HEY! WELCOME TO PAULA’S APRON
I’m Paula, a passionate food lover. I find a lot of joy through cooking and eating, this is my place of calm when I want to disconnect. I’m also a big advocate of everybody-can-cook, it’s just a matter of trusting the recipe you have in your hands and giving it a go. That’s why in Paula’s Apron you will find recipes that are delicious but most importantly doable. Cooking doesn’t need to be complicated, even less if we are busy (I have a full-time job). My hope is that you’ll be inspired to cook at home, with whole foods and a lot of fun.
If you have a recipe question, an idea for an upcoming post, or an advertising inquiry I’d LOVE to hear from you! Check out this page to contact me and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.
MY STORY
In 2016 I moved from Barcelona to Oxford, encouraged to make a change in my career path. In Oxford, I had the first place of my own, a rental, but basically, I had moved out from my parents’ house. Also, my partner was traveling a lot because of his job. So all in all, I started to cook much more often, plus, foodie as I am, I was looking for great food spots around town. From cafes where to spend mornings or afternoons reading, to restaurants to try with my new friends and with my partner as a surprise when he was back from his trips.
During that time, a lot of my friends were also moving out of their parents’ homes. So… On the one hand, my friends in Oxford were asking me to put all my foodie corner recommendations in one place. On the other hand, my old friends were asking me to share recipes with them and have someplace where they could find them. I procrastinated quite a bit, I won’t lie, but then in 2018, I created What’s Cooking Oxford on Instagram.
Earlier in 2020, right before the burst of the pandemic in Europe, my partner and I had decided to move back to Barcelona. By that time, since I no longer lived in Oxford, I felt I had to change the name, and that’s how Paula’s Apron was born. At Christmas 2020-2021, my partner gifted me with developing a website for the blog (fun fact, I received a programming code that I had to decipher and the result was: let’s make a website for Paula’s Apron!), which finally became a real thing at the end of January 2022 (it took me a year lol).
Why Apron? I learned to cook from watching my grandma. I’ve always been an early bird, as she was, and as early as 8 am you’d find her with her apron on already whipping something up for lunch. I loved to sit down by her side and when I could write, I started to take notes of what she was doing (a lot of “a bit of this, a pinch of that, another tiny bit of this, a splash of that…”). Also… I am very clumsy and an apron helps me reduce the number of disasters I need to wash out of my clothes.
Aprons collect a lot of home stories and history, so I hope that the stories behind my apron inspire you all. Cooking and eating can bring a lot of joy to a crowd and doesn’t need to be anything too complicated!
FEATURES
Something that has made me super happy during this journey is that I have had the pleasure to be featured by food52 and the Kitchn.
I have also had the pleasure to contribute to the Christmas Appetizer Ebook by The Happy Avocado and to the TML Magazine Issue 14 – Oct/Nov 2021 (The Mediterranean Lifestyle Magazine).
RANDOM THINGS
I studied Industrial and Mechanical engineering, yeap very techy.
I was born in Barcelona, grew up in a town next to it called Esplugues de Llobregat and after having lived in Delft (the Netherlands) and Oxford (the UK) now I’m back in Barcelona.
Hiking, reading, anything potato (except salt and vinegar crisps…), slow-cooked food and ice-cream (if I happen to travel to Italy you will always find me with an ice-cream after lunch and another one after dinner, no joke).
English, Spanish and Catalan fluently. I can also defend myself in French, although it’s a bit rusty after not having frequently spoken it for literally 14 years now!
Roasted or sautéed vegetables, salads, eggs, pasta and chicken breasts. They allow me to make delicious meals in a matter of minutes without falling into the processed food trap.
I think this is it for now… If you want to get to know me better feel free to follow me on Instagram! Oh, and of course, you can also find me on Pinterest and TikTok.
Have a lot of fun around,
