Even though I don’t go to the kitchen enough, due to the home quarantine I decided to learn a new skill and for me it was baking. Having a sweeth tooth I decided to explore baking a variety of desserts and this journey made me come to an actualization that I was actually very fond of baking and I enjoyed it thoroughly. This allowed me to take up this hobby and bake different recipes and share it with my friends and family, now that all the pastry shops, cakeries and bakeries were closed. Since a lot of my family members are very diet conscious I also decided to try baking with a twist and try making healthy alternatives to the sugar-coated desserts we usually eat. Throughout this period I tried to make a variety of desserts including donuts, churros, pancakes, cheesecake, cupcakes, cookies, wheat cakes, tea cakes, brownies etc.
- LO 1: Identify their own strengths and develop areas for personal growth.
Even though I didn’t spend a lot of time in the kitchen prior to the lockdown, I used to love watching cooking shows on the television or baking videos on youtube and instagram and this helped me learn a lot of basics. I learned a lot about the different kinds of ingredients required to bake through these mediums and with the help of my mom I was able to bake a handful of easy recipes. Although with persistence I was soon able to come up with more creative, unique and diverse desserts. Having creative thinking skills gave me an opportunity to think of different combinations of flavours that complemented each other and enriched the overall experience of eating the dish. On the other hand, through this experience I came to an realization that I lack patience and hence my cakries sometimes failed, but I decided to use this to my advantage and push myself further to practice more and come up with a perfect dish.
- LO 2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process
Learning a new skill is never easy and just like all the other skills this wasn’t any less. Learning to bake came with its own challenges, one of which was having patience. Personally being an impatient person made it all the more difficult for me to be patient but with consistent practice I tried to develop this skill. I tried to be patient while decorating my baked goods and giving them the overall pretty aesthetic I envisioned. Along with this my mother helped me frequently to give touch ups to the desserts. Another challenge I came across was using correct measurements. Since I usually made more than one batch it was usually very difficult to double/triple the recipe and so here I used my mathematical skills to find the most accurate measurements while baking. In some cases I also failed at making the final product and so I took disappointment as an opportunity to better my skills, develop new skills and practice more.
- LO 4: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences
Being stuck at home it was relatively very easy for me to get distracted by social media and electronic devices and so it was very important to be committed to this task. Additionally since I myself initiated and planned this activity and decided the time limit and frequency at which I had to indulge in it, it was comparatively very easy to skip but I remained persistent and used my organizational skills to schedule my tasks. I also decided not to drain myself while planning the schedule as it might result in a decline in my motivation and so I strategically planned out my timeline. I consistently baked a variety of desserts for a course of 3 months with multiple variations, flavour combinations and with healthy alternatives.
As a whole this experience gave me the opportunity to learn a new skill and share it with my loved ones. Baking a variety of goodies with different flavour combinations and healthy alternatives helped me exercise my creative thinking skills and helped me become a thinker. In addition to this I was able to showcase my open-mindedness since I openly accepted the criticism that was balled at me and I used it to my advantage to improve my work. I also turned out to be an inquirer as I kept on asking my mom for tips and strategies to make the best cookies/cakes or other items. In a wrap this experience was probably the most fun and unique one despite me having to do it alone. I really had a lot of fun creatively making new variations in the same old boring desserts and sharing it with friends and family.
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