I've grown up in an environment centered around the kitchen. My family bonded and grew closer by sharing and making meals together. My Dad has always loved cooking and baking, he's always loved to host dinner on the holidays, and he volunteers to make and decorate cakes for family birthdays. As soon as I was old enough to get into the kitchen and work with him, I did. When I was ten, and the movie Ratatouille came out, I was in love with it. I wanted to be a chef for the longest time after that. In middle school, I really enjoyed family and consumer science, cooking came easy to me. I started asking my Grandmother a lot about her favorite foods to make and to this day I make a lot with her.
Starting with the week of February 25th, and ending with the week of March 25th I plan on assigning each week with a different region of the world. From that region, I will choose one or two dessert dishes to make (the amount will depend on the complexity and length of time the dish will take) and cook or bake them that week. All of the food I make will be of the dessert category because I really enjoy making dessert more than cooking actual meals. At the end of each week, my blog post is going to include the recipe(s) of what I made that week, and I'll explain a little bit about how it went. Also I am looking forward to posting pictures of all my creations with the recipes and final products.
Baking cakes, cupcakes, cookies, etc. has always been one of my favorite things to do. From trying recipes that include Sprite, to experimenting with food coloring, I always want to make something new. I figured the next step would be try something completely different, make things with new ingredients, make things I've never even heard of, and hopefully a lot of fruit! I'm really excited to make some desserts that maybe have some ingredients that you wouldn't normally expect to be in desserts. Once I have my whole timeline of all the weeks planned out, I'm going to work on getting the recipes from different sources.
My family's collection of cookbooks is going to be my primary resource, as well as recipes that have been passed down in my family. I hope to come out of these next 5 weeks with a better understanding of international cuisine, I want to experience flavors and tastes from countries that I've never tried before. Cooking and baking have always been a passion for me, and I can't wait to broaden my horizons (hopefully sweetly!)
This sounds like a lot of fun! You're such a good friend so I know you'll definitely share. I recall that your project used to be focused on all types of continental cuisine, not just desserts. Why did you change your topic? I think it's awesome that you're using recipes passed down through your family. You should post about where they come from (who they originally belonged to), because I find that really interesting. It's also great that your family (and friends!) can benefit greatly from your project. Not only are you making yourself happy by cooking desserts, you're able to brighten the day of those in your family as well. Maybe that's something else you can include in your TED talk, just an idea. I'm super excited to follow your journey throughout the seven weeks. Also- don't be discouraged when recipes go wrong! Mistakes made during cooking are key learning experiences, and they also make for funny stories later!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great idea and it sounds like it's going to be really fun (and yummy!) Have you already planned out what recipes you are going to make each week or are you going to decide week by week? From which countries/regions of the world are you going to take your recipes? It's really cool that you decided to explore international cuisine. Hopefully you will be able to get all the ingredients that you need, but there are probably American products you can substitute for any special ingredients that you can't get. This sounds like an adventure. I can't wait to see all the things that you make!
ReplyDeleteI think that your idea is really creative and clever. When most people think of ideas for these projects, it doesn't seem like many people would choose a topic like this one. What made you decide to choose this topic? I like how you are exploring various desserts from all over the world and how you are choosing to make a dessert each week. However, what would happen of you could not find an ingredient for a recipe off it does not turn out the way it is supposed to- will you redo it? Im excited to see the end result and all of the foods you make! Bring me some!
ReplyDeleteMy number one concern with this project is that I will expect you to definitely bring me some of whatever you make, unless you messed it up! I will be AMAZING to see the contrast of the desserts from different parts of the world. Not only will you be exploring different cultures, but your skills will probably progress throughout the course of the project too, which is pretty rad. Its going to be pretty crazy seeing what kind of desserts you cook from Asia and Africa because I think those are the areas of the world who's food I am least familiar with. Maybe for Antartica you could make popsicles hahaha. I think you should definitely make an ITALIAN dessert because those are the best but do NOT MAKE PANETTONE it is horrible.
ReplyDeleteI am DYING to get to my Italian week!!! And ok thanks I'll keep that in mind!
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