Name: Yasmeen
Blog: Wandering Spice
Twitter: @wanderingspice
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Describe your culinary style.
Forgiving, appreciative and curious. I believe food can be totally relaxed and imperfect but still show stopping, and think that mistakes are easily fixed with a laugh. This is one reason I favor rustic dishes that anybody can make and enjoy without stressing that it’s just right, and instead, be happy that it’s just like them. I say I’m appreciative because I value the simplicity of fresh produce, and feel fortunate to be learning to grow it myself on my husband’s family’s farm in rural Victoria, Australia. And curious? Well, my mind never stops wandering around the regions of the world that I love, and the ones I ache to explore. So much to be eaten, and so many cultural connections to make! I love bridging those gaps and bringing them back into my kitchen.

For someone new to your blog, which recipe do you recommend they try first?
Middle Eastern dining is all about small plates and lots of variety. So, why not do as we do, and create a spread of little dishes to share? Here are a few ideas:

• Start with classic Minty Labneh (yogurt cheese), served with plenty of extra virgin olive oil and fresh bread, for scooping.
• Next, some finger foods. Mini Zaatar Pastries and Lamb + Pine Nut Pies are two of my favorites.
• Finish it off with my grandmother’s absolutely gorgeous, bursting-with-citrus Orange Cake. It’s a staple in our home, and always reminds me of her.

What is the main source of inspiration for your recipes?
The flavors of Middle East, starting with my family’s Levantine table and extending across the region, from Turkey to Saudi Arabia, Iran to North Africa. I’m first generation Palestinian-American, so my love for this region and its rich culinary history runs deep. I’ve met so many people in my journey from my native Washington, D.C, through to Amsterdam and now living in Melbourne, Australia, that have asked questions about Middle Eastern food, or shared how much they love it.  By sharing my favorite Arabic recipes on Wandering Spice, I hope to show people how easily they can create this beautiful food at home, and teach them a bit more about our culture. It also gives me a chance to experiment with fusion food, bringing together the Eastern and American flavors representing both sides of my heritage.

If you could have one food while stranded on a desert island, what would it be? 
I’ve thought long and hard about this one, but keep coming back to the same, simple dish: Spinach and Feta Bourek. They’re little triangles of juicy fresh spinach, tangy feta and fresh herbs, baked in crunchy, flaky filo pastry. They are completely irresistible to me and I can never stop at one! Plus, they seem to be universally liked, so at least whoever is stranded with me would enjoy the delicious distraction, too.

What is your ultimate guilty food pleasure? 
Truthfully, I don’t have any. I’m not big on fast food, so I can’t claim that one. Otherwise — steamed, baked, grilled, stir fried or deep fried, I love it all. I eat a bit of everything in moderation, no guilt in sight (not even for all those ramen noodles in college).  That said, there’s definitely a food group that I love to overindulge in when the opportunity knocks: baked goods. Topped with cheese? Great. Filled with sweet almonds? Even better. Freshly made Arabic sweets doused on orange blossom syrup? I don’t even try to say no.

Define Yummly.
Yummly is food that not only tastes good, but makes you feel good. Whether it’s a sinful indulgence, a family tradition, or a dish that reminds you of your special someone, Yummly is that combination of taste and atmosphere that creates happy memories around the table.

Name: Melissa (Mel)
Blog: Cupcake Friday Project
Twitter: @Cupcake_Friday
Location: Haddonfield, NJ

Describe your culinary style.
I would describe my culinary style—specifically my baking—as off-the-cuff, yet calculated. I like playing around with flavors, mixing things that someone would expect with 1-2 surprise elements. Like a vanilla scotch whiskey cupcake filled with goat cheese and topped with a caramelized onion buttercream and balsamic vinegar reduction. Does it sound weird? Maybe a little bit, but the flavors come together in this fantastic mix of slightly savory and a little bit sweet. My baking can be playful and out there, but I don’t think it’s gimmicky. I understand what I want to do with the flavors, and when I don’t nail it the first time, I tweak the recipe and try again.

For someone new to your blog, which recipe do you recommend they try first?
It depends a lot on the skill of the baker, but my recipes range from those that are appropriate to a beginning baker, such as my Mocha Cupcakes with Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Frosting, all the way to more experienced butter-and-flour mavens, such as my Red Wine Mocha Cupcakes with Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Filling and Red Wine Buttercream. My personal favorite, though, would be my Root Beer Float Cupcakes. They’re a real crowd pleaser.

What is the main source of inspiration for your recipes?
Inspiration comes to me in a lot of forms, though possibly the two largest would be 1) perusing markets—especially the international sections—for ingredients unique to me; and 2) baking books in general. I recently spent a whole day leafing through Les Petits Macarons by Kathryn Gordon & Anne E. McBride getting flavor combination ideas for my cupcakes.

If you could have one food while stranded on a desert island, what would it be? 
You might think I’d say cupcakes, but no, they’re not my desert island food choice. How about a bowl of creamy polenta, topped with sauteed onions, red peppers, kalamata olives, pecorino, salt, pepper and a sunnyside-up egg. Does that count as one? It’s my favorite go-to comfort dish! But if it doesn’t, then cheese. The good stuff. (And maybe some nice wine to wash it down?)

What is your ultimate guilty food pleasure? 
Gummi worms. They’re chewy, fruity, and sometimes I crave them at the weirdest moments. Do they have any nutritional value? Nope. But there’s something about them that I love. It’s weird, I know.

Define Yummly.
Yummly is the bite you take that makes your eyes roll back a bit into your head, a sigh escape your throat, and a smile immediately curl onto your lips. It’s what makes you keep going back for more, until you’re at the point of licking the plate clean. That’s when you know something is THAT GOOD. It’s yummly.

