2 years already?

Saturday marked my second year as a wheelchair fencer all in all this year was a positive one, that’s not to say I didn't have set backs, there were moments when I asked myself “what the heck was I thinking” When I attended that first practice I had no idea what I was doing nor what I was getting myself into. There were many times in that first year when I seriously contemplated quitting fencing, especially when the costs started adding up. During that first year I kept at it getting stronger and learning all I could, fortunately I also struck on the idea of making cookies to support my fencing habit, and not just any cookies, shortbreads, a rather obscure cookie style to support a passion for an obscure sport, a rather unknown version of that sport at that.

This last year in fencing I continued to develop and managed to win my first medals. Cookie sales were a great help with gear, registration fees, food and the most important thing. Coffee! Each year on my “fencing birthday” I set goals for the next year, this year I want to continue as I have over the last two years continue collecting medals and keep finishing higher each time I compete.

My next tournament is in March over St Patrick’s day weekend with luck and your support I can hoist a Guinness in celebration of new medals and a great finish.

Again I want to thank you all for joining me on this adventure, purchasing my cookies and standing in my corner while I compete, train and build my cookie business from an experiment into something that will not only support my fencing dream but will help others reach a measure of financial freedom (as outlined  in  Where do I go from here?)

So here I go embarking on another year as a fencer, the hours of training, the miles put on my tires, the frustrations when practices get tough. Another year slinging cookies to suppourt my passion and my dream, full of highs and lows, but I wouldn't have it any other way!

I challange you to a dual..

Dear Walkers Shortbreads.

I am a small shortbread cookie baker who sells his cookies to support a his dream. It is my belief that your popularity is based purely on  a large marketing budget and Christmas tins shaped in the image of a tin highlander. I am also a fencer and as dueling has gone out of style I have chosen this medium to call you out as it were. I challenge Walker Shortbreads to a taste test, my traditional versus yours. You may choose the when an where as you are the challenged party.  I anxiously await your response and will interpret you silence on this matter as an acquiescence on your part that my hand crafted shortbreads are superior to your mass produced... cookies.

Respectfully
Richard Zengler
aka the Wheeling chef

National Shortbread Day

Its National Shortbread cookie day so I figured it was time I should share just how this whole cookie experiment came to be. It amazes me how a simple idea can turn into something worth while. About 5 years ago I was at a Renaissance festival when I saw a vendor selling welsh cookies and making a killing at it. I filed that away for later reference. A few months later I was still looking for a job and trying to find a way to make ends meet. Then I remembered the guy selling cookies and wondered if I could do something similar.

I picked up some old cookbooks and found a basic shortbread cookie recipe. To this point I had done very little baking, in school my major was culinary management and they sorta skipped over the whole baking thing for us. I had made simple doughs before so I figured I would be able to make a simple butter cookie. After some experimentation and some frustration, OK lots of frustration I came up with a cookie recipe and a product to offer the shortbread deprived public.

I had a product and I managed to find a few craft fairs that welcomed me and my cookies, but they didn't sell as well as I had hoped.  Before I could go back to the drawing board, life took a different path and I found myself in Atlanta. Wheeling Chef took a backseat for a while while I adjusted and rebuilt my life. It was during this hiatus that I found myself  getting involved with wheelchair fencing.
I knew early on in my fencing experience that I wanted to do more then just work out I wanted to compete nationally and eventually internationally, with the ultimate goal of making the Paralympic
team. This dream would take hard work and a good bit of money. It was time to relaunch wheeling chef.
I revamped my cookie recipe and was off and rolling. Thanks to twitter and a few lucky breaks wheeling chef started to get sales and some marketing exposure. Those first sales helped cover the entry fee for my 2nd national. I couldn't believe that such a simple idea was paying off. I continued to sell cookies and train and started to see the benefits of both Cookie sales have helped me purchase new weapons  a new uniform a new mask and have  covered my entry fees to 5 tournaments. More important then all of that I'm having fun in this whole adventure!

Cookies have certainly helped financially but I have also met some very cool and supportive people because of my cookie experiment. You all have kept me going when sales have slowed and fencing gets frustrating, and I appreciate it. In celebration of National Shortbread Day and in gratitude for your support I'd like to offer a blog reader coupon. 20% off your entire order between today and 1/10/2012 when you include the word Foil in your order! Thank you again and Happy Shortbread Day

Turning the page

New Years is a few days away so now seems an appropriate time to wrap up what happened this year, and set my goals for next year. A virtual Board of Directors meeting if you will, and since my social media followers and fans are the closest thing I have to a BoD I figured I'd share the wrap up with you.
At the start of 2011 fencing was still something new, and Cookies were still mostly an experiment. In February I was told that I should start thinking about upgrading my equipment to the international standard, this or course came with a hefty price tag. at that point I set a sales goal of 200 dozen cookies. Thanks to some lucky breaks, a spotlight interview on Thrillist ATL andThrillist Seatle I was able to get my internationally rated uniform, unfortunately I came up a little shy on funds for my first international event in Montreal. It worked out better for me in the long run because it gave me more time to develop as a fencer. In March I went to my 3rd National event of my fencing career in Detroit Michigan. I won my first medal at this event and started to see all that all the hard work was paying off.

I lost focus on cookies in April and got away from sharing my story with my friends and customers and started to use social interaction to inundate time lines with sales pitches rather then interacting with customers. I still find myself falling into the "buy my cookies" trap but I'm trying to be more human and less corporate.
In May I had the opportunity to get away from the normal weekend practices with my team and go to an event in Oklahoma. I fenced well and learned how to enjoy myself on the fencing strip. The trip back home was..Well that's another story  

The cookie biz slowed for a bit during  "swimsuit" season and I found myself getting a little discouraged but the slow down gave me time to refocus on my goals for fencing as well as for Wheeling Chef.

