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At Home with: Jen and Wes Toy

27.02.26

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4 min read

At Home with ETO: conversations over a glass of wine, relishing the small moments, and personal rituals that make our spaces our own.

Jen and Wes (@crazythickasians)

For this chapter of At Home With, Meet Jen and Wes Toy, the couple behind Crazy Thick Asians, a food account that started as a honeymoon travel diary and grew into a beloved celebration of cooking, culture, and the San Francisco food scene. In this Q&A, they share how Lunar New Year traditions, Bay Area ingredients, and a love of thoughtful design all come together in their kitchen — plus their recipe for Five Spice Braised Pork Belly, a dish close to both their hearts.

What drew you to create your content in the first place, what have you learned most from the process?

We started our Instagram during our honeymoon after we had the most incredible bowl of Laksa from a tiny street stall. Initially, it was simply a way for us to document all the incredible food we ate across Southeast Asia.

Over time, it naturally evolved into sharing our favorite spots in San Francisco and cooking together at home during the pandemic. What we've learned most is the importance of staying true to ourselves while remaining open to inspiration from everything around us.

What does Lunar New Year look like for you and Wes? Are there traditions you always maketime for, or ways you've made it your own?

Lunar New Year is a busy yet joyful time for us. Beyond celebrations with loved ones, we enjoy making a special meal at home filled with our favorite lucky foods. At the heart of it is our homemade dumplings inspired by our family’s recipe. Our go-to filling is pork and chive: simple, classic, and deeply familiar. Making dumplings has become a cherished ritual, a chance to slow down and look forward to the new year ahead.

Can you walk us through the dish you created? What inspired it—family recipe, seasonal San Francisco Bay Area ingredients, something you've been wanting to try?

Five Spice Braised Pork Belly is a dish that holds special meaning for both of us. We each grew up enjoying a version of it during Lunar New Year celebrations. We love how slow cooking transforms this humble ingredient into something truly spectacular. Beyond the delicious taste, pork belly carries symbolism, representing wealth and abundance for the year ahead. It felt like the perfect dish to share, blending tradition with our own personal touch.

The San Francisco Bay Area has such incredible food culture. How does living there shape how you cook and think about ingredients? Is there any restaurant that you look to for inspiration in particular?

Living in San Francisco has completely shaped how we approach cooking. We're constantly inspired by the restaurants we grew up loving and the amazing California cuisine around us. We have access to wonderful seasonal produce that makes it easy to let the ingredients shine. A few restaurants that inspire us are Four Kings, Ernest, and Khao Tiew. Each one brings something different to the table but remind us to keep things innovative while still rooted in culture.

You clearly care about design and aesthetics. How do you choose tools and objects for your kitchen or table? Any must have tool?

We're drawn to things that are versatile and can transition seamlessly from kitchen to table. A perfect example is our donabe from Bernal Cutlery. It's beautiful for serving yet incredible for cooking everything from stews to hot pot. The same goes for our spoons from Gestura, ideal for stirring and cooking but also looks elegant on the dinner table. We’re really inspired by mid-century design like natural textures and clean lines that complement the overall feel of our home.

Okay, we have to ask: what's your secret to making genuinely impressive food while camping? How do you avoid the sad sandwich trap?

Honestly, it all comes down to planning ahead and cooking what we're actually craving. We think about what's in season and pack ingredients that make sense for the weather, like congee when it's chilly out or a fish crudo for the summer. The real trick is bringing versatile ingredients that can work across multiple meals. Things like tinned seafood for a no-cook meal that doubles as a snack board, or anchovy broth tablets to easily make soups and stews. When you're excited about what you're making, even if it's just dressed up instant noodles, it never feels like a sad meal.

What's a bottle you've opened recently that you'd happily drink again?

We're so lucky that wine country is practically a stone's throw away, making it easy to discover new bottles. We tend to pair wine with savory foods and gravitate toward Pinot Noir and Riesling since they complement our meals so well. For our anniversary, we decided to try something new—Hirsch ‘The Bohan-Dillon’ Pinot Noir from Sonoma Coast in California. ecently, we tried a new bottle, Hirsch ‘The Bohan-Dillon’ Pinot Noir from the Sonoma Coast in California.

It was the perfect way to celebrate our anniversary while trying something new. There's something special about drinking wines that come from the same landscape we source our ingredients from. It all feels connected.

Recipe:

Five Spice Braised Pork Belly

Serves 4

Ingredients:
2 lbs pork belly, cut into 1 inch thick pieces
2 tbsp neutral oil
2 tbsp rock sugar

Braising liquid:
½ cup sake
2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp dark soy sauce
1.5 tbsp five spice powder
1 tsp kosher salt
2-3 cups water, or enough to barely cover pork belly

Garnish:
Scallions/cilantro
toasted sesame seeds

Method:
On medium heat, add oil and melt sugar in dutch oven.Add in pork belly. Cook for a few minutes until browned.

Deglaze with sake and cook for a few minutes.Add in the two soy sauces, five spice powder, salt, and water.Cover lid and bring to a boil. Once boiling, turn heat to medium low and let cook for 1-1.5 hours or until pork is tender.

Stir occasionally and add more water if it gets too dry. Once ready, remove lid to reduce the sauce. Allow liquid to evaporate and thicken for about 8-10 minutes.

Serve hot with rice.

Garnish with scallions/cilantro and toasted sesame seeds.

Cheers,

Team ETO