About Me

Gourmanda – an amalgamation of Gourmand and Amanda.

I’m Amanda Chan, welcome to my food blog. I’m a Melbourne girl at heart though I did have a short sojourn of a few years in Sydney. I’m married to K, who amazes me with his patience at every meal as he waits for me to take photos of our food. Outside of my quest to eat everything, I also enjoy travel, historical fiction and cute cat videos.

Gourmanda was born after I realised that I’ve become a lot more interested in food as I’ve grown up. As I am no longer someone who considers Mi Goreng the height of food sophistication, I wanted a space to properly capture my personal evolution into someone with a closer relationship to the fuel she puts into her body.

My Food Philosophy

My food philosophy is quite simple: good food, and lots of it.

I don’t subscribe to the school of thought that claims good food must have at least fifty intricate steps in the creation, and involve fifty unique ingredients. I don’t believe that a good restaurant meal needs to cost an arm and a leg to be deemed gourmet. A simple home-made chicken pot pie can be just as satisfying as a meal in any Michelin starred restaurant.

Food is what an individual makes of it – and a dish to one person may not be the same to another. Food is very personal, and can evoke memories of people, places, and times past. As such, any commentary on this site should be understood as a personal reflection on the food experience.

This is proven by the fact that despite the variety of foods I have eaten in a variety of restaurants and different cuisines, my favourite meal remains Hong Kong style French Toast with an Ice Lemon Tea at the local Hong Kong style diner. It may only cost $7, but the memories it evokes of childhood and family ties is beyond the power of any artistic dish involving foam and glazes.

When it comes to cooking, I am ruled by my instincts. I rarely consult recipes, and any home-cooked dishes that I share on the blog will inevitably include measurements such as “a handful of this”, and “some of that”, and “just judge for yourself”. It doesn’t work for everyone, but I find this loose approach to cooking allows me to really experiment and use my best judgement.

I believe in trying everything once. Don’t disregard a certain type of food with an offhand “oh, I don’t eat lamb” – try it, and judge each dish and each type of food on its own merits, not on preconceived notions of its taste. Never turn anything down.

All the above combined makes me your Everyday Food Lover. I don’t try to be fancier than what I am – a regular woman who enjoys eating and learning to cook.

Summary Posts of Our European Honeymoon

Work in progress.

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  1. Pingback: Chanoy Honeymoon: The Financials – Gourmanda

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