Wednesday 1 June 2016

Hi Everyone
So sorry for the delay in posting this blog; it's been weeks since the last one and I have been so busy that I just couldn't allocate any time to it.
If anyone out there wants to help me with this blogging - maybe even write one for me- just call into Food Tech and volunteer. Prizes and house points available!
Well, it's half term week and I am going to work on this blog and publish it tonight.
The quiz at the end of this blog has a closing date of June 13th and the prize is a chance to come to Food Tech one lunchtime and cook something with Mrs P.  Hopefully that prize will encourage you to have a go at the quiz.
I subscribe to a Food magazine every month and this month's edition had quite a few interesting food facts amongst its pages.  Here are a few:
* In June 1958 brothers Dan and Frank Carey opened the world's first - guess what? Pizza Hut!
They had read about a teenage 'pizza fad' and so borrowed $600 from their Mom to start the business in Wichita, Kansas.  Spot prize here ... What is the link betwee this place and a famous country and Western singer? Chocolate bar if you bring me the answer.
*  In 1840, Queen Victoria was given a weird wedding present - a 550kg wheel of Somerset cheddar.
After being put on display it was, according to rumour, fed to pigs, as the royal family never got round to eating it! Another spot prize ... what happened to one of the contestants at last year's famous cheese rolling festival in Gloucestershire?
*  Helen Howard, a snail farmer says that snails like best to feed on cabbage, apples, cheries and plums!
You know they are ready to sell for food when the edge of their shell turns up like 'the rim of a hat'!
Spot prize - who introduced snail - eating to Britain 2,000 years ago?
*  It's become fashionable of late to cook with pink salt from the Himalayas or black lava salt from Hawaii.
Salt is essential to life and its preservative properties mean that, in the past,  man has been able to store food for the lean winter months.  Spot prize ... Where exactly is Halen Mon sea salt produced?
I have nearly finished teaching all of the year 8's - they come for a full day's Food Tech once a year and so we try to make the most of every minute of that day. Year 8's have, over the past few years produced some very unusual variations on the standard recipes they are asked to cook.
One pair put 20 fluid ounces of oil into their chocolate brownie mix instead of 8!  The brownies were bubbling away like Mount Vesuvius for 2 hours before Mrs P finally discovered what they had done wrong! Needless to say the brownies were binned and they made a successful batch the next day!
Another pair managed to cook a knife inside the brownies - it was only discovered when they tipped the block of brownies out of the tin!
This term another pair produced a very thin block of brownies that were chewy and oily and very inedible.
We are still not sure what was omitted from the mixture; one of the pair couldn't remember adding the 4 eggs whilst the other wasn't sure if they had added any flour!!!!
The same boy couldn't find his shepherd's pies at the end of the day. We looked everywhere for the 2 foil containers with their tasty cheesy mash topped lamb ragu inside, but to no avail. Later though, Mrs P found them in the oven where they had been cooking for ages!  The resultant bricks could have been used as door stops!
Have you ever tried to cook something which ended up as a disaster? Let me know!
Ok, so here's the quiz with the prize of a lunchtime's cooking session....
12 answers - which countries do these foods/dishes originate from?
1.   gazpacho
2.   poutine
3.   ackee and saltfish
4.   wiener schnitzel
5.   marzipan
6.   osso bucco
7.   bobotie
8.   colcannon
9.   bortsh
10.  pho
11.  fajitas
12.  ankimo

Bring your answers to me by the end of Monday 13th June.        JEP




Friday 19 February 2016

Hi everyone
I know it's nearly the end of the half term break but I did intend to post an extra blog with a quiz for you to attempt over the break and submit before the end of February to win an Easter Egg if you are the first or second boy to come to me with the correct answers.


It is a quiz about the Chinese New Year and Chinese food in general, and it appears below.
Whilst I'm writing, I just want to tell you that I will try to alter the layout of the blog text before the next edition so it doesn't look so long and boring.

I'm new to blog writing really and get a bit carried away as I write, and, on looking it on the web page it is definitely in need of improvement.

So, thanks to Miss Slater, our English teacher, for pointing this out to me - I will try harder next time!
Here goes with the quiz.....

