Explore the World through Cuisine

I tried stopping her! I tried telling her no! She did not realize what she was doing! I had just brought this sweet little puff ball home! I had waited so long to bring her home! How could this be the end at the beginning? I got out of my chair and sat down with new bundle of joy! I will sit right here on the floor and wait. I got my bum set up on a pillow and tried getting Belle to relax as well. Of course, she did not to go to sleep, this crazy munchkin just wanted to play!

As I sat there with Belle playing tug of war with 1 of her many new toys; I began thinking about how I had been working so hard for the last 10 years. Today was my 30th birthday. I was so excited to relax and be home. It felt like it had been a long time since I had stopped running around the world. I had picked Belle up from the breeder a week ago. I had searched for a breeder for awhile. Belle is not a completely uncommon pup but not exactly a dog you can get from anywhere. She is a Tibetan Mastiff. I had actually learned about the breed on one of my many work trips to Tibet. I am a journalist. I began traveling and writing right after college. I worked hard for my degree in journalism. I still love writing!

My college scores and writing ability landed me with a small company who sent me to places to write on the cuisine from the area. I did my first trip to a small village outside of Moscow. One very unusual thing I had learned while in Russia was most Russians love American peanut butter. Many people I befriended there always asked if I could get any. I cannot say I disagree! I love learning from people! Next, my company sent me to South Korea where I did a story on how American troops positively or negatively affected cuisine and culture. That one was fun too but not exactly as much fun as Russia. After South Korea, I headed back to the U.S. I had received enough recognition in my very few stories to earned a job with National Geographic. This was essentially my dream job and I started traveling everywhere! That is when I was introduced to the Tibetan Mastiff. These ferocious looking dogs were used in camps or small villages. There was typically a single dog who was tied up fairly close to the middle of the village. The whole village fed the dog and in turn the dog was the protector of village. These dogs were huge and very fierce! They did not function like a typical Golden Retriever. These dogs knew how to be fully independent and struggled at times with acknowledging they are ever wrong. They could also look like a crazy, rabid bear or like a sweet dog with too much hair. Now here I am sitting on the floor praying I hadn’t killed my dream dog!

After Tibet, I wrote and traveled for several years. I didn’t even have a place of my own. I lived out of my room at my parents house where I had grown up. It worked really well that way. I was rarely home for more than a month. My next “work” trip I traveled to Africa. There was so much beauty to be seen! I even climbed Mount Kilimanjaro while there. Sadly, like with everywhere, I was completely exposed to all the horror humans are capable of. It is disheartening but II am still disappointed I didn’t stay longer.. After 6 months away I started getting sick. I had ignored the issues for a while but it finally got to where I no longer could ignore the sickness or pain. When I got back state side I went to see a gynecologist. Next thing I know I am out of surgery without my reproductive organs. The cancer had been bad but was gone now.

After healing, I finally found a place of my own. It wasn’t much, but I was excited about it. As I started doing my own style of settling down I realized I really wanted a companion. This is when my thoughts went back to Tibet and to that big, fluffy beast in the middle of that tiny village. I knew then I would be adding a Tibetan Mastiff into my life. I found a breeder and just had to wait a couple of weeks to pick her up.

I picked Belle up a week ago. Yesterday I had my first party at my own house. I had my family over and a few friends. It was my first birthday with family in several years. I was also able to introduce Belle and my house to everyone important in my life. Being sick had brought on a lot of contemplation but to a simple conclusion. Life is short. I knew I needed to live life to its fullest. To me, this party was huge step towards that. I had so much fun with everyone! My Mom was an amazing baker! She made me delicious chocolate cake! This was my favorite cake from her! She balanced the dark chocolate with the sugar and caramel perfectly! I am an expert writer on cuisine, right? Talk about a taste of heaven on a fork! Just divine! This is also, sadly, what had put me in my current situation. I had kept the leftover chocolate cake slices.

Now, here I sat on a pillow on my new hard wood floor with a beautiful bundle of fluffy joy now sleeping on my lap. I really, really hoped Belle would not be killed by a bite of my chocolate cake. I had begged my mom to bake it. Now I did not know if my selfishness would kill Belle. I had dropped a bit of my leftover cake on the floor. Her happy butt ran up faster than I knew possible and swallowed the whole chunk whole. I never had a chance to stop her. I sat there most of the night. Belle loves to play but I do think at around 3 am she lost energy. She curled up into my lap and slept. I chose to channel surf until around 5 am and at this point I picked Belle’s small 10 week old puppy body and went to bed.

When I fell asleep, Belle was doing a little puppy snore and curled up to my body. I woke up the next day and found Belle still curled up next to me. As I woke up and started petting her, she did not move. My heart sank! No! No! No! She can’t be dead! Please! No! I started freaking out in my head!! I gave her a little shake! I waited… What felt like a life time I waited. Then her little head started moving around and her tail twitched! Her small mouth created the biggest yawn possible! She was fine! She is awake and healthy! I had not created her death with a slice of chocolate cake.