Some people wonder who is this CATherina HOSOI? In Mandarin I'm also known as Mingzi. What a strange surname! Well, I'm married to Japanese for a long time. I am a Malaysian Chinese & a Singapore Permanent Resident.

I incorporated my Cooking Studio, "CULINARY HOBBY CLASS" as far back as in 1985. I started off sharing my culinary knowledge on JAPANESE CUISINE to the local people here. I was born in Penang, Malaysia, this also explains why I'm also strong in NONYA CUISINE & NONYA KUEHs, as well as CHINESE CUISINE & SOUTH EAST ASIAN dishes.

I travel very widely & have been doing my RESEARCH on FOOD for nearly 30years! It is very important to taste the food at the original country so as to know what is the genuine taste of the dish, so with trips I covered over the years, it widened my culinary knowledge & helped me to deliver my classes in a more informative way.

Since 1991, I have been invited by different RADIO STATIONS for FOOD PROGRAMS & RADIO COOKING PROGRAMS. Ever since 1991, my programs have been running on non-stopped for so many years. Until the first quarter of Year 2002, I was having a MANDARIN RADIO COOKING program on a weekly basis with FM95.8, and also a ENGLISH/JAPANESE RADIO COOKING program on a weekly basis with FM96.3. also known as "HELLO SINGAPORE" Radio Station. Previously I was having a weekly ENGLISH RADIO COOKING program with FM91.3 & another one in Mandarin with FM100.3. On these Radio Cooking programs I talked on different types of food, how to prepare them & also the food culture. I have been invited by Radio Station LOVE97.2 (Mandarin channel) as from April 2003 to do a series on Radio Cooking Program. It started once a week & after 3months, due to its popularity, the program has been increased to 3 times a week and it is still going on now.

For English radio programs, from time to time you will hear my voice on NewsRadio FM93.8 on "Buon Appetito" and "All About Food" with DJ Dothory Tan.

I was also invited by TV (Mandarin Station) to do a weekly MANDARIN COOKING PROGRAMS for 2 years non-stop. These programs were later broadcasted in Taiwan & Malaysia. On TV, I was showing how ASIAN dishes (From Chinese, Japanese, Nonya, Malaysia, & Thai/Vietnamese cuisines) are done. It was a very popular afternoon programs among housewives.

In March 2003, I completed filming a TV Cooking Program by the invitation of a production company. This is to be targeted on the foreign audience of English medium TV stations overseas.

Recently I just completed filming for MediaCorpTV Channel 8 (Mandarin) for anotherTV cooking porgram. Local viewers will be able to catch me on the screen again from May this year.

From time to time I contribute my recipes & food photos to Food Magazines. Till March 2003 a locally published Japanese magazine gave me a monthly column to present my work.

I was featured in 'HER WORLD' magazine May 2003 issue on the topic of teaching to male professionals who learned & cooked for their wives on Mothers' Day. This year, "HER WORLD' will feature series of "Cooking in a Jiffy" created by me as from Feb, March & April issue.

For 4 consecutive years from 1997 till 2000 I was invited to be a judge by the Singapore Chinese Restaurant Association to judge on their SINGAPORE GOURMET HUNT competitions. Besides this, I'm often invited to judge FOOD COMPETITIONS by clubs, Peoples' Associations, schools, etc.

Besides teaching, & also active on the Radio Programs & contributing my work to magazines, I also work as a Consultant with manufacturers on Food, developing recipes to suit to their products. I am also involved in Project Consultancy assisting owners of eateries for Menu setting advice & Taste Maintenance of the dishes. Cooks are sent to me for training. For the past few years I have been invited to teach cooking in Indonesia on an exchange program.

I love my work because this is my PASSION. And I always look forward to sharing with those who are really interested & want to have an in-depth knowledge on different cuisines from different countries.

(updated on 22/02/2004)