Eddie\’s Bloggage –>

Well, everything is all done. The assignments, the work load and the semester. I have to say that this semester has been an enjoyable one in relation to doing this subject. Throughout the whole fourteen weeks doing this subject, it has been an amazing experience that I can use to carry with me into the future and maybe apply it sometime in my future learning.

After consistently blogging regularly, I have come to the conclusion that it has been a useful tool to keep up to date with my learning. I can always look back on all of the blogs I have done and see the consistency and flow of the learning journey. The three modules that were being used to assess the students on our learning have been a valuable program allowing us to use a variety of tools and programs to complete these. Tools that when I first started this course I had no idea how to use but now am very efficient in using them. I remember during the beginning of the semester, I had some doubt as to how this could help me in my education. The truth is that it did.

Overall, I am very pleased with myself and the course. I do recommend people to start using technology as I think it is the future. Maybe in a couple of years, paper would not be as common as a laptop. Only time will tell…

I like to thank the teacher for this semester…and the wine. LoL. I had fun. Whoo!!!

I have obtained the certificate from the previous module. However there is just one more module left in which thankfully, only contains one level. In this module, some of the things I learnt were mastering the basics of cooking, how practice makes perfect and finishing techniques. I guess what this module encompassed was everything that I have learnt from module one with a few new things to add to the cake.

What I learnt was self explanatory. It was interesting to see how cooking can be such a technical skills to learn. It is not: turn stove on, and cook your meat. In fact, there is more to that than meets the eye. From this learning online course, I have experinced both theoretical and practical implications and its application.

In addition, there was also a test. The test comprised of fifteen question, which had five more than the usual ten like from each level in module one. After two attempt, I was able to successfully complete the whole online mastery of cooking course. I think I can be the next  iron chef. Actually no, not yet.

Anyways here is the my certificate of my achievement:

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/5158/certificatebg222wx9.gif

- By the way, I personally dislike the layout of the certificate created from BBC. It looks like the maker of the certificate just woke up and was given a few minutes to do it. It looks dodgy to my liking. Oh well, its still a certificate (but it looks fake). LoL.

Module Five was the last module for level one, which gave a good sigh of relief. In this module, it was the most fun as it was practical and related to making desserts. The module was in regards to patisserie and presentation. Some of the techniques I used and learnt in this module were presentation for desserts, finishing techniques and using garnishes.

I enjoyed this because in relation to my work which caters for a wide range of desserts including pancakes, I can see how presentation makes a big difference to the appeal of wanting to eat it. I noticed that when ever I worked, if the desserts were made carefully and nicely with bright colours, the customers would be very satisfied and they would crave for the dessert.

In addition, I also took part in some practical work. One of the main desserts I made was covering the side of an ice cream bowl with chocolate sauce then I carefully scooped some vanilla ice cream of equal size and proportion and placed it nicely in the bowl. For the finishing touches, I drenched the topping with a lucuious coating of raspberry coulie with a garnish of strawberries on the side. I took a picture and will post it up later.

I also did the test and it was the easiest and most fun. An easy ten was on the sheet. What this meant afterwards was that I have finally completed my online course. At the end of the page allowed me to download the certificate to verify that I have successfully completed the course.

Overall, I have quite learnt quite a lot. Even though there were some general stuff I already knew, there were some things that opened my eyes for example the amount of bacteria that can be found in knives etc. I hope I can use this knowledge and transfer what I have learnt to teach my girlfriend

Here is my certifcate of my success:

http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/1308/certificatebg111dg3.gif

It was a nice day today and I just did extra on continuing doing the online course. I am currently doing Module Three which deals with knife handling and safety.Some of thing I learnt in this Module were cutting, cleaning and storing knives. From a personal perspective, I thought this was an important topic because I can cut food with knives but I do not know the effective way of cutting properly and with the right certain knives.

Another major thing I learnt was how using the same knife to cut for example chicken and afterwards another meat such as beef. Of course I already knew that it can spread bacteria but it showed a picture of the amount of bacteria that is caused by cross contamination due to use of knives. I shall be more careful next time I’ll be in the kitchen and cut some meat up.

Again I did the test. Just like on Module Two, I had a few answers wrong so i had to correct my answers before continuing to the next Module. This again was quite vigorous and took some time because of the perfect score needed to advance to the next module.

Module Four. This is the second last Module for level one. This time things got a bit difficult. The module was in regards to purchasing and budgeting. I didn’t learn much from this because it doesn’t interest me. I know that in restaurant this is vital for the success of the company and to ensure that they make money. However, everything I learnt from this did not kick into my head straight away. It seemed too many short cuts was taken when undertaking this module.

I guess it can be seen after the completion of the test. It was so funny because I only got three out of ten question. It was a pretty lousy effort but I still needed to redo the test or I wouldn’t be able to get to the next level. To cut things simple, I redid the test four times before I successfully perfected the score. It was frustrating because some of the question included calculation which meant I had to use my brain to add stuff up and I wasn’t in the mood. Overall, this Module took too long. I think it was about an hour of my time that was consumed doing this. Ohh.. the stress but it was worth it.