This blog post is for reflecting on how I think my presentation went, and also how I think the entire Genius Hour 2 went! Starting off with the presentation, I think I did pretty well. Once again, I think it was a good idea to make a video, as I was not constantly stuttering or repeating words. I think it was also good that I barely put any words on the slides, and put pictures instead. By doing this, people actually had to listen to the video instead of just reading the words on the slides and getting bored. I think it also made it more interesting and gave proof of my progress. I’m also very glad that I chose to do a before and after in my presentation because I think this definitely showed my progress, as well as what measures I took to improve. Focusing more on the entirety of Genius Hour, I’m pretty proud of all of my progress and dedication! I managed to upload all of my blog posts on time (usually). Adding on, cooking these dishes took me a long time. When I mean long, I mean very long! Each dish took me around 2 hours… This kind of made me want to choose something else to do, but in the end, I persevered. But I’m happy to say that as Genius Hour went on, I managed to make a few dishes in 1 hour, which is a big improvement! As for my expert, I actually managed to find one! He was very kind and gave me tons of helpful tips and tricks that I was able to apply to my final dish.

I am very, very happy that I decided to choose cooking this Genius Hour. I have learnt so many skills, and I have improved so much compared to the beginning of Genius Hour. I have also been frequently helping my mom out in the kitchen, so I think she’s pretty happy that I chose cooking for Genius Hour as well. I’m really proud of all the hard work and dedication I put into this project, and I am more than happy to be able to be walking away with all of these newfound cooking skills!

Bye!

Hi! This week is the final week of Genius Hour! I think that I have improved tons, and I have also helped my mom out in the kitchen way more. I’m really glad I chose cooking as my Genius Hour project! Since it is the last week, I am making butter chicken again. However, I’ll be using my expert’s tips to make it better!

(Same recipe as last week.)

This dish was really, really good! Using my expert’s tips, I made the butter chicken as best as it gets! It was everything I wanted: creamy, smooth, and delicious. Firstly, I made sure I marinated the chicken overnight so that the spices had time to soak in. However, per his suggestion, I marinated it with yogurt as well. To fix the problem I had with the tart flavour of the crushed tomatoes, I added tons of heavy cream and yogurt! This seemed to definitely work, as it wasn’t as tart as before. Additionally, I made sure to add a lot (and I mean a lot) of sugar. This actually helped balance the flavour of the crushed tomatoes too! Last but not least, the problem I had with all the chunks in the sauce. I blended the sauce with an actual (and not handheld) blender this time. This did the trick, and I was left with a creamy, smooth sauce. I think it was way better not having to chew pieces of garlic and onion like I had to last time. Overall, the tips my expert gave me were super helpful, and I’m grateful I was able to reach out to him! I’m pretty proud of this dish, and I’m excited to showcase my success (and failures..) in my final presentation!!

Video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PIZL8Edx-oCf7P0GmB4CKW7zK6ldv267/view?usp=sharing

Hi! I have some very good news! Now, they responded, but unfortunately, it was a bot-made email. So I thought, “Well if they don’t respond to me online, then they have to respond to me in person.” However, my dad actually went in and talked to one of the chefs there while I was at school, and he came back with some great news. One of the chefs invited me to the restaurant so that I could ask my questions! I started my conversation with one of the very kind chefs there! His name is Jerome, and he has tons of culinary experience, including working in Fairmont, Edmonton, and Whistler!! He was super kind and willing to answer all of my questions! Big up to Chef Jerome! I read what I wrote in my script, and he began by asking me what went wrong when I made my butter chicken so that he could give me specific suggestions. After I told him, he gave me quite a bit of feedback that will help me next week!

His suggestions/feedback!

