About Us

Welcome!

Our Bella Cucina is the brainchild of Sarah, who believes that you do not have to have a top of the line kitchen to make a beautiful meal. How you use the kitchen you have is the true beauty. We want to show you our favourite recipes, gadgets and cookbooks, and share with you our trials and tribulations in the kitchen to get a meal on the table for our families.


Sarah

Sarah is a thirty-something stay-at-home mother to two adorable, if questionably behaved, little boys aged 2 and 4.  She was born and raised in Australia as part of a family who served bland meals and considered spaghetti bolognese to be exotic, but now lives in Seattle with her husband and children.  Her husband introduced her to the world of Indian and Thai cuisines as well as educating her in the ways of medium-rare steak.  She is a self-taught cook and wannabe foodie who likes to experiment with new recipes and has a pathological fear of roasting a chicken.


As for where she gets her recipes, the first place is from her addiction to buying cookbooks. She also reads a lot of cooking blogs, cuts things from magazines, her mother sends recipes from Australia, and she has even been known to find recipes on the back of grocery store receipts!


Stephanie

Stephanie is a twenty-something retro housewife trapped in a modern world. Married to her middle school sweetheart at the ripe old age of 18 she now embraces her roles as a homemaker, military wife, and mother to two adorable spawn, Fathead and Devil Baby. While her sensibilities hark back to a bygone era her tastes definitely do not. Completely self taught, Stephanie grew up in a household where boxed meals and fast food reigned. She vowed to herself that when she had a family of her own she would learn to cook great, mostly-from-scratch, meals to share with her family and friends. She loves big flavors and often finds herself at least doubling and sometime tripling the spices and herbs in most recipes. She is constantly trying to challenge herself in the kitchen. One of her favorite things is to take a dish she has eaten in a restaurant and break it down to replicate at home.


Lorrin

Lorrin is a workaholic vegetarian of questionable (albeit Colonial) heritage. Until she converted to a plant-based diet for ethical reasons, her cooking repertoire was limited to dialing the nearest Thai restaurant for take-out or hitting the “reheat” button on the microwave. Since eschewing (what a fun word on a blog about food!) meat, however, she has discovered a world of delicious food options and is thoroughly enjoying the experimentation and “eureka!” moments that come along with trying new things, learning a great deal about the impact of nutrition on both physical and mental health along the way. She generally uses her newfound powers for good, although she admits to feeling wickedly smug when lauded by carnivorous friends after a successful dinner party!