It was my first morning in Siem Reap, on my first ever trip to Cambodia. I knew no-one except a handful of staff I’d met the evening before at the hotel. I couldn’t speak one word of Khmer, and I was still trying to wrap my head around the local currency - I had converted my Aussie dollars into Cambodian riels but was pondering if I should have » Read More
#2166 – One Postcode, Three Food Destinations
January 3, 2018 by
Most people don’t know that my first few years in Australia were spent in Cabramatta and its surrounds. As new migrants in 1984, my parents couldn’t afford to live in the more upscale northwestern suburbs, where most Malaysians seem to congregate, so we ended up in postcode 2166 - Cabramatta, Canley Vale and Canley Heights. The insolent teen in » Read More
Instant Pot vs Optimum PressureCook – A Comparison Study by Jackie M.
October 3, 2017 by
If you've been following my Live Asian Kitchen on Twitch , you will have seen me use the Optimum PressureCook in many of my cooking sessions. Thanks to my familiarity with the unit, I was recently commissioned by Prestige Home Appliances, the company that distributes the Optimum range of appliances, to do a comparison study of the » Read More
Ten Asian Dishes That Work Great in an Airfryer
July 4, 2017 by
A few weeks ago, I received an Optimum HealthyFry airfryer courtesy of Prestige Home Appliances, to test and review. Prior to that, I’d never crossed paths with an airfryer, let alone thought about what I could cook with it. It took a bit of outside-the-box thinking but thankfully through my Twitch Live Asian Kitchen broadcasts, I received some » Read More
Papparich Sydney CBD
April 20, 2017 by
Back during my restaurant days the common complaint among food bloggers was how strange it was that Malaysian food was under-represented here in Sydney. I always replied with pent-up rage that it wouldn’t be so strange if they knew the amount of work that went into cooking it. (Running a restaurant was a stressful gig, alright.) I’m glad things » Read More
Thermocook vs Thermomix – A Comparison (Live Broadcast)
November 17, 2016 by
This broadcast at Facebook.com/JackieMFood was driven by the many queries I’ve received since I posted this YouTube video on how the Optimum Thermocook and Thermomix handle Asian ingredients >> » Read More
7VEN Messenger Bag – My Review
August 19, 2016 by
7VEN Messenger Bag by AlpakaGear.com Full disclosure - I'm friends with one of the founders of Alpaka Gear, so I was very fortunate to have been sent one of the prototypes of the 7VEN Messenger Bag, which I received earlier this week. The Kickstarter campaign for the bag only launched less than a day ago as I write this » Read More
Yoga Home 500 Review
March 22, 2016 by
Some of you might know that once upon a time, before the “food thing”, I used to be an IT consultant. I was an MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer), CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Administrator) and CNA (Certified Novell Administrator) and did contract work in Sydney and London for some 7+ years. Back in late 2014, baby Noah broke my » Read More
Street Food Recommendations For Your Next Trip to Malaysia
March 1, 2016 by
I regularly get asked about eating recommendations in Malaysia and last week was no exception. My journalist friend Steph emailed me to say she was planning to travel through Kuala Lumpur, Melaka, Ipoh and Penang (among other places) in May and asked if I could suggest people and food she should look up. She will be travelling alone and is » Read More
Soya Sauces (30 Days 30 Asian Ingredients Series Day 1)
February 4, 2016 by
I thought I might start with an ingredient that almost everyone is familiar with, but which is nonetheless somewhat confusing. There are 3 broad types of soya (aka soy) sauce - sweet soya sauce salty soya sauce - for this exercise I’ll call it “regular soya sauce” thick soya sauce aka caramel » Read More