Q. What’s your background in food?
I don’t have any formal culinary training. After my freshman year of college, I spent a summer as a prep/line cook at a dine-in theatre. I mostly worked the pizzette station, and it was pretty fun.
Q. Where did you go to school?
I completed my freshman year at the University of South Carolina, but I transferred to Binghamton University in New York. Fun fact: I graduated with four majors.
Q. Are you from South Carolina?
Nope, born and raised in central New Jersey. I don’t think I like sweet tea or grits enough to be from the South. I’m more of a green tea and oatmeal person 😉
Q. Quadruple major?
Yup!
B.A. Environmental Studies: Planning, Law, and Communications
B.A. Asian Cultural Representations in Politics & Broadcast Media
B.A. English: Global Cultures
B.A. Asian and Asian American Studies (Asia Comparative Track)
As you can tell, I like keeping busy!
Q. Besides food, what are your other hobbies?
Photography, filming, writing, reading, crafts, acting, event planning, Chinese ribbon dancing, Beijing opera stage combat, and watching way too much television.
My favorites are Sherlock BBC and Psych, but I watch a lot of other crime/actions shows— especially the ones with a bit of comedy mixed in! (I’ve also watched all but one episode of the original Star Trek series.)
I occasionally binge-read manga, and I adore Studio Ghibli movies. I have a backpack with Totoro on it and Totoro slippers. Admittedly they aren’t the easiest for walking up and down stairs, but they’re so cute
Q. What type of camera do you use?
I use a Panasonic Lumix G Series DMC G7 and occasionally an iPhone6. Any of the photos on the blog prior to late 2017 are either on a Panasonic Lumix G6 or the iPhone.
Q. Where were your header photos taken?
Both photos were taken on the Cliffs of Moher in County Clare, Ireland. One of my best friends and I spent about three weeks in Europe back in June 2014. The three wonderful days we spent wandering the fields and cliffs of County Clare were the highlight of the entire trip.
Essentially the middle of nowhere (a.k.a. Doolin, Ireland) beat out London and Paris in our books. Crazy, right?
Q. So what are you?
A dreamer, a planner, a food blogger.
Q. No, I mean what is your ethnicity?
I know what you meant— I get this kind of question all the time. (I would have responded “human” if I was sassier 😛 )
My dad was born in Hong Kong, and my mom’s family has roots in New York/New England. I don’t know much more than that, but I have been doing some genealogical research in my free time. It looks like I might be part English, French, Irish, German, and Canadian!
Q. What are your favorite foods?
Ugh I’m so terrible at choosing favorites. Sometimes I just stand in the aisle at the grocery store staring at all the options. Picture a deer in headlights.
Chocolate, granny smith apples, strawberries, pineapple burgers/pizza, soup dumplings, peking duck, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, crêpes, ice cream, hot red bean milk tea, chocolate pudding, waffles, mac ‘n cheese, grilled cheese, bread, avocado, salmon, sticky rice, pickled radishes, red chicken curry, bagels, various dim sum dishes.
I could go on for days!!!
Q. Your least favorite foods?
I can’t stand the taste or smell of cantaloupe, weird I know. I’m not a fan of raw onions, blue cheese, pickles, wine, beer or lemonade. Also, I don’t drink soda or other carbonated drinks.
Update: Mushrooms were originally on my list of dislikes, but this recipe changed my mind
Q. I tried one of your recipes, and it didn’t come out right. What went wrong?
Oh I’m sorry 🙁 This is a hard question to answer, because I wasn’t there when you made it. It could be a temperature discrepancy. Some ovens/burners run hotter or cooler than others.
I’ve also been told that particularly high or low altitudes can affect baking. Both Betty Crocker and King Arthur Flour have some tips on adjusting recipes based on altitude. However, I haven’t needed to use either resource so I can’t attest to their usefulness.
Q. Can I repost your photos and/or recipes?
My content and images are copyrighted. Feel free to choose a single photo to repost, but please credit Allspice & Ally and link back to the original post. If you’re interested in reprinting the full recipe, please send an inquiry to allspice.and.ally@gmail.com. Thanks for sharing!