the author's random facts.

one |  <3 food a ton. i crave and think about food 24/7. i enjoy trying all types of food from different cultures as long as it is edible, not bugs or anything TOO out of the ordinary. not exactly the risk taker with food but willing to try new stuff :p

two | always in search for the best tiramisu. my most favorite-est dessert is tiramisu. there is something about it - the bitterness of the espresso, the sweet marsala cream and the sprinkle of cocoa powder gives it several layers of flavors. 

three | chicago-an at heart. after living in the states for 8 years in chi-town, it has a special place in my heart and it especially hurt when i decided to leave. i am looking forward to any opportunity to return to my second home again in the near future.

four | i am more of a hanging-out-with-friends-for-a-chat-over-coffee kind of girl.

five | am i more of a coffee or tea person? tea used to be my thing but recently i've found latte to be my go to drink to fuel me throughout the day. (think five hours of sleep every weeknight) but i do find myself going back and forth between the two.

six | food inspirations come in the form of pete wells, the food critic for NYtimes and i have the utmost respect for jeffrey steingarten and simon majumdar. HUGE fan of michael symon, morimoto and grant achatz, all for different food reasons :)

seven | a camera collector but only use some of them all the time - my main go to is my compact digital camera (i love my canon s95 - it's awesome) and fujifilm instax 25 camera. other cameras in my collection are: a sx-70 polaroid camera (which is an old school polaroid camera - but currently out of commission), a holga (i very much need to figure out where to develop the film), an action sampler (which i haven't used yet cos i keep forgetting to get film for it and may have misplaced it...). for daily photos: iphone camera + instagram as my favorite means of sharing photos :) new addition to the family: fujifilm x100f (which i've yet to experiment and be comfortable with)

eight | my favorite cities in the united states (at least the ones i've visited are probably chi-town (wooot!), san francisco and new york city. did you notice their similarities? foodies' haven!

nine | has a fascination with languages. learned one level of beginner's class in japanese which i perhaps know just a couple of phrases - important ones like 'eat and drink' :p currently learning korean diligently. believes that learning more languages helps me connect with more people.

ten | i was blessed that the elements came together and had managed to cross off my top of my bucket list: to watch aurora borealis dance in the icelandic night sky. iceland remains one of the top destinations i've been.

eleven | love for food runs in the family. a huge influence is probably from my dad but discerning taste buds comes from my mom.

twelve | would love to explore different cultures, mannerisms and languages and would love to visit the world one day.

thirteen |  would definitely love to eat and write for a living :)


fourteen | although i'm not from a english native speaking country - english is considered my first language - my mother tongue. other conversational language i know are malay language, basic cantonese and very little of mandarin, japanese and korean.

fifteen | more of a cook than a baker. enjoy doing both but baked goods is easier to share. the main thing is putting smiles on people's faces with whatever i make :D

sixteen | fan of super junior (bias: ♥ 동해), one of the biggest korean idol groups. an E.L.F (EverLasting Friend) ^^ 영원히 사랑해 슈퍼주니어. ♥ i am one lucky person to have met five of super junior members - DH, EH, LT, SM and RW!



seventeen | selected from 600+ entries as one of the five winning recipes for the "share your delicious secret with super junior" organized by korean food foundation where i was given an opportunity to visit seoul to show off my cooking skills and enjoy the beautiful city - would love to return definitely one day ^^

eighteen | tokyo (japan); busan (south korea) and bangkok (thailand) are so far my some of my favorite food cities. (i'm sure the list will expand over time!)

nineteen | the top winner for malaysian openrice.com's contest - 'best of the best 2013' to emerge as the best food writer :)


twenty | shortlisted as one of the nine for 2o13 buzzkorea award's event under the blog of the year category :) for my entry on korean street food = love

twenty one | was invited as the official tabelog judge 2014 for chicago.


twenty two | i occasionally indulge in japanese manga!

twenty three | my favorite late night talk shows are "last week tonight with john oliver" and "the daily show with trevor noah" to get my snippets of global news with a comedic injection. love it, bigly (you'd get it if you watch either of these shows! lol)


more random facts to come :)