Julio, Reyes & Pepe

Further to Monday’s “judge not lest ye be judged” post… I am thrilled to tell you that this one is nothing like it! And since it’s not often something like what happened the other day happens to me I thought I’d share. This actually took place on Monday while I was at Casa Morales organising the final touches for my first Sevilla Sherry Tasting of the year. I went there with Peter to try out a couple of pairings and Reyes was there, so she joined us. Then Pepe, the owner of La Fresquita, stopped by to say hello, and Julio Revilla also stopped by but also ended up joining us.

I first met Julio many years ago at an event where we ended up sitting together at the same table, so we got to know each other a bit. At the time he was the president of the Concorcio del Jabugo but these days he has returned to “simply” producing some of the best jamón and other Ibérico de Bellota products in the world, Sierra Mayor, which includes a Guiness record breaking jamón that sold for 12,000 euros. But I digress.

At one point we were talking about service in bars and Julio said it was very important that waiters look you in the eye when speaking to you, which led to me talking about my first waiting job (at age 30!) in Toronto. I said that at first I found it hard because I was so shy but then learned it was a bit like theatre and that made it easier going “on stage” as a different persona. Then I laughed and said to Julio “I guess it’s hard to believe I was ever shy, right?” AND HE SAID “No, I think that you are still shy now”.

And suddenly… blam! Busted.

But also blown away along with a sense of relief because I think most of the time people don’t actually see me, only what they project onto me. Honestly, this really made my day because I can’t tell you how grateful I felt that someone not only saw this in me, a part of who I truly am, a part that almost nobody else ever notices, and that he also told me he could see it. So all is not lost! I hope. xx