Happiness, learning, and achievement are the words I would use to describe my Genius Hour experience. Denieze and I have gradually completed our project, "Ready, Steady, Cook!" When we started out the project, we had a lot in mind, like a video, food for the class, and much more, but it turns out everything doesn't turn out the way you want it to. Our perspective has changed, and we have made some changes in our final product. As the semester is coming to an end, our main focus is quality of the product, not quantity, or how many things we put into it. Our skills have improved sufficiently. As to cooking, we've got the hang of it now. The first time we cooked, it was disastrous. We bought the wrong ingredients, took a LONG time, and our final product was literally burnt. As we progressed, our knowledge of different types of ingredients increased, and our cooking skills improved, because we know how to do things faster, and how to make the dish turn out good overall. Denieze and I did not have to stress out too much, because we had already collected all our recipes during the first month, and also completed all our research then also.

    The next step for us is to put together our final TED talk and presentation. We will continue with the idea of a powerpoint, and present our project along with a TED talk. Our goal is to make the presentation fun, with a bit of information, but it will be mainly about our experience. As we cooked foods like pizza, lasagna, cheescake, and crepes, we tried our best to take many pictures. The final step is to now arrange our pictures in a way that illustrates our experience, and is also fun to look at. This will be a bit of a challenge for us, as both of us are not very creative, and might make the class really bored. Our biggest challenge thus far has been the way we used our time. Before the winter break, Denieze and I had decided that we would finish our whole Genius Hour project in the break, and would just make any minor changes near the end of the semester. However, nothing turned out the way we had planned. We decided not to work on our project during the two week break, and we had to work extra hard this January. Although we were a bit stressed out about the project, we still completed it, and are almost ready to present.  


  
 
      We've been working on Genius Hour for about 3 months, and the semester is coming to an end. My partner and I have cooked French foods like cheesecake, and macarons, and have learnt quite a lot about what it takes to cook in that style. French foods are delicious, but the catch is all the hard work that goes into making them. When we made our cheesecake the first time, it was totally new to us, because the steps were quite lengthy and every step needed to be done exactly like it was described. Our cheesecake was good, but nothing more than that. The second time around, we had gained some knowledge as to how to bake foods, and we perfected all the steps. The end result was magnificent! Through this process of struggle, we did learn to try again, and put all our hearts into what we were trying to accomplish. As the semester progresses, Denieze and I wish to try cooking different types of foods, and explore the inner cooks inside of us. Along with French food, we have also taken the challenge of experimenting with some Italian dishes. Over the winter break we will cook Italian dishes like pasta, spaghetti, and anything else Italian, you name it!

      Our final product is a great deal away from being finished. Our plan is to make a PowerPoint presentation that shares  with the class our experiences, knowledge of food, and of course, our failures and successes. As of now, we have some pictures of our  finished products, but we have no videos. We will definitely try to capture some nice moments that we have. Our goal is to educate the class somewhat about French and Italian cuisine, but the main purpose is to make the presentation light, fun, and interesting. The presentation will have some history, pictures, and hopefully a video. Along with the PowerPoint will be a delicious and divine dish for everyone to enjoy, but of course that part's a surprise. Our presentation needs to be finished by the end of winter break so we have enough time to make any minor changes in the way everything is put together. Throughout November, Denieze and I were working on our research about French and Italian foods, and we have finally completed it. That is one step down, and three to go. The other two steps are to first complete all our picture and video parts, then put everything together, and finally present it. Throughout our journey of cooking we wish to learn, experience, and of course, have fun. 


“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing. ” 
- Walt Disney Company



 
      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.

              

 
Hi my name's Shivneet Grewal, and I'm in grade 10. Still fourteen years old, cheerful and helpful. Welcome to my planning blog. 
Some facts about me now. I was born in Surrey on December 19th. I went to Kirkbride Elementary from kindergarten all the way to grade 7, and then came to Matheson. I always put my best effort into everything and like to accomplish the goals I set. I live with my mom, dad, and younger brother. I don't really have a crazy family and I'm not bothered by anyone much. My friends would call me the "smarty pants" but I'd say its just my determination to get somewhere in life. I'm kind, may be a bit quiet, but I'm always there for my friends. My favourite sports are badminton, basketball, and volleyball. I love rollerblading in my free time, and absolutely LOVE listening to music. I always feel like something's a bit incomplete without music. I listen to mostly all genres of music. Watching tv is not really my thing. Instead, I like to watch movies once in a while, tidy up my room , and yeah I'm really neat. This is my third year of high school and its sort of hard to believe it because it felt like yesterday when I started grade 8. I always try to stay positive and make the best of every situation. Hope you got to know a bit about me. Thanks for reading.