Hello people! I am Maya and welcome to my kitchenette.
I am a forex trader and a baking enthusiast from Singapore. While I am mostly in front of the computer on weekdays, I park myself in front of my oven over the weekends.
I started blogging back in 2007. Maya-kitchenette is where i share my passion for cooking, baking, cake decoration and my most recent passion, food photography. A lot of girls my age love to watch Glee or Gossip Girls but I would choose Cake Boss or Masterchef, anytime of the day. 🙂
I am also the co-founder of Charting Today which is a specialist provider of education and supporting web-based information services for people wanting to perform better in Online Spot Currency (Forex) Trading. I also own a blogshop called Divine Indulgences.
I have been a blogger on blogspot from 2007. With a good friend’s assistance, I moved to wordpress in Feb, 2014. While I do the cooking, baking, writing and photography around this blog! Hardi helps out with the IT stuffs. He is a IT professional based in America. He is also a currency trader and a software/web developer. His expertise in web applications using php, java, jquery, mysql, web automation etc makes him a breeze to work with. He is also responsible for site SEO and traffic generation.
My best friend, Tan often proof-read my blog posts. He loves reading my blog post and he raves as to how amazing my blog posts are. He is obviously and clearly bias but I am blessed to have an awesome BFF like him. Whenever I am in doubts about my blogging topics, I always turned to him for some assurance.
What inspired you to start a food blog?
I started cooking at the age of 12. As I cooked more, and as I kept myself glued in front of the television set watching food network channels, the passion for cooking and baking kept increasing. There was a need to start saving my recipes and the notebooks and files filled with papers were not helping much.
I finally decided to start a food blog where I can preserve the recipes so that it can be passed on years down the road. This blog is not just a place where I share my passion for baking, cooking and cake decorating, it is also where I anecdotes on my life and things/people around me.
I started blogging in 2007. I have not been consistent in blogging consistently as at times I get so busy with certain things in life. Even during those moments where I felt like a pancake on the road, run over by life’s madness, the passion for writing and blogging never died. And that is why, Maya Kitchenette still exists, years later.
How did the interest in cooking came about?
My early years of home economics lessons. I was around 12-13 years old then.
Whose cooking style is your biggest influence?
Initially I was influenced by my mother and aunts. As I slowly master a lot of their dishes. I moved on to learning more elaborate cuisines from celebrity chefs and cookbooks.
What are your fondest food memories from childhood?
Watching my late maternal grandma cooking away every day. She had lost the use of her legs by then and she used to sit on the floor with an electric wok. She was very popular for her lovely food. In fact she used to cook at weddings during her younger days. Years later, although she couldn’t walk, that has never stood in her way when it comes to her passion for cooking and baking. She would cook daily meals and festive cookies year in, year out. What she lacks in, she made up for it with her passion, personality, courage and warm heartening gestures. My grandma was such an amazing woman is so many other ways.
Are you an extremely adventurous eater? Are there any foods you won’t eat or even try?
I am quite game to give different types of vegetables and fruits a try. Same can’t be said for meat or seafood.” Let’s just say I would never take part in Fear Factor.
What is your guilty pleasure?
I love love love love ice cream.
What’s your favorite comfort food?
- My mom’s chicken soup
- Avocado salad
- My chicken Parmesan and spaghetti
If you were a dessert, which dessert would you be?
Baked blueberry cheese cake. Simple, solid, creamy yet with a tang.
Where do you get your inspirations from?
Inspirations comes from everywhere. It could be a cooking program or just a fresh and pretty looking vegetable in the supermarket.
What are your favorite cuisines?
Coming from a country that has a vast array of cuisines, I can NEVER pick just 1 favorite cuisine. I basically try my hands on almost of types of cuisines, from Thai to Italian to Chinese and lots more. Having said all that, I am still best with Indian cuisines somehow.
If you had to bring something to a party, what would it be?
It could be cakes or brownies. You can rarely go wrong with a good dessert.
Name 1 of your most favorite ingredient that you can’t do without?
There are really too many to choose from. But If I had to choose, it would be garlic for cooking and vanilla for baking. I’m obsessed with vanilla!
Any secrets when it comes to cooking or baking?
The most delicious of food are those cooked right from the heart. The passion that you have towards cooking/baking would most of the time reflect on that final product.
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