Welcome to Life She Loves, a blog devoted to slow travel, Asian literature, and authentic global home cooking.

I'm Maria, an avid reader, home cook, and wanderer based in Southern California. This space is where I share the things I love most: quiet travel experiences, deeply human books from Asian authors, and recipes that connect us to culture.

If you’re someone who:

• Skips the tourist spots for local food markets

• Finds comfort in a good book and a warm meal

• Believes food is a story and travel is a conversation
  You’re in the right place.

✈️ What You’ll Find Here

• Travel reflections grounded in culture, not checklists

• Book reviews and reading guides from the growing archive of over 140 Asian books read

• Authentic recipes from my own kitchen: Korean banchan, Sardinian pasta, Japanese comfort food, and more

🧭 About My Work

• I run two connected projects:

  → Life She Loves — slow travel, seasonal recipes

  → My Asian Era — a curated space for Asian literature reviews and book club conversations

  My Asian Era also hosts an online book club each month, we choose a new title by an Asian author and read it together at a thoughtful pace. It’s quiet, reflective, and open to anyone who wants to read deeper, not faster.

  I focus on high-quality content and building meaningful affiliate recommendations from the pantry tools I use to the books I love.