About Me
Hi, I’m Laura Misiara Lincheta. Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
My story begins in Cuba, where I was born and spent the first 14 years of my life. It was there that my passion for the culinary arts first sparked. In a small Cuban kitchen, I first learned the mere basics of baking and techniques such as piping and bain-marie. As a 7- or 8-year-old, I was simply my mom’s little helper, but I loved to create. Baking is an art that creates masterpieces out of simple powders, pieces that cannot only be admired but that challenge our taste buds. Nonetheless, the best part of baking is the gratification received after sharing baked goods with family and friends. As I grew older, so did my protagonism and role in the kitchen.
When I moved to Miami, I was faced with many challenges but also endless opportunities. Access to the internet and platforms such as YouTube taught me the science behind baking. The more I explored, the more I experimented, the more mistakes I made, and that much more I learned. Today, my culinary skills have expanded to savory dishes, where I also get to explore the world of spices.
I keep the culinary arts close to my heart as a hobby that I now enjoy sharing through social media and this blog. Baking is chemistry, and at my core, I am a science girl. I graduated from the University of Miami with a degree in Biochemistry, and I am a current medical student. To me, baking and medicine are not separate passions; they are connected by the same foundation of curiosity, precision, and compassion. One allows me to nourish people through food, while the other gives me the privilege of caring for them through healing.
No matter where my career takes me, the kitchen will always be one of the places I call “home,” a place where I can slow down, create, and find peace after a day spent caring for others.
Why Ms. Cheften?
You may be wondering where the name Ms. Cheften came from. It all started when my husband and I were still dating, and he began calling me “Cheften” as I cooked for him. The nickname quickly became part of our everyday lives, and before I knew it, it had completely stuck. Years later, I finally asked him where it came from, and he explained that it was a play on words, combining chef with “chieftain”, the traditional title for the leader of a tribe or clan. Ever since, Ms. Cheften has become the perfect name for the place where I get to share my love for the culinary arts.
The Food Blog
I love cooking, but more than anything, I love food. Who doesn’t? Haha.
The more you learn about food, the more attention you pay to every dish you try. With every meal, I find myself asking: What would I have done differently? How could this dish be elevated? In another life, I’d like to think I would have been hired as a judge on a cooking competition. In this one, I created this food blog so I could share my thoughts with all of you.
The food blog is organized by state and city, making it easy to explore restaurants in a specific area or simply browse the photos to see what catches your eye. Every photo is linked to a blog post where I review the dishes I ordered during that visit.
One thing that’s important to me is authenticity. Every photo on this blog is completely unedited and currently taken with my iPhone 16e using the camera flash. My goal is to show the food exactly as it was served, without filters or enhancements. Likewise, each menu item is represented by a single photo and includes its listed name, price (before tax and tip), a presentation rating (★★★★★), a flavor score (0–10), and additional comments.
Every rating is based on the type of food and restaurant being reviewed. For example, I don’t expect a neighborhood pizza shop to plate a pizza like a fine-dining restaurant. Instead, I rate presentation based on what is appropriate for that dish, how appetizing it looks, how neatly it’s prepared, and whether it meets or exceeds expectations for that style of food. A pizza that simply meets the standard might receive two stars for presentation, while one with poor execution would receive one star.
Flavor is scored just as thoughtfully. If I genuinely enjoy a dish but know I’ve had noticeably better versions before, I may deduct one or two points. My goal isn’t to compare every meal to the best dish I’ve ever had, but to provide fair, consistent, and honest reviews that reflect both my experience and the expectations of that particular cuisine.
Beyond the food itself, I end each post with a few thoughts about my overall experience at the restaurant. These comments may include the ambiance, customer service, cleanliness, wait time, or anything else that stood out during my visit. While my ratings focus on the food itself, these final impressions provide additional context and help paint the full picture of the dining experience.
Recipes
I have never attended culinary school, but over the years I’ve learned to cook from different members of my family and by trying countless recipes of my own. Along the way, I’ve developed an understanding of which flavors work well together and how different techniques can be adapted and reused to create new dishes.
In this section, I’ll share the recipes I make on a regular basis. Some are my own creations, while others are treasured family recipes that have been passed down through generations.
Like many home cooks, I tend to measure from the heart. Because of that, the measurements in some of these recipes may change slightly over time as I continue to refine them and find what I believe are the perfect proportions.
I hope you give them a try and enjoy a little taste from my kitchen to yours. If you have any questions, suggestions, or simply want to share how your recipe turned out, I’d love to hear from you in the comments.
From Other Kitchens
Not every recipe I make comes from my own kitchen. I also love trying recipes from other creators, whether they are family recipes, cookbooks, or recipes I discover online. This section is my cooking journal, a place where I document my experience making someone else’s recipe and share what I learned along the way.
Rather than simply telling you whether I liked a recipe, I try to explain what worked well, what I would change, and whether I’d make it again. I also include details such as the time it took me to prepare, the approximate cost of the ingredients, the recipe’s difficulty, and the brands I used whenever I think they make a noticeable difference.
Every review is based on my personal experience in the kitchen. Most of the time, I try to follow a recipe exactly as written, while sometimes I’ll make adjustments based on the ingredients I have available, my own preferences, or things I learned after tasting the final dish. Those changes aren’t meant as criticism, they are simply a reflection of what I would do differently the next time.
At the end of each review, you’ll find my overall rating, final thoughts, and a link to the original recipe so you can decide for yourself if it’s something you’d like to try.
