I’d rather take a portrait of you and cover you in your favorite food. Nothing will make you smile more than when you have half a pizza on your face. Trust me.

I like to think outside of the pizza box by creating surreal and whimsical photos – something you’d only see in Wonderland.

We should be dealing in culinary orgasms.

– Bradley Cooper as Adam Jones

Cook.Eat.Explore

I’m a trained Chef and Professional Photographer, or according to LinkedIn, A Content Creator Drawing on Years of Photography, Corporate Sales, and Throwing of Dinner Parties.

November 2016 saw the collision of my two professional worlds, I took a massive leap and started Cook.Eat.Explore, which is the food and travel side of my photographic life.

What this means to you, is this: my wide and varied career path that has brought me to this point, corporate sales (fashion retail, then diamonds & banking, respectively), a really great track record of making mistakes, some far more entertaining than others, and here we are.

Drawing from 30 plus years of travel, professional kitchens, and lavish dinner parties, using WHATEVER is handy to take a snapshot or photograph (be forewarned, if we’re out together, your phone’s camera will be considered fair game when mine’s battery dies), growing up cooking, learning from family, friends, and anyone else willing to answer my thousands of questions, with a couple of absolutely epic, now and forever a part of family lore failures along the way… (ask me sometime about the five-alarm chili, or the very first time I decided I could bake without a recipe…it was bad. Quinten Tarantino bloodshed bad)

I’ve long talked friends into throwing lavish dinner parties with me for our parents and friends, drafting them as my sous chef’s, starting when I was in high school, feeding friends and throwing together big pasta dinners with a more the merrier approach to life.

One of my earliest memories is a friend of my Dad’s telling him that when I grew up if we were throwing a dinner party and someone asked to bring a last minute guest, my response would almost certainly be “Who the hell are they? F&*% it, it doesn’t matter, of course, they can come!”

Remarkably accurate prediction of the future and perhaps where my love of profane words started.

Fast forward into college, I spent a lot of years working in hospitality in one form or another, I’ve bartended, waited tables, been a hostess, had a brief stint as a cocktail waitress in a rather seedy establishment that shall forever remain nameless, ran the kitchen of a wine bar & bistro, worked the line in a now-defunct small Italian restaurant (in which I also bartended), worked the line in another rather famous Portland restaurant who had the bad habit of bouncing paychecks, created the menu for, and did all the legwork for weekend breakfasts, at a (again) now defunct, tiny bistro in a tony Portland suburb.

Throughout all of this I’ve collected cookbooks, and have spent COUNTLESS hours pouring over them, trying to learn everything I can about why they’re laid out the way they are, which recipes are easy to read and follow, which have appealing photography (again, and the why behind it), and cultivated an innate love of entertaining (thanks Mom & Dad).

Growing up, my Mom made certain that we traveled extensively as a family, and as such, my brother and I were very blessed to have passports full of stamps from a very young age, and have had many an adventure exploring. While last in Germany we ended up raising a glass (or four) at the Hofbrauhaus in Munich, the night that Mexico played (and beat) Germany, in Germany. Both my mom and I speak Spanish, and ended up celebrating with the Mexico fans, singing Cielito Lindo at the top of our lungs, quite possibly also from the top of the table, though that part is hazy…

Throughout it all, a small handful of things have remained constant. My love(s) of cooking, people, traveling, and photography.

Which brings us back to now. I’ve rolled them all up into one and jumped.

I’ll learn to fly on the way down.

My husband, God love him, asks me often if there are any strangers to me, and the answer is the invariable “nope, just friend’s I haven’t met yet”. Aside from being my partner in life, he’s decided to join me on this foodie journey, and while he’s not planning on being a super active or vocal participant in Cook.Eat.Explore, you can definitely expect to see his contributions on our blog from time to time.

Join us, on this crazy wonderful journey through new cities, small towns, big name cookbooks, tiny hole in the wall restaurants, with a big handful of my own recipes tossed into the mix as well, after all, the happiest I am is surrounded by friends in my kitchen, cooking, laughing, and sharing a bottle (or twelve) of wine. Wear cozy clothes, and be prepared to crash in one of our guest rooms.