70% salaryman, 20% fitness junkie, 9% kitchen nerd, and a pinch of Chinese grandma

I come from a long line of home cooks on my mother’s side. It’s part of their love language. Talking about food, experimenting with cooking, it was part of what the family did growing up. Like sitting around the dinner table during festivals, making Zongzi (or savoury glutious rice dumplings) like you see in the featured image above.

I’ve been helping out and sneaking bites in the kitchen since I was 7 or 8 years old, watching, listening, absorbing. But I never really got into cooking seriously until I started meal prepping during my first year of university. It was part of the synergistic trifecta of food, fitness, and personal financial that infects (some) college-aged males. Once I started going, I never stopped.

Circumstances changed as times passed. Classes gave way to work, and the open pantries of student halls gave way to tiny kitchens in cramped apartments necessitated by insane urban rent prices. Despite the 80+ hour weeks and elbow-scraping tight spaces, I kept cooking and the trifecta kept synergising. It keeps me sane while running the rat race.

You see, over time, cooking has become my love language too. A way to jump out of the hamster wheel for a moment and catch my breath, a way to show love to those I care about, and a way to express self-love by making sure my body is nourished and well fed.

It was after about 10 years of meal prepping when I started playing with the idea of starting a website. My lunchboxes were getting a lot of attention at work, and I kept getting requests for recipes. I started wondering if it would be easier to just write the recipes up somewhere, and direct further enquiries there.

As the Chinese saying goes, it takes 10 years to hone the edge of a sword. Looking back on a decade of cooking and meal prep despite all odds, I have unwittingly accumulated little tips and tricks. Knowledge that, had I known at the beginning of my journey, would have made things so much easier. After 10 years, I felt like I had something to add to the conversation. My perspective, my take.

So here we are, launching a website with an eclectic mish-mash of not-quite-recipes, rants and ramblings. A celebration of 10 years in the kitchen, and a little birthday gift to myself. Somewhere I try to organise my thoughts about food and cooking, and maybe help someone along.

And now you know how this site came to be. Welcome! I’m glad you’re here. You might not find the “Perfect” this or the “Best” that here, but I can promise the stuff is pretty good. Have a look around, and I hope you find something for yourself.

Cheers,
SWR