Seasoned by Zoe

Hey there, I'm Zoe! I have always loved food. Eating it, obviously, but also wanting to know how it had ended up on my plate in the first place. When I was little, that mostly meant following my grandma around the kitchen, asking how she had made something, and patiently listening while she explained using specific little cups, handfuls, and a healthy amount of eyeballing. Looking back, that was probably where my love for cooking started.

These days, I’m still as curious as ever about food, although my system for remembering what I’ve made has been quite unreliable. I have a habit of winging it: throw a few things in a pan, taste as I go, somehow end up with something that tastes good… and then just sort of forget what I did. After one too many attempts to recreate a meal that I apparently invented by accident, I decided it might be a good idea to actually write things down. And, well, that’s how this blog happened.

I’m also a student, which means my cooking has to be wallet-friendly. Most of the recipes here are therefore budget-friendly, made with ingredients that are easy to find, and ideally don’t require selling a kidney to buy them. Though I do occasionally like a good cut of meat.

I grew up in Cyprus and now live in the Netherlands, so while I cook a bit of everything, I naturally find myself coming back to Mediterranean flavors pretty often. Most days, I’m cooking for myself and my boyfriend, with two cats scanning the kitchen floor as I go about chopping and mixing. They may not understand the concept of time, but somehow they know exactly when dinner is supposed to happen.

So, if you like good food, affordable ingredients, a little bit of improvisation, and recipes that are actually worth making twice, welcome. Hopefully, I’ve remembered to write them down this time.