The True Story of Zola and Zola's Nuts
Holiday Greetings!
Sarah McCann (aka Zola) is the CEO of Apex Performance Systems. She is also married to Chris Lytle. If you are getting a box of Zola's Nuts, you are truly a valued customer of Apex. (Thank you!)
These nuts are created in the Lytle-McCann kitchen, packaged, boxed and shipped from Apex to you with the hope that you will share them and make them again for your friends and family in your home oven. They are incredibly delicious and astoundingly simple to make.
Sarah whipped up the first version last year for Chris as a low-carb alternative to Chex Mix. Chris loved them and so did dinner guests. They were so popular, in fact, that she decided to "mass produce" them for gifts for friends, family and clients.
Speaking of dinner guests, Sarah's "hobby" is entertaining. She runs the company and still manages to squeeze in 40-45 dinner parties a year in our home in Madison or our office/home in Chicago. Those dinner parties can be a Sunday dinner for our friends down the street, a lavish dinner for clients who are visiting Madison or the neighborhood Christmas party for 40 couples. No caterers. In fact, Sarah loves the challenge of pulling off a party in three hours or less including shopping. Some call her "the anti-Martha." She teaches people how to arrange the three bags of flowers for $10.99 into beautiful centerpieces, how to prepare simple, elegant meals, and even how to get guests laughing and dancing while they help clean up!
Not long ago, a popular local magazine got wind of that and published a feature article about the CEO who entertains for fun. That turned into a monthly column and later an Internet column (ArcaMAX) that goes to 150,000+ avid readers who try her recipes and entertaining tips. She gets more fan mail and feedback each week than her sales trainer husband. Seems that people are hungry for ideas on how to simplify rather than complicate the art of the dinner party.
This has led to speaking engagements for Sarah and she's got a book in the works too ("The Art of the Dinner Party") and a web site,
www.dinnerwithzola.com (Click Here).
So where does the name Zola come from? One day as we were driving from Tampa to Naples, we were talking about naming the column and perhaps using a pen name. At the time we were both reading John Grisham's The King of Torts. One of the characters was named Adelpha Pumphrey. Chris made the comment that he could name characters better than that. "How about Zola Gorgon?" We "tested" the name at dinner that night with a group of Madisonians who winter in Naples. Most of them "got it" . . . . "Oh I get it. Zola Gorgon. Gorgonzola (blue cheese) backwards." In any event "Zola" stuck. Comments like, "Zola knows cooking and entertaining" and "Let's ask Zola" surfaced repeatedly. So "Zola" is the alter ego who loves to entertain.
And whether or not you were entertained by this true story, we hope you'll enjoy Zola's Nuts (unless you have acid reflux and no purple pills). By the way, this year's nut recipe is the most popular of 2004. It's the curry-flavored ones. (There are now four flavors being prepared for market). This small batch was made with love in Zola Gorgon's own kitchen with the help of her assistant Parmi Zahn (get that one?) and even of sous-chef Chris. And with that we wish you a very Zola Holiday season.
For this recipe and variations on the theme, please visit
www.dinnerwithzola.com You'll find ideas and recipes that simplify your life and make entertaining a breeze. It's part of the Apex Web Site-and oftentimes the most visited pages.
Happy Holidays to you and yours, Zola, Chris and the team at Apex
(That's the end of the letter.)