Pierydys is a costume/fashion designer, writer and culinary tinkerer. She has also watched far more food-related television than is probably healthy. She has always liked to cook, though her zeal for experimentation has sometimes left those being served a bit confounded by what they find on their plates. It’s a good thing she likes to cook, however, since she has to do it on a daily basis to feed the various whining denizens of her household, all of whom seem to have black holes for stomachs.
Although she has not had any formal training through an accredited culinary institution, she has taken a few recreational courses during her time at university. For the most part, because they offered free food and a college student will do almost anything for a free meal.
Then again, if one counts having spent most of her life watching her marvelous I-make-everything-from-scratch-including-slaughtering-the-meat-out-back mother go about her business, then that probably adds up to something of an education. Those are certainly big shoes to fill, though, so she prefers to go about things in her own fashion. Usually involving as many shortcuts and cheap solutions as possible, as suits somebody with a huge student loan debt and not much time.
Pierydys also likes to garden, and has done so extensively in the past. She is currently starting over with a brand new container balcony garden, after having relocated from sunny Zone 10 to more temperate Zone 5. The absence of feral rampaging neighbor children trying to destroy her property has made this move a very welcome development.
This blog specializes mostly in seafood and baking (though usually not in the same dish), along with restaurant reviews and a smattering of gardening babble. It is regionally focused on Southern California and southern Finland. There are lots of influences that tend to show up in posts — hailing from an Asian-American family, growing up in Orange County, traveling frequently around the States and ultimately moving to Europe in the spring of 2010. Casa Kerfuffle currently resides in the picturesque coastal town of Rauma, Finland. And if you have to ask, then yes — we DO frolic with polar bears, ride reindeer and toss bread crumbs to penguins every other Tuesday.
PS. Pierydys only talks in third person on “about me” blog pages because it looks more professional that way. She also put up a profile photo from several years ago because honestly, when is she ever going to get another chance to show off her modeling pictures? And hey, if some Food Network scouts were to happen across it and have an open slot for a new host…? Okay, a girl can dream.
