Hi there, thanks for dropping by. We are Kylie and Jason, life partners, best friends, work mates and most importantly the team behind Almond to Zest. We love food soooo much that we have dedicated our whole lives to it. And Almond to Zest is our little platform on the web to share all our ideas, knowledge and techniques with you.
We live in the gorgeous city Auckland, New Zealand. Our lives are filled with a houseful of rescue animals. These include two dogs, Rip and Jester. Seven rescue cats, some more domesticated than others. We also have two red slider turtles, Tiny Tim and Big Bertha as well as a pond full of goldfish. As you can see we love animals, big and small.
So why did we decide to start a food blog? After we sold our café in 2015 we wanted to create a platform to share our most popular recipes with our customers. So we chose the name Almond to Zest, as we felt it summed up our type of cooking style and ingredient use the best and wrote our first post.
Our philosophy towards food is that it should be quick and easy, well balanced and it shouldn’t be over complicated or daunting. We love experimenting with new ingredients, eating seasonally and using cruelty free products. We enjoy eating healthy dishes and lately have been leaning towards a cleaner lifestyle. But in saying that we still wouldn’t say no to a gigantic slice of chocolate cake. We hope that our blog will teach you, the reader how to cook amazing meals for not only for yourself but for your family and friends. And we hope that our life long knowledge will teach you new techniques and ideas along the way.
KYLIE
Howdy, I’m Kylie. I take all the photos for Almond to Zest and write some of the posts. My true loves in life are chocolate, in and on pretty much anything. Coffee, I cannot function without it. Netflix, I watch way too much of this. My animals, I mean I only have like thousand of them. And laughter, I do this a lot. Oh and of course my partner in crime Jason, cant forget that one.
I am Australian born and have worked basically my whole life behind a bar or a coffee machine. And I love it, which is why I am so super excited about sharing with you all the recipes, tips and tricks that I have learnt from working in cafes and restaurants over my lifetime.
JASON
Hi, I’m Jason. I develop and test most of the recipes for Almond to Zest (although Kylie has been doing a lot more lately). I also edit the photos. I have a real passion for food and animals, you’d have to in our house! And love to travel, both locally and overseas when I get the chance.
I’m a Kiwi, from Auckland, New Zealand and have worked in kitchens both here and in Australia since I was a teenager. Working with food is a process of constant learning, and one of the great things about cooking is that anyone can learn something new from anyone else. An experienced chef can learn things from a home cook and visa versa. I look forward to sharing some of my knowledge with you!
MICHAEL
Michael is Jason’s little brother and does all the techie stuff behind the scenes as well as taste testing of recipes for the website!