JENIUS is written by Jennifer Lam; most people know her as Jen. She is a passionate twenty-something Australian-born Chinese who is living her dream! Jennifer quit her successful career in advertising in August 2009 to follow her entrepreneurial spirit and the callings of her inner-foodie. She has since been dipping her toes into multiple projects and has launched two companies - I Ate My Way Through guided culinary tours and The Bamboo Garden boutique digital and social marketing agency serving food & lifestyle businesses. You can read more about her story here.

Jennifer lives in Sydney's Inner West with her suite of kitchen gadgets, collection of silk dresses and 100+ shoes... And her boyfriend, Zen, whom you will see popping up in random blog posts. They've been dating for about 8 years and are tired of people asking them when they're going to get married.

There is no doubt that Jennifer loves to eat. According to her parents, even at a young age, she ate endlessly - always asking if there was anything else yummy. Jennifer's parents both grew up in Saigon (but met and married in Australia) so you'll also notice that Vietnamese cuisine and culture plays as important a role in her gastronomic inspiration and influence as her Teochew (Chinese) background.

Jennifer started this blog in 2006 with the hope of creating an efficient means of sharing her food photos, dining experiences and recommendations; because life is too short to be filled with crap food! It begun as a collation of notes and photographs she had shared with close friends and family on Windows Live spaces, Facebook, email and instant messenger. While finding her voice, this blog has been transformed into something more than just a documentation. JENIUS covers Jennifer's journey as an over-achieving Gen Y, her discovery of herself, different cultures and cuisines, her culinary travels, and her occassional stumbles into the spotlight.

It is a food blog, but one like no other.

Well, her name is Jennifer -Jen for short; genius, spelt with a 'J' will give you her name in the first three letters... get it?

JENIUS is published via a powerful blogging platform called Movable Type. She designed the website herself with a combination of Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom, CSS, HTML and PHP. Yes, she prefers Movable Type over Wordpress for countless reasons.

Her camera gear consists of a DSLR (Canon EOS 50D) and a compact camera (Canon IXUS 110 IS) which is almost always in her handbag. Photos prior to April 2009 were taken with her ex-cameras: Canon EOS 350D and Canon IXUS 500. Her favourite lens would be the wide angled Canon 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM followed by the Canon 50mm f/1.4 USM Lens. However, for wedding photography, she undoubtedly trusts the Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8. Jennifer also uses the Canon 580EX II Speedlite and has her eye on the Sigma 30mm f/1.4.

Jennifer has never undertaken any culinary nor photography education. She is not a professional food critic or restaurant reviewer. All posts are Jennifer's own personal opinions.

She writes and photographs with hope that her readers will drool, crave, discover, eat, appreciate and share.

When not eating or cooking with family and friends, Jennifer can be found reading good business books or blogs -food blogs, marketing blogs, social media blogs, celebrity gossip blogs, dressmaking blogs, trends blogs, you name it! She always has her radar switched on for where she could eat (and of course, blog about) next and loves nothing more than finding good food that is a little off the beaten track.

Professionally, Jennifer has a degree in Bachelor of Design Computing from the University Of Sydney and a Graduate Diploma in Commerce, specialising in Marketing from the University of New South Wales. She has over eight years of experience in the interactive and advertising industries and has worked amongst the very best at agencies such as Eyeblaster and Soap Creative and with global brands such as Lipton, Bushells, Kelloggs, 20th Century Fox, Roadshow Films, KFC, National Geographic Kids, SBS and Vodafone.

Her day jobs now involve coordinating I Ate My Way Through guided culinary tours, occassional freelance food and business writing, and running The Bamboo Garden, a boutique agency which serves small-medium food and lifestyle businesses with strategic, growth and optimisaiton advice, brand development, grassroots marketing strategy, design, copy, web and email development, research and PR management.

Here are Jennifer's top 10 favourite...

... restaurants to impress:

1. Quay, Sydney
   
2. Yoshii, Sydney
   
3. Marque IV, Hobart
   
4. Claridge's, London
   
5. Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, London
   
6. Le Cinq, Paris
   
7. Flying Fish, Pyrmont, Sydney
   
8. Ocean Restaurant, Central Coast
   
9. Rockpool Bar & Grill
   
10. Tempura Hajime, Melbourne

... places to have a cheap and cheerful eat:

1. Fish and Chips at Golden Hind, London
   
2. Ryo's Noodles, Crows Nest, Sydney
   
3. Rose Bakery or La Flute Gana, Paris
   
4. Northern Noodle House, Chinatown, Sydney
   
5. Mamak, Chinatown, Sydney
   
6. Dong Ba Bun Bo Hue, Bankstown, Sydney
   
7. CoCo Curry House, Osaka, Japan
   
8. Taller de Tapas, Barcelona
9. Chibo Okonomiyaki, Osaka, Japan
   
10. L'Auberge Restaurant, Dubai
    

... things to eat:

1. Jamón ibérico
2. Freshly shucked oysters with Tabasco or Tetsuya's vinaigrette
3. Lobster braised with garlic, ginger and shallots and served with e-fu noodles, or mornay-style
4. Tofu-fa (tofu dessert) with ginger and rock sugar syrup
5. Crème brûlée
6. Bouillabaisse
7. KFC's Wicked Wings
8. Spicy soft shell crab tacos or anything Japanese
9. Anything fried, in particular -lotus root chips, fish and chips, prawn crackers, tonkatsu, etc
10. Noodle soups! That is, ramen, phở đặc biệt, bún bò Huế, Cambodian noodle soup, etc

All photography within this site is taken by Jennifer unless otherwise stated. If you are interested in using any photos or content featured, please contact Jennifer for permission to do so. It is illegal to hotlink any images and/or to copy any text directly.

Jennifer is available for food writing and business consultation, click here to contact her.

JENIUS has some exciting advertising, sponsorship and competition opportunities available, find out more about how your brand, service or product can engage with JENIUS readers or request for the advertiser's information kit.