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Ruth
Hello, and happy summer! Although school let out more than a month ago (!!!), I am now going to post my Ted Talk from June 10th. Yes, there are a few "um"s and "uh"s, but I think the message got through. I also want to give a huge thank you to Mrs. Roulo who made it possible for us to end our 20 time projects on the right note. She inspired me to continue using this energy in a productive way. My "After School 20 Time" project for the 2015-16 school year will be to promote a healthy and positive lifestyle for teenagers. I will also use my experience from "What the Fork" to start a fundraiser for the STEM trip to the East Coast I will be going on next year. I can't wait to let these ideas grow, and I know I will get lots of support from friends and family.
Thanks for watching! Ruth
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I promised I'd make an American food and I have finally decided: Chocolate Milkshakes. Almost everyone loves them, they're stupid easy to make, and they'll get our blood pumping for our finals! I don't know if I should even put this recipe in the cookbook because it's so basic, but we'll see. The fun part is that I didn't even have to decide for myself. I posted in a Facebook group of friends from around the world asking to comment their favorite American food. Milkshakes were the most popular and logical choice. I want to take this last post of the school year (first non-graded post) to thank everyone who helped me with this project, especially my parents who reluctantly searched grocery aisles and let me make our kitchen a little messier. Also props to Mrs. Roulo for trusting us enough to keep this project so open-ended and loose, I honestly loved it. Big shout out to Grace Schoenknecht for coming up with the project idea: Ruth: "I really wanted to do something about different cultures because I love to travel, but I also wanted to learn more about cooking because I love food." Grace: "Why don't you just combine them and make foods from different countries?" Ruth: "YES, THAT'S PERFECT. MRS. ROULO I HAVE A PROJECT IDEA!" Stay tuned this summer and in the coming year as I will be updating foods and travels. Thank you for all the positive feedback during these last few months, and have a good summer! I think 20 time was an amazing project. People who embraced it made it really special and learned from it. For others it was free time to not be in class, but even those people learned the repurcussions of procrastination and can hopefully improve their work ethic.
For students who do this next year it should be all year, instead of only one semester. They should also make more detailed schedules. My schedule was only based on weekly progress, but I think it would have been better if I had made daily goals for myself to avoid procrastination. Definetely don't take away the freedom of this project. I felt like I had no limits during this semester's project, and it has been a great way to work. Also, weekly blog posts should stay at that interval because the updates are close enough where you can see the project's small steps but also far enough apart where you can reflect on the week. More students should be able to do a 20 time project because it teaches about yourself and whatever else you are learning about. I'll talk a lot about this in my Ted Talk on Tuesday (!!!), but basically it's important for school to be partially interesting and this may be the only way to do that. It's also a good way to prepare for college/future jobs because we don't have as many guidelines or structure. My advice to future 20 timers: don't give up. Even if you have to take a raincheck once and a while, always try to improve. It's so much better to see how far you've come with bumps in the road than looking back and seeing where potential was lost. Ask for help, and keep going. I wish I could have done more research on each individual country so that I could have made better presentations to the class. I also wish transportation of the food to school could have been better because there were some mishaps there. Other than logistics I really like where this project got me. Now I am more globally aware I feel more comfortable in the kitchen and experimenting with things, and I eat a lot healthier now. I also feel like I taught people information they didn't already know and opened my classmates up to different foods. I'm really pleased with how our class did our projects. Yes, we are nearing the end of the year and for my last country, USA, I'll be bringing in a surprise food on the same day I do my Ted talk. Other than that, I won't be making any more food for the class. I will continue to post more recipes and I hope to have the cookbook done in a couple weeks. As for my Ted talk I've been watching lots to get information and I'm making a list of characteristics of Ted talks that I like. Yay, India! India is a country in Asia that is very densely populated and is known for having a very spicy national menu. Instead of making burn-your-mouth veggies or hot curry, I decided on a sweeter option that is a common drink here in the U.S., Chai Tea. It is a sweet tea drink that can be drank hot or cold. Traditionally, tea is not just a beverage to Indians but is is a herbal medicine. Chai tea has been a part of Indian history for a long time in this way, and continued even when the British monopolized the tea industry. The combination of milk, spices, and sugar creates a taste that has spread around the world for everyone to enjoy. As for the fundraiser that I'm planning, there is good news. For Mother's Day my family got new dishes and we are planning to get new silverware. We also might get new dining room chairs. This way I will be able to cook meals and make sure they are presented in a way that best represents their flavor. I can't wait to do this during the summer so that I can start fundraising. This coming week is my last week of making food, and the country is USA, so I may ask Jackson to collaborate with me on my final dish. His 20 time project is similar to mine, but instead of making foods from different countries he's been making foods from different food groups of the U.S. such as soul food. Jackson was having trouble with his first topic, but was then so inspired by my project that he chose to do something like is. I'm so proud of his work and for him to try something that is outside of his comfort zone. Thanks everyone for your support, and please continue to give awesome ideas for my TEDTalk. Happy Mother's Day, Ruth This week I'm teaming up with Rafael to make Japanese food! Datemaki is a Japanese omelet-like dish that is eaten for New Years Celebrations. It is a sweet that is sold at most Japanese markets. Unfortunately the recipe required some ingredients I don't have access to, I am also very behind with this project, and I would like to move on to India this weekend instead. I'll be starting to plan my TEDTalk this week, and I'm open to topic suggestions that are related to my project. Thanks everyone for reading! ¡Hola! This is an awesome country to do because lots of students in my class have taken/ are currently taking Spanish class, and we just finished up a Cafe unit. Something that's interesting about Spanish meals is that they eat smaller meals more frequently. In the USA most people eat 3 meals a day, and in Spain there are 5 main meals a day: Breakfast, snack (merienda), lunch (this is the main meal), tapas (snack/appetizer foods eaten around 8pm), dinner. Although it seems like the Spaniards eat all the time, this way of eating is a lot better for you. Eating the main meal 12 hours before going to bed is better than 3 or 4 hours because being awake and active helps digestion. This week I made Spanish churros. They are eaten with coffee (or chocolate milk for children) in the mid-morning. They are different from the Mexican churro, the more common food eaten in the U.S., because the Spanish churro isn't often sweet. Also, this churro was very easy to make. I'll definitely be making them again for my own family. I'll also be making Tortilla Española for my family, a Spanish egg dish. I hope the class will like the churros, and I can't wait for what is coming up next! This week's country is Germany! This week's food was Apple strudel. It is a typical German dish for celebrations and other gatherings. It was the first recipe that I have tried in this project that I messed up the recipe. I accidentally put in too much sugar…but it was still good. I apologize for my late blog post, it's been a crazy week getting ready to go to New York. I'm also not going to be making a food this week, but I'll be sure to document all the yummy food that I eat in NYC while I'm there this week, as well as planning out foods for the rest of the project. Happy Spring Break! The fourth county I am exploring is Greece. Although many people know about the ancient Greek gods and other historical facts, the food and culture is not talked about in the Percy Jackson novels. Greek food is highly influenced by middle eastern culture, but also later affected by Arab and Turkish influences. Welcome to Thailand! As you may have noticed there was not food this Monday. My home situation is pretty distracting and busy right now, along with my pit orchestra commitment to the Wizard of OZ production, and Saturday's orchestra festival. Part of this project is finding out what doesn't work, and something that doesn't work for me is putting school before my family. This project is not as important to me right now as my own mental health and family, so in that respect I will just be making thai food for my family rather than bringing it into class. I'm also going to be more proactive with this project and get grocery shopping done before the weekend. On Wednesday I will also bring in a list of foods for the class to choose from so that I will know how much to make. |
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