Adios Blog

Blogging is a daily thing. I've learned that keeping yourself updated as well as checking your online accounts on the regular are pretty important. It gets you in a habit, and I think with all the social networking and blogging that goes on in the cyber world today, it's becoming a natural thing. You also have to think about the fact that what you put out on the internet can and will be seen by everyone that follows you or happens to stumble across your site.

Cooking, eating and writing all tie in somewhere. With our class, we ate or read about food and cooking and transferred our experiences onto paper into appealing descriptive works.

If this class were to be offered again, my suggestion would be to cut down on the writing assignments. Although the class is actually really fun and interesting, as well as all about writing, an overload of work on top of all other classes can put a damper on the enthusiasm and motivation for this class.

Adios Blog--Ysabelle

By writing these past blogs on this site I have learned how to show rather than tell. This has improved my writing and made me more conscious of a better way to write. Also through writing about all these experiences with food and food related items I was able to explore more abut each topic. Writing about it in these assignments forced me to think more in depth about what I was writing about and in turn, it made me learn more.

Cooking, eating, and writing can all be forms of self-expression. They also can work hand in hand together. They are ways of recording and creating memories.

For another Discover course similar to this I would suggest breaking up the longer readings like the ones by MFK fisher. Other than that, all the hands on activity, explanations, and guest speakers made it easy to learn and it was memorable.

Adios Blog--Prof. Whitman

I appreciate my students for "playing along" with this experiment in inquiry through writing. I wasn't fishing for compliments when I asked them to comment on the class: I want to figure out what worked and what didn't. This semester was a first draft. If I offer the class again, I'll have a chance to revise.

ASSIGNMENTS
From a product point of view, I consider many of the blogs and almost all of the restaurant reviews and profiles successful (and often excellent) freshman writing based on field research and questioning. I would definitely keep these two big projects. The "book exploration" project was probably too demanding for a freshman class, requiring work at the very top of Bloom's Taxonomy--synthesizing and creating. Next round, I would probably have students pick a book at the beginning of the semester on a certain type of cuisine (say, Indian or Japanese) and write a basic book report. Then I would have them pursue that "genre" of cooking through the restaurant review and the profile, which would become the culminating project. I would give more time for arranging interviews.

I overestimated the tech savviness of incoming students and dropped the wiki assignments in the face of general confusion. To avoid shell shock next time, I would probably start much more slowly and roll out each venue one by one: Blackboard, blog, wiki. (I would start more slowly by having us watch Julie and Julia in class, too.) I agree that it's confusing to move from BB to the public blog and wiki, and yet I'm torn because I like Blackboard's journals for private conversations with students and the blog and wiki for inserting us in the public foodie conversation. I need to think about this.

Reading, reading. I considered my nonwriting homework minimal and easily accessible since it was all online. Yet pop quizzes suggested that many students either didn't do the reading or (despite some guided journals) didn't engage with it deeply. Hmm. Maybe I should have more small-group discussions around the readings. The Jeopardy! group quiz seemed fun and lively, so perhaps I can find more games to reinforce reading comprehension.

CLASSES

How can I make classes more "active"? I wish Jose had specified his highs and lows. Field trips topped my list (see the world!). I think the follow-up assignment for William-Sonoma was probably the most dynamic because everyone had a task during the trip, to find a tool. Next time I would have the class write a collective letter to Chef Boots after the dining hall trip with feedback and recommendations for dining improvements.

I appreciated that our guest speakers tried to link their talks to our course content. Many of them just presented info, however, so I have to think about how to make those visits more interactive. At least Bonnie Wolf got this quiet class talking.

Other fun classes for me: the peanut butter sandwich making, the tasting food in class and practicing writing about it, the group presentations on movies. Hmm. Do more in class. Instead of reading from Eric Schlosser about food additives, I might bring in some processed foods and have students do an activity based on the monstrous ingredients they find on the labels.

