Christmas time it perfect for baking and share sweet treats with the loved ones!

an oven-baked fish

My favourite things to nibble at Christmastime, you ask? Abundant cheese boards|cheese balls|cheese cookies; spicy, bold chutneys|mustards|dips; crisp, salty crackers; garlicky, herbalicious mashed potatoes|Brussels sprouts|stuffing; any classic casserole laden with canned soup and crusted in crunchy breakfast cereal.....I LOVE SAVOURY, you dig? So, when it comes to my go-to snack for Christmas cocktail hour, nuts and bolts mix rules supreme. Toasty, crunchy, buttery....alive with the dark, mysterious Worcestershire flavour bomb and hot pepper twang of Tabasco.....and nostalgic with old school spices (garlic/onion powder, celery salt), typically sourced from jars that have been in the cupboard since the 1980s. Sit me in front of a fire, put a glass of wine in my hand and give me a bowl of this, you may never get rid of me.

I am a pizza addict ;)

'Seafood Spaghetti' illustration for Global Cuisine

pasta, pancetta and peas

This is an ode to Norwegian Sommerboller—a cardamom infused sweet bun with a vanilla custard center—probably the dreamiest thing I have ever eaten! Also a little nod here to the traditional Norwegian decorative painting called rosemaling.

Although I'm not Italian, I love everything that goes into the Feast of the 7 Fishes! It's an Italian-American celebration of Christmas Eve with dishes of fish and other seafood. I love seafood! I love pasta! For the past 3 Christmases my boyfriend and I have gotten conveyor belt sushi, so that's as close as I've gotten to eating fish on Christmas! Cheers everyone!

Over the past several years Avocado Toast is has become extremely popular, especially in California. It's fast, easy and anything goes, which means people are very creative using their favorite toppings.
Personally, I prefer mine without the toast but still get creative and enjoy trying different herbs and vegetables to compliment the avocado's mild taste.

I immediately fell in love with ceviche when I traveled to Peru. Upon arriving back home, even I made the dish for my friends! They were skeptical when I served them raw fish in a bowl and they asked, "So... now we cook it?".

For this illustration, I combined a recipe illustration showcasing the freshness of the food, with a map of my journey from my sketchbook.

Here are some typical Cantonese breakfast dishes I had growing up for the Global Cuisine challenge

A simple Moroccan vegetable tagine

I have fond memories of eating this salad growing up in Moldova, especially during the holidays. The Russian Vinegret (Vinaigrette) Salad is a pretty much staple at any gathering during the New Year's celebrations. It's a delicious vegetarian option, packed with veggies and beautiful color given off from the beets.

Lahpet or pickled tea is the most iconic of Burmese foods and unique to the country. It’s eaten in two main ways – as a-hlu lahpet, where the ingredients are served in a beautiful, divided lacquerware dish (aka Mandalay lahpet), and as a salad known as lahpet thoke (aka as Yangon lahpet).Eat as a snack, as a palate-cleanser at the end of a meal or with rice.

Recipe kindly supplied by MiMi Aye, author of Mandalay: Recipes and Tales from a Burmese Kitchen.

Global Cuisine Design Challenge (although I've had this idea since the food memories challenge - of preparing food with my mum and auntie in a loving but organised chaos kitchen)