• After I told him I had used a handheld blender, he immediately said that that was why I still had chunks in the sauce. So next time I’ll be using an actual blender.
• He also said that if I wanted to make authentic butter chicken, I could even blanch the tomatoes to get rid of the chunks.
• I told him about my problems with the overpowering flavour of the crushed tomatoes. He said that the ingredients in the crushed tomatoes consisted of salt and citric acid, so that may be the reason behind the strong flavour. He said that it was fine to use crushed tomatoes, but to balance the flavour he suggested that I add way more yogurt and heavy cream.
• Kind of going along with the previous point, he asked me if I used any sugar. I told him I did, but barely. He said it was crucial to add sugar and to put in a generous amount of it. Next time, I’ll definitely do that.
  Additionally, he also asked me what I marinated my chicken with. I told him I used lots of spices and olive oil. He suggested that next time I also incorporate yogurt!
• He told me it’s good to marinate the chicken overnight, which I did do.
• Also, he suggested I add some cashews in there, as they taste really good in the dish, and are for sure an essential!
• As for the question I had about “really finding that restaurant butter chicken flavour,” he told me there wasn’t really a restaurant butter chicken flavour. It was just that in restaurants, they use a lot more oil, heavy cream, etc., whereas, at home, we control how much of those things we add. He said that rather than restaurant butter chicken, homemade butter chicken is far more authentic and healthy.

Next week will be my improved butter chicken!

Hi! I decided to focus on writing a script this class. However, I have decided to change the restaurant I contact from Swagat to “Chef’s Butter Chicken.” This is mainly because Swagat is almost a 30-minute drive from my house! Meanwhile, Chef’s Butter Chicken is less than a 5-minute drive away. I noticed that their restaurant also had an Instagram page, so I decided to DM them.

Here is what I wrote:

I have been working on my final presentation on my own time, as I do not have any classes to spare to dedicate to that. It’s coming along really well, and I have gotten a lot done! The restaurant hasn’t responded to me yet, but after all, it has only been an hour. If they don’t respond, I’m planning on going to the restaurant and doing the little interview in person. However, I don’t think I’ll be able to do it next week (on the extra long weekend), because I’m going camping. It seems I’ll be running a little short on time, but I can manage. I’m thinking of doing the interview (if they don’t respond to my DM) on the 31st, and then I’ll make the butter chicken on Thursday! That’s all for today, see you next week!

Hi! This week, I wanted to make Butter Chicken. Since Genius Hour is coming to an end pretty soon, I wanted to really only make Nepali/cultural dishes from here on out, as that is what I said I’d do in my first blog post. Butter chicken is not originally from Nepal, but I will still be making it since India is quite similar to Nepal. However, I should also start finding an expert. As of right now, I am thinking of finding a Nepali restaurant to contact and ask for tips on making butter chicken. I’m making it this week so that next week I can use the tips to make it better. I’m thinking of contacting the restaurant Swagat because their food is really delicious and I’ve been there a lot of times. Also, next week would be an ideal time to go in and talk with my expert, because, after that, I think I still have a week to use those tips to make the dish. That’s the plan so far!

Recipe: https://cafedelites.com/butter-chicken/

Editied Recipe: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uv8ZPBWWyC3g1PTUiJJ23Bsbml82ndp0XK-ciSwvIY8/edit

This dish turned out really, really good! If I knew at the beginning of Genius Hour that I would be able to make my own butter chicken from scratch with zero assistance, I would have never believed that. However, now I am able to do just that! The butter chicken was super delicious, to say the least! I was pretty worried at the beginning that the dish would not taste anything like restaurant butter chicken, but in my opinion, it tasted really similar to restaurant butter chicken! To balance the overpowering taste of the crushed tomato, I used whipping cream and plain yogurt, but next time I could definitely use a lot more because the flavour of the crushed tomato was still really strong. The chicken that I made was also super delicious! Since I marinated it and left it in the freezer overnight, the spices really thoroughly got to soak in. The chicken was not bland at all, and it was very flavourful and rich in spices. Additionally, I think I could’ve cut the chicken a little smaller. Moving on, I definitely could have blended the sauce way better, as I could still feel some onion chunks when I was tasting the dish. Instead of using a handheld blender, I think I’ll use an actual blender so that no chunks remain. Last but not least, next time I am thinking of making naan to go along with this dish. Overall, I am very, very happy with how this dish turned out. With some improvements, I could see this dish being close to restaurant quality! I am super proud of myself for making this dish all by myself. I would have never been able to make this dish singlehandedly at the very beginning of Genius Hour. I think making this dish really really showcases my growth throughout this project!

