I live on the beach in La Jolla with my Swiss hubby Andrew and our little Aussie pup, Eddie Murphy.

My family is my world. My husband Andrew is my biggest advocate. My mother, Lisa, she is my angel. My father Mike is and will always be my hero and my sister……my sister is my rock, my kindred spirit. And her boys, Lincoln and River own my heart. (If you follow along my social media, you know!). Baking for them is my euphoria.

My memories from childhood are entirely built around moments of sweetness in the kitchen, with my mother. The rich, spiced scent of cinnamon rolls on winter mornings and juicy, tangy strawberry rhubarb pie with homemade pie crust on balmy summer evenings. Her desserts were always so delicate yet decadent. They were honest, familiar, comforting, imperfect in the most perfect way, dulcet, wholesome and full of warmth, just like her. Always just the right amount of sweetness to sate. My love and devotion to food became eminent very young, etched into my heart, richly so.

After college, I packed a suitcase and moved to San Francisco to experience city life. It was challenging, exhilarating and oh so beautiful. Followed next was a move to Southern California to pursue my Master’s Degree in Architecture.

After long nights at the studio during graduate school, I would get back to my little apartment, mentally fatigued from building models and drawing elevations, hands covered in glue and ink, and I would bake. No matter the hour, I would bake. I craved the process. It became a dreamy affair between myself and my tiny kitchen. It was my creative outlet, my sweet ritual with a much more tangible, immediately gratifying, delicious sense of the meaning. I could further express myself artistically and with the sweetest outcome. It was my elixir for creativity.

My collection of recipes form a narrative, a little story behind the chosen ingredients and flavor profiles, never predictable and never ordinary. Sticky, sweet, crispy, chewy, nutty, salty, creamy, floral, rich, ethereal, subtle, complex. They are all the adjectives. Each derived from an emotion, a memory, a shared connection. They are the vice that will forever serve me best. They are nostalgia. They are my art.

A few of my favorite ingredients and ones that frequent many of my recipes are salted dark chocolate, honey crisp apples, cinnamon, oat milk, rhubarb, pistachios, cardamom, zucchini, Maldon salt, figs and almond butter.