#HCD — Nikki's Cooking Project

In August this year, I had the pleasure of meeting Rosa Jung.

Rosa is pretty incredible.

A truly global citizen, Rosa has lived everywhere. Born in Korea, Rosa has lived in France, the UK and is now proud to call Amsterdam her home. Rosa and her Swedish partner have only been here a few months, but already they have made a super gezellig home in east Amsterdam and are connected to an incredible community of friends.

On October 17th, Rosa turned 30!

Rosa and I started talking about what she might like to do for her birthday when we first met. We had actually met to discuss how Nikki’s Cooking Project might collaborate with an expat group Rosa managed, to run some interesting events.

Table setting. Iittala tea light holders, Kastehelmi and Kivi by Marimekko

Rosa’s real talent and clearly what she enjoys, is bringing people together.

Of course it got exciting when we started talking food. Rosa’s love for all things food, wine and entertainment, her enthusiasm and positive energy is just so contagious. How could I say no to her idea of curating a dinner experience for her special birthday?

Everything was running to plan, we built in some contingencies due to social distancing regulations and we were prepared to pivot if we had to.

And sure enough, at the last minute…we had to pivot!

Through an incredibly cooperative and collaborative effort between Rosa, her partner and Nikki’s Cooking Project, we curated and delivered by bike, a 6 course dinner experience for Rosa’s 30th birthday.

Rosa hosted the small gathering at her own home and Nikki’s Cooking Project set the scene with a fully set and decorated table. Visual instructions on how to plate up the 6 courses and a short video, helped Rosa and her friends relax into the evening with minimal tasks to complete the meal.

Hats off to Rosa’s partner for his beautiful plating presentation skills!

It was a real life test, the first time we had ever attempted delivering such an event. But with creativity and a much organised team, Rosa and her guests experienced a night to remember.

Afterwards Rosa’s friends describe the meal as,

‘Really delicious, restaurant quality.’

‘The dishes were all so delicious, so much more than we anticipated - such a great variety of food too.’

Congratulations Rosa on reaching 30, it’s a real milestone and one we hope you’ll remember fondly.

If you’re interested in a fully curated, private dining experience in Amsterdam from the comfort of your own home, please get in touch we’d love to design something special for you too!

x Nikki
Founder & Creative Director

I'd like to know more

Hello friends,

So, I have decided to use my design portfolio as a place to post Nikki’s Cooking Project recipes and videos.

There may or may not be technical challenges with this, I’m betting on yes. Let’s find out.

This site should also keep you up to date with life in AMS and what’s happening on the other side.

There are many reasons for using my portfolio site rather than creating another. Mostly it’s because I already pay Squarespace for this beautiful space and rather than paying for another one, why shouldn’t I use this?

So here it is, the first official post to what is now a web space for Nikki’s Cooking Project.

Soon, I’m hoping you can download recipe cards from the site and watch short videos on ‘How To’ everything in your kitchen at home.

As always we welcome all your feedback.

Tips and tricks for improvement, things that made you laugh, things that made you cry and of course we love seeing your creations!

We can design beautiful things together.

And for some bigger news on the project itself.

For those of you who don’t know, Nikki’s Cooking Project is actually a start-up experiment. Our business is in co-design. Together by testing recipes and sharing ideas, we are creating a new food planning tool. The tool is designed to help families, people who live on their own and couples, get inspired to get back in their kitchen. The tool also aims to help people learn more about the nutritional value of the meal they’re preparing and the impact it has on our environment.

There will be more to come in the following months on what the tool looks like. We will be testing how to use it, I’m looking for people who might like to be involved with this. Send me an email if you think you’d like to give it a try, we’ll send out a prototype - nikkiscookingproject@gmail.com

But for now, we need to keep busy with cooking, writing, taking photos and most importantly testing those recipes.

We are creating something special.

I look forward to sharing more beautiful recipes with you shortly and am excited to soon be prototyping our new tool together with you.

And before I go I wanted to let you know there is a donate button right at the bottom of this feed.

Many followers have asked me in recent months Where can I donate to your project?

You can now safely make donations through this page. Scroll to the bottom if you’re on a mobile device, you’ll find the donate button there.

5% of your donation will go directly to a foundation very close to my heart, The Prader-Willi Foundation Australia.

The remaining 95% will go to the Cooking Project. Your donations will help pay for things like building prototypes, doing research and eventually launching the product.

Thank you to each and every one of you for making this possible.

x Nikki

Founder & Creative Director