Me, Photography & Food

A bit more about me, the EpicureanPiranha

I have no professional training in cooking as such. In fact, I started my career in IT [Information Technology] as a Database Designer and a Software Engineer! But I’ve been cooking on my own since I was about twelve years old.

I moved to Paris, France in 1986, and lived there until 1993. I traveled throughout Europe and North America for quite a few months in ’93, before moving to the UK at the end of that year to set up my own company [a strategic IT consulting company]. I then lived in London for about 13 years, and in Liverpool for over two years before returning to my homeland, the beautiful province of Québec in Canada.

That's me, the EpicureanPiranha, glass of wine in hand, sharing a wonderful meal with my friends and former colleagues in the beautiful city of Nantes, located on the Loire Estuary near the Atlantic coast. They share my love of good food, and they had invited me out for a memorable dinner at one of Nante's many fine restaurants.

 I traveled extensively around Europe during that time, discovering beautiful places, people, cultures, and of course, their wonderful foods and cooking methods! I have the most wonderful souvenirs, and thousands of photos – alas, there were no digital cameras in those days, so these are all sitting in boxes and suitcases, mostly unclassified! I will get to them some day … but in the meantime, I will share with you more recent photographs of Europe that I’ve taken over the past few years.

Having been away from Canada for so long, I have few photos of this lovely country, but I plan on taking many in the future!

Sometimes I  wonder if there are many people like me who read cookbooks as they would a novel!  I can’t pass through a bookstore or shop that has interesting cookbooks without browsing through them intently so as to find a new specimen, despite having hundreds of beautiful cookbooks in my collection. In fact, I’ve acquired some fabulous cooking volumes from all over Europe and North America, many of them from fine restaurants dedicated to me by the chef.  I also own a few very old, prized volumes, which I’ve acquired from my family or old bookshops.  These have been a great source for both learning and inspiration ove the years. As you will discover, I love making all sorts of foods, from savoury to sweet, and from all over the world!  ♥ I must admit, however, that I have a special fondness for gorgeous, rich cakes, anything Italian, and spicy Asian foods ♥

Blogging and WordPress are completely new to me. I finally decided to make use of the web space I’d been paying for for some time, and set about designing this blog at the end of April 2010 with the help of a customizable template I purchased. I have to admit it took me some time to figure it out, but within a week I had a look which I liked, and had published my first article.  I hope you enjoy the design and the cool navigation and search features ♥  [find out more about this under the heading 'Finding What You Want' which you'll see under the FAQ button; you'll find the FAQ button on the top Navigation Bar under the logo at the top of each page].

Photography & Food on EpicureanPiranha.com

I do all of my own photography. Though I am not a professional by any means, photography is one of my passions and I’m finally doing more of it!  All the food you see on this website was prepared by me [unless otherwise mentioned] and if it was a main course, it probably disappeared into my tummy [and quite probably those of family members or friends] very soon after the photos were taken!

Please view my Licensing policy if you are interested in using any of my work. Thank you!

Equipment

Currently using:
Canon EOS Rebel XSi [ie: Canon 450D depending on where you live]
Canon EF-S 18-200 mm f/3.5-5.6 IS
Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM
Sigma and Hoya UV filters
Sigma DG C-PL polarising filter

Canon PowerShot SD 1400 IS  (tiny & easy to carry around all the time)

For some of my older photos:
Canon PowerShot A95