Until my early 20s I was agnostic to cooking – mostly because I never had to. That changed when I left home and discovered that not only did I like cooking but I also liked hosting and having friends over.

The pandemic years forced us to stay at home and I cooked and did all the things I saw people do on the internet – baked sourdough, religiously used pasta water and even made that dalgona coffee – you know the spiel.

Another great thing happened during those years – got married to a man who if not active like me in the kitchen was curious and liked being in the kitchen. (He gets all the credit for amazing meat you’ll eat).

In 2021, once we could gather again, we started hosting friends for any reason we could think of. I would create elaborate meals that we’d linger over for hours. Without us even planning it, Anna’s Pop-ups had begun and the spirit still remains the same.