Thiri K. Estrada was born in Burma (now known as Myanmar) in 1962. At only 9 months old she and her family left Burma for the United States. Through her parents, she learned the way of the Burmese from cooking to the dialect. In 1976, she returned to Burma for a brief two-week visit, where she discovered that the one thing they shared as a family was the pot of rice along with delicious homemade Burmese meals. Her interest in cooking surfaced when she had her own family, and from there she built her recipes on what she learned from her mother and her mother-in-law. She wrote her first book, Shortcuts to Asian Cooking because she felt most recipes were too complicated and could be simplified for the everyday chef/cook. She hopes to share her cooking secrets and shortcuts with the world.