We are two close friends, Chinese and American. We started a small media company together in order to build this site. Jing Chen and Glenn Emerson are the team at My Chinese Home Kitchen
Jing enjoys Chinese home cooking, and dreams of traveling the world as a gourmet after attending chef school. Orphaned as a teenager, however, she was forced to leave high school and work in a factory for subsistence wages. This seemed like the end of her dreams.
Glenn proposed the idea of building a website together, with two goals in mind:
- Providing Jing an opportunity to gain valuable technical skills
- Creating an opportunity for Jing to earn money to complete her education
Jing is now finishing her first year at New Oriental Cooking School. She is enrolled in the Chinese Cuisine curriculum, a traditionally males-only career. Jing is only the 6th woman to attempt the physically demanding course, and she is doing well. You can follow Jing’s progress by reading her learning journal updates.
Our philosophy
We share many beliefs:
- The value of hard work
- The value of education
- The value of true friendship
- Making the most of the resources at hand
- When provided with opportunity, raw talent can be refined and developed to its full potential.
Jing and I both enjoy authentic cuisines, healthy homemade meals, and the social warmth and structure provided by sharing meals. We also both enjoy slapstick comedy, especially The Three Stooges and Mr. Bean.
We believe the world is made better when people care for and help one another.
Chen Jing
I was born in Guangxi, and my favorite dish is Luosifen, considered a delicacy and now available all over China. Luosifen is a specialty from Liuzhou, Guangxi. It is a noodle soup, notorious for its odor, but very tasty. The broth is made by stewing river snails and pork bones for several hours with black cardamom, fennel seed, dried tangerine peel, cassia bark, cloves, white pepper, bay leaf, licorice root, sand ginger, and star anise.
When I was a child, my dream was to become a gourmet and travel the world to taste the food of various countries. My ambition is to become a chef. I began my studies to become a Chinese cuisine chef in the fall of 2021. As far back as I can remember, I have loved cooking, especially the preparation of fresh ingredients.
There are many kinds of Chinese cuisine, there are 8 kinds, reflecting the richness and diversity of Chinese geography and history. I am very happy to share with you Chinese cuisine and cultural traditions.
Glenn Emerson
My early childhood was spent in Massachusetts, near the Atlantic coast. The New England diet is famous for seafood, especially lobster, whole fried clams, and clam chowder, as well as “Yankee Pot Roast,” “Boston Baked Beans,” and “Boiled Dinner” (corned beef with cabbage and root vegetables).
We moved from New England when I was still young, and I quickly grew disappointed with the packaged and prepared foods found in cans and the freezer section of the store. It just wasn’t the same as the real food “back home.” If you ever have a chance to try real, homemade clam chowder, you will be amazed at the difference from the wallpaper paste sold in cans. The frozen “clam strips” sold as fried clams are nothing compared to the real fried thing sold at clam shacks along the New England coast.
Nothing compares to the taste of authentic, traditional recipes made with fresh local ingredients. Home cooking is also healthier and less expensive than heating prepared foods in the microwave. My favorite cuisines outside New England are Chinese and Thai, so I partnered with Jing to develop My Chinese Home Kitchen.
