Denieze and I have made good progress in our Genius Hour project from when we began planning it out. As you already know, our project is called “Ready, Steady, Cook!” We have planned out exactly how we will carry out the cooking, recipes, and the overall presentation. The cuisines that we have chosen to do are French, Italian, and Mediterranean. As for the research, we have completed all our research for French and Italian cuisines and just have to do Mediterranean. It was difficult for us to find suitable recipes, as we also had to think about the cost to make a certain dish, and we also considered the class, because the food has to be something that everyone can eat. Despite the difficulties, we have managed to add on to our recipe list, and we have got a reasonable amount of recipes that we will test out. Our greatest resources have been food websites like www.marthastewart.com and www.simplyrecipes.com. We have been surfing these websites and have used them well. YouTube videos did not seem to work out for us at this stage in our progress, but I believe that the videos will be useful when we start the actual cooking. 

      When we first began planning out our project, we were a bit unsure as to how to proceed to the actual cooking. However, we have gained more knowledge about our topic now, and know exactly where to start. The first long weekend in November will be our first cooking challenge, and our cooking journey will continue every weekend, and also in the winter break. Along with testing out our recipes, we will take pictures of our failures and successes and will possibly make videos. Our final presentation will be a PowerPoint of a combination of pictures, background information of the different cuisines, and of course some dishes for the class to enjoy! Denieze and I will try different difficulties in recipes and will also discover our strengths and weaknesses when it comes to cooking. Our research skills have improved, because we also kept the final TED-style talk in mind. Instead of making our research extremely long and boring, we have learned to cut out unnecessary information, and get straight to the point, and also incorporate some interesting facts into our research. This way, our information will get to the class, but at the same time, the class will not lose interest in our presentation. Denieze and I hope to complete our research, and quickly begin cooking and exploring ourselves as amateur chefs.  






Are you the master chef of your kitchen, or are you still struggling with boiling water or making toast?

Find out by taking this cooking quiz : http://www.quizrocket.com/cooking-quiz 

    My Genius Hour project is called “Ready, Steady, Cook!” It is about learning how to cook different foods from various countries. I selected this as my project because I feel like learning how to cook something other than ordinary foods, and I would like to improve my cooking skills as well. Currently, I am learning about French cuisine, and have printed out some recipes like lasagna, cheesecake, macarons, crème-brulee, and crepes. So far, I have tried out the cheesecake, and it was quite a challenge for me, as the process of it was quite long. However, it has given me some experience and guidance as to how the future recipes will be like. I have learnt to stay patient when baking something, and follow the instructions very carefully. Websites from the internet have been my greatest resource so far, but I also plan in using cookbooks, and watching YouTube videos. Some websites that I have used are: www.marthastewart.com and www.foodnetwork.com.  My hopes for this project are to expand my knowledge of various types of foods, and to improve my cooking skills.
    
    My next step is to try out the recipes I have chosen, and to research about French cuisine. I plan to move onto another country once I have mastered the French food, and also gained some knowledge as to what French cuisine is. As I explore various countries, I will reflect on my experiences and also see how challenging the process is. No challenges have come my way so far, but I do know that there will be some in the future. The final product will be a summary of my experiences, challenges, and successes, and will give me and the class a good understanding of various foods from different countries.