Is It Over Already?

Hey all!
This is my final blog post assignment for my class, and I have decided to use it to talk about this entire experience. What independent learning was like, and how it has affected me.

To start off I want to point out, I had my doubts. I was excited to begin, but I also didn't see much happening. I figured I would 'work' towards my goal and only learn small things along the way that would help make the final product happen. No. I have studied and learnt WAY more than I planned. Did I cook a lot? No, I didn't do much in the kitchen. But I have gained serious confidence in the kitchen and knowledge of how to become better. I have spent a lot of time on the computer researching recipes and watching tutorials. I have googled different types of pasta and different baking instruments. When I started this project I expected the only way I could improve was through making meals every week. And while I still see validity in that statement, I also see how research can improve your meal making. Overall I have learned how to use Google to make kitchen work and meals seem a lot less scary and even fun.

This whole experience has been like nothing I've ever done before. I'm one of those students that likes tests because they know their facts (decently..). This class and this method of teaching has challenged other parts of my education in ways that a test never did, or ever could. It taught me how to take a problem into my own hands, solve it, and make it into something worthwhile. It has taught me to not fear the unknown. I don't just plop the information into my head the night before, I now spend time understanding and learning about the topic. Independent projects are a must-have in the highschool world in my mind. It helped develop my individuality as well as enhancing other talents/interests.

So as a total score on this semester and this project, I give it a 10/10 for going above and beyond, and helping me see that I can go above and beyond.

Thanks Mr. Hazeu for this opportunity.

Peace out!
Melina

God's Week Has Seven Days

Do you find that you struggle with making time for God? With such busy schedules these days, I know for myself that I do. Which brings my onto the topic of my new bible book; God's Week Has 7 Days by  Wally Kroeker.

Now I am already halfway through the book and so that's obviously a good sign. I really enjoy the layout of the book. Chapters are sectioned into the months, and then have mini sections on specific topics within the chapter. I find this style helpful to read because it makes it easier to bookmark, and it also makes me read more because I don't feel obligated to read 30 pages at a time. I also find this style very helpful in doing group discussion prep work. I just read with my notebook beside me and add thoughts on each mini section as I go.  

Now let's talk about content. This book focuses on helping us incorporate our relationship with God in all areas of our lives. It talks about giving God your best hours, and challenges us to live different lives and not just fill in the same secular mold (ex. Business world) 

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 1 Peter 2:9

One of my favourite parts of the book so far was on page 66 called "Waddling Down Unfriendly Aisles". In this portion, Wally describes his experiences of walking into clothing stores and employees judging him and making him feel like he doesn't belong here due to his size. Later, Wally then talks about his experience at a big' n tall type of a store and how welcoming and accepting they were. He then compares the two places to churches and asks:

"Are they sometimes like the snobbish shops in the mall, catering to the beautiful, the sleek and the slender, and coolly avoiding those who are so far from perfection? Or are they more like the Big' n Tall, welcoming the odd shaped, the ungainly, and others who don't fit society's image of acceptability?" -Page 68

I have experience two churches who were just like this example, so I found these questions powerful and true. Church is not meant to be a place where we hold our noses up in the air and judge others and their mistakes. It's a place where broken people (ALL OF US)  come together in celebration of a God who loves us all and who accepts us, scars and all. 

That is was what I took away from my reading so far. I could've delved more into the book (very good!), but then I'd be looking at a VERY long blog post. Plus, I enjoy having main topics for PCRs, not just a summary of everything I read.

So until next time!

Melina

Tripping At The Finish Line

It's that time of year. Everyone is counting down the days until school is over, and trying to pretend that exams will just disappear. I look back on this past week and I can honestly say, I don't remember it. I feel like so much is going on all at once, that my brain is spinning! Not only am I stressing out about my classes and making sure I have everything in place to graduate, but I'm kind of freaking out about how to finish off my independent project. I want it to be really good, but I don't have anything to measure it by since I'm the only one doing it. So I have been trying to brain storm some ideas and these are the two i've thought of as a final for my project:

1. Create 1 more meal and 1 more dessert. Then create a powerpoint of my trials and what I've learnt from each. With this presentation, serve either an medium sized appetizer platter (with three options) or a dessert platter (with 1-3 options).

OR

2. Create 2 more meals and 2 more desserts. Then create a powerpoint of my trials and what I've learnt from each (No food served).

I think personally, I prefer option one. Mainly because I like sharing the food I make and getting my classes feedback (no pun intended!).

So what should I serve my class with my powerpoint? Desserts? Or Appetizers? Leave a comment with your thoughts!

Reflection and True Living

This post is my last update on the book Reason For God by Timothy Keller. I had been warned before reading it that it was a tough read, and now I understand why. Not only does the author use difficult words and confusing sentence structure often, but the topics being discussed are SO huge that it has been hard for me to read more than a page at a time!

One of the questions that stood out a lot for me as well as my book group was : "Is there a Hell?"
This question was INTENSE! When I have thought about it in the past, I have struggled with the idea of God sending his children to an eternal suffering, or people CHOOSING it for that matter! My dad always said to me "I don't believe in a God that would do something like that."
But after some discussing, our teacher joined in and brought up a very good point (in particular for myself and my confusion on the answer). He brought up the point that people can see or hear things and still choose not to believe. They don't want to believe. They are not interested in knowing the God of all things. So its not so much that they 'want' or 'choose' suffering, but that they choose a life without God.

So after the discussion I turned to the Bible and looked into this a bit more, and what God says about eternal life and eternal suffering. What I came to realize is that, not only are we asked to believe, but we are asked to ACT on what we believe. Just like a surgeon cannot earn the title until he has finished Med school, can we as christians earn the title through our actions and work.