I started out reading aloud excerpts in class. The idea was to reduce homework without reducing exposure to interesting ideas from John Updike, Barbara Kingsolver, etc. But I got tired of the sound of my voice and the unreadable PowerPoint slide. (Note--get a room where you can have a PP in focus and visible with some lights on for note taking. Movable furniture would help, too.) Maybe I should assign every student a short excerpt to read and stagger those mini-readings over the semester.

ACCLIMATING TO THE ACADEMY

My students deserve to feel proud of the writing they produced in this class. Most of them have shown that they can handle the writing demands of WI courses (16 pages of revised writing) that await them between sophomore and senior year. I set the bar high, and most rose to it.

Several students had major difficulties with deadlines (and following directions in general). Faculty are debating this now: how should professors balance flexibility with standards? Bobbie and I led a class discussion on how to extricate yourself from academic doo-doo, and I was glad that some students after that e-mailed me when they were having difficulty. But my SILENCE IS DEADLY point didn't sink in across the board: a few students never realized that the time to ask for an extension is before the paper is due, not after the deadline. They may be in for a rude shock when they leave the safe harbor of DISCOVER.

I'm so glad I had Bobbie as my right-hand woman letting the class know about the midnight tricks of registration and so much more.

Adios

To be honest, coming into the course I thought it was going to be pointless; after all I am an Info Technology and Business Major. However the college experience, especially here at a liberal arts school, should push students to learn new things, and explore. In saying that, The Art of Writing/Culinary defnitely upheld its course subject which is to discover. I learned about foods and people like Mary Fisher who were so passionate of writing about food.In cooking/eating and writing I see a connection being made between how much work goes into it, the preparation and also with the presentation. Cooking and eating also allows you to be creative just like writing. I definitely approved on my writing as a whole, being careful to show and not tell which can now be applied to many of my courses. I would recommend having the class maybe at Ballston at a lab since the class uses so much technology.

Adios Blog-By Hannah Hatcher

The Art of Culinary and Writing has been a very interesting course for me. I have learned some facts about culinary, such as new words and meanings. I liked researching food writers, such as Julie Powell, Julia Child, and Fisher. The field trips also contributed to the course; it was fun exploring William Sonoma, Whole Foods, and Common Goods City Farm. The writing aspect was informative; I learned how to develop my writing style and what makes a strong paper. The blog was good; it was nice seeing what other people had written and it kept us connected. Overall, this course was fun and interesting and I would definitely recommend it to incoming freshmen.

Adios Blog--by Anam Mian

I have enjoyed learning about food, not just in the sense of survival but also how it gives us our identity. I have learned to write in a different manner, with a foodie touch. I would have never imagined myself sitting in a restaurant just to analyze it. Although I wish, I had done the restaurant review for Me Jana last Friday, bad experience. Professor Whitman has helped me a lot in understanding the little bits and pieces of writing that we normally surpass and never look over, even though they are essence of the argument. I definitely enjoyed this class, and I would surely recommend it for future freshmen.

Adios Blog--by Rabia Javed

I learned a lot about food that did not know about before. The sites we used to post our work was confusing at times and hard to figure out what goes where. Posting our work on the blog site and wiki site did not really help me; it was easier when we would post our work on blackboard. However, all of the writing we had to do for this class definitely helped me improve my writing skills. I feel like my writing skills are better now than from the beginning of the semester. From the assignments done in class, I saw several different connections between cooking/eating and writing. Some people would write about their food experience in order to express their feelings towards it. For example: Julie making recipes from Julia Child’s cookbook and then blogging about it. If you were going to offer this DSC 101 class again, I would recommend subtracting some of the sites we use such as the blog site and wiki site. This year, we had to work with several different sites for homework and class work which would get confusing at times. So, I think those two sites should be taken out and you should just use blackboard for the assignments because it would be easier to follow along with.

