Today we’d like to introduce you to Paula Smith.
Hi Paula, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Decades after I began refining my cooking skills while raising three children, Nathan, Benjamin and Claire Frances, with my husband Brad, I received a phone call from a neighbor in NW Houston. Wendy, my neighbor and friend, offered to pay me to cook for her family several nights a week as a “personal chef.” I had been thinking about catering for years, but Wendy’s encouragement was pivotal for me to take this vulnerable step. Working for Wendy and her family was an invaluable experience, leading me into a home-based career of catering countless luncheons, dinners, cocktail parties and showers in the Houston area.
As Paula’s Palate Houston began to get a following by word of mouth, I committed to cataloging thousands of tried-and-true recipes I created or adapted using notes in stacks of cookbooks and notebooks. A local neighborhood magazine in our NW Houston area generously gave me a column to write about food and share recipes for six years. It was invaluable training for my dream of publishing a cookbook.
Finally, when our nest was empty in 2019, I took the first step to becoming a cookbook author. I hired a Graphic Designer in Chicago (Emily Ihle) that came highly recommended to rebrand my catering company and design a website. I then focused on what my cookbook’s point of view would be. It came to me rather quickly since I always knew the importance of dining as a family. The undercurrent of the entire cookbook would be… The kitchen may be the heart of the home but the dining room is the soul of the home. Time around a family dining table nourishes all of us in many ways for years to come.
I sent a synopsis of this point of view along with a mini-manuscript of recipes, photos of food and tablescapes to a hybrid publishing firm In the Washington, D.C. area that was accustomed to taking on first time authors. I received an enthusiastic response a couple of weeks later. Months into the process, Emily became instrumental in helping me get my vision of how I thought the cookbook should look on the printed page. In August 2020, during the national pandemic, Cooking & Dining with Heart and Soul was published.
Much to my surprise, my Cookbook’s first print run was sold out in six weeks through social media alone. I owned the design files from the hybrid publisher and self-published a second print run. I fulfilled orders and began sending locally-owned retail store buyers my cookbook and information about how to order it wholesale for their store. The iconic Bering’s Hardware of Houston took a chance on a “no name” cookbook author and said yes. This changed the trajectory of sales to retail stores. Today, 28 locally owned stores all over the state of Texas have stocked Cooking & Dining with Heart and Soul. In the Houston area, it is sold at both of Bering’s locations, ADEsign, Arbor Gate, Family Style Design Company, Magpies, Picket Fences Home Accessories, Potter’s Wheel Gift Gallery, The Accessory Place, The Blvd Boutique and The Brook Home & Gift Store. After the pandemic, it was a joy in the Spring of 2021 to embark on a small book signing tour in Tyler, Dallas and Houston.
In order for a cookbook to be self-published, I have learned through trial and error how to manage wearing various hats of writer, editor, photographer, tester, marketer, distributor and never taking off the businesswoman hat. I officially decided to hang up my catering hat after 16 years in the Houston area which allows me to embark on the process of creating my second Cookbook.
Currently, I am focusing on a new cookbook to assist home cooks in the enriching endeavor of feeding family and friends at home with EASE! The new collection of over 100 recipes in Cooking & Dining with Ease to be published in 2023 continues with old favorites not published in my first cookbook, new creations and wonderful discoveries from some of my favorite food sources. My choices and guidance in my current project convey Cooking & Dining simply, comfortably and without stress.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
No, it was not a smooth road at all when the first cookbook was published by a hybrid publisher. I attribute some of the challenges to the pandemic…people were at home and not in the office which greatly affected the product that was being produced along the way by their employees. In the end, instead of focusing on the struggles, I focused on a solution. In order to “right the ship”, I asked the company if I could have the design files as contractually I owned them. They agreed. My graphic designer in Chicago and I worked virtually for 10 days with little sleep re-working the entire 200-page book in June 2020 so my vision was represented and it would not miss the completion date for printing. Fulfilling hundreds of pre-paid orders in the timeframe I told people was extremely important to me.
An 18- wheeler pulled up in front of my home on August 18th, 2020 with pallets and pallets of my Cookbooks. Seeing it in print and so beautifully done with a will I did not know I possessed at 58 years old was one of the greatest moments in my life besides the day I married and the births of my three children!
My husband, Brad, who was my biggest cheerleader for this little dream I had for so long, posted a quote that August day in 2020 on social media that said, “So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then when we summon the will, they become inevitable.”
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Cooking became fun for me as a young girl, when my dear parents would suffer through many disasters, I concocted night after night. I learned a lot from their sweet enthusiasm so long ago; because of it, I continue to experiment to this day.
When I was in my twenties, I was given the Silver Palate Cookbook, by Julee Rosso and Shelia Lukins. I cooked my way through the entire book and read and reread every detail and tip the authors imparted to me and millions of others. I clearly remember thinking that someday I would pay homage to everything I learned, not only from the Silver Palate Cookbook but also my own palate, which I had been developing through trial and error in the kitchen.
Sixteen years ago, I began a path of becoming a home cook caterer all over the Houston area. It really was a delight to cook for so many milestone moments in the lives of clients and friends! I honestly remember each and every event. Special birthdays, small and large lunch/dinner parties, too many cocktail parties at the holidays to count, retirement parties, bridal showers, baby showers, gatherings after a loss of a dear loved, a wedding lunch for 75, corporate parties and real estate open houses. I also did Pop Up’s through the years as a way to inexpensively invite clients and friends to enjoy some of my favorite soups, entrees, and appetizers.
The common thread of my one-woman catering business (unless it was a corporate affair) was providing clients and friends with delicious food to be enjoyed in their homes. My mission was to lighten a load of hosts and hostesses so they could take care of other preparations to have 10-75 people in their homes. I think I succeeded.
Paula’s Palate remains but I am no longer catering as of August of this year. Using my gifts as a home cook to learn the art of service to others while catering was special. Today, I enjoy curating tried and true recipes that have stood the test of time with family, friends and clients. Gently guiding and encouraging foodies, home cooks and people that have never cooked through my cookbook and social media has been beyond fulfilling. I get hundreds of photos of dishes people have cooked from all over the nation. I beam when the message reads something like, “I never thought I could cook but I am enjoying it now and we are actually having family dinners.” This is what makes my heart soar. Investing a little time to prepare a simple, fresh meal for one’s family and friends brings rewards around a table that are priceless.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
My kitchen is small and I own very little special equipment or gadgets. I have good basics that have stood the test of time. Last year my Cuisinart Food Processor engine died after having it nearly 36 years, and we purchased our gas 5 burner stovetop at a Sears Scratch and Dent Outlet off of I-45 in Houston 16 years ago for $500! I am happy to report it is still going strong.
Tom Colicchio said it best…You do not need to have a Rolls-Royce kitchen to make a great meal.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.paulaspalate.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paulaspalatehouston/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paulaspalatehouston
Image Credits
Donna Cummings Photography (main photo)
Tyler for the professional photo of page in Cookbook with tablescape and Ina Garten quote…A Better Story Photography.
