I am aware of different aspects of myself. I can identify people, places, and things that are important to me.
I am mindful, I practice being present in the moment and paying attention to my thoughts, feelings, and sensations without judgement. Being mindful helps me cultivate a heightened sense of self-awareness. I take note of the individuals, experiences, and places that have a positive impact on my life. I acknowledge and express gratitude for their presence in my life and their impact on my happiness. I show this in my pennant project, which involved representing my values through symbols on a coat of arms.
I think my most successful lab was when we made “Chocolate Crinkle Cookies”. The cookies were deliciously soft, moist, and sweet. Since it was the day before halloween, we decorated one with icing and liquorish, making it into a spider! As soon as we opened the oven to take the cookies out, I could smell a chocolatey scent. I chose this as my most successful lab because me and my partner’s cookies turned out the perfect shape, size, and texture. They tasted great as well! I think we definitely met the product standards; a light brown colour and very soft texture, with no large bumps or cracks on the outside. I don’t think we really had any challenges in this lab. We worked quickly and always knew what to do, I’d say that was quite a success. If there were any little problems, we worked together and got past them easily, but I don’t think we struggled with much. We probably could’ve conversed more but everything still worked out right. We made these cookies using the “molding cookie method”, meaning we mold the dough in our hands. We didn’t use any tools or equipment that we haven’t used before. The cookies weren’t very healthy; I would rate the nutrition a 2 out of 10 because there wasn’t anything healthy in it except egg and there was a lot of sugar.
In one of our foods labs, we made banana muffins. They tasted good, and for muffins, they weren’t overly unhealthy. We worked fast and helped each other out. The muffins had a nice moist texture and each muffin was about the same size as the others, which was a great success. A challenge began when I accidentally added the same amount of sugar as I did flour, which was way too much. I told my partner how I messed up and we worked together to take the extra sugar out. Luckily we took out the right amount and our cookies turned out awesome.
I think communication is extremely important when cooking with others. For example, messing up with the sugar. If I didn’t tell my partner the mistake I made, she wouldn’t have helped me fix the problem. So many things can go wrong when you don’t converse with your peers, discuss a plan, and sort out who’s working on what. One person might expect that their partner is pre-heating the oven or preparing one of the ingredients (when they aren’t), and they could both end up missing that step. It could also go the opposite, where both people take responsibility for the same step and they waste their time making more than needed of an ingredient.
I think that one of the most useful kitchen tools would be a pan. When our Foods Class made Breakfast Hash, we cooked all of our ingredients in a pan. This lab was fun and the dish we made tasted awesome. I think my biggest success with this dish was cutting all of the vegetables properly. I made each vegetable similar size and shape to each other. I think a main challenge in this lab was being sure to cook all the ingredients for the right amount of time, and on the right temperature. We don’t want to overcook the vegetables, making them soggy or burnt, or undercook them, so they’re hard and stale.
I think that at least for this lab, The pan was the most important tool. You can’t make breakfast hash with raw vegetables and potatoes, and the oven just doesn’t cook them the same. Pans are very useful since you can make so much with them. They’re often used for frying eggs, sandwiches, vegetables, and more. They can also be used for making different sauces, like pasta sauce, or even sweet sauce like berry or caramel sauce. It’d be fun to try making something like that.
Fun Facts About Pans
Filling a pan with boiled water and some apple peels will remove the rust and stains and add some shine
Cast iron pans can be used to cook food over a fire
Non-stick pans should usually last about 5 years, but it’s important to stop using if they start to peel
My most memorable food experience was at Kishimoto, a sushi restaurant in downtown Vancouver. After a LONG day of shopping, bussing around from store to store, my friend Jessica and I were nothing but exhausted, hungry, and ready to go home. As we sat in the bus on our way to the sky train, we were trying to decide if we wanted Fresh Slice pizza or a Subway sandwich. The bus was at it’s last stop before the sky train station when I noticed a sushi restaurant right across the street. Sushi sounded pretty good right about then. I quickly looked at Jess and she nodded her head, she was thinking the same thing. We ran out of the bus and crossed the street towards the restaurant. It was a pretty average looking sushi restaurant, but beneath looks, it was so much more than that. The lady at the door greeted us and showed us to our booth. After awhile of looking through the menu options, we agreed on each getting a Miso Soup, and sharing the “Omg Roll” and “Spicy Dynamite Roll”, both of which we had never tried. We asked our server where the “Omg Roll” got it’s name, and apparently the first time the chef made it, he made the sauce way too spicy and yelled out “OH MY GOD!!!”. First we were served our Miso Soup. It smelled amazing. I held the warm bowl in my hands and took a sip. As always, it tasted delicious; warm and flavourful. Next we got our sushi rolls. Both dishes were presented beautifully. We tried out the “Oh My God” roll first, and Oh. My. God. Everything about it was devine. In this roll there was avocado, sweet miso, tempura bits, and a spicy sauce drizzled on top. The tempura bits gave it the perfect crunch and the sauce had a pleasant kick to it. The Spicy Dynamite Roll had a similar flavour to the Omg Roll, and the two added tempura prawns, peeking out from an end of each roll brought along a great texture. Every bite of our food blew us away, and so we ended up ordering a second of each dish.
