Hey, do you like to eat? Cause we do!
Hi, we’re Jordan and Ivana (aka Jorvana), a slightly ridiculous, international couple with a passion for cooking simple, nutritious meals. Yummy morsels that don’t break the bank, require exotic ingredients, or fancy appliances. Through trial and error, we’re discovering a world of cooking together.
Ivana loves to cook, and I (Jordan) love to eat. Match made in heaven.
(Ivana is reading this over my shoulder, she just informed me “that’s stupid”. Gotta love Croatian bluntness. And now she’s laughing maniacally…oh boy.)
Anyway, although my culinary knowledge pales in comparison to hers, I’m gradually learning through her impatient tutelage. She seems to especially enjoy telling me what I’m doing wrong. In fact, when I think of Ivana in the kitchen, a certain lovable character from Seinfeld comes to mind:
Kidding aside, you can read more about us later in this post. We’ll be launching our blog soon, regular Youtube cooking tutorials, and more in the works!
We’re calling our project: Color My Meal.
Now watch our trailer to get a “taste” of what we’re about…dobar tek!*
*Croatian 101: dobar tek = bon apetit
Hope you enjoyed that…it only took us like a bazillion hours to make :) If you want to know when we’re up and running, we’d be happy to email you.
COLOR MY MEAL — what the heck is that?!
Nope, it’s not a kids coloring book. But speaking of kids…don’t you wish you could enjoy food the way they do?
You’ll notice toddlers are completely immersed in the experience of eating. Everything else in their world fades away. No distracting screens, mental to-do lists, or work. All that exists is the tasty treat placed in front of them — its colors, scent, and texture.
Our goal is to recreate this primal, edible adventure. Stop and smell the culinary roses with us! Experience food for what it should be: live, full of color, and diverse. We need to stop, take a deep breath, and become conscious of what we eat.
We’ll explain what we mean a bit more in a future post, but at this point, you’re probably wondering, “just who are these crazy people?!?!”
We’re glad you asked :) Here’s a bit more about us and the “serendipity” moment of how we met. Hint — it wasn’t on Tinder.
HEY, I’M JORDAN!
I’m a 31 year young American dude. For the last 9 years, my home base has mainly been Hamburg, Germany. It might sound cheesy, but I originally came for love — guess I’m a romantic at heart (feel free to roll your eyes). Although my first relationship ultimately didn’t last, I fell in love with Europe. The diversity of cultures, ease of international travel (I once rode my bike through Switzerland, Germany, and France in a single day), the the list goes on.
Since I work for a software company, I’m “location independent” (digital nomad sounds way too hipster). Whenever I’m asked if I travel for work or vacation, I simply respond, “yes”. My life is just one, giant vacation. Ok, I might be exaggerating juuuust a bit, but it’s honestly tricky separating the two. I’ve bounced around Europe, “work-cationing” from exotic locales like Barcelona, London, Lisbon, Zurich, Athens, Warsaw, Croatian Islands…the list goes on.
HOW WE MET
The magic began 10 months ago, during a trip to Zagreb. Wondering where we met? Hint: it’s related to food.
Drumroll please….(yes, I’m also a drummer)
Of all places, we met in a supermarket! If that’s not the perfect start to a couples cooking project, I don’t know what is :D
Look for the complete story book romance with all the bells and whistles in an upcoming post. For now, here’s my Cliff Notes version:
While I was on vacation in Zagreb, I popped into an organic food store to grab some gluten free pasta. As I was staring in confusion at the Croatian labels, a friendly store clerk asked me if I needed help (which I clearly did). Can you guess who that friendly store clerk was?? Yep, you got it (this is the part where you sigh, ‘awwww’).
I eventually gathered up the courage to invite Ivana to coffee. Several awkward jokes and countless mouthwatering meals later, I somehow found myself in a relationship with a beautiful, Croatian cooking queen. If you don’t think the old adage “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach” isn’t true, then you’ve never tried Ivana’s food.
BOK, I’M IVANA!
Croatian 101: bok = hi (informal greeting)
If you think, Jordo has an exciting life, wait till you read about mine! I work at an organic grocery store. That’s about it.
I’m Ivana Little thumb (seriously, my last name translates from Croatian to “Little thumb”). It’s awesome because I’m actually a bigger and meaner version of Thumbellina. Thumbellina lives in a flower on a meadow. Since I’m sadly too big to live in a flower, I started learning about them. Not only flowers, but plants, animals, agriculture and our ecosystem in general — all combined in organic agriculture studies. In this topic I obtained my masters degree :)
As life takes you in unexpected directions, I ended up working in an organic shop as assistant manager and employee educator. I really love it though. It’s a dynamic, fast paced job and the best part?! I get a TON of free samples (Jordan and I are all about free samples). Like Jordan said, we met at my workplace. It all began with him asking me, “does spelt have gluten?” (psshhhh…. Ignorant :p ). After that silly question, my life got flipped, turned upside down — cue Fresh Prince theme song…
and I’m so glad it did. He travels around, living ˝la vida loca˝(don’t worry, I’ll refrain from posting a Ricky Martin gif). Well, I’m living ˝la vida loca˝ too…cooking for him!!
I cook, he eats and everybody is happy, My Love goes through his stomach. And it’s his love that has encouraged me do this crazy and exciting project.
Join our crazy cooking adventure!
We’ll unveil our blog and start “cooking up” some yummy Youtube cooking videos in a few weeks. We can email you here when it’s up and running :)
You can also connect:
Thanks so much for reading this!! Hope you’re as excited as we are.
Dobar tek,
Jorvana
PS — Starving and don’t know what to eat? We’re giving away a free, step-by-step recipe PDF + photos: “Veggies with Mustard is a Must” (Ivana came up with it today).
But wait, there’s more!! (always wanted to say that). You’ll also learn an easy way to make rice flour pizza. Step #1 — awkwardly spill ingredients.
Click HERE to get the free recipe PDF and be notified when our pizza video is released.
