Hi!  Nice to meet you. I’m Ann.

When I was 11, I sat inside a Chinese restaurant in Atlanta with a serious craving for dim sum and sobbed when I found out the kitchen had run out of har gau (steamed shrimp dumplings in crystal rice wrappers). Judging eyes turned toward 11-year-old me. As I continued to mourn my shrimp dumplings, I came to the realization that maybe I have a really obsessive relationship with food.

I’m still ravenous about food today, whenever I’m not lawyering. I juggle my career, family and blogging with the help of a supportive husband who also happens to be my food-obsessed lobster. We’ve lived in Washington (DC), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Charleston (SC) and Falls Church (VA). Now we live in London.  Our kids, a boy known as Ge Ge (“big brother” in Chinese), and a girl we call Meimei (“little sister”), are also food lovers.

I started this blog in 2009. I called it The Gravy Train as a tongue-in-cheek reference to the fact that I wasn’t working at the time, and hence my husband was my “gravy train.” I changed the name in 2014 to reflect this blog’s food-centric focus.

Shortly after moving to England in 2016, I fulfilled a #lifegoal by attending a professional culinary arts program at Leith’s Culinary School in London, where I was awarded a Certificate with Distinction.

This blog reflects my Chinese heritage, Southern childhood and life abroad. I’m ravenous still, but this blog is more than just simply recipes. I write about my travels, family, and on occasion I talk about how to eat really, really healthy.

Fine Print

I take all of my own photos unless otherwise noted, and where applicable I credit the websites and/or blogs from which I draw inspiration for my own recipes. You may link to my photos and recipes as long as you credit me as the source and link to the original blog post (whether Grits & Chopsticks or its predecessor, The Gravy Train) in which it appears. For commercial use, please get in touch.

Looking for simply recipes? Click here.