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aBout GT 88

aBout Gourmet Traveller 88

Welcome

My name is Janet Ching. I grew up in Hong Kong and had lived in UK for some time. I had spent a year in Basel, Switzerland for my university’s internship which on my last day I said to myself that I would never come back to this country. Funny enough my career life has somehow attached to Basel since Day One. The headquarters of the two pharma companies which I worked for are both based in Basel. Due to career advancement in HQ, I decided to move back to Basel again. From this experience, I learnt ”Never Say Never”!

From living in a metropolitan city to now living in the countryside, it was certainly a big change for me but I am loving it and enjoying it more and more.

Being a frequent traveller and having lived in the food heaven, Hong Kong, there are unlimited eating-out opportunities where I could explore anything from haute cuisine to street food. At home, my mom cooks fabulously without ever using any recipes; all these have made me become demanding and picky on food.

I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog and feel free to follow me in Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn if you are also using those networks.

Happy CEO “Cooking and Eating Out” !!! Bon appetit! En Guete!

Janet

Updated on 31 May 2009

Established since June 2008.

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FAQ

Why is your blog named Gourmet Traveller 88?

I think this name reflects me as a world culinary traveller and 8 is a lucky number for Chinese and we like good things to happen in double so I made it to 2-digit 88.

Why do you like cooking?

I have always like cooking but I did not have enough time to explore and experiment much in the past. I always crave for authentic and good food in Switzerland, a lot of time they are not accessible in my surroundings therefore if I really want them, I have to give an effort to make myself. Now that I can afford invest more time in cooking and I really enjoy it particularly cooking from scratch; it is much healthier and minimizes the food preservatives and additives intake. And seeing my family and friends enjoy my cooking so much or even volunteer to be my guinea pigs. All these encourage me to be more adventurous, not just limited to my past experience and I am also trying to cook other ethic dishes to broaden my gastronomic horizons. And in fact a lot of ethic cuisines are actually very doable with the resources I can buy here.

When did you start blogging?

May 2008

And why will you start blogging?

At first, I had absolutely no idea what is blogging about, it was only when I started learning bread baking, I needed to understand the different flour types in Switzerland, I went to search in the internet and found one blogger who has documented her experience which was very helpful to me. I then thought it would be a good idea to capture my cooking, eating-out and travel experience too, I can share with people alike and whenever my family and friends want to try my recipes, they can find them in my blog. It is also convenient for me when I want to repeat certain dishes, I can easily refer back to my blog like a personal cookbook. To be honest, I never really like writing but apart from being an online cookbook & travel journal, blogging can combine my food, travel and photography interests all-in-one, one of the additional benefit is that I have been able to make a lot of new friends from all over the world.

When did you start learning to cook?

I think I did not really learn cooking until when I was 12. We had domestic science lessons in school, I always got very high marks in my cooking, I enjoyed it a lot (but hate needlework lessons). At that time, my dad always asked me to help my mom in the kitchen instead of watching TV, because he wanted me to be able to look after myself when I went to UK. Now looking back I really had benefit and learnt a lot of basics from my mom.

What was the first dish you learnt and made?

Braised chicken wings in soy sauce taught by my mom

What are your favorite foods?

Chinese hotpot, Chinese seafood, mom’s home cooking, shabu-shabu, sashimi and sushi, yakitori, all kinds of noodles, homemade pizza, Indian curries made from scratch, Korean BBQ, tapas, foie gras, steak tartar, steak, rack of lamb, berries, streets food and many more depending on my mood …….

Is there any food that you don’t like?

Liquorice, I really cannot take anyway.

How do you describe your style of cooking?

I like eating but also have to watch my weight, so I prefer to cook light wherever possible. We don’t deep frying much at home unless it is really necessary such as spring rolls.

Can I use your photos on my site? Can I use your blog posts on my site?

Unfortunately the answer is NO. All text and photos are protected by copyright. You can reference to my photo or blog post by link back and credit the author. If you want to use any of my materials, you can email me directly and ask for permission first. Please do not copy without permission.

Featured blog on comLuv.com in Nov 2009

Thanks to Andy Bailey for his lovely introduction “Hungry? prepare to get hungrier when you visit Gourmet Traveller 88! Janet runs a gorgeous blog giving you the lowdown on some of the worlds tastiest dishes with lots of scrumptious pictures and recipes.”

dayaward