My name is Layla and I love food. I currently live in Seattle, but spent most of my life in Vilcabamba-Loja, Ecuador. A lot of my recipes are inspired by the food I was exposed to growing up, from my mother’s New Mexico cooking to the market food stalls and snack carts in the street serving the best Ecuadorian food (for the record I have never gotten sick from eating anything from a snack cart in Ecuador, but I probably have some sort of immunity because I was born there). I also lived in Texas with my grandmother and she makes some of the best Southern food. Finally, I married a French guy who can cook perfect crepes and likes good red wine, which gives me a great excuse to explore French cooking (but I’ll leave the crepes to Nicolas) with a glass in hand.
According to a 6 year old named Alex I am a “good cooker”.
According to my husband the main reason he married me is because I can cook. My revenge for him using me this way is that I am using him to test all of my recipe experiments, so I guess we’re even. Marc, my 3 year old, is my other “tester”, he’s a little unpredictable and will love something today that he hated the day before, but if he finishes his plate it’s a good sign.
I really like to read/browse cook books and food magazines, I love the ones with pictures, I’m not that good about following recipes, except for baking, but I let the pictures and my imagination inspire me. I also love all types of kitchen gadgets and anything kitchen related (except for doing dishes), though I am currently banned from adding anything new to my kitchen gadget collection due to lack of space.

If you have any questions or comments my email is layla at laylita dot com

Also, if you’re on Facebook and would like to become a fan of the site you can do so here.

My first “cooking” experiments: mud- but it’s gotten better now…

Brief instructions/explanation on how to use this site

Just a few instructions or tips for using the recipes: I grew up writing mainly in Spanish so you will find some grammar mistakes in the recipes and stories,  I’m always open to learning the correct way so let me know if there are any improvements I can make. Also I learned to cook in the typical South American way of “add a little of this and a little of that” so basically without precise measurements just instinct, I do my best to document the measurements and amounts for each recipe, but feel free to adjust for your tastes. Most of the recipes are for about 6-8 people, when it’s just the family we usually have some leftovers (this is intentional) unless everyone is starving; I’ll specify in the recipes if the proportions I’m using are for a large party (10 plus people), I also think that when I include pictures of the process it’s kind of obvious how much is being made.

I assume that all vegetables, fruits, meat, seafood, etc has been cleaned properly before using so I don’t specifically say “wash the tomatoes” because I think that is quite obvious. I also assume that you know that raw fish/seafood can be dangerous and that you should avoid it if your doctor has told you so.  I also recommend that you try to use fresh, local, organic products are much as possible, I try to do this with as many products as I can, however there are certain ingredients needed to make South American dishes that are not grown or made locally (or anywhere close) so it’s isn’t always possible, though I really wish someone would try growing tree tomatoes or yuca or naranjillas in Washington (or even California) because the food would taste even better.

Finally, if you would like to use any of the content or photos on this site please ask for permission.

Photos and links to recipes on the top image header (as of 12/06/08)

From left to right

Mango avocado and arugula salad

Llapingachos or cheese stuffed potato patties

Mote pillo or hominy with eggs

Empanadas de viento or fried cheese empanadas

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