What The Heck is a Taste Tripping Party?

I hope everyone had a great Canada day and happy 4th of July! I’m a little late on this post as the family and I visited Banff, Lake Louise, and Calgary this past holiday weekend. That’s a whole other post in itself though.

So just this past Wednesday I was invited to a taste tripping/potluck party/blogger meet up hosted by Valerie @ A Canadian Foodie. Counting the dishes that I took pictures of, I’d say there were about 17 foodies and bloggers plus their other halves; so about 30 people in attendance.

As soon as we arrived, we were each given name tags with the names of our blogs underneath our names, then escorted to the drinks section. Check out this beautiful, huge punch bowl. How can you tell “someone” entertains a lot ? 😉

You can click on any of the smaller pictures to enlarge them.

Not only did we have name tags, but Valerie also made labels for each dish.

Plus, she put together a recipe book of all the dishes that everyone brought that night and we all got to take one home. How cool is that?

Look at all this wonderful food.

The table was so long that I had to take two pictures just to capture everything. But it’s also cause my picture taking skills suck.

The moment I’ve been waiting for all night, Valerie announcing that dinner is about to start…teehee.

Let’s start with the salads shall we?

Courtney, from Take it and Like it!, brought a Tzitziki & Pita, Garden Salad.

Kelley, from Cookbook Cooks, brought a Summer Chickpea Salad.

Jean, from May Contain Nuts, brought a Moroccan Quinoa Salad.

Mel, from Cellar Door, brought a Tabbouleh Salad.

King Crabby, who is also from May Contain Nuts, brought a Pickled Beet Salad.

Brooke, also from Take it and Like it!, brought Prosciutto & Fig Crostini.

FIG! Can you believe I’ve never had a fig before? Lynn, if you’re reading this, I FINALLY GOT TO TASTE A FIG! Okay, so it wasn’t a whole fig, just a slice of a fig, but you were right…YUMMERS! And so continues mission fig. Brooke, I’ll be stalking dropping by your blog soon to find out where you got those figs. Or if anyone knows where I can find fresh figs in Edmonton and would like to save Brooke from me stalking her blog, please shoot me an email or comment.

Sorry, got a bit sidetracked; that happens a lot with me (hubby is nodding his head in agreement). Back to the food shall we?

Lea, from XOX Lea Lea, brought Brochettes de Kefta.

Allan, from Button Soup brought a Goose Confit Ravioli with Celery Leaves and a Rhubarb Vinaigrette.

Kevin, from Kevin Kossowan, brought an Applewood Smoked Moose Tongue.

Bianca, from What’s For Dinner?, brought a warm Pesto Potato Salad.

Valerie, our gracious hostess, made Roasted Red Peppers. Not to mention, that huge bowl of punch you saw earlier, the taste tripping spread (which you’ll see later), and not one, but two huge Pavlovas (which you’ll also see later).

Maria, manager of the City Market, brought Sloppy Joe Bison Sliders.

Daniel (@DanPrime) brought Portuguese-Style Chicken and Rice.

Colleen, from How to Cook a Wolf, brought Chicken Tajine with Tomatoes Olives and Chickpeas as well as some homemade flat bread.

Chris, from Eating is the Hard Part, brought Puerco Pibil (also Cochinita Pibil). Hey Valerie, I hope you don’t mind me stealing this picture from you. By the time I got to this dish, everything was all gone (I can definitely see why).

Ms. Brûlée from The Brulee Blog brought a Pandan Agar Agar dessert, but I forgot to get a picture of it as she was passing it out around the room and I was too busy enjoying it. But you can get the recipe and see a picture of it by clicking on the Pandan Agar Agar link above.

Finally, I brought Fermented Tofu Sauce with Water Spinach. Or for those of you who understand Chinese, it’s also known as Fuyu Ong Choy.

I’m sorry if I’ve missed anybody’s dish, or if I made any mistakes on your dishes; please let me know and I’ll be glad to make the correction. So let the party begin!

Here’s my plate. Being the piggy that I am, I tried to stuff a little of everything on it. I was unsuccessful as I had to go back for a second plate to get everything I missed the first time. Let’s just say, Edmonton foodies/bloggers, you sure know how to work that kitchen! Everything was fantastic! A lot of these dishes were new to me but I enjoyed each and every one of them. They all had their own unique tastes. Now this is what a potluck is supposed to be like.

The next part of the party was quite an experience.

Ever heard of the miracle fruit or miracle berry? Well we tried the miracle berry tablets. You’re supposed to take one tablet, let it dissolve on your tongue without chewing or swallowing it, and smear it around your tongue as it’s dissolving. The tablet alters the sour and bitter taste buds on the tongue, causing sour foods to taste sweet.

Valerie is explaining what to do with the tablet as many of us had never tried this before.

As if there wasn’t enough food at the potluck, Valerie put out this beautiful spread just for the taste tripping.

She laid out grapefruits, limes, lemons, radishes, rhubarb, oranges, pineapples, tomatoes, olives, pickles, garlic, grapes, kiwi, brussels sprouts, strawberries, chocolate, salt and vinegar chips, cheese, sour cream, yoghurt, different sauces, and different beers.

Here’s my plate of samples.

The ones that surprised me most were the lime and lemon slices. Both of them tasted sweet, like lemonade. I liked them both so much that I took both slices from the hubby’s plate as well. The funny thing was, while the lime and lemon slices tasted sweet inside my mouth, the outside rim of my mouth and lips were burning from the sourness. I also enjoyed the strawberry, kiwi, and rhubarb, as they all had heightened sweetness to them.

We weren’t done just yet as Valerie brought out the final dessert for the night, Pavlova. This was the first time I had ever had Pavlova, and it knocked the socks off of me. Look at this beauty!

She not only made one, but two Pavlovas!

And look at the size of them!

They definitely tasted as delicious as they looked! I can’t wait till she posts the recipe.

What a wonderful taste tripping/potluck party/blogger meet up this was Valerie. As I’ve commented on your blog, you bring such life to the blogosphere, and I love your constant curiosity of the unknown. It was a pleasure to finally meet Vanja. Thank you muchly for the invite as this was the best potluck I have ever been to. What an experience!

To all the bloggers whom I got a chance to talk to that night, it was a pleasure meeting you all as well. It’s so nice to finally put faces to the blogs I stalk…err…I mean, read. I’m ashamed to say I haven’t had a chance to visit all of your blogs yet, but I’ll definitely be making my way around to everyone’s blogs soon.

I hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it. If you want a much better explanation of the taste tripping, and better pictures, you can also check out Valerie’s post here. Food blogging totally rocks! Until next time friends and family.