Bad B*tch in the Kitch

Introduction

Whenever I’m asked about my journey with cooking, content creation, or entrepreneurship, my first instinct is to steal a line from The Queen. I’m talking about the OG baddie herself, Britney Spears—this is a story about a girl named Lucky. It all started with a passion for cooking, a cheap ring light, and a dream. I truly believe I got lucky and grew my following by posting what was (and still is) authentic to me, like a hangover ramen or beef and broccoli after a long nap. Millions of online besties later, I like to think of myself as a chef for the people—no professional culinary training or commercial restaurant experience here, just a girl who followed her mom around the kitchen and really loves to cook (and eat, duh). Lucky for me, this is very relatable. And I quickly realized it’s one of the reasons people enjoy learning recipes from a home cook, someone not so different from who they are.

Before I was a social media chef, I spent my entire life thinking I was going to be a professional dancer. I lived, breathed, and ate dance like nothing else existed. I started competing at the young age of five, then continued all the way through college at Rutgers University. I gained some independence when I went off to college, but my parents were nearby and my mom’s home-cooked meals were always calling me on speed-dial. I wasn’t raised on takeout—my mom cooked every single night and I shadowed her around the kitchen. She was born and raised in Singapore, where she helped take care of her eight siblings (I know, right, nine kids). One of her jobs was to feed the family, and she cooked almost every meal. And watching her in our family kitchen, I fell in love with cooking.

Once I graduated in 2016, I auditioned and earned a spot on the esteemed NBA Brooklynettes. This made me fall in love with everything Brooklyn had to offer, but I’m a Jersey girl at heart. I commuted from my family home in NJ and didn’t leave the nest until I moved to California at twenty-three to be with an awful excuse of a boyfriend (yuck, we won’t even get into that). Living across the country was the first time I really experienced freedom, and this was where my love for cooking began to skyrocket. My mom was no longer there to make my favorite meals, so I started reimagining them and crushing every craving from my own kitchen.

While I was there, I still wanted to be a dancer, but you know how things go—while my heart was on the stage, my butt landed in a full-time desk job as an IT finance budget analyst (who was she?) and a part-time job as an indoor cycling and group fitness instructor. I started finding joy in teaching fitness. I also began making my own sourdough bread, and I would bring the hardearned results to my fitness clients (will do squats for bread!).

I discovered my independence in California, and it taught me that if I wanted something bad enough, I had to really go after it. Eventually I realized my future didn’t reside there or in either of the fields I was working in.

Right before my sister was married, I moved back to the East Coast to be closer to my family. This meant moving in with my parents and I felt a little lost. The one thing that I was consistently passionate about and that had always brought me joy was cooking. I had already started to play around with editing and posting videos in California, and that’s what gave me the idea to become a content creator. I was ready to jump in, so I had the dreaded conversation with my traditional Asian parents, who always wanted me to take the established route of going to school, earning a degree, and getting a high-paying job. They (surprisingly) took the idea very well—and they also gave me a three-month timeline to prove to them that this could work. If it didn’t?

I’d have to get a full-time “conventional” job. That was enough for me to put all of my energy into this idea so I could prove to myself and to them that it was more than a dream (and let’s be real—it was also an incentive to move out!).

So, I made a TikTok account and got right to it. Instead of trying to replicate other content using ASMR, aesthetic overhead shots, and voiceovers, I found my style: speaking to my audience like we were besties on FaceTime. Just by being authentically myself, a hundred followers quickly turned into five hundred, then into one thousand when I started to post recipes. But it was a video of me cooking ramen with a hangover the day after my sister’s wedding that took things to the next level. When it went viral, it clicked for me that people craved real content and that I didn’t need to try to be anything or anyone but myself. I started posting more instructional videos and recipes that were far from polished—I made mistakes (like missing the pot entirely when pouring in a sauce or forgetting ingredients), I used unconventional techniques (like using a chopstick to check the temperature of frying oil and warming butter in my bra!), and I cooked with long-ass stiletto nails (you have a problem with that?). Instead of trying to fit the mold of what people thought a chef should look and act like, I showed people that you can be a bad b*tch in the kitch.

Not long after, I heard from an agent who said they were casting for a Gordon Ramsay TV show. Naturally, I thought it was spam because why would Gordon Ramsay want me?? Shortly after, I received an email, and before I knew it, I was selected as a contestant for season two of Fox’s Next Level Chef. I had all but a few days to prepare and pack my bags for London, where filming took place. I won’t spoil it for you, but most important, I gained so much knowledge from three amazing mentors and my fellow contestants. I like to think it was an accelerated culinary school. And if I did one thing right, it was represent my heritage well and that was the biggest win. Oh! And they let me say “You can’t keep a bad b*tch down too long” on national television, which is huge since those are words I abide by.

I might not be a “professional,” but I believe cooking shouldn’t be intimidating or so strict. When you cook in your own kitchen you can make your own rules, and I believe rule number one is to have fun! Why can’t you yell “behind!” in your own kitchen or show off your baddie nails as you pleat dumplings like a boss? The best food sometimes comes from letting loose and cooking the way you want to, and the way that feels good to YOU.

When I cook, it’s usually Asian food, because that’s what feels good to me—it’s what I crave, what I grew up with, and it’s just damn delicious, too! So many people know and love Asian cuisine but don’t always know how easy it can be to re-create their favorite dishes at home. So let me be your Asian bad b*tch auntie—I’ll share some of my favorite Asian recipes, many of them that originated from my family, and with high hopes of making them less intimidating for you to make for your besties and fam. We’ll be covering the basics, making some apps, getting into noodles, doing a deep dive into takeout dishes, learning about Singaporean recipes that influenced my mom, and of course dishing out soups, veggies, and desserts along the way.

From one baddie to another, let’s do this!