In Luke 25:34-46 it talks about just this:

Then the King will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer him, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?

 And the King will answer them, Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.  

 Then he will say to those on his left, Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me. Then they also will answer, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?

 Then he will answer them, saying, Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.  And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

The big thing I took away from Reason For God was a new willingness to find answers for myself. I have developed a deeper interest to try and respond to the bigger questions of christianity and believe they are important to know. I'm not saying that there is an answer to everything, but I feel now an eagerness to check and see, and not just live in ignorant bliss.

Good Morning!

This week I tried something new. Breakfast. To be honest, I love breakfast. But when it comes to getting up early enough to make and eat it, I chose sleep instead. This weekend however was my sister's and my cousin's birthday weekend and I thought I would treat them with a breakfast surprise. I was inspired by the restaurant Chez Coras (A family favourite!) and its menu of deliciousness! So I googled away and found some recipes right off the Cora website. After that I made a little menu for my cousins and siblings to chose from and went grocery shopping.

The night before my parents and I began setting up the living to make it look more like a restaurant. With some curtains and a little bit a waitress/restaurant knowledge, the room looked ready to go! I got up at 8:30am and began doing some prep work before waking up the kids. My step-mom helped me with this whole excursion and I owe her a LOT of gratitude! So we chopped up fruit, made the crepe batter, and got the other foods ready to go. Then we woke those sleepy teens up and sat them at their table. They were all pretty impressed. When it came to ordering their meals, they didn't chose much variety so I only got to try a few of the items off the menu.

It was a lot of fun, I have to admit. The kitchen was crazy busy and there was a lot to do, but we worked well together and served some tasty looking breakfast. Everyone enjoyed the food and I received many praises. I have to say that breakfast is one of the nicer meals to make since the recipes are (usually) not too complicated, but can be made unique and your own. One of the fun recipes I tried out (that wasn't from the Cora menu) was a Nutella French Toast. I will definitely be making that one again!

 Hope you enjoy and maybe feel inspired to do this for someone else on their birthdays!

Till next time,
Melina

Who Were They?

This was the big question this past week as we all worked on writing graduation biographies. Since I am on the yearbook committee (again) I know the importance a good bio is to the whole yearbook experience. Nobody likes reading an emotionally empty biography! So for the bio I have been writing, I have been going for a light hearted but sweet feel.
Something I learned this week while working on these bios was the 6 techniques to effective writing.
these are as follows:
1. Idea (What is the topic?)
2. Organization (How is it laid out?)
3. Word Choice (Specific nouns and action verbs?)
4. Sentence Style (Variety?)
5. Voice (What personally and tone?)
6. Conventions and Corrections (Effort and time put in)

I found these techniques helpful in tidying up my writing. Little fixes here and there.
Writing these bios have kind of been freaking me out! I can't believe how close we are to the end of this chapter! Sometimes it feels like I'm still in elementary counting down the years. Now i'm counting down the days and I can't decide whether I want them to speed up or slow down!

Another part of our week was reflection. My classmates and I would help each other out in writing the grad bios. We would all look back over the years at specific people and events and try to capture them in our writing.

It has been an amazing high school experience (minus all the drama and homework). I have been so blessed with the amazing classmates and close friends I have made. I couldn't have asked for a better grade to graduate with.

What's Cooking?

Well! Do I ever have a story for you! This past week I attempted..wait for it...AN ENTIRE MEAL! I have to admit, I was a little terrified. I was trying out a new recipe and I wanted my family to like it. So for this week's learning log, I am going to tell you about Trial #2 in the kitchen!

I got the recipe for a BBQ Beef off of All Recipe's 'Recipes in Motion' video. It was a pretty laid back meal to make. I made the BBQ sauce the night before and set out the meat to thaw. Then in the morning before I left for school, I simply put the meat into the slow cooker and the covered it with the sauce. When I got home from school I took the meat out of the cooker, cut it up, and then put it back in for another hour. We ate our BBQ with toasted buns. I found that spreading some mayo onto the bun REALLY enhanced the flavour. Overall my test tasters (my family) and I gave this meal 9/10. The only reason we deducted marks was because we felt that adding onions and some swiss cheese would make it better.


While the meat was simmering for that extra hour, I started on the salad. This salad is one of our family favourites. Simply adding spinach, dried cranberries, and candied sunflower seeds into the bowl, then preparing the dressing. The dressing I made was from the same recipe and it included poppy seeds, sugar, paprika, apple cider vinegar, vegetable oil, and 2 teaspoons of minced onion. My family and I enjoyed this salad but it seemed like something was a bit off (maybe gone bad?).
If something tastes off, how do you figure out what it is?


Last but CERTAINLY not least! I made a dessert. Aw yes, this was the part I was most excited for. I found this awesome recipe from the Baked Perfection's web
site. They are called 'S'more Cookies'. Mmmm...

I usually don't like making changes to new recipes (get a feel for it first, then adjust), but this recipe I felt had WAY too much sugar in it. Not only did it have 1 1/2 cups of sugar (brown and white combined) but it also had graham cracker crumbs, chocolate chunks, little marshmallows, AND chocolate chips. So I didn't add chocolate chips, but it was still quite sweet. So these cookies I would say would have scored better for me personally if they weren't so overly sweet. But they do look fantastic and taste good (with a glass of milk!)





Overall a great experience. I am finding myself more and more comfortable being in the kitchen, and that was the biggest component to this project, so hurray!

Shalom!

Melina