What does it mean "Memoires of a Chef"?

If you read my Origin of Memoires of a Chef, you've made it to my second writing, and this one has grabbed momentum as I have literally written it 2 days after that one. Something which I'd never done before on my blog! Exciting stuff! 

This post will be all to do with building the concept of my cooking channel, perhaps other people have thought about doing something, but kept putting it off, cause I have been doing that for such a long time with this blog...mostly anxiety and the feeling of inadequacy that my writing wasn't up to scratch; but, up to scratch to what is always my second thought...like "up to what and who's scratch am I even competing with?" Food for thought, I suppose. But, anyways, we are currently at the initial writing of ideas. 

What does it mean "Memoires of a Chef"? 

The idea that food can bring so many memories was something I began tapping into in my last blog, but let's dive deeper, understanding the concept as to how I see it within. 

Having the title of a 'Chef' was something I always wanted to have since I was younger, and my grandad in Mexico 'Don Abraham' would pour story after story on his journey overseas as a bartender representing Mexico City in what would've been the early years of mixology. Something I never truly learned to appreciate from my grandad was his mixing abilities, and palate for a great drink. But, I did see him in action at many of the parties we had. But, anyways, his stories about all the international chefs that he met on his travels inspired me to want to learn to cook. At the age of 11 when I fully committed to learning, and at the ripe age of 16 signed myself up at the University College of Birmingham (UCB) at a fantastic French culinary school, where I learned everything I now know about cooking. 

It was here that I soon realized the idea of a chef was something internal, as there was a load of people who I studied for over two years to learn to cook, where many already had the basic concept of cooking, and just wanted to further their skills. So, I enjoyed two years, and then it was time to fly with the knowledge I had, so part of the training was to do a 3-month cooking placement where I took mine at "Fiesta del Asado" a restaurant that was just off the Hagley Road West in Birmingham and owned by Aktar Islam - what a great chef, and someone I did look up to with the many flavours he was able to blend together and bring through. 

Although, shortly after the 3-month stint of cooking and learning the menu, I was like "Is this it? Will I just be learning and mastering one menu for the rest of my life?" It was time to start thinking and making some bold moves on whether to stay in the culinary world or try something else. And, as you might have guessed, I decided to do something else - go back to study, do my A Levels, and then shortly after went to the University of Leeds to study Psychology. 

Having changed trajectory I can only thank myself for having made that leap of faith, as I have been able to retain my passion for cooking, learning about different psychology concepts, and can now apply my studies to my personal projects, like perhaps what is the psychology of food, or what is 'That' feeling of cooking with other people, and the emotions tied to it. 

Bringing it back to 'Memoires of a Chef' my aim is to document my journey of food, and what it can bring when simple ingredients are brought together, creating special moments that can either be shared with others or more importantly shared with yourself. Food has such a vibrant energy that can easily radiate across many situations, and the best part of it all is that you can decide what to do with that energy!  

If you are wanting to start your own cooking channel, I'll be documenting each week in this blog, as I'm looking around for some inspo, and can't seem to find any suitable blogs that tell the whole story from start to current situation. So, WEEK 1 has had the following activities:

• Started the week with great optimism to cook some ideas to understand what angles would be best when shooting. But, shortly I realised that my Tonsilittis was a lot worse than I thought. So, had to get some antibiotics and heal. 
• I hit the jackpot with one of my fine friends Abiud leaving his camera behind (he's gone back to Mexico now) so will be looking after it until I go visit Mexico this Summer. So, now to learn how to use it, and first of all charge the batteries...something I must say is that I've never filmed anything, so this will be a challenge. Although what I'm good at is knowing people who CAN film, aka my brother, so he'll be taking good care of this activity while he teaches me some great shot angles. 
• Began writing this blog more on a daily basis, and writing ideas out of recipes and also concepts I want to explore, so you'll get a good idea of what is coming your way, you can see the following cropping up shortly: 
• The Adventures of a Student - Help I may have poisoned my housemates: Survival Guide - How students could be thriving with simple tasks and skills I wish people knew before going to university. 
• Luna Azul - The Mexican restaurant the UK has been waiting for. Since I've lived here in the Uk now coming to 15 years, I've slowly realized that Mexican cuisine is adored, but shortly lived to realize that what they love is Tex-Mex. So, I want to put this straight and begin nurturing REAL Mexicaness (I don't think this is a word, but you get the idea). So, I'll be documenting how each Mexican state has its little wonders of the world, and teach people how to make authentic Mexican food and where to source it overseas.
• Papa Chill - A coffee shop concept I've joined with some great friends Chubba and Harry, this will take us through the journey of developing the recipe ideas for the coffee shop we will own and everyone else can enjoy.
• The Origin Series - I often wonder whether ingredients could become the main protagonist of meals, such as vegetables or fruits or nuts, or anything that isn't meat for the meat-eaters. Also, many ingredients aren't fully utilized or wasted. So, want to show people how they can maximize their resources. 
• Meal Prep Ventures - Showing alternative ways to meal prep
• Budget Challenges - Food on a budget can often feel like a missed opportunity to eat great each day, so quite a fun challenge to show that ingredients can be cheaply bought and cooked in amazing ways.
• Exploring the Wonders of the World - Spin the Globe and travel to the roots of a region - the beauty of traveling is that you can experience different cuisines, but what if you could recreate those dishes before you went? I want to travel through my palate and take you with me.