Adios Blog

This class has been an interesting mystery basket that kept me on my toes this semester. I came into this class not knowing what to expect. In the end, I can take away from this class a greater sense of my writing style and what type of writing captures the audience better. Some class time was better than others yet I was satisfied at the way Professor Whitman conducted the class and I enjoyed myself during my time in DSC 101 Food as Muse.

Adios Blog-- K Holzman

Writing for this class has been quite an experience. Because the journals and blogs gave me a chance to exercise my natural writing (aside from academia) the feedback given was more practical. In other words, an english professor can criticize my use of- well- anything (because I'm probably doing it wrong anyway)- but, that type of help in writing is not going to make much of a difference for me. Given the fact that I write for a current career in THIS style the critiquing done to THIS style is what is most beneficial to me. Professor Whitman brought light to mistakes and blunders- stylistically- that I would not have been aware of otherwise. A connection I noticed between food and writing is in detail. Now, when I write a sentence- about anything- I think about the detail I am putting into it... so to speak- can the audience "taste" the flavor I am trying to portray in words. If this class were offered again, I would suggest... well keep Bobbie. She seems to know what's up.

Adios Blog

In dsc 101, "Food as Muse" I have learned alot from writing in journals and blogs. I am more confident in writing then I was before and I think I have improved my writing skills. Also, I've learned a lot from the whole experience in the class. It was a first time experience writing in a blog. Now I see connections between cooking/eating and writing that I did not know before. Cooking/Eating and writing about it is important so we can share with others and "show not tell". Writing about food is a skill that I did not have before. I see the close connections between cooking/eating and writing after this class. Lastly,I would recommend more time to do the big assigments. Also, maybe not having writing assignments due every class. This class taught me a lot about food and writing!

Adios blog by Kamilla

I have learned a lot in this class. When I first saw my schedule I didn’t really care about my discovery class, because I had no idea about it. But now I understood that I was very lucky to be a part of “Food as Muse”. The most positive impact on me was of course writing. Writing a lot. My writing was not so good from the beginning of semester but now I feel that my writing skills became stronger, I know that I’m still not so great but I did improve my writing, no doubt. Also I learned a lot about food, cook books, famous people who were closely connected with food. I think it is very important to know it, because food is everything in our society.
Eating and writing are closely connected. To write about your experiences with food is essential, because we can pass our knowledge and experiments to others. All of us are interested in food, so of course it will be very useful and special to write about it in order for others to know it. That’s why blogs about food, restaurant reviews are so popular nowadays. When we were trying to find a restaurant to visit and write a review, we searched in Google everything concerning our food preference, about restaurants with great food according to other people’s opinions.
Personally I think that our class was really great and exciting. But I think that in this class we should have some tests and study guides for them in order to check our knowledge, not only writing. Because I love preparing for tests, I learn a lot through them. I don’t really like spontaneous testing when we have no study guides. But it’s just my personal opinion. But anyways this class was very useful and interesting, and I really happy that my adviser registered me for it without my knowledge, he was absolutely right.

Wrapping It Up

By Elyssa Giordano

I feel like through writing the journals and blogs I’ve leaned more how to inquire more about what I am writing about. I think I from now on, I will investigate more about what I am writing about as well. I have developed the relationship of enjoying my food more, and not just eating to eat. At the beginning of the semester I found it very difficult to write about cooking and eating. However, now I am very comfortable with writing about cooking, and it comes to me with more ease. I would recommend eating more and writing more in class. It helped a lot more to feed off of the ideas of my classmates. Also, when we broke down our author papers the one day into five questions and talking to partners, it was a lot easier to come back and write my paper after. I feel like I suffered a lot less writers block then usual.

