Hi, I’m Marvellina. Feel free to call me Marv if it makes your life easier. I’m a self-taught home cook who started out cooking for survival after moving to Minnesota and now it has turned into a passion. I grew up in Indonesia for the first 18 years of my life and then I went to school in Oklahoma and worked as Registered Dietitian. I moved to Singapore and lived there for 3 years working as a dietitian. I have fallen in love with the local Singaporean food there. Now a stay-at-home mom of two kids who are constantly testing my limits (I swear I’ve aged more than I should!) and my cooking/baking ability. They are basically the reasons I cook every day. I want them to get some exposure to Asian cuisine. I must say they are pretty fearless when it comes to trying new foods.
WHAT YOU’LL FIND ON MY BLOG
-INDONESIAN FOOD
I was born and raised in Indonesia and needless to say, this blog has quite a bit of Indonesian recipes.
– SINGAPORE AND MALAYSIAN FOOD
As a neighboring country to Singapore and Malaysia, Indonesian foods bear quite a bit of similarity to Singaporean and Malaysian cuisine. There are also iconic Singaporean, Malaysian foods, and Nyonya/Peranakan food that I truly enjoy.
– OTHER SOUTHEAST ASIAN RECIPES
You will also see recipes from other Southeast Asian countries such as Laos, Cambodia, The Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar, and Vietnam
-CHINESE RECIPES
I grew up in a Chinese family in Indonesia. So, you will see some Chinese recipes and also Indonesian Chinese recipes.
– ASIAN FUSION RECIPES
I love to mix Asian cuisine with other cuisine. I think Asian fusion recipes are fun, creative, and refreshing.
– SIMPLIFIED OR IMPROVED PROCESS AND INGREDIENTS
Southeast Asian or Asian cooking, in general, can be pretty complicated with lots of unfamiliar or hard-to-find ingredients especially if you live far away from Asia. My goals are to find substitute ingredients when it’s needed and also to shorten or improve the cooking process that takes too long for example.
– TRIED AND TESTED RECIPES
My family and I eat everything I’ve cooked and baked for this blog. EVERY SINGLE ONE of them, good or bad! They are my reviewers, my critics. I’m trying to do my best to take good notes and share everything I know about the recipe to make sure you can recreate this in your very own kitchen.
MEASUREMENTS
I’m trying my best to include both measurements in cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, and also in grams, kilograms. You guys, my readers, come from all over the world. I have to be honest that I prefer to do grams, kilograms, or ounce, pounds than cups because the formers are more precise. Cups can vary depending on the person who scoops them (packed or not packed affect the measurements too). This may not be different much in cooking, but when it comes to baking or making desserts that require precise measurements, measuring the weight in grams or pounds is what I personally prefer.
ADS ON THIS BLOG
I’m sharing recipes and videos of the food I’ve cooked and this blog is free for everyone to browse. The ads served on this blog help to support the maintenance of this blog so I can continue to share. If you don’t like the ads, I’m sorry to say that you don’t have to use this blog. No hard feelings and please don’t take things personally. If there are any problems you have with the ads (recipes were covered by ads, etc), please let me know and I will try to fix them. Thank you for your understanding.
PRESS MENTION
What To Cook Today won 2017 SAVEUR Readers’ Choice Blog Awards for Most-Inspired Weeknight Dinners Category. Thank you all so much for your endless supports and votes. What To Cook Today has been featured in Buzzfeed, Delish, Foodista, FoodGawker, Yummly, MSN, The Kitchn, Healthline, Pure Wow, Flipboard, Brit+Co, Huffpost.
I’m not perfect and this blog is not perfect. I just truly enjoy what I’m doing: tinkering in the kitchen, eating amazing food (and lots of failed ones too!), photographing and editing images. If you are landed on this blog, I hope you are able to find the food you’ve been craving for and recreate that memory at your very own kitchen or daring yourself to try them (if it’s your first time) 😉
I wish you all have a fantastic day full of wonderful food and surrounded by love.
Marvellina