Hey, there! I’m excited to finally meet you!
I’m Jeannette and a huge warm WELCOME to Wok & Kin, the heart and soul of my cooking adventures. Here you will uncover hidden treasures and secrets (what I like to call my family’s soul-stirring recipes) to embark on an exciting culinary journey of your own!
You may be surprised to know that these adventures and recipes didn’t just suddenly HAPPEN (as much as I wish they did). In fact, the first of many family recipes involved countless months of following Grandma around the Asian supermarkets while she did her daily grocery shopping.
I did what every curious granddaughter would do – I asked a dozen questions as soon as she picked up a vegetable or herb I was unfamiliar with and jotted down everything I could on my handy smartphone.
Now I get a chance to share it all with you!
Learning how to cook from my family wasn’t the easiest task, I must say. Recipes? Precise measurements? Tablespoons? Puh-lease.
They were non-existent in the generations before mine. As Grandma always says: “If you use a bigger bowl, you add more. If you use a smaller bowl, you use less.”
Honestly, I feel like it was by some MIRACLE that I managed to get all the bones of our family recipes. At first, they were mostly just my estimates. But now I steadily work through refining and testing the recipes so I can share our family’s memories with you!
I hope you love them as much as I do!
About Me
My name is Jeannette, and Wok & Kin is my little slice of love for the world wide web!
I’m the voice, creator and writer of Wok & Kin. I was born an Australian and balance a Chinese-Vietnamese background at home.
There is nothing that speaks louder to me than my family’s food. We don’t just cook to survive, we cook to bond.
There are five of us in the family and I can’t count how many times our kitchen’s been packed out! This blog was born from just that! It’s a culinary journal of all the amazing memories we’ve shared.
My blog reflects the two most important things about my food journey: my undying passion for cooking and my obsession with sharing authentic home-cooked Chinese and Vietnamese meals. No shortcuts, just the real deal.
Meet the Inspiration!
Delicious food has always been an enormous part of our family of five and luckily for us, it spans across multiple cuisines.
While we all live in Australia, Grandma, Mum and Dad came from Vietnam and were raised as Chinese. Only my younger brother and I were born in the land down under.
Grandma
Growing up, Grandma was the Homecook Queen. She dished up mouthwatering dinner spreads every night without fail. Most of the recipes on the Wok & Kin blog are from her multi-decade long cooking experiences.
Her recipes hold the dearest places in my heart because they represent my COMPLETE love of food.
Dad
Dad, on the other hand, has an abundance of knowledge about Chinese and Vietnamese food that never ceases to amaze me.
He is almost NEVER in the kitchen, but having been a waiter and restaurant manager in Chinese-Vietnamese restaurants for a number of years, his conversations with head chefs has taught him an extraordinary amount about cooking technique.
I have Dad to thank for teaching me recipes to dishes that we only ever eat at restaurants.
Mum
The vegetarian recipes that you’ll find on Wok & Kin are a credit to Mum. Her vegetarian journey started more than a year ago and since then, she has never looked back.
Mum’s always been a fantastic cook. What I admire most about her is that while she may not have the decades of experience Grandma has, Mum has always had a knack for tweaking dishes until they were just right.
Lawrence
My brother, also the latest home cook in our household, has added a dimension to our family dishes that we have never seen before. He’s the nutrition guru under this roof and he whips up wholesome meals that are not only delicious but highly nutritious.
I honestly cannot wait to share his recipes with you all. Get ready for those healthy meal prep meals you’ve been wanting to try!
What you’ll find on Wok & Kin
As promised, we do the real deal here. Here’s what that looks like:
- Dee-licious recipes using fresh seasonal ingredients from the local markets.
- Authentic Chinese and Vietnamese favourites that you know and love (plus the hidden gems you haven’t heard of before!)
- Cooking for a crowd. Celebration and food come hand-in-hand for us. That’s why you’ll find recipes that you can whip for your next party!
I’ll always take the time to say HELLO!
If you want to talk to me about any of the recipes, whether it’s to share your thoughts or ask any questions, just shoot over an email! I’ll make sure to respond every time!
Join the family!
If you love cooking food as much as I do, begin your own Chinese and Vietnamese culinary journey with our family by getting the latest recipes delivered straight to your inbox!
You can also say hello on Wok & Kin‘s Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook!
Thanks for taking the time to read this page! Now let’s get cooking!