About

Good morning starshine. The Earth says hello!

Thanks for visiting my virtual home and hope you’ve enjoyed your stay. Since you’re here, I would be a rude hostess not to introduce myself. My name is Anh (or Piggy, BooBooBear, or a number of other aliases), and I am an undergraduate student (Public Health; Global Poverty and Practice) and research associate (M Smith Lab) at UC Berkeley. I am a Bay Area native, and blessed by incredibly delicious, diverse and fresh food – quite possibly the best in the country. Home to Cafe Zuni and Chez Panisse and the best Pho in the States, the Bay Area is definitely the place to be.

My daily activities are monotonous for the most part – a mind numbing cycle of classes, doppio espresso from Starbucks, lab, instant coffee, work, teaching, coffee, repeat. I live for those intermittent breaks in the monotony – the few spontaneous moments in life that keep me going.

In my free time, I love to bake, eat, cook, take pictures of all that, write, read, sleep, and travel. I do a fair bit of all of these things (except sleep), as you can see from the blog. My food journeys have taken me far and wide – through most of continental Europe to the jungles of Viet Nam into the Reef of Australia. This summer I will be in Japan, drowning myself in the ramen culture. I have yet to explore Africa, South America or the Middle East, so if you need a travel buddy, think of me and send me a line.

In a nutshell, I live to eat (and not the other way around). I haven’t met a cuisine I didn’t like. I have an insatiable sweet tooth, and have developed a second stomach just for desserts and pastries. My approach to cooking is simple – made by hand and baked with love. With that in mind, thanks again for dropping by and happy cooking!

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First of all, I’VE MET RACHAEL RAY! Haha… I’m Emily Lu, but I’ll end my posts with a simple “eLu.” I also write in a more personal blog, in which you’ll find some of my artwork, my taste in clothing and accessories, and summaries of the most exciting moments of my life… which, as of now, don’t seem too fascinating. So, Anh has been my one of my sister’s best friends for the past nine years, and I’ve grown closer to her through our shared fascination towards food. I’m not much of a writer, but I’m definitely a huge fan of food… whether it involves eating, cooking, baking, or just drooling over pictures of food. I’m the founder and co-President of Crumb by Crumb, the first baking club at Piedmont Hills High School. Through the club, my friends and I have taught students in our school how to bake tiramisu, cookies, pumpkin pie, and dog biscuits. In a few weeks, we’ll be baking pizza and cake together! I hope to open a small homey bakery someday where families, friends, and couples can share a slice of moist chocolate cake or rekindle friendships over a warm cup of coffee. Until then, I’ll be studying hard to finish school (first high school, then University of San Francisco’s Nursing School) and trying new recipes whenever I find the time to.

– eLu

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Nicole Colayco is insatiably hungry. Her drug of choice is fried chicken.

Nicole and Anh met one fine freshman year day in PoliSci while scrutinizing Professor Trelawney’s (real name withheld) choice of outfit: combat boots, long flowing skirt and looping necklaces over a puffy vest and too much cleavage. Our initial hater bond only grew stronger with each eyelid-dropping PoliSci lecture.

Here’s a picture of me (Nicole) after finishing two breakfasts (Niman Ranch corned beef hash with scrambled eggs and whole wheat toast + 3 cottage cheese pancakes topped with seasonal fruit) at Hidden City Cafe in Point Richmond, CA. Review coming soon when I have pictures of more than empty plates! (I will try to restrain myself long enough next time).

Advance apologies for the crappy pictures in my posts; they’re taken with either my Macbook isight lens or what I like to call the ghettobrick (Canon calls it a Powershot 230 Digital Elph).

If anyone has suggestions for a new camera (in the < or = $300 range), let me know!

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I don’t have many pictures of myself eating, let alone pictures of myself in general, but I did happen to find this one photograph of me chowing down a corn dog… as Frida. Anyway, to do a quick self-intro, my name is Vivian. I’m an art student at UCLA, and aside from my practices, I run a small shop with a friend, which just recently opened. You can check it out at mimietvivi.etsy.com.

I’ve known Anhi since the 6th grade (I still call her Anhi, I don’t know who this “Anh” character is). I can’t cook or bake for my life, but I can peel tangerines. I’m not even a picky eater, to be honest, but I think food is an entirely wonderful social phenomena. The food you eat isn’t as important as the people you eat it with, although good tasting food can make a difference! Eating is a fantastic experience meant to be shared. My favorite restaurants don’t necessarily have the best
food–they have the best good-feeling vibes where you can really sit down and enjoy your meal with the ones you love. (Vivian S. Chen)

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I took a cake decorating class one summer, and introduced Anh to Tastespotting and the world of food blogs. I am not a foodie! The cake decorating course was really just something my best friend and I decided to try just because we were bored and had nothing better to do. My sister sent me the link to Tastespotting once, and I used to check it a lot when I lived in the dorms and had to deal with some pretty substandard food. In actuality, I’d be more than content to eat PB&J every day for the rest of my life. I have no qualms about eating at chains. The thought of cooking frankly just exhausts me. Despite the rapidly accumulating heaps of evidence, Anh will not accept that I am not a foodie. I guess I’m pretty good comic relief, though, because I do and say some pretty dumb things, so there you go. (Kari)

Despite what Kari says, she is still my accomplice in midnight baking adventures and official best study buddy and friend here at Cal. She is covered in chocolate in this picture, a result of a faulty chocolate fountain (a shame b/c Arthi’s carpet has been stained ever since). Kari is my source of inspiration, as she was the one who introduced me to the online world of food blogs and Tastespotting. She also introduced me to Ina and Donna, who have quickly become favorites in our kitchen. Kari will be helping out with our experimental recipe entries, specializing in online blog research and the replication/execution of these recipes in our test kitchen (ahem – apt kitchen).

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Hello my name is Ms. Piggy. I am a Nutri-Sci major at Cal, and I love to piggy piggy piggy out. The doctor told me I needed to lose FIIIIIVE Pounds. I will be contributing to Olivia’s Garden – a new section on this blog about my thoughts and takes about food. Upcoming topics to look forward to? Organic vs. Conventional Fruits; Butter vs. Margarine; Random Fruit and Veggie Trivia; The Food Economy; and many more interesting topics to come. I cook on a daily basis, but none of which will be photographed, because I am a hazard to myself (hears Pink in the background) in the kitchen. I get lost a lot. And I ate 6 lbs. of navel oranges in two days, and I didn’t turn orange. I also know that I can no longer do the carrot challenge. To be continued…