About Us

My passion for food and cooking began in childhood as a shared interest with my mother. My mum has been selling food at a local market in Indonesia for more than 40 years. Some of my fondest memories as a child was helping to sell her delicious food at a local market in my hometown of Tulungagung. I spent my weekends excitedly helping my mum at the bustling and chaotic markets. There were no proper queues and mum often had to serve ten customers at one time. Everyone wanted to be served first – I loved the fast paced environment. As the markets were only open from 6am-9am 3 days per week, it all seemed to happen so fast and before I knew it, the markets would be closing. As my reward for helping, mum would buy me my favourite dish – ‘Gulai Kambing’/ Goat Curry! Today, my mum is still selling food at the market but now she just does it for fun because she enjoys the experience.

I moved to beautiful Australia few years ago with my husband to begin a new chapter of my life. One of the things I missed most about Indonesia was my mum’s cooking. When I first got here I would often Skype her while cooking so she could guide me through certain recipes. It felt like I was at home when I was cooking and could hear my mother’s voice.

However, my life has become much busier since I started work and don’t have as much time to discuss cooking and recipes with my mum. I realised that I would need to write these recipes down for future reference. Keeping track of all the recipes became difficult and I would often misplace them. That’s when I decided to create a cooking blog and Facebook page where I could share my recipes that I’ve modified to add my personal touch.

My dishes are often a fusion of Western and Eastern elements, as I like to experiment with a variety of different spices to create unique flavours. I love fresh flavours so whenever possible I use fresh ingredients. After moving to Australia I was unable to find some ingredients I needed for Indonesian dishes so I found substitute ingredients available at your local supermarket. It never occurred to me to measure ingredients when I cooked because I have always instinctively known how much of each ingredient was needed. It was only when I wanted to share my recipes with others that I began measuring ingredient quantities.

I believe cooking should come from the heart, full of love. I would describe my cooking as ‘homie’ the type of food you’d expect your mother to cook, the kind of food that makes you feel warm. While I consider taste to be a critical element of the dining experience, I think dining should be a multisensory experience – I want my food to smell, look, feel and taste delicious!

The purpose of this website is to act as a culinary resource where my followers can find and share recipes and cooking tips as well as a place I can share my personal adventures with other food lovers. My love for food and travel takes me to many interesting destinations so this website will act as a platform where I can share photos and reviews of some of the restaurants and places I have experienced.

My big thank you to everyone for your support especially my husband Damien for setting up this blog and my beautiful friend Marcia Miatke for putting together my little story.