Video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Vvl-H-g6AqVWIi_My9SWOBUJzBMWUU4t/view?usp=sharing

Here are some things I learnt from making this, and some things I would do if I were to make the dish again:

• Find something to balance the crushed tomato flavour
• Cut the chicken a tad bit smaller
• Blend the sauce a lot better, so that there’s absolutley no chunks/pieces of onion left
• Make some naan to go along with it!

Hi! This week, I decided to make Momos. Momos are a traditional Nepali dish, and they’re very authentic and popular. They’re a type of dumpling with ground chicken and other ingredients as the filling. Nepal, as well as Tibet, is known as the birthplace of the Momo. But as I said, they’re super similar to dumplings. Although, the way that they’re wrapped is different from other dumplings. Instead of being in a crescent shape, they’re in a more ball-like shape. the filling can be vegetables or chicken, but my family enjoys the chicken more. They are also usually served with a spicy tomato dipping sauce. I am going to use the recipe I found on Google, but I’m also going to add some extra ingredients that my mom recommends. I’ll also be using my mom’s recipe to make the dipping sauce.

Recipe: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/nepali-momo-4635126

Editied Recipe: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uv8ZPBWWyC3g1PTUiJJ23Bsbml82ndp0XK-ciSwvIY8/edit

This dish turned out super good! In the end, the filling ended up having the perfect ratio of ground chicken to the rest of the things in it (like green onion, cabbage, etc.), which made it very tasty and delicious. The tomato sauce was also really good, as it had the perfect amount of salt and other spices in it. The wrapping of the Momo itself was also a really good consistency, as it was the perfect amount of chewy. Honestly, I am super happy with how these Momos turned out! However, the only thing that I would redo is the wrapping part of making these. Wrapping Momos is actually quite hard because it requires you to put a specific amount of filling so that it doesn’t all burst out when you wrap it. Additionally, the whole scrunching motion that you have to do to wrap them was a little hard at first, but I got the hang of it eventually. Overall, I think I did a pretty good job at making these! I’m glad that I was able to learn how to make this cultural dish, and I think next week I’ll be making another traditional Nepali dish!!

Video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1our77wT6GnIe8Jdydj6Jfm1DaX-MkpS7/view?usp=sharing

Here are some things I learnt from making this, and some things I would do if I were to make the dish again:

• Work on my wrapping skills.

Hi! This week, I made Lemon garlic Shrimp Fettucini. Like always, in class I picked out this recipe and edited it. At home, I got straight to work.

Recipe: https://www.spendwithpennies.com/lemon-garlic-shrimp-fettuccine/

Editied Recipe: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uv8ZPBWWyC3g1PTUiJJ23Bsbml82ndp0XK-ciSwvIY8/edit

This recipe took a very long time, but I’m really happy with the final product. This was my first time trying shrimp, which also means that it was my first time cooking it! The taste of it was very good and well seasoned, but the texture of it really threw me off. I was expecting almost a chicken-like texture, however, it kind of “popped” in my mouth. Although, it was still really tasty, especially after I put in the pasta. Adding on, the butter and lemon flavouring of the pasta itself was really, really good. I must admit, eating too much of this dish doesn’t feel good for your stomach, but if you eat good portions, then it’s super delicious. To be honest, I didn’t think I’d like the shrimp, and I was contemplating actually making the dish, but I’m really glad I ended up making it in the end because I’m really happy with the final product. However, I did end up putting in extra chilli flakes, black pepper, salt, and lemon juice at the end, because it was tasting a little bit bland. All of those things contributed to the tasty end result. Overall, I am super happy with how this dish came out!! I also got to learn a couple of new cooking skills, such as how to zest a lemon, that I can apply to other dishes I make in the future! Additionally, I was definitely more cautious as to how much liquid was going into the sauce (something I learnt from the previous week’s recipe).

