Background

I don't think I was quite so intrigued with cooking as a child.  I seemed to remember that I enjoyed watching cakes and breads being made; but nothing more than that really.  There's actually a family joke that I would need to find a husband who could cook.  But then something happened after my first year of university.  I'm not sure if it was triggered by my undergraduate studies in Medical Dietetics (where we talked about food all day) or assisting my mom in the kitchen, but the interest in food took its first form in desserts.  Then came the fascination with trying all types of desserts.  Gradually, it spilled over to anything related to food.

During the last two or so years of my undergraduate studies, I spent some time experimenting with desserts, ranging from making simple things--fruit tarts, chiffon cake, steamed sponge cake, chocolate mousse, marbled chocolate-covered strawberries, and tiramisu--to complex things--chocolate truffle swans, frozen lemon and white chocolate souffle, and puff pastry--to manipulating ingredients and mixing components--healthify-ing oatmeal raisin cookies, making strawberry cheesecake with fresh strawberries and yogurt placed over an oatmeal raisin cookie crust, and tiramisu cheesecake.  I ventured into meals, but mostly only for special occasions.

My educational days surrounded by the topic of food ended with my PhD in Engineering, or Nanotoxicology to be exact.  I moved abroad, and, having to live on my own, food and cooking took over my domestic life.  I found myself reading food magazines and articles, skimming recipes, and watching food videos during my off hours.  Daily living moved meals to center stage and desserts to the side.  With my experimental nature, many of my dishes came out "strange," even if my housemates deemed the smell as delicious; but the learning process was fun.  It was during this transition period that I decided to start a blog as a documentary of my food musings, tastings, and experimentation.

Midway through the PhD, a man entered my life and changed everything (putting a long pause to my blog, too).  Food, of course, played a key part in the relationship.  It wasn't long before the marriage bells tolled, and my plans to return home to the US scratched.  From England, I joined my man in Switzerland; and shortly after, we moved to France.  Now, we've returned to the US (for the time being).

Food is certainly a large part of me.  I cook, shop for food, learn about the local food culture, and search for good/interesting establishments to try.  Both my husband and I are Chinese, so Asian food is a major part of our diet. I spent much of the my past efforts re-creating Asian dishes from limited ingredients as Asian goods were not readily available where we were living. But that will most likely change now as we have moved to a place where many Asian ingredients as well as decent-tasting Asian food are easily accessible. I also still try my best to keep up-to-date with current nutrition news.  However, my former obsession with cooking and experimenting has taken a back seat and turned mainly into a hobby.  Having said that, I hope to re-start documenting my food musings, tastings, and cookings now as a married wife. I hope you will find them as interesting as food continues to fascinate me.