MY COOKING STORY

Hello there! I am Ferlin. I am a student who has lived on a monthly budget. Truth be speaking, I wasn't great at cooking but being a sous chef to basically everyone around me made me observe and learn from their skills. Be it the few seconds prior to butter burning or marinating techniques or meal prepping or tasting spices, I have seen it all. I come from a family of people who love food and also love cooking. My journey started much much late than many others in my family but you know, BETTER LATE THAN NEVER.

And as expected the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Once kitchen became a familiar room, I got creative. Sometim
es I have made disastrous food because of too much creativity (lol). Then there was my first ever Christmas party where I hosted 7 of my university friends for dinner and cooked everything from scratch. I was 19. I knew my passion for cooking needs more exposure so I made my first loaf of bread. It was disastrous. It went straight into the bin. So my friend's mother encouraged me to try baking again but the basics like cakes, pastries and more. Did I tell you she runs a Cafe in the town?

I started baking alongside her. During my free hours to spare, I'd watch her prep for the next day. Back to sous chef, I started taking notes on her produce. She would only use seasonal produce for the local big market. I started joining her on her trips. From produce to yeast to meats, she knew it all. She isn't a well versed nutritionist nor a dietician. She was a 79 years Norwegian immigrant who didn't even speak English when we met. Then what did she do right? 

She ate seasonally and locally. I have barely seen her use yeast. She, for me, was the sourdough OG. Before the world turned sourdough overnight (thanks to SARS-CoV-2) she used to feed her starter every single day. This to me was fascinating. I had heart eyes for that jar. I would protect it with my life for her if need come be (lol).

With that started my cooking madness. I was a genie in the making. After university classes, I'd run home to make something new. I had my list of Youtubers like Laura Vitale, Nigella Lawson, Sanjeev Kapoor, Shaye Elliot, Julia Child and many more blessing me. And my test audience, an Italian PhD student (very brutally critical), an Hungarian mom (very picky eater), an Arabic med student (very good at judging my spice choices) and my very own dear Norwegian immigrant teacher (my very honored cheerleader). This test audience really put me in my place lol. I like to think of it as my own blend of customized spice box. It was good times.

Speaking of spices I came across the book "THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SPICES AND HERBS" by Padma Lakshmi. I learnt so much about these little taste bombs. Did you know Pea flower and mint with lemon is a tea to combat Spring allergies! Yeah that book was EPIC. 

Then I went on cooking and baking. Most of my test audience remained the same but my hospitality extended to a lot of nationalities, thanks to my international university diversity culture. Then I was encouraged by an Indian friend to start documenting my work. Thankfully being so socially connected I made an Instagram account and starting documenting my work. Forever grateful for that gentle nudge. I met some wonderful people there who have made me realize this world is a better place if we connect with like minded people. That's what I have there.  A community, a belonging and most importantly acceptance.

This page is also for that. That exposure to really romanticize the most mundane, daily activity has brought me here. Hope this little corner encourages someone to try making an egg sandwich for lunch or a Hummus dip for a party or even just try some plant based recipes. You can find almost all of these on my page @homemade_pfp

Cheers,

Ferlin.