Video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yoVZUhTW8y9yAa3SdzyQd6pS3Tv7xglj/view?usp=sharing

Here are some things I learnt from making this:

• How to zest a lemon
• Sometimes, it’s okay to steer off the recipe and add in your own spices!

Here are some things I would do if I were to make the dish again:

• Add in some coriander, or some other cool toppers!

Update:

This class, I also looked back at my original Genius Hour plan. Based on what I read, I decided to make Momos next week! The reason I chose to make Momos instead of doing another dish is because of my original Genius Hour plan. I said that I wanted to include some Nepali Staple dishes, and I haven’t done that yet, so I decided now would be the perfect time. When looking over my plan, I also saw that I didn’t want to do any baking. I ended up actually baking some chocolate chip cookies, so I didn’t really listen to that. Also, I said I would start from easy-level difficulty to harder dishes, but I haven’t really been doing that. I went from hard to hard to easy to medium, which is definitely not what I was planning on doing. In upcoming weeks I’ll be sure to keep that in mind when choosing a recipe. However, I am really happy with my progress so far. I mentioned that cooking was not one of my strong suites, which is why I wanted to do it. I think that I have improved a great deal from before starting this Genius Hour!!

Hi! This week I made Ground Chicken Tacos with Creamy Salsa. This time, I did something a little bit differently. I noticed that a lot of the ingredients I used for this dish I had used in my previous dishes (like the chicken, onions etc.), so, I took my knowledge and failures from previous recipes I made, and tried to use this to my advantage. I think taking these failures helped me a lot to improve my cooking skills and technique. This includes how I cut my tomatoes and lettuce and how I cooked my chicken!!

Recipe: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sunny-anderson/ground-chicken-tacos-with-creamy-salsa-recipe-1925088

Editied Recipe: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uv8ZPBWWyC3g1PTUiJJ23Bsbml82ndp0XK-ciSwvIY8/edit

As much as I tried to perfect this recipe by using the various techniques and skills I have learnt over the past few weeks, one tiny thing made the end result bad. At first, everything was going well. I was using past mistakes to do things like cut the chicken smaller and mince the garlic into finer pieces. I was sure that these tacos would turn out delicious. However, that wasn’t the case. The recipe called for 1 cup of chicken stock, so, despite being wary of how runny it would make it, I added it to the chicken, garlic, onion, and bell pepper mixture that was in the skillet. When my parents and I went to try the tacos, all of the creamy salsa (that actually tasted really good on its own!) had turned into a soup-like consistency, and so it all dripped onto the plate. On top of that, I also added some cheese sauce that came with the shells, and that made it extra runny. The flavouring of the sauce was also pretty nasty, the dish would have been better off without it. This dish was really messy, to say the least! Although, one thing I’m pretty proud of is the creamy salsa. It obviously was super tricky to make, but it was really tasty. I definitely think that the tacos would have tasted way better if I hadn’t added the chicken stock and the cheese sauce. I’m kind of annoyed that such a little thing ruined this dish because I really did think it was going to turn out well. In the end, I was pretty disappointed in myself for this. However, at least I can apply this knowledge to upcoming dishes that I may make.

Video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1f3d44z1knbL336YqNdBK3LLzjN5I3cWH/view?usp=sharing

Here are some things I learnt from making this:

• Sometimes, if you belive an ingrediant is going to ruin your dish, listen to your gut!

