Hi! So nice to meet you. My name is Asha and this website is my creative outlet where I share my love of food.
Cooking and baking have been passions of mine since childhood. My grandmother was a professional wedding cake designer. My mother was a wonderful home cook. Both of them, and the love and dedication they had in the kitchen, inspired me from a very young age. Some of my earliest memories are gathering vegetables from the garden and preparing them for dinner or whipping up my favorite cake by memory.
My time spent internationally has definitely affected my taste buds - I adore cooking with amazing international flavors. I am now so fortunate to live in a city as international as Toronto. Not only do I get to enjoy the spectacular restaurant scene here, it also is reasonably easy to source ingredients that I may need. Don't worry, if I'm using a particularly difficult to find ingredient in one of my recipes I will be sure to suggest where you might get it and/or substitutions.
Even though I had this early on passion for food, I never had the desire to become a chef. I guess in my mind I didn't want to take something that was relaxing and enjoyable for me and turn it into work. My life path took me another route and I became a model. While it wasn't my dream or my intention to do it forever, modelling enabled me to travel and explore some very cool places around the world - Asia, Europe, I even did the bikini scene in Cali a bit.
I was fortunate to spend a large amount of time in Japan from my adolescence onward. Tokyo became my second home. Not wanting to eventually find myself in a career where I was trapped somewhere with my memories of Japan fading behind me, I acquired a degree in East Asian Languages with a Japanese concentration in university. I am so excited to offer Coriander & Lace content to both English and Japanese speaking audiences.
I've developed a taste and strong desire for being surrounded by beauty. Tying this into my love of food, I discovered so much joy in beautiful plating and styling. There's just something about making a meal look as beautiful as it tastes that makes me so happy. You will find posts about delicious recipes, plating and styling, and travel destinations from a foodie perspective in my blog.
Where do I draw inspiration for my recipes? Well, simply put - everywhere! Travel, restaurants, what's in season, magazines, other blogs, my imagination, etc. If any recipes are posted that are not my own, the original author will be credited in the post. There are so many ways in which food can add enjoyment to our lives. I hope I can inspire you to live your life a little more deliciously.
on the team
This little ball of fluff is Miu. She came back to Canada with me from Tokyo in 2013 and has been my constant companion ever since. Miu has the sweetest personality and adores everyone she meets. And she loves food as much as I do! Some of her favorite treats are strawberries, watermelon, cucumber, banana, cheese.. the list goes on. She's always in the kitchen with me so you'll be sure to see her pop up from time to time.
Also, here at Coriander & Lace we have lovely Katia. She handles some of the backend and manages our Pinterest account. Having her onboard has really freed me up to spend more time creatively.
The above portraits of me were taken by my dear friend Nikki of nikkiart.ca . Check out her site to see her stunning photography and art.
A note on sharing
Republication of any posts and recipes/recipe text presented on this site is strictly prohibited without my explicit prior consent. However, if you would like to share photos, that's great! Please note that photos without a recipe can be shared if credited with two links, one back to the original recipe post and one back to corianderandlace.com.
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