Gina Choong Speaker & Booking Information

Starting off initially as an Analyst Programmer and slowly working my way up to be a MIS Manager(Management of Information and Systems).

My passion in cooking only started soon after my marriage in 1988. Having to run a household by myself, I had to learn these skills quickly. My husband grew up in a family of cooks. My late father-in-law used to peddle noodles on a push cart while my mother in law would make soon kueh(a rice flour based steamed cake filled with shredded turnip and dried shrimps) to sell by the road side.

My toughest challenge in life then was being a wife . Because my husband, Benny Lim loves food. When we married I had to learn how to cook - almost immediately!

Benny was, and is, my greatest supporter in all my cooking adventures. Whatever I put on the dinner table, he gladly eats it.

We have 2 daughters; Natasha, 16 and Melody, 8. I wanted our children to love food, any kind of food and to enjoy food in its simplest form. From a young tender age, they were given a variety of tastes from the dinner table to nibble on. Years later, they still love to eat and will eat anything I put on the table.

In all the years I have learnt to cook, I have looked for easy ways to cook. In the process I created and improvised many old recipes. I often thought to myself, “what if I could share this knowledge with other young wives like me. Wouldn’t it be great?”

For years, I dreamt of doing this yet never found the courage or inspiration to carry it through. Then I met Seok Buay and Kim San and came to know about the passing of Boon Teik, their only son.

When I started Kitchen Capers, I got to relive my past dreams of sharing my cooking knowledge with others. I also helped to fulfil Boon’s legacy to pass on his mother’s passion for teaching and sharing with everyone.

Cooking only became a passion shortly after my marriage. Benny loved me very much and his way of encouraging me was to show me that I was a good cook. He inspired me to want to learn new dishes. And he brings them to his work place and shares them with his colleagues. His colleagues comment that he is a lucky man to have a wife who can cook (at the same time lamenting about their wives’ cooking).

I learnt most of my basic cooking skills from my mother. She alone taught me the bulk of my knowledge today. Along the way, I watched cooking shows on TV and also learnt from friends too. Until recently, Seok Buay taught me many more new skills in cooking.

Sometime in late November 2004, a friend of mine asked if I would like to volunteer my cooking skills to a home for teenaged girls. It was the start of the realisation of Kitchen Capers’ Vision – to teach cooking to the underprivileged.

My friend, Miss Jean Lee, was a member of the church that sponsored this Home. I gladly say ‘yes’ without much thought. In the months that followed, I met up with the staff and we discuss about budget and also what to teach.

I taught at the home every week. They would learn to cook and each one gets a fair share of ingredients to experiment with on their own. Each week they learn 2 Asian cuisine dishes. The volunteer work I do for them also includes helping to pay for the ingredients, and designing detailed training notes with full colour photos.

With my work at the home, it open more doors to me. A local Food & Beverage Consulting firm came to know about my volunteer work and approached me to help them to set up a restaurant to train the staff to cook and to serve food. This restaurant is like no other. It is run and managed by a group of ex-drug offenders. In May 2005, Goshen Restaurant opened its doors to the public. Almost 80% of the kitchen and service staff are ex-drug offenders..people with a past and given a 2nd chance in life to start new and afresh. Thru this work, I came to know many good and kind people. 6 months after its opening, the Executive Chef, Mr Benny Seteo was invited by Fifteen Foundation(owned by Mr Jamie Oliver) to attend a 2 weeks training program. Mr Seteo went to England in April this year and learn how to run a restaurant.