I was born in Bangkok, Thailand. I spent the first half of my life there, and was raised by my father, who ran a construction company, and my mother, who owned a famous Chinese style restaurant in Bangkok.

This restaurant is where I spent a majority of my childhood. I can still remember being there in the morning and the smell of the old wood burning stove and the myriad of herbs and spices being prepared for that days dishes.

"Working" there was how I earned enough money to go to school. I remember being 5 or 6 years old and being in charge of cooking the rice for my mother's restaurant.

As I got older, I took on more and more responsibility at the restaurant. My mother would teach me how to taste test food to ensure proper flavor and how to adjust ingredients to modify taste, texture and spice. Every morning, I would prepare the food and eat a little bit of each meal to experience the brightness of adding lemongrass to a stir-fried dish, and the special kind of heat the pink and white peppercorns add to curry.