le - Easy gourmet : awesome recipes anyone can cook

AWESOME RECIPES anyone CAN COOK

from the creator of

named Top Cooking Blog by Saveur magazine

STEPHANIE LE

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To Mike: for then, for now and for always

I never used to like eating, which is a strange admission for a now avid food lover and cook, but when I was a child, I was the pickiest eater around. I would drive my parents crazy with the things that I would and wouldnt eat.

My food choices were never logicalthey were based on whimsy and, more often than not, the people around me. Once, at daycare, a boy pointed at my lunch of soy sauce fried noodles and yelled, loud enough for the 5-year-olds to hear in the next room, Stephanies eating wooooooorms! Tears immediately started pouring down my face and even though minutes before I was looking forward to digging into what was one of my favorite foods, I suddenly couldnt stand to have them near me. In hindsight, I should have said, spaghettis worms too! but my 3-year-old brain wasnt too quick with the comebacks.

Instead, being the sensitive kid that I was, I told my mom that I was never going to eat Chinese food again. My mom made a deal with me: at home Id eat whatever she put on the table, but for daycare lunches shed make more kid appropriate (read: boring lunches). I wanted to be just like everyone else, so I agreed.

My mom wasnt the type to go by the book, so it wasnt long before my lunches were legendary. Kids always wanted to trade with me and I happily gave away my thermoses of homemade chicken noodle soup, cup of cut fruit and freshly baked chocolate chip cookies for store-bought lunchables, chips and canned peaches.

Eventually, my taste buds grew up and I went from being extremely picky to eating almost everything. What changed was being exposed to a whole other world of food beyond the predominately Asian food we ate at home. Id go out for a bite to eat and absolutely fall in love with all the flavors. In an attempt to be able to eat all the dishes I fell in love with (while still in my pyjamas), I started cooking in earnest. I experimented with recreating and creating dishes and eventually started I Am a Food Blog to record my efforts.

Everyones definition of good food is different, but one thing holds true across the table: sharing a meal brings people together. Eating, laughing and lingering over a good meal is my idea of a really good time. Eating together and enjoying that particular moment at that particular time with the people you choose makes memories you just wont forget.

Stephanies eating woooooooorms!

Easy Gourmet contains some of my favorite recipes. And they are meant to be just that: easy, yet unexpectedly delicious. Coconut Carrot soup gets a kick from a red curry paste, and Baked Mac & Cheese is fancied up with Gruyre and Swiss. The recipes are as eclectic as my taste in food. A little bit Asian, a little bit classic and a lot delicious, these recipes are what I love to cook.