​Do you love veggies as much as I do?
Coming from Romania, I grew up in a home where fresh food was a daily habit! My mum cooked all the time and only used fresh ingredients. I started cooking with her at a young age, so I got to love the flavours and aromas that different veggies offer. And as much as I loved mashed potatoes or fries, mum made sure I would eat peas and broccoli too (I used to hate cauliflower)!  
I moved out of my family home at a young age, I was 19 years old when I left for uni. I started cooking quite often for myself and my roommates, calling mum and grandma all the time, to make sure I am using the right ingredients or the right amount of water.
Of course, I developed my cooking style in time, but I still call my mum when I try certain Romanian recipes. My mum is my cooking hero!
I cook almost daily now as a married woman, and I can say that veggies are always there. Still not a big fan of cauliflower, although I do eat it sometimes now. I usually have salads for lunch and cook something fresh for dinner. My favourite veggies are carrots, leeks, peas, cabbage, courgettes, and aubergines. I am happy that we can find fresh vegetables here in the UK all year round, and we even have a veggie box subscription too, with fresh seasonal veggies from the local farmers. I must say, ever since the veg box subscription, I have tried kale and funny-looking broccoli, big green salads that taste like seaweed, and all the chunky & muddy seasonal veggies they have available, and I love it. I should probably eat at least double the amount of veg I am eating, but I am on the right track, not focusing on the starchy veg too much and more on the green veg.
In January, we have plenty of leeks, onions, and green cabbage that can be turned into a delicious soup (having a Thermomix has changed my life), a beautiful vegetarian shakshuka, and even roasted as a side dish for fish or chicken.
Let’s eat more veggies, my friends, they are amazing! 

I hope you all enjoyed my blog, sign up to my monthly news letter it will be a space for
‘Les gourmands’, the food-loving people that will include seasonal recipes, a foodie’s blog, e-books and lots of photography tips and tricks.

Hi everybody, welcome to my new blog! I haven't done this in a while, so I might be a little bit rusty, please bear with me! I am Cristina, a Romanian living in London UK for the last 8 years.
I have a passion for food, marketing and photography. I have always loved cooking and baking since my childhood with my mother and grandmother, I still have their recipes with me and use them often, every time I miss home a little bit more!
My kitchen is my creative space, the place where all my recipes come to life! I love cooking and baking equally! I love all the spices and aromas that can elevate a simple dish!
I have taken several courses for baking as it is my hobby and my big dream is to take a pastry course one day! In April 2021 I discovered food photography and it has been a true roller coaster as I never held a camera before so everything seemed so hard!
I mean: ISO, aperture, F stop, hard light, soft light, golden triangle, lightroom and there is much much more....
Of course I felt overwhelmed, so I needed to study with good teachers to be able to understand light and composition. Food photography was my biggest challenge for the last year! It takes lots of practice, lots of patience, investing in yourselves and keep on learning so you can be a little bit better every day! 
Of course, both my passions are important to me so this blog was the next logical step. There will be traditional romanian childhood recipes, new recipes, recipes I tried from other international Creatives, my own recipes and of course photography! I believe food should be celebrated and I love calling myself a gourmand!

Please share my blog on your socials, many thanks

Cristina

I hope you all enjoyed my blog, sign up to my monthly news letter it will be a space for ‘Les gourmands’, the food-loving people that will include seasonal recipes, a foodie’s blog, e-books and lots of photography tips and tricks.