The love of food and the passion to work with our hands runs deep in our family. My parents, Phil and Brenda, met in culinary school in 1970. My dad, training to be a chef and my mom, training to be a pantry chef, food brought them together. Though their work moved into the realm of construction, their embrace of culinary pursuits never ceased. Family gatherings and church events were always a time for their former skills to come alive with pots of soup, spaghetti sauce, beef roasts and the like.
As my sister and I grew older, we would help prep and serve alongside our parents. In my early teen years I began to prepare the family meals. I loved reading cookbooks, seeing what were new ingredients to try, or unique ways to prepare a dish. Little restrictions were put on my exploration. Though most meals were a success, there was still the occasional disastrous dinner that became inedible due to a mistake like not washing off the seawater from calamari. Failures were good reminders of what not to do in the future and to keep improving on preparation and technique. With the introduction of Food Network, my sister and I would watch endlessly as chefs prepared in innovative and exciting ways, helping further my desire to learn more.
As I ventured from my parents’ home, my love of preparing food did not end. Parties and potlucks were a time for me to share this passion of food with friends. Even the time while trying to make plans with a friend, I realized my split pea soup needed stirring. So distracted by the stirring, the phone that was cradled between my shoulder and ear, slipped into the soup as I yelled into the pot “Ruth...Ruth!” This has given my friends years of jokes about my “phone soup”. Undaunted by this episode I explored further into the world of cuisine, which became more abundantly available than ever before and I gained a new appreciation for speakerphone.
New cookbooks were richer with stories, not only about the food, but also about the people who made them, the how and the why of it all. I wanted to share my story. Having only prepared in a home kitchen, my parents guided me into starting small with a simpler food such as a hot dog. But it’s not just a hot dog. It’s a hot dog that has been considered for its flavor, texture and quality, with toppings that taste great and that I’m proud to serve. I want each dining experience to be a one where the guest says “That was really different; I wonder what they’ll have next!” My story continues as Roaming Dog Kitchen represents sharing my love for food and sharing that with my community.
