The Debut

Hello everyone.  I’ve finally made it!  After a year of keen, but silent observation, I’ve found a voice.  I’m so excited.  I feel like you’re all old friends and I’ve enjoyed visiting your kitchens on countless occasions.  But I admit that I feel a touch of stage fright peeking out from under my rock.  Eek!  Look at all of you out there watching me.  My mouth is dry and my hands feel clammy.

My name is Liz and I am from Calgary, Alberta, Canada.  I am an Oil and Gas Accountant by profession and although I enjoy it, I wouldn’t refer to it as my calling.  It’s food I love.  And having a career so unrelated, has driven me to find ways to release my long buried food energies.  This seems like the perfect opportunity.

To explain in words my passion for food, I realized that I had to understand it a bit better myself. So I did some thinking on it, and I realized that food actually appeals to me on several different levels.  First of all it allows me to be adventurous and creative.  I absolutely love the challenge of trying something new, and am always on the lookout for new ingredients and intriguing recipes.  However, I can’t forget the foods that I know.  There really is nothing as deeply comforting as one of Grandmas ginger snap cookies!  But even after having said all that, for me there’s something more to it. I find the social aspect of food to be equally as important.  It’s the one thing that’s common in most social gatherings.  And if food isn’t about people, then consider how much fun it would be to cook if there was never anyone to share it with.  Food is about people. Whether it’s traditional fare, or a complex gourmet dinner on the menu, it’s the sharing that makes the experience.

I have a curiosity about food.  I love to try new things, and all the more so when something is difficult to find.  And so it was with the truffle.  Having wanted to experience the truffle for sometime, I went on the hunt.  My discovery occurred at Food Trade Fair in Calgary last spring, when I came across a vendor selling truffles in varying forms.  Yeah!  Without delay I purchased an ever-so-tiny bottle of truffle oil, not yet being brave enough to buy the $90 jar of real truffles.  It was soon after buying it that I took it with me to a dinner at my parents.  I was going to prepare simple mashed potatoes, as suggested by the vendor, to test my treasured condiment.  However, as the night unfolded the truffle oil was forgotten.  So there it sat on the window ledge where I had placed it, unopened and alone.  The next morning as my Dad was making coffee, he opened the window and bumped my tiny vile of truffle infused oil onto the ceramic tile.  Oh no!  As it turns out this was a horrifying event in more ways than one.  Not only was my truffle oil gone, and without having offered me even a single glimpse into its being.  But its smell, as it was relayed to me, was even worse.  It was apparently incredibly strong and not at all appetizing.  So, there I was back at the beginning.  I had still not experienced the elusive truffle, and my means to do so was now gone.  I was on the hunt again, and thus Truffle Mutt was born.

Well, I guess that’s about all I have to share with you for now.  I need to get off the computer and back to the oven as my Christmas cookies won’t get baked with me sitting here.  Thanks a lot for stopping by though.  It’s been great finally meeting all of you and I’m sure I’ll see you again soon. 

Comments

[tara]

What a charming story - I look forward to hearing your tale of tracking down elusive truffle nirvana!

[Liz]

Tara,

I still haven't tried a truffle. I have seen them since then in their tiny, expensive jars, locked behind inches of bullet proof glass, but I haven't been able to bring myself to buy one. All in good time.

Liz

[Helen]

HELLO from a fellow Calgarian!!!! I was raised in Calgary but now I live out in Okotoks and just loving it. I can't wait to read through your blog.

[Cara]

Hey!

I LOVE your website...(I know that I am quite biased, but that's not why...) I am always excited to see what you have recently made! You should "make" vanilla ice cream w/ balsamic vinegar....I hear that it is FABULOUS!!!!

Cara

[Liz]

Hey Cara, I'll be sure to have you over if I do! ;)