Why is cooking a new trend? Few simple possible answers: 1) on this so very fast moving world we need to rely on something that makes sense for us, and eating is the major habit that we have 2) since humanity has discovered the fire, it is believed that food played an important role into evolution, so why not sticking to the basics? 3) bio/ natural/environmental role models and the list can go on.

For me cooking is a way of re-designing my life. It’s a world of unknown pleasures. It’s a game…and a music (when I chop or boil something). All the places that I’ve visited are a mixture of gastronomy, smells and colors. Istambul is not so much about Hagia Sofia, but more about Ayran, Asure (you should definitely try it), pomegranate juice, tchai, etc.

I always take good care of the way that food looks like: it has to be always colorful (a lot of vegetables), with spices and nicely arranged. Even the color of the plates, the way that the napkins are arranged it can change your mood. Eating is a ritual, so why not making it special? In the end we are talking about our body, don’t we?
There is no other supreme happiness than to accompany yourself with friends, tasty meal, wine, cheese cake and…the mood for talking,etc.

Some extra advices:
1) Enjoy mistaking (it’s human) and adapt your strategy! Cooking is not about perfection (of a recipe) but more about the beauty of the imperfection that you’ll create
2) Buy colorful food (red/yellow/green peppers, olives, mushrooms, salad, goat cheese, surimi sticks, shrimps, tomatoes, egg plants, spices and so on)
3) Visit a flea market (I personally love Ramnicu Sarat, Dristor) – I can’t describe the smell of plums, grapes and pears in the autumn…
4) If you eat bread, try something different: seeds bread, ciabatta, French bread, cheese bread, etc
5) There is a myth around how expensive is to eat healthy – I’ve done an meticulous Excel sheet with all my spending’s, and it turns out that for 2 persons it only brings you to less than 300 E/month.
5) A good meal always goes well with flowers & wine.
6) Experiment, go wild (try at least Turkish, Lebanese, Japanese, Chinese,etc). It will make you complete:)