Australian food vs. American food blog post reflection

            I believe this blog post best captures my development as a writer for this semester. Reflecting on my writing and analytical skills from the beginning of the semester, I feel as if they weren’t nearly as strong as what they are now. This course has pushed me to develop those skills and it just so happens that this particular blog post focused heavily on that.

            Throughout the semester, we’ve worked on analyzing thoughts, feelings, and comparing and contrast among other topics. However, I feel as if these three topics are the most important components of this class. In the Australian food comparison post, I had to incorporate all three of these topics.

            The two clips began with Australian teens analyzing American food, along with Americans’ take on Australian food. There were several groups of teens that were sitting at a table testing the food that was brought out to them. In the cereal clip, their job was to explain how they felt about the cereal and if it related to anything they had back home. My job was to analyze their reactions and feelings towards the cereal and write about it. The reactions were somewhat predictable; many of the kids thought the cereals were too sugary and couldn’t be eaten for breakfast, however, there were a few that believed it was the best thing they had ever tasted. Reactions consisted of, “It’s just cookies in a bowl? Why am I eating cookies in a bowl for breakfast?” The surprising part from this clip is that almost none of the kids had ever heard of the cereals before.

            The next clip was presented in the same way, however, the kids were asked if the Americans’ take on Australian food was accurate and if they had any of the American dishes back home. The findings here were a little less surprising. Almost none of the kids said the food was like anything from back home. They even said Outback Steakhouse was a terrible representation of Australian food saying, “they were particularly amazed by the "bloomin onion," saying its incredibly gross and greasy and not Australian in any way!” Needless to say, some of the kids fell in love with the foods they tasted.

            With this said, I believe this serves as my best blog post to represent the course because it focuses on all the main points this course covers: thoughts, feelings, and food. Particularly, I feel my closing paragraph best demonstrates this as I am asked to explain how I relate to these feelings (closing paragraph below). In addition to covering the main points of the course, my growth as a writer in regards to my analytical skills is on display, something I feel I haven’t been very good with in the past. This course has definitely helped in developing my critical thinking and analyzing skills and I believe if you take a look at my writing from the end of this course and compare it with my writing from the beginning, you will be able to see a noticeable difference.

 “After watching the American cereal video, I can honestly say I can't relate to their reactions. I mean obviously I know these cereals are loaded with sugar, but still, I never had the same dumbfounded reaction most of them did when they tried the cereals for the first time. Maybe it was just because I was introduced to them at a younger age so they seemed normal to me, but either way, I hope we don’t choose to get rid of these cereals because they are great for a sweet snack every once in a while. For the Australians trying Outback video, I can say I have shared similar reactions. Being raised in a family that cooks authentic Italian dishes, I can very easily tell the difference between Olive Garden and a home cooked Italian meal, so I can see where they are coming from in the sense that the two are just not related in any way.”

"The Cookie"

The short story “The Cookie” was a very interesting read to me. At first, I was confused by the format of the text, finding it very difficult to read because of all the commas and sentence breaks. Then, I looked past the structure and focused on the content of the passage. I was confused how someone can completely misidentify or forget the taste of something. In this case, when the woman took a sip of tea, she was reminded of a particular taste, but she couldn’t pinpoint it. Then all of the sudden, she was reminded of her Aunt Leonie’s madeleine cookies because it was her aunt who used to dip the cookies into her tea. Ironically, I have had an experience very similar to the one depicted in this passage. When I was about five or six living in London, my Dad brought back a combination of desserts. Looking back, I had no idea what the desserts are and my Dad couldn’t remember for the life of him what I was talking about. So, the memory of another worldly dessert was all I had to go on. Then one day, about three years ago, I ordered bread pudding for dessert at Pamela’s Diner back home. Little did I know how shocked I was about to be. I took a bite of the magnificent looking dessert and sure enough, the memory of my Dad bringing home an assortment of desserts popped into my head. That was what he brought home ten or so years ago. The decade long mystery was finally solved similarly to the one in the passage “The Cookie.”

Pie post

Smokin’ Campfire Pie

Imagine this, a cool late fall night, a smoldering fire, a crystal clear night sky, and the company of all your best friends by your side. Now, what’s missing? The s’mores! However, what if you could substitute the s’mores for a pie that takes on the exact same flavor? That sounds absolutely delicious to me. I promise, this pie will fulfill everything a s’more does and more. The pie will be based with a crisp graham cracker crust and then filled with a creamy filling composed of smashed marshmallows, chocolate sauce, and graham cracker shavings. Finally, the pie will be topped off with golden brown marshmallows as if they were cooked over top of the campfire you’re sitting around. I’m calling this pie the smokin’ campfire pie because it will take the place of the s’mores that you eat around a campfire and replace it with a delectable and easy to eat sweet treat. This comes at a perfect time as I will be making the trek back to these beautiful fall nights in a little over than a week. Hopefully I will be able to get to work in the kitchen and turn this fantasy recipe into reality!