Things started to pick back up in October and haven't slowed down since. Holiday sales were very good this year, my one week sales this year actually eclipsed a great month last year. Fencing has also seemed to have taken off. In Kansas City this month I fenced as well as I ever have bringing home two medals.

The next few months are going to be busy as far as fencing I'll be in Tampa in February, Cincinnati, in March and Virgina Beach in April.   The schedule is demanding but I'm looking forward to it.
Like last year I'm setting a sales goal for a major purchase, this year its a new fencing chair. The one that I use now is my team captains old one. It has served me well to this point but it is time I got one of my own that was built for me. A new fencing chair is approximately $2,000 or 333 dozen cookies. A big goal no doubt, but I have never backed down from a challenge.
Thank you all for your support over the last 12 months and for sticking with me during my cookie experiment and fencing adventure.

Little bites of buttery independence!

No it is not a hobby it is not something I am doing "just because" Wheeling Chef is my business, small at the moment but building every day. The recipes are not ones I lifted from the web they are ones I've developed from research and trial and error. The business supports my passion for my fencing and I wouldn't have it any other way. Granted the business started at a time when all I could afford was a 5lb bag of flour and a box of butter and I needed to raise funds to cover some major expenses that I was hardly prepared for. Now those little bits of buttery goodness have done so much more for me then I ever intended. Yes the budget is still tight, but cookies are helping ends meet more and more. There were times when I wondered what I had gotten myself into, and if this crazy idea was to crazy to go anywhere, but just like fencing, and life in general I just put my head down and powered through. Now like fencing, cookies are turning the corner, with every dozen I get closer and closer to my dream. Who knew that butter flour and sugar could be so liberating. Now its time to head back into the kitchen and create a few more dozen little bites of buttery independence!

Well that was fun!

As most of you know I spent last weekend in Kansas City at a fencing tournament. I am happy to report that I fenced very well rolling away with two shiny medals! Thanks to your suppourt and love of wheeling chef cookies I was able to pay my registration fee, cover my hotel room, eat and buy a new mask! More importantly thank you all for the text messages, Facebook posts and tweets wishing me luck, those meant more to me then the financial support.  Delta behaved themselves and my chair and equipment arrived in one piece, honestly I think they managed to bend it back to where it was before the infamous flight from hell.

I never thought I would be participating in wheelchair fencing nor that I would be supporting my participation in it with the profits from cookies, but here we are almost two years into my fencing career and a year and a half into running a cookie business and things are rolling right along. My next major event is in Cincinnati Ohio March 16th-19th and then  April 13,- April 16,   Virginia Beach, Virginia. I'm going to be vary busy.. And I'm going to have to start selling a lot of cookies.

This years big goal is to pay for the tournaments and  get a new fencing chair, the one i'm using now is hand me down and has served me well but its time to get one built just for me, They are not cheap but worth it, a new chair breaks down to about 500 dozen cookies but  it can be done.


Again I cannot express my gratitude for the support I've received from all of you. Thank you for joining and supporting me on this journey.

I am me I am not a wheelchair

A week or so ago received an email from a good friend, she presented me with an odd yet flattering question. In the course of her job she came in contact with the mother of a young man with cerebral palsy who is having a tough time of it. My friend asked me if I would be willing to introduce myself to the family and share some of my experiences. I remember all too well what  its like to be 16 ,have cerebral palsy and  navigate  the social minefield that is high-school. I decided to write the email, but then I figured the fans of my blog might want to get to know a little more about their favorite sword wielding, cookie slinging, twitterrific guy.  
My name is Rick Zengler and I was born with cerebral palsy.  My parents insisted that I attend school public school rather then a school that was designed with the disabled in mind. I went through the normal awkward stages that kids go through complete with  bullying. My teenage years were tough, they are tough on everyone,  the addition of a wheelchair made those years even tougher. I never felt like I fit in with the rest of the kids at school and had periods of depression because of it. I ended up getting involved with High-school sports  and that helped provide what I needed to navigate the high-school jungle. I got involved with the football team in the esteemed position of "hydration coordinator" better know as water-boy. Eventually I approached the coach of the wrestling team and asked if I could do something to help out. His idea of me helping out was having me join the team as a wrestler. I would love to tell you that I was the biggest bad ass on the mat but I wasn't truth be told I wasn't good at all, but I finally fit in. I found out from my friends years later that at first the team didn't know what to think when they saw me roll into the wrestling room but over time  they saw that despite the difficulties I was having I was hanging in with pace of practice and showing up day after day, It was my dedication that impressed them not the fact that I was in a wheelchair. It took a little time and two summers working in Alaska for me to figure out that I use a wheelchair to get around the  wheelchair does not define who I am. Once I figured that out life became a series of obstacles to be met and overcome rather then ones that would cause me to become frustrated and depressed. Don't get me wrong my life has not been all sunshine and puppies, and I've had some tough times, I've been broke, I've been homeless, and I've had relationships fail. I've learned from everything and  I've grown. and there will always be setbacks. its just how you handle them and what you learn from those setbacks. Its because of all of these setbacks and what they taught me  that I found myself in West Palm Beach Florida  entering culinary school, after even after getting resistance from the admissions department, I knew what I wanted and wasn't going to let anything stop me.
I'm Rick Zengler and I make cookies to help make my dream come true.  Oh I use a wheelchair to get around, but its not what defines me.