I have absolutely no formal training in cooking or baking. I was never taught how to cook by my parents, or my grandparents, or my great-grandparents. All of my "skills" have been developed through a mix of watching youtube videos (which I credit immensely as it is a form of free knowledge to allow anyone to learn to cook) and discovering my personal tastes through trying things. That is why there is no coherent theme or particular culture to my recipes. I am broadly-impacted by UK food, however there is a dumpling and a stew in every culture; ingredients can be swapped, especially when you are just looking for some form of tang or a punch. With the advent of mass importation and developments in agriculture, there is no better time than the present to learn how to cook anything you want.
When I make food, I try to avoid convention in favour of using my previous knowledge of making food alongside, surprisingly, my background in science and the formulation of drugs (which I vow has been useful more than once.) When I applied to university, within my interview, I managed to have a great conversation with the admissions lecturer about baking bread and professed that 'baking is the chemistry of the home' which was surprisingly well received. For this, I credit baking for my success in life, and I therefore shall act as an eternal servant of baking to pay my debts. Despite being apparently obsessed with cooking and baking before university, this was a partial facade, as whilst I really enjoyed culinary alchemy with my love Tanisha, I felt like I couldn't use my kitchen at home, and wasn't a fan of the layout in the slightest (two chairs sitting in a narrow kitchen is incredibly infuriating). This changed when I arrived at university in 2021; where in my student hall kitchen I truly immersed myself with making all sorts of different foods. I find that making your own food leads to heightened appreciation of food, more control over portion sizes, and even perhaps better health (eating a balanced diet - which is more likely when you cook the food yourself - leads to better gut health and possibly mental wellbeing due to the gut-brain axis.)
This website is intentionally plain because it looks nice. I also like making things from scratch, including this website. I also cannot stand the cooking websites that give you their life story, an endless wall of adverts, loads of tips etc. all before it gives you an ingredients list and a short method. If you need a 'jump to recipe' button, you are doing it wrong. Let me make my mistakes and learn from them.
Here's a picture of me because this is my website and I make the rules >:)
