Greetings and Welcome to Pups with Chopsticks!

My motto in the kitchen is: Be creative, be open minded and be prepared to make mistakes! Food does not have to be just for sustenance. Food brings people together and can be a wonderful way to connect with people and cultures.

I’m Joyce and I’m so happy you are here! If you’re on this page then you must be curious about who we are! The bad news? I’m terrible when it comes to talking about myself, but i’ll try anyways and I’ll call it a success if I only manage to stifle a few yawns from you.

I love to eat and re-creating flavors I have experienced so that I can share it with my friends and family (yes, that includes you!). I am a self taught cook and have been cooking at a very young age by watching and mimicking my dad cook at home. As I got older and a little less shy, I started to learn a lot of neat cooking methods and tricks from people in restaurants, my dad’s friends who work in the restaurant industry and grandmas and grandpas from grocery stores! I’m a firm believer that there is a lot of lost knowledge from our parents, grandparents, great grand parents so I like to pick their brains whenever I can to keep that knowledge alive.

Before diving deep into my creative side and creating Pups with Chopsticks, I went to college and graduated to be some form of a techie but somehow ended up becoming a project manager in the corporate world. Being a free spirit and creative soul, I knew it was not a place for me, so I threw logic out the window and decided to follow my heart and quit my job to start this blog. It was a bit reckless with no safety net and it was the hardest (and possibly the stupidest) thing I ever had to do, but totally worth it because that’s how Pups with Chopsticks was born.

What is Pups with Chopsticks?

I created this blog as a way for me to write down and document my recipes (Yup, these are all recipes that are tried and tested and used still in my home!) but with time it also became my creative outlet. I love sharing the process of how I complete a recipe (including mistakes I make, so you can avoid them). I also love receiving tips from readers as well, so don’t feel shy about sharing them! I love learning new things 🙂

At Pups with Chopsticks, you will find recipes here with international influences as well as comfort foods with twists with lots of flavours. I like finding new ways to cook, and new ingredients to play, so every time I learn something neat about an ingredient or a recipe, you can be sure I will share this with you so you can come along for the journey 🙂

Fun Facts

I’m a huge cookbook and succulent (gotta catch them all?) junkie. I swear I’m not a hoarder.
I’m a gamer! On my down time you will usually catch me on my computer playing some random video game or relaxing to a board game! Lately, my new passion is playing Magic the Gathering! Yup, I’m a nerd.
I’m a HUGE introvert, and borderline mute. 🙂
I knit and crochet? Is that even a fun fact?

Pups in the Kitchen

This is Oscar.

The squiggly emo dog. When he’s not sighing or being grumpy, you’ll find him on top of the stairs moping around and sighing like a sad panda. This little guys enjoys his ‘ME’ time – a lot.

Favourite Pastime: Pretending to be a cat. (I swear he’s got it down to a science!)

Meet Wilbur.

This little guy is from Colombia and knows Spanish! We adopted him a few years ago and he has been the cuddly, ‘awwwww’ dog of the household ever since. When he’s not napping (and he naps a lot!), you’ll find him nibbling on the grass in the yard or terrorizing his basket of toys.

Favourite Pastime: Using his charm and finding clever ways to ninja treats from people.

All photographs and posts have been developed and written by myself unless otherwise stated. If you want to use any of these recipes or images, please only use 1 image and link the recipe directions back to it’s home, here. 🙂 Thank you