Hi! I made tomato soup last week, and it was kind of similar to pasta, so this week I wanted to go in a different direction. But, I’m going to try to do something that will be a bit more challenging for me. Although, last week’s recipe was not the easiest, because cooking takes a lot of patience and attention. I also don’t think it helped that my dad was being panicked for no reason, also making me panicked for no reason, so this time I had my mom with me (no hard feelings Dad!) Putting all of that aside, this week I decided to make Parmesan Chicken (+ Rice). Like last time, I spent a couple of minutes editing the recipe to make it easier to understand. Then, I got to work!

Recipe: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/slow-cooker-chicken-thighs-3565651

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

This recipe was a lot more difficult than last week’s because cooking pasta is pretty simple. You just boil the noodles and make the sauce. However, with the chicken, it has to be perfectly cooked inside and outside to actually taste good (and not bland and boring), and that was a lot harder than I thought. Also, it’s difficult to get the seasoning inside the chicken and not just on the outside. What makes this worse is that if you don’t get the seasoning on the inside or don’t cook it all the way through, it just tastes boring and flavourless!! However, I must say, the salad tasted really good! Honestly, for the first time, the chicken still tasted pretty good. I also made (sort of) French toast, using the leftover eggs, flour, and cheese/breadcrumbs, because I did not want that to go to waste. That tasted pretty good too!

Video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ByBVrE-_jtxGMZQlU9Mzn3iEZvR6KrTq/view?usp=sharing

Here are some things I learnt from making this:

• Pound the chicken to be flatter!! When I cooked the chicken, I didn’t really know what to expect, so I barely pounded it. It wasn’t super thick, but it also wasn’t super thin. I thought that if I made it too thin it would break apart. Anyways, due to me not pounding the chicken flat enough, the chicken did not get to cook thoroughly, because it was too thick for the heat to nicely burn the insides like it does the outside. I mean, at least it wasn’t raw. However, this did make it taste a bit bland.

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

• Make something to go with the plain rice so that it gives it some flavour
• Add some more cultural spices to increase the intensity of the chicken
• POUND THE CHICKEN FLATTER!!

Today, I spent my class time researching some simple recipes to kick off this Genius Hour. I looked at a lot, but some, in particular, stood out to me.

They include:

• Shredded, Saucy BBQ Chicken Sammies
• Orecchiette with Greens, Garbanzo Beans and Ricotta Salata
• Lemon Parmesan Chicken with Arugula Salad Topping
• Alfredo Shrimp Scampi Dump
• Shredded, Saucy BBQ Chicken Sammies
• Orecchiette with Greens, Garbanzo Beans and Ricotta Salata
• Lemon Parmesan Chicken with Arugula Salad Topping
• Alfredo Shrimp Scampi Dump Dinner
• Butter Chicken (Cultural Dish)
• Italian Chicken Pasta Salad
• Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese
• Chickpea Curry (cultural)

I want to make all of these, as they sound absolutely delicious, but I shouldn’t get over my head this fast! Some of these dishes sound super advanced, and I’m only a beginner, so I’d like to start with a beginner meal. I know this is super basic, but I think I’m going to start this Genius Hour by making some tomato soup and grilled cheese. It’s a very basic dish, but looking at the recipe, it seems simple enough, and I think I should be able to make it!!

I also spent my time looking over the recipe and writing it in my own words so I’ll actually be able to understand it. I made a Google Doc that will store all of the (edited) recipes that I’ll be using.

Recipe: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/easy-tomato-soup-grilled-cheese-croutons-recipe-2109038

Edited recipe: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uv8ZPBWWyC3g1PTUiJJ23Bsbml82ndp0XK-ciSwvIY8/edit?usp=sharing

Making the Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DOh4K1N36yvzNlo6QipUmAFdglzebywb/view?usp=sharing

Special thanks to my dad for helping me to make this dish and being my taste tester!!!

