Hi, I’m Julie! I’m the creator of maru ryouri. I’m based in southern California, where I’m lucky to be surrounded by a variety of culture, entertainment, food, and ways of life. I first started baking mostly in high school, mainly cookies and macarons to give as gifts to my friends. I baked so often that when I would get into trouble as a teenager, I was banned from the kitchen instead of getting grounded.
When I had to defer my first semester of university, I got more into baking. I saw all these videos of baking creators online and fell in love with the idea of creating these beautiful baked goods and sharing them with the world. Eventually I started university, during which I worked part time as a chef, and graduated in 2020. My experiences with both baking and cooking have inspired me to share my knowledge on this website. Through this website, I want to share bits of my life with you in the form of recipes.
I’ve always had an interest in food. A lot of that interest came from the entertainment I consumed. When I would play video games or watch TV, seeing the food that these characters make and eat (Krabby Patties, if you know you know), I just had to know how it tasted. That was the main inspiration behind why I started making content, to bring these foods to life. I started out on TikTok as atsuryouri, but these days I wanted to branch out from the content I started out with and share a variety of recipes that I think people will enjoy. That being said, I will still be doing recipes from games and other types of recipes as well.
maru ryouri
With the website, I wanted to rebrand a little to better represent what I will post here. The name sounds close enough to my original name on TikTok that I think it would be recognizable. In Japanese, Maru (丸) means circle, round. However, that is not the case here. Maru is the name of my dog! My inspiration in life. I do it all for her. When I first started out baking and cooking, she was always by my side, literally. She would sit on the floor and watch me cook, or I would sit her on a barstool so she can get a better view of the process (and better supervise me). Even though our lives have changed and we’ve moved around, she is still by my side, watching me cook (and asking for treats).
What you’ll find here
I’m hoping that this website will provide you helpful tips and techniques that you can implement in your regular cooking and/or baking. I post a variety of recipes that I hope will inspire you to try them in some way. My specialty is baking, so naturally I especially love sharing sweet recipes. Additionally, most of the entree recipes you’ll find on maru ryouri are Japanese recipes, so I hope you give them a try and let me know how you like them!
Also, when it comes to my recipes, I try to keep the cost low. I’ve been a student and in California, so I know how it is when money is tight. Furthermore, I will always post disclaimers and alternatives when it comes to ingredients that are a bit of a splurge.
I hope maru ryouri is a place you can come to relax and find joy and creativity!