About Me

Hi, my name is Linda. I was born and raised in the city of Derby in the UK, and relocated to Greater Seattle in 2006, where I now reside with my baby cat.

I’m a research scientist by trade, where I studied chemistry, medicinal chemistry, biochemistry and physics. However, despite my endless (22) years of schooling, one of my favorite places to be in is the kitchen… creating!

I was a fat child, a very fat child… and weird enough, the only fat child of four. It wasn’t that I didn’t exercise, I did – I was in the school’s netball team, and played table tennis like a nutter… I was just a fat child. I continued my fat childhood into an overweight adult. In my early twenties I slowly started to change my diet, I ate more fruit, vegetables, whole grains and eliminated all processed foods. The only form of exercise I fit in was the 7-mile (11.25 km) walk to and from work every day. This was how I managed to lose 50+ lbs (22.75 kg or 3 stones 7 lb)  and I’ve been stable for ~20 years. I now walk, play tennis, practice yoga, row, get on the treadmill and ride my bike on a regular basis.

I’m a firm believer that there’s no quick fix pill that will make you lose weight, nor is there a fad diet that will work for you long-term. The only way that you can lose weight and keep it off is if you completely change your lifestyle, and educate yourself about nutrition. I cook (from scratch) almost every day of the year, planning my meals to ensure that I get a nutritionally balanced diet. I’d like to think that I have a-healthier-than-average diet, that’s not to say that I don’t deny myself of “treats” from time to time (as this blog will show).

I love food – cooking it, looking at it, smelling it and of course eating it! I’ve been involved with food production since I was knee-high to a grasshopper. My family has busied themselves with family-run eateries, and as Po’s dad said “…broth runs through our veins”. I’ve worked as the catering director at Whole Foods, owned a catering company, and worked at allrecipes.com.

I have many influences on what I cook – being of Chinese descent, and born in Europe has given me a huge canvas on which to paint pot in which to cook. I absolutely love Asian food (yes, that does include Southern Asian), but Mediterranean food is on the same par. I’ve also recently discovered that I have a taste for Ethiopian food too!

Unfortunately, I have developed numerous food sensitivities since moving to the US. Due to this, I’ve dabbled with vegan and paleo baking, and buy almost everything organic. While I was in Europe, it didn’t make sense for me to buy organic; the Foods Standard Agency (FSA) and the European Union (EU) regulations appear to be pretty stringent in what foods they deem safe.

Additional development: in February 2013, I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease, an autoimmune disease which attacks the thyroid. Since then, by recommendation of my ND, I stopped eating gluten. You can read more about my travels with Hashimoto’s here. I have also stopped eating mammalian meat, dairy, soy, nightshades, peanuts, sesame seeds, most grains (except rice), and refined sugars.

Putting my food obsession aside, I also love the theatre, World travel, writing, hiking, kayaking, biking, cats, reading, photography, listening to music, badminton, tennis, jigsaws, Scrabble, Xbox, crocheting, colouring, painting, and snorkeling.

Why this blog? I’ve had a private blog for numerous years now and I think it’s time that it went public. I’d like to share with you my kitchen creations (and maybe some of my disasters), so that you can enjoy them too.

[updated March 2020]