Before we get to me, I have something way better. I've been waiting for years to make my 5 kids re-enact these classic photos from their childhood, more than a decade later! Please check these out, and there's more about me below.
Here are the whippersnappers in 2011 showing off their homemade pain Poilâne, an iconic loaf of sourdough bread from France:
From the top going clockwise, we have Sophie (#1, the oldest), Remy (#2), Camille (#5), Leo (#4), and Pascal (#3). They loved all of our cooking experiments when they were little!
And here they are now, reliving the experience. This time the homemade bread was a regular French bread boule:
Notice their wildly different heights these days! They've grown up way too fast, and I yell at them every time they have a birthday. They're currently really helpful taste testers for my recipes whenever I can chase them down. By the 8th or 9th trial of any recipe, they start running away when I try to make them try the newest version. Even the desserts!
And in 2012, the girls tried to sell off their brothers:
Somehow, we still have them up for sale more than a decade later, along with an extra Bernese mountain dog:
They kids are always willing to humor me by trying my food and crops from the garden. And I absolutely credit gardening with them from early childhood as the reason they'll try new food with an open mind and a curious palate. I'm so grateful!
Thanks so much for being here with me. Here I am with my husband Cyril, "The Adorable Frenchman" (He doesn't want me to call him this, but it's not my fault he's so cute!), at a ball when we lived in Shanghai from 2017-2021. I'm a former engineer and an advanced master gardener. And I really love spreadsheets.
Since I was a kid, I've always been obsessed with growing, cooking, and eating food. Not just food from the American Upper Midwest, where I'm from, but from the furthest reaches of the globe. I've managed to live in 3 countries (Austria, Germany, and China) in addition to my home country of the US so far, and I'm always thrilled to discover new places and cultures. I'd happily move back overseas to a new country at a moment's notice!
Below is my herb garden in 2023. It's much more packed now, as I'm trying to find space each year for every herb variety possible. Such an exciting life goal!
For me, there's such a profound link between growing our food and eating it. I savor the understanding and appreciation that we can gain in experiencing flavors and dishes that are wildly new to us. I love to show curiosity and respect for new places, cultures, and ways of thinking.
And It's really important for me to enjoy food from a vegan perspective. The beautiful heirloom tomatoes below from my garden have origins in many countries with histories dating back hundreds of years. They each have their own special and incredibly delicious story:
Growing food, whether herbs, vegetables, or fruit, is also something I've always done. I just have to keep my hands in the soil! Dirty nails are for me like a badge of honor.
Here are some gorgeous varieties of heirloom carrots from the garden. These were like a treasure hunt to pull out of the soil:
It's important for me to grow organically, without any animal inputs, and to use principles from both permaculture and regenerative agriculture to leave the soil better than I've found it. Here's my basil garden, grown with compost and cover crops, using crop rotation, and with varieties from all over the world:
There are so many thrilling foods and flavors from every corner of the globe, and I want to try them all! Here are some heirloom eggplants from the garden from various parts of the world:
I also love to experience each day through humor. When I'm not swearing at the weeds and cursing about my sore back, I'm laughing with Cyril and the kids. I also love to spend time with friends and make them try my latest dishes, herbs, and homemade botanical liqueurs. And I love to read a good book, get outside when the weather is nice (NOT in the freezing winter, which lasts forever here in Michigan!), and to practice yoga and rowing.
Here's my favorite social media post from the first day of school every year when the kids were little. I captioned it: "It's back to school time. let's do this thing."
Some of my favorite things to do are to shop at international grocery stores, where every new flavor is a wonderous new opportunity, and to go to used book sales to find even more cookbooks and gardening books to treasure. And also to sneak in quotes whenever possible from the Lord of the Rings, Monty Python, Star Wars, the Office, etc. And laughing, always laughing.
Here are our Bernese mountain dogs, Hazel (left) and Freddy (top). Notice the chewing on the kitchen molding behind them. Ugh. It's a good thing they're so sweet and cute!
And here they are helping me in the garden:
And here are the two cats that we rescued in Shanghai. Here's Henry helping to fold the laundry:
And below is Maya, also from Shanghai, helping me to take notes from a gardening book. We love sharing our lives with our beloved pets.
If you've made it this far, thanks so much for getting to know us! I'm really happy to have this dream job of growing exciting heirloom crops from around the world and adding them to captivatingly delicious food and drink recipes. I'm so glad to share them with you. Thanks for being here! ❤️