Christian Otty

English 1121, Section #402

Professor Schmerler

5/12/2020   

                   

                       Section #1

 

Christian otty

 

MY SKILLS/ACTIVITIES ARE…

 

1.video games

2.basketball

3.football

4.cooking

 

The skill I choose was cooking:

 

Before the confinement I was really active doing all types of activities. I’ve been doing the same thing I did before the confinement. Even though we’re not supposed to go outside I still play basketball sometimes with my friend at his hoop. I can’t play football because a lot of people don’t come outside. I noticed that I got really good at playing 2k and madden so I started playing for money on an app called players lounge. It’s an app where you can challenge other players for money. I also noticed that I’m a good cook. Just the other day I cooked an omelet.It was good. I have been making other dishes like lasagna and macaroni and cheese. Me playing 2k would help me improve on the court because the moves and the plays I see in the game I can practice it. When I fully have it mastered It would help me when I play competition. 

Since we are in confinement now I have enjoyed cooking even more than I did before. Even though I wasn’t that good at cooking when I first started I kept at it and didn’t give up.  Now i’m a master chef. I moslty cook when i’m bored and have nothing to do. I mainly cook curry chicken and sandwiches. When doing this skill I feel at ease. All the stress I was  feeling disappears.  Spending time in the kitchen can ease stress and restlessness, and enhance mindfulness. Not only does the process of cooking and baking improve moods, the feeling of satisfaction gained when seeing the end product naturally enhances happiness. Cooking is so soothing because it encourages creativity. Cooking Is a great destresser because it serves as a creative outlet. When I cook I can get creative as I want. Cooking allows me to dig deep into my bags of tricks and show people what I can do.

Something new I learned about my skill is I could cook better than any one in my house. I could make complex dishes like curry stew and oxtail. I didn’t know I was good at cooking until one day When I was hungry and decided to make an egg and cheese sandwich. It was in the top 5 of best sandwiches I ever ate. Learning to cook helped me understand world cultures, customs and flavors. I  also learned life skills like eating healthy, budgeting your money, and cleaning will help me in the future. I also learned that microwaving your food is not as good as actually cooking it. You don’t get the same taste and satisfaction. If you want something you can be proud of and share with others don’t rush, avoid the quick and easy way, and take the time to appreciate the art of slow roasting and simmering food.

My go to source for cooking is youtube and cooking.nytimes.com. I use these sources for when I don’t know what to cook or when I need  help making a dish. I like using youtube because it shows me how to make the dish step by step. “https://www.youtube.com/gordonramsay” I like cooking different dishes. It’s fun and unique. In fact, this goes beyond your stress issue. Studies have shown that cooking can really be a therapeutic activity. Even just baking cupcakes or something simple has shown to improve an individual’s mindset. You should start off at a basic level of cooking and start working your way up to complex dishes. As you do that you will see your growth in the taste and the dishes you start making. You shouldn’t be in a rush to be an excenlent chef, you should just go at your own paste and grow from there. If you just rush into it you’re  just gonna hurt your own self at the end. 

Cooking takes a lot of hard work and  practice. When I first started I wasn’t really that good. To be honest I was bad. I kept burning the food or the food wouldn’t come out looking good. But I kept practicing and kept watching youtube videos of cooking to perfect my craft. What I learned from cooking that there are many methods of cooking. Like the dry heat method. Dry-heat cooking methods like stir-frying, pan-frying, deep-frying, and sautéing rely on fats and oil to act as the cooking medium. Another method is moist heat cooking method. Moist-heat cooking methods use water, liquid or steam to transfer heat to food. Common moist-heat cooking methods include: poaching, simmering, boiling, braising, stewing, pot roasting, steaming and en papillote. The last one i’m going to mention is the boiling cooking method. Boiling is the method of cooking food in boiling water or other water-based liquids such as stock or milk. Simmering is gentle boiling, while in poaching the cooking liquid moves but scarcely bubbles.   

Blanch is another method of cooking. A quick method of cooking food, usually green vegetables, whereby the item is basically scalded in boiling hot water for a short period of time and then refreshed in ice cold water. This ensures that the veggie retains its bright green colour and a good firm texture.

 

This dish is called curry chicken. It’s one of my favorite foods to make. It’s a dish that comes from the Caribbean island? It’s very famous in the Caribbean culture. This and oxtail is what most Caribbean people enjoy making.

 

                                 Reflection on Unit 3

 

In this unit I enjoyed reading about my classmates’ skills and interests even though I didn’t have a partner. It showed me that my pears have some outstanding skills that I wish that I had and could do. I noticed that me and my teammates share some of the same interest and skills. For example some of my classmates like to cook, play video games, and cook. I hope to play some of them in the future so I can smoke them. Reading other people skills gave me an idea that I should try some of these skills while i’m in the house. I would like to try drawing, I think I would be a good artist. I’m already good at drawing stick figures. If I keep practicing I  think I could draw full body pictures. I also saw how some of my classmates are good singers. That might be a skill I could try and pursue. I would like to get my  vocals up there. After reading all my classmates’ skills and interest it somehow made me seem closer to them. I feel like I better understand my classmates now from just reading their essay. 

I believe  that I deserve a B for unit 3 because some of my work was late and I take responsibility for that. I work in the morning and afternoon so I really didn’t know what assignments we had or when to do but I still tried my hardest to get them done and turn them in.