Food Experience

For my food experience during the weekend I cooked and ate brownies with friends. I experianced the whole shebang, shopping for ingredients, cooking it and eating it, which was delicious as well as fun! Buying groceries at the store is always amusing for me, as long as I am with someone to talk to so that experience was nothing new, although I had never shopped before with my friend Austine. After that we went to her house to cook, on a side note she was cooking cake while I was making the brownies (mmm funfetti cake) so we had more than one treat that night! I'd have to say the hardest thing about cooking is the wait; you can smell the tantalizing chocolate, the delacate smell of the rizing sweetness but you cannot eat it yet! During that time I actually felt sick and had to lay down, ( I think it was the Code Blue Mountain Dew, too much food coloring is not good to ingest) but I felt better after a bit and watched her snake poke his head around his cage. (Don't worry chefs of the world, I wouldn't touch an animal while cooking!) I washed my hands before taking the brownies out of the oven, just to be safe and sanitary. Again, the cooling off waiting period stunk. But our guy friends that were over now crowded around smelling the baked goods, so we all talked till the brownies were cool enough that they wouldn't fall all the way apart before eating them. They were soft and mushy, and crisp on top with hard pieces of chocolate toping the concoction. If I hadn't put some away for later they would have been gone that night!
- Veronica Petrey

Food Experience--Ysabelle

For my food experience I made the last recipe in the book A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from my Kitchen Table by Molly Wizenberg. It was "the winning our hearts and mind cake, or our wedding cake". I'm unsure if I made it completely right, but it was delicious either way. I bought an oven temperature gauge to see if me oven is running accurately which it wasn't as she says in her section explaining how to use the recipes in this book. My oven was running about 25 degrees too cool, so its good to know now. The recipe called for 7 ounces bittersweet chocolate chopped finely, 1 and 3/4 sticks of unsalted butter cut into 1/2 inch cubes, 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar, 5 large eggs, 1 tbsp unbleached all purpose flour, and lightly sweetened whipped cream for serving. I used an alternate chocolate that she said could be used in the introduction of the recipe, but I had to change the recipe a little bit for what was available at my house. I don't know how it was supposed to turn out, but it tasted delicious. It was in perfect timing too because it was my sister's birthday on Sunday. The icing looking part is actually whipped cream that I hand whipped and made myself and I took some liberties with adding strawberries and some of the extra chocolate chips on top. The recipe was pretty fun to make because I used a double boiler in order to melt the chocolate and the butter. The taste of the cake was almost like a brownie cake custard kind of thing but it was delicious and fun to make. It was a very dark chocolate bitter taste but the whipped cream added a sweat and creamy balance. All in all, I consider it a success.

Food Experience- Sarah Naqvi

For my food experience, I decided to cook one of Madhur Jaffery's recipes in her book, Climbing the Mango Trees. I picked "Roz ki Gobi", which means Everyday Cauliflower. My mom makes this all the time, so I wanted to see how Madhur's recipe would taste. I never tried cooking traditional food, so this would be a first time experience. Madhur Jaffery's recipe was very straightforward and seemed easy. Basically, all I had to do was fry the cauliflower and add the spices. And it tasted so delicious, warm and flavorful of the perfect amount of cilantro and green chilies. My mom said, "I am using Madhur's way of cooking Rozi ki Gobi from now on!"

"Everyday Cauliflower ('Roz ki Gobi')
This is one of the ways our cauliflower was often cooked at home. I use a 2-pound head of cauliflower that yields about 7 cups of florets. When cutting the florets, make sure that each piece has a head about 1 1/2 inches wide, has a stem, and is about the same in length, or longer, as the width at the top.

6 tablespoons olive or peanut oil

7 cups delicate cauliflower florets

1/2 - 3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon ground amchoor (green mango powder) or 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Generous pinch of ground asafetida

1/2 teaspoon whole cumin seeds

One 1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and cut into very fine julienne strips (cut into very thin slices first, then stack the slices and cut into fine strips)

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro

1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh green chilies (optional)

Pour the oil into a large frying pan and set over medium heat. When it is hot, put in all the cauliflower florets. Stir and fry them until they turn reddish in spots. Remove them with a slotted spooon and spread them out on a platter lined with paper towels.

Turn off the heat under the frying pan and remove all but 1 tablespoon of the oil.