1.    There are 12 animals on the Chinese Calendar. Name 3.
..................................        ...............................................        ...........................................

2.     Which of the 12 animals heads the list?  Which is last?
.................................................       ...............................................

3.     This year it is the Year of the ...........................?

4.     What is Oolong?  ..........................................

5.     Name any 3 sauces (in bottles) that are often used to flavour Chinese recipes/foods ........................................        .....................................................    ...................................................

6.     Name any 2 traditional Chinese desserts.   .................................      ................................

7.     What are Dim Sum?.......................................................................................

8.      Other than Stir-frying - which uses a small amount of oil - what other 2 cooking methods are often used?
          .........................................................     .................................................
9.      Name any 3 fresh ingredients that are usually used for flavouring a recipe.  ......................................
         .............................................       ...........................................

10.    Why wouldn't you use olive oil for frying?   ...........................................................................

11.     Name the cutting/slicing tool that is often used by chefs, other than a knife...................................

12.    What metal is a wok traditionally made from?    ..................................................

13.     Name 3 of the spices in Chinese 5 spice powder..............................    .................................
                               ..........................................

14.     What is the utensil usually used for cooking the food in?  ...................................

15.     What isn't very pleasant about the vegetable Durian? ......................................................................

signing off now ----hope someone attempts the quiiz!!

Monday 8 February 2016

Hi Everyone
This is the second of the 2016 blogs.  I hope that you enjoyed reading the first one; I was surprised though that nonone entered the simple quiz to win a chocolate bar. Maybe I will have to up the value of the prize in order to get you to have a go this time?
I have been asking the sixth form cookery students about their 'last supper'. I spoke about this last time on the blog: what 3 course meal you would enjoy if it was your last night on earth?  Where would you have the meal, and what 2 celebrities would you invite alongside your family and friends?
First off - Sandhev Bath .... his call to fame in Food Tech lessons is that he preferred to eat raw cake mix , rather than waiting until it was cooked into a full size chocolate cake. Also, he wanted to cook Pigeon Pie one week, stating that he had watched a video on the Internet and now was proficient in preparing such a delicacy from scratch!  I'm not sure if I can order live pigeons from Tesco Online but if only I could....
Well, Sandhev's Last Supper is Grandma's Dhal with Parothas, followed by Chicken Nuggets, Smiley Faces, sweetcorn and peas, and for dessert - Cookie Ice cream.  All to be eaten - and I quote him- 'atop the Grand Canyon'.  His guests would be Enrico Inglesia and Frankie Boyle????!!!!
Next up is Dan Russon ....Classic Tomato Soup, Mee Goreng (chicken), and Eton Mess.  Must have a chocolate milkshake too. He would partake of this fine repast on a beach in Borneo, and would invite the founders of 2 of the world's major religions, in order to hear them discuss their own.
I had another brilliant 'quote' from a year 7 in his end of session test this week.
I always instruct the boys on the art of successful washing up (without a Mom or dishwasher to help)  - they need to rely on 3 kinds of energy: heat (hot water), chemical (detergent), and physical - themselves (plus a sponge or scourer.)
This particular boy listed the 3 in his test....Hot water, washing up liquid, and ....wait for it....HUMAN POWER!!   I found this highly amusing. I have visions of THE HULK arriving every Wednesday to help our possibly weak year 7 to cope with the supreme effort that must feel is required to clean his wok!!!
My Wall of Fame/Shame is to be updated this week. Photos are now going up: 2 boys from year 8 who managed to accidentally cook a knife inside their chocolate brownie tray bake, and 2 boys who incorrectly added a full pint of cooking oil (20 fluid ounces) intstead of 7 fluid ounces to their chocolate brownie mixture.
I couldn't understand why the brownies refused to set in the oven, they bubbled away relentlessly like Mount Vesuvious for over an hour without solidification. I only worked out the error when I finally quizzed them about what they had put in the mixing bowl!!  My much used response of 'bin it' was the final answer to yet another culinary disaster, with the pair having to return the following day to 'get it right this time' and have an acceptable product to take home to family!
The third photo is of Robert Elkinton (6.2) would be Jamie Oliver who flipped a pancake too enthusiastically - it ended up on the floor rather than back in the pan.  I assured him that the floor was cleaned thoroughly every night by an excellent school cleaner, and I think he might have eaten it?!
This week I am going to include something of what Daniel Brittle wrote about Christmas at the TOAST Literacy Club wich he attends.
Daniel first woke up at 2.30 am and found things in his Christmas stocking, so promptly ate some of the packet of skittles that were inside. He finally went back to sleep and woke again at 8.30 when he and his sisters opened everything in their stockings. Then they woke up their parents and went downstairs.
He writes..'Finally! we get to open all our other presents. Dad insisted though that he had a cup of tea first, so we had to wait more minutes..
The first present I opened was a book about Minecraft. then there was more interesting stuff like more  books and science sets and then I opened the best present of them all - a quad copter.Then I continued opening selection box after selection box until I found the worst present of them all - a spy microphone.
It would have been fine - something I could hide and listen to the family through, secretly. Unfortunately, it was much too big to hide anywhere without it being seen!!
And the best meal I had all holiday was Toad in the Hole on New Year's Day!

