Siri Chuaindhara

I was born in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand and was raised in Bangkok, Thailand until the age of 5 years, when at that time, I came to the States with my family. I have an older sister and older brother and am affectionately called “Lek”, which in Thai is, “baby of the family”. At the age of 9, my parents opened up their first Thai restaurant in Miami, FL. My fondest childhood memories are of going to the restaurant after elementary school to eat my after school “snack” of Pad Thai, Curries and other exotic dishes. I would watch my mother cook and couldn’t get enough of wanting to help by doing things like make lemonade, fold napkins and make sure the rice was just perfect before going home to finish homework.

I worked at the restaurant growing up and all throughout my life. I did take some time off to obtain my degree and start my career in social work. However, I never really “left” the restaurant business, as I always helped with the restaurant in my free time.

In the restaurant’s kitchen is where I solidified my definition of proper Thai cuisine. I learned from my mother, as well as from the other cooks in the kitchen that had been trained under my mother’s tutelage. I began to do some cooking demonstrations for local arts festivals, and it was there, that I realized that I wanted to provide a way to demystify Asian cooking for everyone. Currently, I am also involved in a project for an Asian cooking show, as a host, that is in production at this time.

I am extremely excited to be a part of Real Women of IMUSA as a food blogger and hope to share some of the cooking, entertaining and life lessons I learned in my family’s restaurant business with my readers. My blood type is E for entertaining and I get a tremendous amount of joy from it, and hope you do too!