About Sam
Hi, I'm Samantha.
I'm a Canadian designer who moved to Mexico with a love of feeding people and a curiosity about flavour. That, three kids, and a very well-worn kitchen island is how Love & Harvest began.
By the numbers
136+
Tested Recipes
3
Honest Kid Critics
4
Culinary Influences
2
Countries, One Kitchen
How it all started
Growing up in a Chinese-Canadian household, food was never just dinner — it was storytelling. My mom cooked to teach us where we came from. My grandmother cooked because it was how she said I love you. By the time I was old enough to hold a knife, I understood without being told that the kitchen was where the real conversations happened.
When I moved to Mexico and started a family here, two food worlds collided in the best possible way. The bright, bold, market-fresh flavours of a Mexican kitchen met the layered techniques of my childhood, and I couldn't stop cooking. Three kids later, this blog became my way of writing it all down — every recipe that made it to our permanent rotation, every flavour combination that surprised us, every weeknight dinner that actually worked.
What Love & Harvest means
The name came to me thinking about what cooking really is. Love — because every recipe I share started as an act of feeding someone I care about. Harvest — because good food comes from paying attention: to the season, to what's around you, to what your family actually eats and loves.
My three kids — Natalie, Adam, and little Jimmy — are my most honest critics. If a recipe passes the family table on a Tuesday night, it makes the blog. That's my filter. Nothing too fussy. Nothing that requires an ingredient you'd have to hunt for. Just real food, cooked with intention, for people you love.
You'll find 136+ recipes inspired by Canada, Mexico, Asia, and every kitchen in between. Weeknight dinners, weekend baking projects, seasonal favourites, and a few recipes that have officially become non-negotiable in our house. Whatever you're here for, I'm glad you came.
How I test every recipe
Every recipe on this blog has been cooked in my own kitchen, eaten at my own table, and judged by the world's most honest critics — my three kids.
Cooked at least 3 times
I don't publish a recipe until I've made it at least three times and worked out every variable — timing, temperature, substitutions.
Family-tested on a Tuesday
If it doesn't pass a real weeknight dinner with Natalie, Adam, and Jimmy, it doesn't make the blog. Fancy doesn't count. Delicious does.
Real pantry, real results
No exotic substitutions, no professional equipment. Every recipe is built around ingredients you can find at a regular grocery store.
I photograph every dish myself — what you see is what I actually made.
Come cook with me
New recipes, kitchen moments, and real-life family dinners — every week.
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Seven family-tested dinners, ready in 30 minutes. Tested on three real kids — Sam's seal of approval included.