Stephanie Velasquez

This post is from Stephanie Velasquez. She emailed me because she had problems setting up her accout:


Blog #1
So after many attempts it seems I can’t create a blog account. Hopefully we can try to fix it tomorrow. But here’s how I felt about the first class…
I was unsure about committing six of my Saturdays to a class. Plus Mimi Martin told me it involved ‘culinary games’. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I actually thought it sounded dumb. But after the first class I was ready to commit all six Saturdays (which my friends think is insane, by the way). I loved the first game when we each picked an ingredient in a brown paper bag and had to team up to create a dish. I think it’s good students have to take Intro to Food and Food Science before this class, but Intro doesn’t allow much creativity. It’s very much about learning the basics. With Advanced Foods you get to be creative and show your talents. I especially enjoy the opportunity to appreciate all the other students’ talents. I am really blown away with what some students have come up with to incorporate different flavors into their dishes. I enjoyed swapping ideas with my group. My group made the mini potato gratins in the ramekins. Our original plan changed a lot. The ideas of adding different cheeses, caramelized onions, and baking them in ramekins are just some of the things that changed the original plan. I just thought it was amazing that all three of us contributed plenty of ideas towards the final product. A lot of the time I am cooking for my friends. So rarely do I get other input for whatever I happen to be making. Usually it’s just my ideas. This game was an awesome idea and an good way to start of the class.
Blog #2
I didn’t like the chicken soup game as much as the first. However it was still interesting to see what each group made. The soup involving grapefruit was awesome. Our soups, the southwestern and lemongrass Thai, were really different from one another. My goal this semester was to learn how to make more soups. So this activity really opened my eyes to more chicken soup recipes.
When I told my friends I had to portray an emotion in the form of a dumpling or muffin, they were so confused how to portray emotions through food. Which I would assume is difficult, but I immediately had ideas on making “excitement” into a dumpling. I loved the game. Portraying excitement in a dumpling was a lot of fun. I thought our flavors of pork, carrot, and cabbage with teriyaki sauce worked well together. I also liked how the dough fried to a nice crunchy crispness. The apricot and dried cherry sauce was an excellent idea on Maggie’s part. I liked the idea of guessing what each dumpling or muffin was portraying. I loved the “sad” dumplings. Their flavors really complimented each other. The whole idea of the game was so different than anything I’ve ever done in the kitchen. Once again, I really loved trading ideas with my group. I really enjoy hearing other people’s ideas.