About

First, I replicated all recipes I missed terribly and I sure tweaked them. After being emotionally satisfied by those flavours, soon I became tired of the same recipes.

I desperately needed to increase my recipes repertoire but I did not know how and where.

So, I started with old cookbooks because they were easily available to me. Some I inherited, others I got at second hand stores really cheap and in flea markets throughout the year.

By immersing in the cooking experiences of Elisabeth David, Anne Willan, the Rombauer sisters, Marcella Hazan, my cooking learning journey had began. It was really fun to try recipes with ingredients that were foreign to me, such as a cake made only with almond four, or a combination that looked initially weird to me such as a salad of endive and walnuts.

Just in case you have noticed these women cookbook authors wrote their books in English. In that time my French was non existent. However, from 2017-2018 my knowledge came mainly from French recipe books, from famous chefs authors to cookbooks really unknown. I enjoy the cooking learning as well as the stories about French regional cooking.

Nowadays, I long for my meals cooked at home and overcame my desperation of eating the same recipes.

I am grateful for the knowledge I got from my mom and from those women cookbook authors. Ah, there is also another contribution: my two official testers because regular home cooks need testers. My husband and son, to whom I refer to as “The two Egos“.

Ego is the super demanding food critic character in the movie Ratatouille. When my two testers try my recipes first say their favourite phrase acting like Ego:

“Il manque un je ne sais quoi“, or in a free English translation ” Something is missing“. Only after the true appreciation and suggestion begins. They believe this is the best way to keep me in the groove of getting better. Sometimes it does, other time it drives me crazy.

This site aims to transmit some of the knowledge I acquired over the years from those wonderful women cooks and cookbook authors. It is also my way to thank all of them for their courage of cooking and writing cookbooks which inspired so many people like me.

I wish you a joyful learning in your home cooking,

Nyedja.