Hello, my name is Becca. Welcome to my blog!
Cooking Therapy is a place where I can share my personal stories around food as well as provide a source of inspiration for the every day home cook. The food I love to cook comes from my experience as a Chinese/Vietnamese American growing up in LA. Some of the recipes you will find here are traditional Chinese and Vietnamese dishes I inherited from my mom and grandma. Others will be from my experience living in the diverse communities of LA and San Francisco. While different, all of this food is made with love. 🙂 I am excited to share my stories with you, and I sincerely hope you will share yours with me.
My Story
I am a California girl through and through. I was born and raised in LA. I then moved to San Francisco after spending 4 years in the Bay Area for college. It was one of the best decisions I have ever made. From the food to the people to the diverse communities, SF was a dream for me because it was honestly just so…me! SF is quirky, weird, and innovative, and I felt like I found my place there. After a few years, I finally felt it was time to make my way back to LA which is where I live now!
Food blogging is actually not my full time job. My day job is in tech. I work full time as a Product Manager at a small tech company. I am definitely a self-proclaimed nerd. Building software products is something I am as passionate about as cooking. When I am not cooking or working, you can usually find me at the nearest beach, working up a sweat in my boxing class, or getting lost in a book.
The first time I ever cooked for myself was during my sophomore year in college. Needless to say, it was an absolute disaster. I had no idea what to do, so I consulted an expert – my mom. I have come a long way since then, but it is still a learning process everyday. Many of my cooking experiences are successes but many more are failures. Through this blog, I hope to make cooking seem a little less intimidating by sharing both the good and bad from my experiences.
What You’ll Find On Cooking Therapy
Vietnamese Recipes
My family is from Vietnam, and the women in my family are the best cooks I know. I learned everything I know from them! Cooking Vietnamese recipes gives me so much nostalgia about eating my mom’s cooking, and writing this blog is a great way to preserve those recipes. Some of my most popular recipes are:
- Chicken Pho – truly authentic and just the way my mom used to make it
- Banh Cuon – my grandma’s recipe 🙂
- Vietnamese Chicken Curry (Ca Ri Ga) – my aunt’s recipe
- Chicken Congee – my personal favorite!
Chinese Recipes
Originally, my family (really my grandparents) are from China, so I also grew up with a lot of Chinese dishes as well. The Chinese recipes are just a part of my story as the Vietnamese recipes. A good fried rice or lo mai fan gives me so much comfort and joy. Through these recipes, I hope to give you the ins and outs of how to cook just like grandma but also how to make them your own. 🙂
Matcha Desserts
Matcha is one of my favorite flavors when it comes to dessert, and I feel like I’ve become sort of know for these desserts in the past couple years. My matcha brownies recipe was even made by David Chang! Through my matcha experiments, I’ve come to learn a lot about this ingredient and how to incorporate it into desserts, and that’s what I share in all these recipes.
Easy-To-Follow Dinner and Dessert Recipes
I am a product of 3 cultures: Chinese, Vietnamese, and American cultures. The US is a melting pot of cuisines, and that naturally influences my cooking. One of my favorite things to do is make something that is inspired by the people and cultures around me. I also try to pay homage to those people and cultures within my recipes because I believe it’s important to spotlight those people if I am taking from their culture. Some of my favorite dishes include:
- Chicken Adobo
- Chinese Sausage Spaghetti
- Korean BBQ Burger
- Ube Ice Cream
- Brown Butter White Chocolate Matcha Cookies
How I develop recipes
I spend a lot of time testing and developing each and every recipe. Even if some work better than others, know that I spend countless hours researching and testing each one. When I first begin developing a recipe, I make the recipe with a loose idea of how much of each ingredient I need. I then taste and tweak the recipe until I am satisfied with it. On average, I test each recipe 3-5 times before posting it on the blog. For example, I tested my matcha creme brulee recipe 5 times before posting it. Sometimes, it’s even more depending on how complex the dish is. It is an exciting and sometimes frustrating process, but I always want to make sure each recipe is one I am excited about!
Stay In Touch!
The best part of all this is seeing all of you make my recipes and reading your comments about what they mean to you. It brings me so much joy to hear that these recipes take on a new meaning for you when you make them for your family and friends. So please leave a comment! Email me at becca@cooking-therapy.com! Message me on Instagram! I love hearing from you.
Thank you for stopping by and being a small part of this crazy food journey.
Happy Cooking,
