Hello! I'm Sonia.
Welcome to my site, a place where I share recipes inspired by my food cravings and what I make for my family. My role as a working mama of two young girls, my life in Toronto Canada and my background as a Chinese immigrant from Hong Kong all inform the things I love, crave and create in my kitchen to share with you. I love dumplings and lasagne, get weak in the knees for chocolate cake, gag on cilantro and (controversially) dislike whole chickpeas but adore them pureed into silky smooth hummus.
How My Food Philosophy Came to Be
You can say I am obsessed with making wholesome, homemade meals for my family. But this wasn’t always the case. Though I have always been a foodie, most of my waking hours during a solid decade of my adult life were devoted to a career as a professional accountant. My hard-earned funds were spent on dinners out and other luxuries. Fast forward to when I became a mama and realized the immense responsibility of caring for and feeding a tiny human (subsequently multiplied by two), I had to learn quick and get cooking!
I read up on food and nutrition, cooked (and messed up) plenty of recipes, squinted at ingredients on food labels, stalked the health food store and peppered the staff with questions. For a time, we followed a Paleo diet to help my eldest’s eczema and chronic tummy aches, which significantly shaped how we eat today. I learned about the benefits of grass-fed beef, organic poultry, pasture-raised eggs, additive & preservative-free pantry items, organic dairy and organic produce if it’s a Dirty Dozen. That being said, I’ve come to realize that while all of that is good to know for making informed food choices, there’s a lot to commend for cooking any meal at home whether or not they meet those ideals.
But I know people are busy. Preparing dinner after a full day is hardly the thing we want to do, night after night. That’s why I love sharing unfussy recipes that are wholesome and quick to make. If you feel me on this, I recommend starting at the “30 minute recipes” section of the site for recipes I personally lean on the most.
This Blog
The recipes can be viewed chronologically, by Category (such as 30 minute recipes) or by Diet (such as gluten-free or pescatarian). I sincerely hope you discover something you like. If you do make and enjoy one of my recipes, kindly drop a comment or click the heart icon at the bottom of the recipe page — I would appreciate it so much.
elsewhere in the food universe
If you like what you see here, you can find more food things by me on Instagram, on Food Network Canada where I develop recipes and create social content, and occasionally on the small screen as a food expert on CTV’s The Good Stuff with Mary Berg.
Work with Me
I specialize in recipe development, social media campaigns for brands and businesses, and I shoot and style all the photos on this site as well as for recipes I develop for clients. If you’re interested in working with me, please email me at saltnpepperhere@gmail.com to chat.
Eat well and be well,
Sonia
Photo credit: Portraits By Keiko
p.s. cyber high-five to anyone who can tell me the 80s song reference that inspired my Instagram handle and blog name saltnpepperhere (hint: it’s by a pair of female rap artists 😉)