Put the drained florets in a bowl. Sprinkle the salt, turmeric, cayenne, coriander, and amchoor over the top. Toss gently to mix. Taste for balance of flavors, making adjustments if needed.

Set the frying pan with its 1 tablespoon of oil over medium heat. When it is hot, put in the asafetida, and a second later the cumin seeds. Let the seeds sizzle for 10 seconds. Now put in all the ginger shreds and stir for 30 seconds. Put in all the cauliflower and stir gently to mix. Add a generous sprinkling of water, cover, and turn the heat down very, very low. Cook for about 1-2 minutes, or until the cauliflower is just done and all the flavors have blended. Sprinkle the cilantro and green chilies, if desired, over the top. Toss and serve."

Courtesy of Madhur Jaffrey. Reprinted from Climbing the Mango Trees, published by Alfred A. Knopf.

Fast Food Frenzy - My Experience

I arrived at the Lee center at about 8:10 P.M, 10 minutes after the fast food frenzy had started. It was a whole lot of fun from the moment I got there. There was loud music, food from just about every fast food place you could name, drinks and Guitar Hero for the Wii. The whole thing was hectic, crazy and just plain fun. It ended at about 8:36 when everything started being packed away. It was a lot of fun and it's a shame it had to end so soon.

Food Experience-- KHolzman

Having evolved into the nice ripe age of 18, I though it was only safe to assume that I had experienced it all considering the slim chance of survival in a house filled with testosterone and sharp and/or flammable objects otherwise. I was wrong.

After carefully reading through Steven Gilbar's Chicken a la King and the Buffalo Wing, I decided it was my mission in life to discover an absurd food on my own. And that is precisely what I did. Now, Gilbar covers a large variety of foods in his book however... coffee was not one of them. Imagine the surprise of a caffeine addict to find that the world's one finest creation was not included into this book. So I began the hunt. I searched far and wide for a coffee that had some strange and alluring name. Starbucks, Stop and Shop, K Mart- you name it, I was there. But I did not stumble upon such a find until entering a local CVS.

"Fagg's Coffee." I read. I read it again and again until the word lost all meaning. Could it be? Did I find the hidden treasure my heart had so longed for? I had. Elements of trickery and deceit were no match for such a passionate twist of fate. Losing all control, I lunged toward the coffee grasping it with both hands fearing that in some cruel reality it would disappear from sight. Excitement did not begin to describe the toxic emotions flooding my veins. My hands trembled like a virgin as I cradled the sacred find down the isle.

Unfortunately or by good luck (depending on how you look at it), the clean shaven man working the register, in the nice eye liner, was a tad bit light in the loafers. I had the pleasure of hearing him hum outdated show tunes as he unrolled dimes into the register. I glanced at him, then I glanced at the fruits of my labor. Was the coffee worth the inevitable stares, comments, an awkwardness that soon awaited? Was it worth giving up? NO! It was not worth giving up! In no way shape or form was pride or dignity even an option in this confluence of events. I earned the right to have a cup if "Fagg's Coffee" and damn it I was going to have it!

So I placed the item on the counter and reached for my wallet only to hear him grunt; loudly. Being the kind and gentle human I am, I ignored his blatant disgust and handed him my debit card.

"Fagg's coffee?" He sneered. Yes, I can read it too thank you. I look up at him with a look of boredom.

"Excuse me?" I so charmingly reply.

"You are actually going to buy this? You KNOW it says 'Faggs' on it, don't you?"

"What?!" I yell. I grab it out of his hands in angst. "What is this blasphemy! I only drink straight coffee!"

"What?"

"Were you aware they now sell gay coffee? This is not Europe!"

"Ma'am, I was only kidding..."

"You mean to say you do not take pride in the sexuality of our nation's coffee? How dare you call yourself and American! I'm all for gays, I'm all for straights. Hell, I'm all for the undecided. But don't you dare make a homosexual out of my coffee!"

