No, I don’t bake for a living, not yet at least, but I am a software engineer by profession. I keep jumping back and forth from coder to baker, I don’t know what my profession is anymore :D. But I’d gladly call myself a baker!

Staring at a screen all day long is typical what my day job for 15 years looks like.

A while ago, back in Australia, I took a bold decision to ditch my day job and enroll in a bakery school (Yes this blurry picture shows some bread I baked during a day at bakery school-William Angliss Melbourne – and that was my photography skills at the time :D)

That opened up opportunities for me to work as a baker and a pastry chef. That was by far the best three years of my life!

Working as a baker/pastry chef
I started at The Blacksmith bakery in Belgrave. I owe the then head baker Julian(former owner and founder of the bakery) for giving me a chance and teaching advanced pastry from the scratch.
Then I moved on to work as a pastry chef in Amelias bakery (now Quarry Bakehouse owned by my former head baker Julian) I guarantee that you would find the best pastries and bread in town in this cozy bakery cafe!

Upon moving to the US, I went back to work as a software developer. Yes that sounds crazy but it’s true!

We, me & my husband, currently live in an apartment in Seattle, with our cat and dog(a blue heeler), who we transported all the way from Australia.

My husband is my main motivator, facilitator, taste tester and hand model.

Baking became a hobby again. I baked in the night and weekends non stop until it became an obsession. I shared my bakes on Instagram and the massive response led to the birth of this blog.

Obviously, the small kitchen in this apartment isn’t cut out for all the crazy baking I do. So I converted a small area to use as my workspace. Though small, I absolutely adore that spot! It is my creative space, my imaginary bakery, my studio and in other words, my “happy place”.

I love food photography. My husband(then boy friend)gifted me a DSLR a few years ago. I had no clue about how to use that thing! It was in the back of a closet until I came to the US and finally decided to pull it out and shoot food with it. I have been evolving ever since. I am sticking to a style of my own, hence I don’t really always follow all the rules!

I always wanted to have a big garden to grow my own veggies, have a few chooks. For the time being, the balcony of this urban apartment will have to do.

And here are the tomatoes I harvested in the summer of 2020

I started making my own kombucha during the 2020 quarantine. It is still going steady and I don’t intend on giving up any time soon

2021, I decided to become a full-time blogger, home baker, content creator, educator and instagrammer(is that even a thing). At east for a while and see how it goes. Honestly, my mind is always on baking so it is torture to do something else that I’m not entirely passionate about.

My latest venture, “From The Scratch Baking” meetup group! I do virtual workshops for the time being. click here to know more

The best thing I did during lockdown (2021) is getting a Gozney pizza oven. We have been enjoying amazing pizzas almost every week since then. We are so in love with this nifty gadget that fits even the tiniest apartment balcony!

NEWS flash!!! I joined a bakery(Byen in Seattle) as a morning baker! (June 2021) I was applying for tech jobs while doing my baking workshops and my eye caught an ad on Indeed. Just like in the past I couldn’t resist applying and the rest is history. Once again I am having the time of my life… mixing huge doughs, laminating, making beautiful French pastries, Scandinavian treats and sourdough bread/baguettes!

AGAIN!!!!

From baker to software developer, again, just like that! After 8 months of working full time as a baker I am back to my usual career( I don’t know if I should call it a career anymore haha)

I miss all the baking action so badly, but I am enjoying being back at the same time. I do not miss getting up at 2 am in the morning though lol.Saying that, I am extremely grateful that I can switch between two entirely different disciplines and it is something I have dreamt about for so long. Not taking anything for granted!

When I am not baking/working you will often find me outdoors running, hiking or just basking in the sun.

This photo is from a hike we did in mount solitary NSW, Australia. I can cook up a storm in the middle of nowhere.
We started (serious) skiing this year 2022 and this will be our main winter activity hereafter.