Name: Jules
Blog: Merci Mama
Twitter: @merci_mama
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Describe your culinary style.
My culinary style is a culmination of several things. Firstly my background being half Japanese and half European has exposed me to so many different types of foods growing up. Also my travels around the world strongly influence my cooking as I collect ideas when eating in various countries. But what underpins all of my cooking is using seasonal ingredients and not cooking overly fussy food to ensure that the ingredients truly shine.

For someone new to your blog, which recipe do you recommend they try first?
Again soooo hard to narrow it down but firstly I would have to say my Arabian Pancakes with Figs and Orange Flower Syrup. I love figs and this dish which you can serve either for breakfast or dessert includes my beloved figs and middle eastern flavours which I adore – it’s super super delicious.

I would also suggest my Shakshuka/Eggs in Purgatory because I eat this dish a lot, again it’s a great breakfast dish but to be honest I eat it for dinner all the time because its sooo easy and quick to cook and the flavours are out of control and can be so easily adapted depending on what you have in your kitchen.

What is the main source of inspiration for your recipes?
Similar to my previous question, definitely my travels have a big influence. Last year I took a year off work to travel and virtually all my destinations were dictated by my stomach and when eating in all the countries I visited I was constantly taking notes of interesting flavour combinations, talking to locals about what they eat and opening my eyes and stomach to new and interesting flavours and ingredients. I also inhale cookbooks and food magazines; they’re my bedtime reading, they are what I read to relax and they are huge inspiration to what I cook.

If you could have one food while stranded on a desert island, what would it be? 
Aaaahhh!!! This is a super difficult question for me to answer as I am a creature of variety. It would either have to be figs at their very ripest when they’re almost bursting wrapped in prosciutto or Jamon Iberico (does that count as one?) or eggs because you can do so much with them and I eat a lot of them which you can see from my blog there are quite a few egg recipes!

What is your ultimate guilty food pleasure? 
I would probably have to say donuts. To me they’re the naughtiest food in the world but I love them so. Every time I have one, I can truly say I experience guilt and pleasure at the very same time!

Define Yummly.
When I think of yummly it is that moment when you first bite into something so truly delicious that it makes you have a physical reaction. As a website, Yummly is a one-stop-shop-food-heaven-hub. Need I say more? :)

Name: Laura Dembowski
Blog: Pies and Plots
Twitter: @piesandplots
Location: Michigan

Describe your culinary style.
My culinary style is anything and everything homemade.  If I can make it, I would rather do so than buying an ingredient.  I haven’t opened a can of anything in years.  I recently made almond paste rather than buying it and was shocked at how easy and delicious it was.  Beyond that my culinary styles diverge when it comes to savory versus sweet food.  With savory food, I’m all about simple.  To me there’s no better dinner than a roasted unseasoned piece of wild salmon or halibut.  Salt is something I use very sparingly, preferring to let the flavors of the primary ingredients shine.  Sweets, where my passion in the kitchen lies, are a whole different story.  Nothing makes me happier than spending the whole day in the kitchen making a complicated layer cake and then enjoying the result of my hard work.  Different flavor combinations and unique treats are what keep me going.

Click photo for recipe

For someone new to your blog, which recipe do you recommend they try first?
I love each and every recipe on my blog and have eaten more than my fair share of all of them. I like to have recipes that vary greatly in difficulty. I would definitely recommend the Cinnamon Biscoff Puppy Chow and Microwave Biscoff Fudge. They are easy to make, use one of my favorite ingredients – Biscoff! – and everyone loves them. My absolute favorite recipes are the Caramel Blondies and Peach Blackberry Layer Cake. They are much more complicated and labor intensive with multiple steps, but they are my original creations and turned out better than I ever could have imagined. I crave them all the time. I think of the Blondies in particular as quite unique and perhaps my signature dessert.

What is the main source of inspiration for your recipes?
My inspiration comes from all kinds of places.  From restaurant dishes to TV shows to the things I buy at the grocery store to my favorite flavor combinations, both new and old.  Inspiration strikes all the time.  The real key is taking that inspiration and translating it into a delicious dish, a task that is sometimes easier than others.  It is so rewarding when inspiration creates something amazing because I have watched the process evolve from just an idea to a wonderful end product that my family, friends, and I can enjoy.

If you could have one food while stranded on a desert island, what would it be? 
I’d say bananas because that’s the only food I eat everyday, but they’d probably grow on the island.  So, I think I’d pick peaches.  They won’t grow on a desert island and are one of my favorite foods.  I love eating them as is, as well as baking with them and even occasionally using them in savory applications.  I can’t imagine a world without peaches.

What is your ultimate guilty food pleasure? 
I don’t have guilt over eating dessert ever. After a day full of exercise, fruit, vegetables, and wild caught fish, a heaping helping of dessert is my reward. I rarely eat dinner out at restaurants, but when I do, I always order french fries. They are my ultimate guilty pleasure food that I eat no more than once a month. Even if a restaurant doesn’t have them on the menu, I ask them to make some because they are a rare treat to which I always look forward. It is on my bucket list to make my own one day.

Define Yummly.
Yummly is food that looks, smells, and absolutely tastes amazing.  It is about making things from scratch, using the best ingredients possible, and enjoying indulging in fabulous food.  But mostly, Yummly is the experience of making and eating food.  For me, spending time in the kitchen baking and cooking with my mom is the best part about food.  It’s our bonding time and our team work makes everything taste better.  The experience of eating with my parents and friends is also an important part of Yummly, as it is nearly impossible for foods to be Yummly when always made and eaten alone.