About/Press

Hi, I am Emily, the person behind the food and lifestyle blog, Fuss Free Cooking.

Fuss Free Cooking is a cooking journal on the meals I have prepared for my beloved and I. It is also an outlet to share my favourite cafes and restaurants, travel experience and more.

With no background in culinary field (unless being a waitress in a noodle shop counts), I strive to celebrate home cooking outside of the pages of magazines and cooking reality shows.

When I am not in the kitchen working on my next recipe or binge buying cookbooks, I am also a Certified Practising Accountant (CPA) working in Public Practice. So if we have not met via this blog, maybe I will be doing your tax return someday!

Here’s a title about me

I grew up on a beautiful island called PENANG, MALAYSIA. When you mentioned Penang to any Malaysian, the first thing that comes to mind is usually “wow, nice hawker food over there!” Oh yes, I’ve been blessed with super delicious and inexpensive Penang street food, restaurants as well as a family of avid home cooks who love to make things from scratch and adventurous with trying various cuisines.Then, I moved to TASMANIA, AUSTRALIA and lived there for a couple of years for my undergraduate degree. Part of me wished that I should have started blogging then as there are so many wonderful restaurants and cafes that Tasmania that I’d like to feature. The scenery in Tassie is breathtaking. I had many fond memories of my stay in Tassie. Perhaps, it is because somewhere along the way I met the love of my life (addressed as “my beloved” on this blog).Due to my beloved’s work commitment, we started to move around in various regional areas in New South Wales which include Tamworth, Bathurst and my favourite place of all, ORANGE.

As we began to feel a little more settled in Orange, an exciting work opportunity arose for my beloved which prompted another move. At the end of August 2014, we relocated to MELBOURNE.

After two years in Melbourne, my partner and I have decided to move back to Orange, NSW in September, 2016. #nomadiclifestyle

First foray into blogging about cooking

The feeling of isolation from moving into a new town and working remotely as an accountant has motivated me to start this blog in March 2010. At first, it was daunting at the thought of sharing what I cooked on internet. What will people say about my cooking? Will people criticise me because I’m just an everyday home cook, not professionally trained? How about my writing? I’m not a writer…. you can imagine the thousands of questions and self-doubts filled my head.My beloved said to me: “Who cares, just write what you like, do what you want. It is YOUR blog!”These were the words I needed to hear, thus transforming my self-doubt to excitement on what started off as a mean to overcome the feeling of isolation to a 3 4-year long obsession.

Why fuss free cooking

I’ve always like the saying “no fuss, no muss”. After “jigsaw puzzling” with words, I thought the name “Fuss Free Cooking” is best described my approach to home cooking. I simplify my cooking life with the clever use of ready-made sauces, cooking short cuts and simplification of existing recipes. By the way, it is “fuss” free….and not “fast” free. This is the common problem I have when I told people my blog name. Maybe it’s my accent or maybe the word “fuss” is not commonly used in Australia. But guys, it is “fuss free”.

I’ve realised that my “about page” has turned into War and Peace ha! If you have made it this far without dozing off, I am grateful!

I thought I would give you a back story about myself so that my future posts will make much more sense since many recipes on this blog were inspired by food memories from my past and childhood.

Thanks for reading. I hope you will have as much fun reading as I’ve had creating the content for this blog.

Kind Regards,

Emily