I would like to point out, I did not have any measuring cups or spoons to do the measurements (I know, shame on me), so I had to eyeball it as best as I could. It completely slipped out of my mind that I needed to actually buy measuring cups and spoons because, at home, we usually don’t need them. I did not want to waste any more time making this recipe. Well, at least I’ll know better for next week’s Genius Hour!! Oooops! Oh, also, we had a whole thing of whole wheat bread at home that no one was eating, so I decided to use whole wheat instead of white bread because I’d rather not waste food for 1 little recipe. It tasted just fine!

Here are some things I learnt from making this:

• You NEED to have measuring spoons/cups
• You can’t be distracted while cooking
• You need to research how to do steps within the recipe prior to making it (ex: learning how to mince garlic before you actually start heating the oil)

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

• Get measuring spoons/cups.
• Add a touch of other spices, because this tomato soup was really tasty, but it was missing some nice spices in there
• Adding onto the previous bullet point, I would also tone down the tomato sauce flavouring
• Find out how to make grilled cheese the right way, because my bread was super good and nicely toasted, but the cheese itself wasn’t even melted. Honestly, it was barely even warmed!
• Have everything ready, chopped, and measured, so that it wasn’t stressful like it was today for me!!

See you next blog!

For this Genius Hour, I was thinking of doing 2 things: cooking, or learning Volleyball serves (which would then progress to Volleyball skills in general). I did really want to do the Volleyball idea, but I have a couple of reasons as to why I shouldn’t do it. First of all, I already did something sporty last Genius Hour, and I want to do something totally different so that I could be good in a variety of different fields, not just one. Also, the only reason I want to do cooking is because I am not the best at it. At home, I rarely cook, and even if I do, I only cook very basic dishes. Additionally, Volleyball is something that I truly enjoy. I know for a fact that when the weather starts to warm up, I will frequently be outside playing. On the other hand, cooking isn’t something I looove to do, because I haven’t really done it a lot. I can work on my Volleyball skills in the mornings during open gym with Mrs. Hertlein, and also after school at home. But I can assure you that if I decide to do the opposite, (Volleyball instead of cooking), I definitely will not be using up my free time to cook.

As I mentioned earlier, cooking is not one of my strong suits, which is why I want to work on it this Genius Hour. But I do not want to do any baking, because I don’t have that much of a sweet tooth, and neither do my parents (except my dad who will actually eat anything and everything). I think I’m going to start with an easy dish or two, then progress to medium-level difficulty dishes, then, in the end, make harder dishes. I would also really like to include some cultural staple dishes from Nepal into my Genius Hour to add some spice (literally and figuratively!) Adding on, I want to do this Genius Hour so I can give my mom a break for once. She always has to come home from a long day of hard work and then start cooking for us. If I do this Genius Hour, I will be saving her at least one meal + one lunch every single week!! Maybe even more once I start getting the hang of it!

See you next blog!

This blog post is to reflect on our final presentation and include other things we want to add. My final presentation was a video, so I thankfully did not have to worry about some little errors, such as saying “umm” or “like” every second. I also didn’t have to worry about tripping over my words or saying the wrong things. However, I feel like my presentation wasn’t the most entertaining. I don’t think it was boring, but I don’t think it had much character. Unlike some other presentations, it was lacking humour. I’m also sad that I was not able to include my belt test board breaking because personally, I think that it was pretty sick. I should’ve thought ahead and asked to present on Tuesday so that I was able to include that in my presentation. But overall, I’m really happy with my presentation and I think it went really well. I liked that I chose to reflect on one of my old kicks and analyze it. It honestly helped a ton in the belt test, because I knew where my faults were and how to avoid them!! I think it was a success

I know I said it in my video already, but I just want to give a huge shout-out to Mrs. Englot for giving us this project. It really brought back my passion for Taekwondo, and it helped me a lot in the belt test. If I didn’t do this project, I probably would have procrastinated learning this kick for my test, and then end up doing a simple white-belt kick.

Now for real, see you next Genius Hour!!!