Here are some things I would do if I were to make the dish again:

• I most definitley would not add chicken stock
• Refrain from using the cheese sauce packets
• Try to make the tortellia/shells on my own as well (that seems like it would be fun to do!)
• Chop the onion smaller

Hi! This week, I decided to make Sweet and Tangy Chicken Burgers. After last week’s special dish, the chocolate chip cookies, I went back to cooking instead of baking this week. Like last time, I spent a couple of minutes editing the recipe to make it easier to understand. After that, I got right to work

Recipe: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/sweet-and-tangy-chicken-burgers-1927968

Editied Recipe: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uv8ZPBWWyC3g1PTUiJJ23Bsbml82ndp0XK-ciSwvIY8/edit

This recipe was fairly simple but still took a good amount of time. The main thing I really cooked was the chicken patty because the lettuce and tomatoes were just toppings. Speaking of the chicken patty, it was a disaster. The overall flavouring of the patty itself was actually really tasty. I wasn’t expecting to like the strong taste of cinnamon, but I liked it a lot more than I thought!! Almost all of the ingredients in the patty had super strong flavours, but this made the patty taste a lot better because it spiced it up. However, the patty wasn’t even a patty. It all fell right apart when I tried flipping it, so, in the end, they were just small pieces of chicken in the burger. I quickly learnt that this was because I used chicken breast instead of ground chicken!! Honestly, chicken breast also had a chance of working, but because I didn’t cut the chicken into small enough pieces, it didn’t. There was a reason the recipe specifically called for ground chicken instead of any other type. The reason is, if the pieces aren’t small and compact enough, they absolutely will not stick together and hold the patty shape. I learnt this the hard way. But the savoury taste of the patty really made up for this! Other than the patty, I think the burger tasted really good.

Video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ycb0AvBeWpz2mM8hgs9ffd8L36We7yAl/view?usp=sharing

Here are some things I learnt from making this, and some things I would do if I were to make the dish again:

• Use ground chicken!
• Add some extra toppings to contribute even more to the savoriness (like olives)
• Look at the recipe very closely while buying ingredients and prior to making the dish.

See you next blog!

Hi! Okay, look. I know I said I’d be sticking to cooking only and not baking, but when I saw these cookies I just HAD to. Also, the recipe didn’t require many ingredients, and I could use the stuff that I brought for the previous week’s recipes. I don’t really have a sweet tooth, but I must admit, I’ve been craving something sweet for a while, and these cookies better do the job! Like always, I edited the recipe, although this time there wasn’t much to edit, because the recipe was relatively simple.

Recipe: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/chocolate-chip-cookies-recipe4-2011856

Editied Recipe: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uv8ZPBWWyC3g1PTUiJJ23Bsbml82ndp0XK-ciSwvIY8/edit

This recipe was kind of a failure. Why? Well, what made it a disaster were the chocolate chips. Or may I say chocolate CHUNKS. The chocolate “chips” were huge, and I didn’t really think much of it until after I added them to the batter. What happened was that since the chips were so big but there were so few of them, the cookies themselves did not have the chocolate evenly distributed when you took a bite out of them. So they mostly tasted like eggs, except for the parts with the chocolate chunks in them. I must say, those bits of the cookies (with the actual chocolate in them!!) were pretty tasty. But, they weren’t gooey and melted like some super delicious chocolate chip cookies that I’ve tasted in the past. It was just hard chocolate, and it hadn’t melted into the cookie one bit. Also, the bottoms of the cookies wereclose to burnt. Overall, I have A LOT to improve on for the next time I make these cookies. I’d say this was a 75% fail and a 25% success, just like the ratio of the chocolate to batter!!!

Video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pxgMAQ7OB4RIN3xT4gAW2ArPA2gHtWzi/view?usp=sharing

Here are some things I learnt from making this, and some things I would do if I were to make the dish again:

• When I mixed the liquids, I saw some chunks in the mixture. I came to the conclusion that this was butter, and that this happened because I hadn’t melted it long enough.
• CUT THE CHOCOLATE INTO SMALLER PIECES!
• Add some more sugar, because it was lacking a lot of it.
• Find a way to make them toasted all around, not just close to burnt on the bottom.