How it started: flour on the counter
My love story with food began on the kitchen counter. Literally.
As a child I’d sit there, legs swinging, watching my mother cook and bake. The smells, the sounds of whisk against bowl, the way dough slowly turned into something magical — I was hooked long before I could see over the stove.
Eventually I was allowed to help. My first cake? I remember it perfectly… because it slipped right out of the pan and crashed onto the floor. I was devastated. My mom laughed, grabbed two spoons, and we ate it anyway. That was my first lesson: even “failures” can be delicious.
Through high school I baked endlessly – trays of cookies, birthday cakes, anything I could dream up. Friends and family were my first official “tasters.”
Nushinka is born
When my kids were born, I decided it was time to do this properly. I went to pastry school and earned a pastry chef diploma. Suddenly this hobby had a title.
Then came Nushinka – my little dessert business, named after the nickname my mom gave me: Nushi, Nush, Karnushinka, Nushinka… the very Eastern European way of turning one name into ten. I baked like crazy, worked like crazy, and learned the hard way that passion doesn’t always equal profit. Eventually I went back to hi-tech, and baking returned to being my stubborn, beautiful hobby.
From ovens to cameras
When I opened Nushinka I knew I could bake and I knew I could write. I wanted a blog. What I didn’t know was photography.
I asked around about food photography and everyone laughed: “First you have to learn photography, then you can do food.”
So I said, “Why not?” I bought a camera, took courses, and fell completely in love. Later I added dedicated food-photography classes. During COVID, when we were all stuck at home, the only models I had were the desserts I baked for my family — and that’s when my pastry and my camera finally became one story.
My flavor
If you want to know my taste in one sentence:
Anything caramel, and anything salty-sweet.
Give me vanilla ice cream with peanut butter and caramel drizzle and I’ll call it heaven.
This blog is where all those worlds meet: the little girl on the counter, the pastry chef, the hi-tech returnee, and the woman behind the camera - still chasing the perfect bite and the perfect shot.
