Hey there, I’m Jenn! Food is my love and passion. I love to eat, I love to cook and I love to talk about food!
I’ve had a food dream since I was a little and it finally began when I had the chance to be part of Masterchef Australia 2022.
I was born in Taiwan and moved to Brisbane, Australia with my family when I was 6.
I had a fairly typical Asian childhood growing up and I learnt how to cook from my mum and grandmas. My passion for cooking came from my obsession with eating.
I’ve always had a great appetite and loved to eat delicious food. Back in the days, Brisbane did not have that many food options especially Asian food, let alone Taiwanese food. I could not overcome my hunger for yummy comfort food that tasted like home so I learnt how to cook, out of necessity.
My childhood was filled with delicious home cooked meals and lunch boxes prepared lovingly by my mum. She made sure we never missed out on traditions and culturally significant festivals. I still remember her tying zhong zhi (savoury glutinous rice stuffed with yummy goodies like pork belly and shiitake, wrapped in lotus leaves) onto the back of an ikea chair ready for steaming. She’d prepare the salted duck eggs months in advance to make sure it as authentic. I would think to myself, “ah, one day I wanna do that too!” I think it’s from watching my mum that I developed the passion to try create everything from scratch as much as possible.
I’ve been a big fan of MasterChef Australia for a long time. I always imagined applying for it, cooking with unfamiliar ingredients and being challenged in pressure tests. However, I knew how hard my parents worked. They left their families behind and moved to a strange and unfamiliar land to ensure we had a good future. So I chose a steady and stable career path – dentistry. I really enjoy being a dentist, I loved interacting with different people and working with my hands. But when COVID-19 happened, that was a big wake up call. I felt like it was now-or-never to chase my dreams and passion. So I applied for MasterChef Australia. I’m so glad I did, because it was truly a once in a lifetime experience.
Since leaving MasterChef, I staged at Gerard’s Bistro and Restaurant Dan Arnold where I now work part-time as a chef. I also returned to dentistry part-time and have just started out as a private chef with Gathar. (you can book through my affiliate link here: https://www.gathar.com.au/catering?a=Jenn_Lee )
I’ve started this lil blog here to document my journey as I continue to explore the food world. Hopefully you will find the recipes I share here enjoyable, and maybe even incorporate them into your daily cooking! I’ve also included some information about common ingredients and gadgets I like to use in my kitchen (mainly because I just like to talk about anything food related, haha!) and also some reviews on cookbooks I own.
I hope you enjoy your stay on this little blog 🙂 Feel free to drop a line or say hi!