Hi everyone
I am on holiday at the moment, but as I have promised to post a blog each week, I will write a few words today.
Very shortly, a number of recipes will go onto the shared area, where I intend to create a new Food Technology Section.
These will be the recipes that we have been using in KS3 lessons, and those which we use in the sixth form classes.
Then, in time I will add other stuff to the area, as well as more recipes that I have tried or adapted, or invented and which work well.
Do keep cooking at home whenever you have the opportunity, and if your parents will allow!
There's an old Chinese saying that goes 'I hear, I forget; I see, I remember; I do, I understand'.
And it's so true, particularly with practical subjects like Cookery - you only really learn when you do it for yourself.
And sometimes, if it goes wrong, you learn more from it!
Much of what happens to food when you cook involves science - particularly Chemistry - and you have to know the science and apply it. I am often amazed in my Food Tech lessons here at school that you don't seem to realize that a lot of what you learn in your other lessons needs to be recalled and used when you come to mine! Some of you do the most weird things; it gives me a lot to laugh about though, so don't stop doing them!
You may recall that, in my last blog, I asked for some contributions to the questionnaire I gave out on Open Evening - where I ask you what your last meal would be, should the world end tomorrow(because Bruce Willis isn't around), where you would eat it and with which 2 famous people.  Well, no one came forward to do so, even though there is a prize for the best one!  The submisions at Open Evening were varied but not particularly interesting - one entrant wanted a carvery, at the Toby Carvery, with Toby!!! (Dan Benton from Tech Crew)!!
One other wanted to eat a Chinese Takeaway in his garden shed, with no-one else at all!
Interesting, too, that several visiting parents didn't want to fill in a questionnaire for me because they were ashamed of their poor spelling ability.......
Well, here's my effort...
I would have a sea food platter for starter that included smoked trout, salmon, prawns, mussels, roll-mop herring, smoked mackerel, scallops.   Brown bread and butter to accompany.
Main Course - Rump steak(medium rare), egg and thick-cut chips, grilled tomatoes and mushrooms.
Dessert - a jug of custard all to myself.   My family, in the main, just love custard! My father was the eldest of 4 brothers and his reward from his mother, whenever he had been helpful, was a jug of custard all to himself, which he ate on the back kitchen doorstep where his 3 younger brothers couldn't find him and ask to share it!
As for whom I would invite to share my last supper, other than family and friends - I think I would chose Nelson Mandella and Bob Geldoff.
The place for my last supper -
 

We stay here every year for a week- not long enough!- and it is very tranquil and beautiful. I would share the meal in the conservatory/dining room, overlooking the Irish Sea, with the sun setting to the right, and the waves crashing on the rocks. This is where I am at the moment, writing from the dining extension and seeing the ferry boat heading out to Ireland. And, if the world isn't ending tomorrow, I won't be having steak tonight, and I'll see you in school on Monday next!
If you have time, write me your answers to the questionnaire and bring them in to me at school. There is a post-Easter prize.
Enjoy the rest of your holiday break.