This is just a brief introduction to us both, and as we get deeper into blogging we’re sure you’ll get to know us both a great deal better!  The large majority of our recipes can be found online (Taste is a personal favourite for inspiration), or in a book, but there’s usually more than one minor adjustment, however there is a few originals that will be popping up!

Friends since 2007, we both share a love of animals, photography, the outdoors, slightly obscure career pathways, and most importantly FOOD!  Throughout our years as friends there’s been many shared dinners, late nights, epic disasters both in and out of the kitchen, countless dog walks, gym sessions, and more recently we’ve both married our respective dream husbands.

 

LAUREN CAMERON

I started off life in one of Australia’s more remote locations, growing up on Flinders Island, the main island of the Furneaux Group off the North East Coast of Tasmania.

My mum, both grandmothers, and great-grandmother were all fantastic cooks, so it was fairly well ingrained before leaving home that food was meant to be “my thing”.  Our farm runs a small herd of Black Angus and cross cattle, so growing up it was always top quality, grass fed beef in the freezer, and access to some of the best and freshest produce going (being fairly remote, you couldn’t always rely on deliveries, so you made do!).

My slightly obscure career path kicked off in the most expectable way – FOOD of course! At 15 I was working for our local bakery, forever annoying the baker, drinking in every last drop of information he was willing to share, and by the time I left, a good couple of years later, I knew my fair share of tricks.

At 18, I moved from Tasmania, to Townsville, Far North Queensland, starting university and studying a veterinary degree where I first met Amy, sharing a biology class in my first year.  After 8 years I succeeded in qualifying.  Since then I took another major career change, leaving vet behind for a bit of a break, and started whats now been 8 months in customer service and service assurance for a major Australian Telco.

I married my husband, Alex, in January of 2016, and since then, my passion for food has been re-ignited, finally spurring me, with Amy alongside, to start a food blog, sharing our tried, tested, and of course YUMMY food adventures.

My favourite foods or food styles would have to be Italian, Chinese (anything Oriental/Asian really) and my newest adventure is classic “Low’n’slow” style cooking – aka pulled meats, ribs, think Texas BBQ.

AMY VENN

I feel like my whole life revolves around food. I find myself constantly asking when’s dinner, what shall we have for lunch, why isn’t it acceptable to eat chocolate cake for breakfast? I guess that’s what happens when you grow up in a house hold of women that appreciate food so very much!

I grew up in Cairns and from a young age it has just been myself, my mother and my grandmother. It was with them that I learned the in’s and out’s of cooking and baking. My grandmother, whom I fondly call Nan, is very very German (if you ever met her, you’d know what I mean by very very German!!!). Growing up with her meant strudels, danishes, plum cakes, rotkohl and rouladen, hearty stews, bauernfrühstück for breakfast and at Christmas time and incredible array of German treats!

Where my Nan was very traditional in her cooking, my mum taught me to branch out and try different things from different cultures. We made stirfrys and curries, pastas and pizzas and all sorts of salads. Stirfrys quickly becoming one of my favourite things to make. I suppose it was from there that my love for Asian foods began.

The low point in my food life had to be moving to college in Townsville to study Environmental Engineering. College food is woeful. For example: what didn’t get eaten one night, inevitably turned up “tempura’d” the following night. Thankfully it was around this time that I met the love of my life, and he would whisk me away to our favourite Japanese/Thai takeaway on those horrible food nights! Life after college saw the reintroduction of cooking for ourselves, and what a relief that was!

I married my husband, Paul, in August of 2015. His obsession with rice and samurai and my obsession with anything Japanese decided that our honeymoon would be to Japan. Needless to say my current food addictions obviously include Udon, Sukiyaki, and anything remotely Japanese.  It was this trip that really spurred me to start taking more of an interest in food photography and presentation as the Japanese are all about making food look good!

Between the cooking genius that is Lauren Cameron and my love for eating and photography we hope that this blog will inspire others and provide us with a much needed creative outlet.