Work Morning Moose

On my daily way to work, I met Mrs. Moose (again).

She just crossed "Eagle Road" while I was being hysterically excited, trying to get a good shot...

I love where we live!

Oyster mushroom grove

Last weekend Wil an I originally planned on going fishing. 

On the way to the lake we spotted people with baskets, obviously mushroom pickers.

We pulled over immediately, grabbed our basket and knives and ran into the forest. Wil found some boletus mushrooms right away, and later we found an oyster mushroom grove.

It's almost ridiculous how happy mushroom picking makes me. 

It's both exciting and relaxing at the same time.

That is if you don't run into a bear mama and her cubs or a hungry cougar....

Back home we made homemade pasta with mushroom whisky sauce, a Murray-classic at this point.

I never had wild oyster mushrooms before. They are much milder and less earthy tasting then chanterelles and porcini. Maybe that is because they grow on trees rather than on the ground.

What was very interesting was the slight anis flavor and smell that added a new twist to the dish.

Welcome to the prairie!

Yes, meat&chocolate is still alive. It just went through a hibernation and metamorphosis process.
New home, new plans, new name!

A little more than one month ago Wil, my pet rabbit Beule and I moved from Berlin to the Canadian prairies. We traded our little tiny apartment in the vibrant capital city of Germany for a life on the countryside south of Calgary.

As you can probably imagine, this is a huge change for us, and quite an adventure.

There are tons of things we need to learn and have to get used to.

For example, we are now completely dependent on a car. The town of Okotoks is 5km away and it takes us about 45 minutes to get to downtown Calgary. I didn't drive for over 12 years  because I always lived in big cities with a good public transport system. Now I have to drive in order to buy groceries or to get to work, and I have to practice being a hoarder buying enough food in advance.

So that's definitely a little challenge, because I'm used to just popping downstairs to the grocery store next door for some spontaneous wine, chocolate etc.

But there are also a lot of good things about living on the countryside. Rather than listening to drunk party folks yelling in front of our house at 4am in the morning, we get to fall asleep to coyotes howling in the fields, and wake up to deer eating the crabapples in our garden. And then there is wide-open space, beautiful sunsets and a breathtaking view of the Rocky Mountains.

Here are some impressions of our new home:

Our little house on the prairies, including our temporary
but mandatory pick-up truck. 

Our property with the big red barn!

Our future vegetable garden - photo taken from our kitchen window

The view we wake up to every morning. I love the rockies!

We even got a little barn cat. We named her Schröder, after my maiden name.
She is still a kitten, but very hungry and growing quickly.

 Schröder, the kitten

And yes, before you ask, my rabbit Beule arrived safe and sound and is enjoying his Canadian home....

The rabbit loves Canada!

...especially his new favourite spot in front of the fireplace.

With so much space and freedom we made tons of (food-) related plans. 

But first of all we need to build up our lives here. 

A few days after our arrival I took on a part-time position at the Kensington Wine Market to learn more about wine, beer and whisky. I've also been helping out as a production assistant at photo shootings for HeroImages. The last time I worked for them I was asked to do some spontaneous food styling for one of their "Christmas"-shoots.

Food styling for HeroImages...The Christmas Ham

So two jobs within the first two weeks of being here...I guess that's not that bad!

You see, I've been quite busy the last couple of weeks and I'm still pretty overwhelmed. Therefore cooking and blogging didn't really happen, also because we didn't have well-functioning internet.

Well, we cooked, but not really anything new...

One of our standard meals for the past four weeks:
scrambled eggs from hutterite eggs with tomatoes, chive from our garden
and maple bacon.

This is going to change very soon! I'm so excited and motivated to try out new recipes and get to know our new kitchen a bit better. But I also want to focus more on the self-sufficient aspect of living on the country side. Wil and I want grow our own fruits and vegetables, hunt, forage, make cheese, smoke meat and maybe have livestock of some sort.

Hibernation is over, my friends. I'm awake and ready to throw myself into new food adventures!

Welcome to Our Little House On the Prairie!