Saturday, December 26, 2009

Gingerbread house results



We were not sure if we were going to complete this project this week, class time seemed so short, and making gingerbread houses from scratch is difficult!  We finally allowed ourselves to trim mix-matched pieces (just like in real construction projects) which helped. But there are parts to this that just can't be rushed:  you can't put the entire house together and decorate it all at once.  There was a jewel like moment when a group of students realized that they had eaten too much of the gingerbread dough a few days earlier, and had to race to make more in time to use for buildings.  They got there with gusto even if the final houses didn't look the way some had originally planned.

Still, this was definitely worthwhile. By the last minutes on Friday, everyone was actively into the fray to finish the decorations.  Several other classes stopped by afterwards to view, but I decided to forgo the judging in the final hour, not wanting to jeapordize the satisfaction in our accomplishments in presenting the houses.  This already has me thinking of ways to make this an even better project (whether competing or not) for next time. Tiles, perhaps, to decorate and become a house of cards?

I can recommend King Arthur Flour's recipe if this is your first time. This version of gingerbread is more structural, and it tastes better as it ages, if you don't mind the texture.  It holds up pretty well.  The icing is thin, but dries to concrete.  Some of the structures you see were made with 5 day old gingerbread and are still going strong. In fact, houses that were not taken home are still at school, covered, until after New Year's. I'm curious how they will hold... Happy New Year to Everyone!

Thursday, December 17, 2009

5th period Cake Walk


I don't talk much about my afternoon class - we only meet once a week for a few hours. The style of the class is similar in professionalism, just a little more relaxed since we try to cook and eat in the two hour period. There was a recent request to work with fondant, so I managed to get some in the house this week. It is very fun roll to out and lay onto a buttercream filled spongecake and decorate. We also made chocolate leaves using camellia leaves as templates. Two hours sped by quickly.

This is the first version of the cake. After showing it off, we came back and decorated it further with chocolate curls and a dusting of powdered sugar, took pictures, and then promptly cut it up to eat. I am very proud of the students working steadily through the project - even though it is all gone, what a great sense of accomplishment!

P.S. Cake walk is a term that infers doing something is easy ("it's a cake walk") or, if you'll forgive the parallel terms, "a piece of cake." Originally it was a form of group dance that civilized people of moderate means did as a polite activity while socializing. Sometimes it was easy, sometimes not, but you always made it look like it was easy. Just like these students did this week.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Gingerbread House Contest



They each have accepted the challenge. My two classes will compete with each other in gingerbread house making - the class with the most points wins!  We will have pictures next week but I am happy to say that the students came up with this idea and the parameters.  Judging is on Thursday December 17.

Scholastically speaking, it is great to see many of them do things they normally shy away from, like math, double checking measurements and planning.  Even down to the careful counting of the candy to make sure everything is fair and square.

Vocationally speaking, the classes have been more orderly than usual.  I haven't even had to ask anyone to clean!  Thank you Hays House Museum (in Maryland) for these pictures.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

It's A Hood!


This may not be the most appealing picture to most of you, but it is definitely appealing to us!  My students have been patiently upbeat about the way we have been cooking in here, using a rice steamer to boil water and a convection oven to heat pans hot enough to simulate sauteeing.  But we all know that those aren't ways to cook regularly.  Thank you, THANK YOU, to all the people who have made it possible to take this next step into real cooking.  The students are noticing.

To see our wish list of initial items we need, please click here.

Soon we will be able to use the range and expose students to more "normal" ways to cook which helps in two directions - the timing and understanding of a range for a professional chef in one direction, and how to cook healthier food choices using your stove at home in the other.  What will we cook first???

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Gathering Recipes



This week, instead of telling my students what we were going to make, I let them take a turn. We sat around a cluster of cookbooks based on soul food, cajun and creole cooking on Monday, with my thinking we would use this opportunity to get into menu and "prep" planning.  It turned into the unexpected, which is one of the reasons I was eager to jump into this job in the first place.

The students not only learned that we can't throw it all into a bowl on the last day and have everything we want ready to eat, but more importantly, that all this wonderful cooking they have wanted to do takes experience and attention to detail too.  It brought up the subject on how much of authentic American cooking is at risk of being lost. We have so many recipes, but which one shows you how to make your own family's version?  You have to find out from your own family.  One student in my 3rd period class took the reins on documenting a recipe with her family's real macaroni and cheese, so we documented it while we made it.  It allowed us to get beyond the "oh you just make it" and show ourselves the kind of detail one needs to know to effectively pass along a family recipe.  When she saw the recipe in print (she chose the name "Smackin' Mac N' Cheese"), you could see her pride.  It helped them also realize that while the exact measurements are not that important all the time, understanding how everything goes together so that it will turn out the way you want, is important. And that  it is worth documenting.


For my 2nd period class, we were again lucky, this time with one of our volunteers - she grew up in Louisiana and when she saw the Jambalaya recipe we chose, she offered to write up her own family recipe. Pure gold!  Again, very simple, but it helped the students recognize the value of each of our family's heritage and that sharing recipes is a common ground to relate to people we don't even know very well.

The meals?  They came out well, perhaps not as well as if grandma cooked them, but this time, that made it even better.