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!!!

Today’s block was entirely devoted to my touching up my final presentation! I decided that my presentation will be a video, and to go along with it, a demo. I’m doing this because unfortunately, I still have to do my theory part and kicking part of my belt test, and that’s next week, so I won’t be able to show any of the videos. I also started to do the practice voiceovers so that I’m able to correctly time them for the actual voice recordings I will be using in my video. I think I have officially finished off writing the scripts too!! Thankfully, it looks like my presentation will come right within the time limit of 5 minutes. So that is what I have been working on for this blog!! This Genius Hour ending is bittersweet, but luckily we’ll be starting a new one fairly quickly. I’ve learnt so many things, but most of all, this Genius Hour gave me back my passion for Taekwondo, and for that I am greatful 🙂

See you next blog! See you next Genius Hour!

There’s only one week left until Genius Hour is over, it’s a bittersweet ending! For the past week or so, I’ve been editing my video on the bus, so I don’t need to worry about that at all. So, today I worked on a potential script that I will be using for the voice recording in my video. I also found a nice slideshow theme, and I briefly started working on my slideshow writing/images as well. I have also been regularly practicing my Tornado Kick throughout last week and this week because my belt test is coming up this Saturday!! So look forward to a good video coming from me next week!

See you next blog!

This week, I went to Taekwondo and my Instructor told me that he would like it if I was able to do a four directional Tornado kick for my belt test, while breaking boards at the same time. So, that’s exactly what I practiced throughout the week. I also continued to practice my combination Tornado and Roundhouse kick, as I will also have to do it in my belt test (that is next week!!). But for the most part, I started to begin planning my final Genius Hour presentation. I’ve been continuously working on the final video for my presentation (I did a lot of progress this week), and a Google slides to go along with it. I’ve also started writing my script. Oh and something that I was surprised to learn was that doing a turning kick after jumping is harder than it looks! My turning kicks kept looking like front kicks because I wasn’t turning my hip enough, so I’ll have to work on that some more.

Here’s this week’s video:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vRB8Y6vJvQh4xW-YTywfeI3q76aDqJPx/view?usp=drivesdk

See you next blog!

Per usual, this weekend I had Taekwondo. My expert (my Taekwondo instructor) did not reply to my email, but thankfully in class, he told me that he had seen it but hadn’t had time to reply. So after class, he helped me improve my Tornado kick. Now, you may be wondering why I’m going back to the Tornado kick after already successfully doing it, but I assure you, there are a couple of reasons why.

Remember how I said I had good news last week? I said I’d tell you towards the end of Genius Hour, however, it looks like I’ll have to tell you now. Well, I have a belt test coming up soon (February 11th). I am testing for my black stripe (one belt away from black!), and I am required to do a combination kick/special kick in the test! This is great news because I have already been practicing my Tornado kick for the past couple of months!! I will be using the Tornado kick as my special kick, and to follow it I’ll be doing a roundhouse kick (which makes it a combination kick). I am really happy that I chose to do kicking as my Genius Hour (and that our class ended up doing Genius Hour at all), as this is a huge benefit for me (thanks Mrs. Englot!). Instead of learning a kick in a month and not being able to do it confidently/correctly, I will be going into the belt test with 3 months of experience, along with confidence. Although, this does mean that I will have to drastically alter my plans. Since my belt test is coming up so soon (and so is the end of Genius Hour), I want to have as much time as possible to practice the kick that I will actually be using in it. I will not be using the Cheat 900/720 for my belt test, and I would like to instead improve and perfect the kick that I will be using in it, so unfortunately, I will have to take a pause in learning the Cheat 900/720. So for the next couple of weeks, I’ll be working on my Tornado kick followed by the roundhouse kick (combination kick), with the help of my instructor. Oh, and don’t be fooled, in the past weeks of learning the Cheat 900/720, my body seems to have forgotten how to do the Tornado kick like it did before. So in a sense, I’m kind of starting a new kick again.

Here’s the video of my instructor helping me.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tTdFy6DTd1LYvyOhOAQX3_FcMO6X1ARO/view?usp=sharing

How has he helped me so far?

• The actual kick itself is the jumping-turning kick. The kick that I was doing was a jumping-front kick when I really was supposed to do the jumping-turning kick. So, he suggested I turn my hip more. He saw my mistake and pointed it out to me so I was able to see what I was doing wrong and improve.
• After I was able to do the Tornado kick decently enough, he came over and showed me the roundhouse kick and then showed me how to do the Tornado into roundhouse kick combination.

See you next blog!

In today’s blog, I spent the entirety of it just continuously working on the email that I will be sending to my expert. After talking it over with Mrs. Englot, she has allowed my expert to be my Taekwondo instructor of almost 7 years. I’ve read over the email many times, but I will also be seeking the advice of Mrs. Englot to improve it even further. Also, 2 weeks ago, Taekwondo class resumed after being given a break from it for almost a month due to some trouble with the dojo. Despite that, I have been practicing my kicks at least 2-3 times a week, because I do not want to throw away the promise I made to myself at the beginning of Genius Hour. I think (and I hope) this practice has been paying off. Anyways, I will also be talking to my instructor about needing his help next week in class.

Here is my practice email:

Here is my new email:

See you next blog!

Today, I spent the block reflecting on the plan that I made a couple of months ago. Like I said I would do, I started with a simple but difficult kick, which was the Tordnado kick. I managed to be successful, so I followed my plan once again and I made my way up on the difficulty scale when I moved onto the Cheat 900/720. However, in my plan, I repeatedly say that if I feel as though I have accomplished my goal, I’ll move on to something else. It seems as though I was a tad bit overconfident about how much time it would actually require to learn and successfully do these kicks. Though, that is not a problem, because if I continue working on the kick again and again over the next 5 weeks, I am hoping that I will be successful in the end. As for all the steps I promised I would take, I think I’ve done all of them. I have a nice, big open space to practice and I record my kicks (yes, even the fails). Although, I must admit, some weeks I was either lazy or busy, and I didn’t practice my kicks as much as I hoped to. But I am happy to say that that happened much less than I thought it would, and I managed to fulfill this promise as well. I also have some good news on how doing this Genius Hour is going to help me! However, I’ll be sharing that news at the very end of Genius Hour. Also, for the rest of the week, I will be practicing the Cheat 900/720 (not recorded.)

See you next blog!