About

Hello there! I’m Polly and I love food! I do the cooking, photography and writing for milkandmarigolds.com

I like to identify myself as a passionate home-cook, elementary school teacher, runner and visual artist.

For as long as I can recall, I have always loved food and preparing it. I can remember as a young child flipping through my mother’s cookbooks for hours on end. I would sit on the kitchen floor taking in the glossy images of new and exciting things that were just waiting to be cooked up and consumed.

At age 10, my dad gave me a text entitled Foods that Harm, Foods that Heal. I immediately became obsessed. I would read a few pages a night in its chronological order. I wanted to know everything there was to know about food. Maybe it was a little strange that I was more interested in studying facts and nutritional details about food than collecting stickers or reading comics but this is what got me truly excited. In fact, I would get so excited I ended up having to cut down my evening reading sessions or else I would end up wired and too hyper before bedtime. After all, I was the kid who had parents kind enough to withhold any potentially exciting news from their high-strung child until the last possible minute. Friend’s birthday parties, sleepovers, trips to a restaurant had to remain top secret until the moment arrived, or else I would get so excited I would literally make myself sick! Perhaps you can relate to my excitability or you flat out think I’m a weirdo (its quite okay if you do) but I guess I’m a passionate person.

Fortunately, I can handle the delivery of exciting news ahead of time these days (mostly that is). It’s great to have things to look forward to and I look forward to hearing from you as I begin this blog adventure.

My inspiration?

My parents. Without a doubt. They are the hardest working people I know. Both of my parents immigrated to Canada separately in the 1970s. My mom arrived independently at 19, and my father in his twenties. While they faced the challenge of having to start over, they also had not much more than a high school diploma to their names. With drive and determination, they amazingly started their chosen careers at a young age and went on to be very successful. My mother is a well known makeup artist in the film industry and my father was heavily involved in the food industry. I am proud to refer myself as the butcher’s daughter. With the combined creative side and business/food focused side, they have definitely been influential. My step father has also been heavily involved in bringing me up and is an established stills photographer whom I respect and still have a lot to learn from. They have taught me to work hard despite challenges and to chase after what I love. Thanks for always inspiring and encouraging me.

Butcher’s daughter. My dad (center) in 1968. The centenary at Smithfield market, London, England.

Here my mom is performing her magic on the late actor John Candy. This was from the SCTV set. This was one of my mom’s first major projects that she worked on for several years as a makeup artist. For those unfamiliar with SCTV, it was Canada’s Saturday Night Live.

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