Hi, I’m Edwina, welcome to Cooking in Chinglish!
I was born and raised in Taiwan before coming to the US in 2012 to pursue my master’s degree in Environmental Policy in Michigan. As someone who has lived in Taiwan where I was surrounded by all kinds of delicious and affordable food, I had never felt the need of learning how to cook well. Everything changed, though, after I moved to the US, because I didn’t know how to cook food that’s up to my standard, and I couldn’t afford eating out all the time. This made adjusting to a difficult life studying abroad even more challenging. This was the setting of a turning point in my cooking-life.
On one cold winter night, I was craving for a bowl of hot soupy noodles, but since all the restaurants around were already closed, I had no choice but to make myself one. That bowl of noodle soup was so tasteless it made me want to cry. Since that time, I determined to start learning how to cook. I wasn’t going to just learn how to make food that’s edible, I wanted to be able to prepare things that could satisfy my foodie taste buds. After I started practicing cooking, I immediately fell in love with cooking. Whenever I wasn’t studying, I was probably in the kitchen again making something or shopping in the grocery store. Since I was studying in Seoul for a year before I came to US, some of the food that I missed the most was Korean, so actually I began learning to cook with Korean food. Of course, I quickly began learning to make Taiwanese food, to help with my homesickness. I still remember the first time I made myself some Taiwanese street style pan fried buns — the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction was just indescribable.
Now I’m a wife of my American born Taiwanese husband and a mom of a foodie toddler girl and a baby who may likely become another foodie. My cooking style has expanded a lot and includes influences from several types of cuisine, since our family enjoys many kinds of food – American, Asian, Mediterranean, Indian, Mexican, etc…. I cook almost everyday since I (and my daughter!) don’t like to eat the same things for consecutive meals, so I have to constantly look for new ideas of what to cook. But you know, as a mom with two little ones who constantly need my attention, I can’t stay in kitchen for too long. So, I started to develop some quick, easy and healthy recipes, that’s suitable for our current lifestyle. Of course, once in a while I will still make something that requires more time and effort if I have certain cravings that I can’t ignore!
Whenever I cook something, I like to explore ways to improve the recipe to make it tastes better, experimenting with different adjustments until I’m fully satisfied. The recipes in this blog are all the dishes I like that are time-tested. If you have any questions or suggestions as you go through some of these recipes, please feel free to leave me a message, I’d love to hear from you! Hope you can find some inspiration here and enjoy trying out these dishes!