Thanks to the rare stream of luck that seems to follow me, the man understood and enjoyed my caustic sense of humor. Not only was I not escorted out of that CVS in hand cuffs, but he gave me the coffee for free. And let me tell you- that was some GREAT coffee.

Food experience by Kamilla.

On Wednesday I had 2 food experiences which were described in my 2nd book Skinny Bitch in the Kich. My first book Skinny Bitch contains different advises about healthy eating, but not recipes.
On the lunch I went with my friends from Marymount to Vapiano’s in Arlington. Vapiano’s is an Italian restaurant with really great food. I read a lot of positive reviews about this place so that’s why we decided to go there. I ordered pasta with vegetables exactly how it was described in the section “Italian bitch” (“Oh, Italian food, how we love thee. When everyone was forsaking you for “low carb” diets, we never turned our backs on you. And we never will Italian food. We never will.”) I was watching how Vapiano’s staff was cooking it, and it was pretty interesting, I understood the main process of making good pasta. First chef took olive oil, water and salt, boiled it than added pasta noodles (he asked me which type I would like and I picked unusual form called Tagliatelle(long flat thick noodles). At the same time he was frying vegetables and making a spicy sweet sauce. After that he mixed every ingredient. It looked so good and tasted delicious!
And on the dinner I and my friend went to Maté Lounge in Georgetown, DC. It is mostly like a sushi bar, very nice place with great interior design, music and dim lightning. In the book I read a section called “Grown-up appetizers” (“If we were having a dinner party and pretending to be classy, we’d make stuff like this”). And the last recipe was Spicy Sushi Rolls with Avocado and Cucumber. I don’t really love such plain sushi, and I ordered sushi called Rainbow and Mar del Plata. Rainbow Rolls contain tuna, whitefish, salmon, yellowtail, shrimp, eel, crab, cucumber and avocado. And Mar del Plata Rolls contain Lobster, cucumber, soy nori, chives and avocado. Everything tasted like paradise! Usually when we had like girls sleepover in Russia, we always tried to make sushi, so I have an idea how to make rolls, but anyway I love restaurant sushi more.

"What's with the red oil?" (food experience)

My dearest mum in the whole entire world brought me my now officially favourite dish in the western hemisphere of Africa; Kokki with yellow plantains.

Kokki is made from a white kind of white beans that is soaked in water for half a day so the skin is peeled off easily. after that, it undergoes the wonderful process of turning from beans to puree in the grinder. Next, the wonderful red palm oil is poured into the puree along with salt, and bit of water. I loved watching the mixture go from white to deep orange. Then, it's ready to be cooked so, Mum attached then into separate plastic wrappers and aluminum foil. mum explained to me that ideally, the Kokki would have been wrapped in Banana leaves for the food to keep its full scent. Then after an hour of constant check ins and aggravated wait, it is ready!

After one bite of this (not-words-cancpossibly-do-it-honor-kind-of-dish), will be cooking this whenever I get the chance.

Mum... I love you!

Food Experience - Sofie Scarlett

While flipping through Rachel Ray's 30-Minute Get Real Meals, I decided the Green and White Lightning Chunky Chicken Chili was something I needed to try. I really love chicken chili, so I was really excited about it. I went to my boyfriend's house to make it, since I don't have a proper place to cook it here. We got all the ingredients beforehand and I was ready. I did substitute several. Instead of buying a raw chicken, I bought pieces that were already pre-cut and cooked. I didn't want to cut up a raw chicken! Also, I didn't add jalapenos because I honestly just don't like how spicy they are. Finally, once I started preparing my food, I realized I had forgotten to get garlic. I decided it would just have to be left out. I started to cook the chili which was a huge challenge because I was not used to my boyfriend's kitchen and I didn't know where anything was. Since the whole idea of the recipes are that they take 30 minutes to make, we were eating in no time! The chili was very good, but I can't help but think the garlic would have made a huge difference. Next time, I won't forget it at the store!