Today, 8th February sees the start of the Chinese New Year. The celebrations started on Sunday evening (New Year's Eve) and, I believe, last for 15 days.  A chocolate bar to the first 5 boys who come to find me
and wish me Happy New Year in Mandarin Chinese, and tell me which animal it is being celebrated this Year.  The characteristics of those born under this zodiac sign are:
  • Strengths: sociable, innovative, enthusiastic, self-assured  
  • Weaknesses: suspicious, cunning, selfish, arrogant, jealous
I was born in the year of the dog and my traits are:    Dog: Loyal, sociable, courageous, diligent, steady, lively, adaptable, very smart/intelligent.   Also sarcastic and nosy!  Sounds about right!
And finally, don't forget that February 9th is 
Pancake Day, also called Shrove Tuesday, Fat Tuesday and Mardi Gras (which is French for "Fat Tuesday"), is the last day of feasting before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. It's called so due to the tradition of eating pancakes on the day. This tradition comes from a time where any rich foods were eaten on the day before Lent, and fasting begins. The date can vary from as early as February 3rd to as late as March 9th.
Families used up ingredients like eggs, milk and flour to make pancakes which probably wouldn't be used during Lent.  The recipe for the batter is the same as that for Yorkshire Puddings; the batter is supposed to perform best if made with some ice cold water, and apparantly, in times past, they were made with snow!



Sunday 24 January 2016

Hi everyone
Well here's the first full blog of 2016 as promised.
It was a busy Autumn Term for Food Tech. As usual, groups of year 9 and year 7 boys came for whole day sessions - they only get one session per year so I have to try hard to make the experience one of learning, fun, and achievement and there are always competitions during the day.
The boys are always so eager and they often come out with funny expressions which make me laugh. If the things they say or do are worth recording, I photograph their disasters or type up their comments and these go on my Wall of Fame/Shame for all to read and see.
Only this week we had 2 brilliant quotes from Year 7's:
'Miss - shall I empty the drain?'  Translation - Shall I pull the plug out of the sink?
Another boy, pointing to the microwave in the corner...'Miss, what do you keep in the safe?'
The sixth form students are brilliant at doing weird things.
Last year I caught 2 of them with orange flavoured Nutella spread. They had stirred it into their chicken curry.  When questioned by myself as to what is was for, they replied, 'Well Miss - you told us that the Mexicans often put dark chocolate into their Chilli con Carne so we thought we would experiment!'
Another sixth former who only claim to fame was his brilliance at playing the bass guitar , made a crumble mix that looked as if it had maggots in it. I questioned the ingredients he had added, determined to find the source of the maggots. He had mixed in a large quantity of Lazy Ginger - strips of ginger in vinegar that we use in Chinese stir-fries, thinking that this product was similar to the dried ginger powder often used in baking!!
I will fill you in on other funnies as they arise this year.
Just before Xmas,  two 6.1 boys organized a chapati making competition for 6 pairs of sixth formers.
the contestants had to prepare and fry chappattis to be sampled by 3 judges.
These 3 teachers had kindly volunteered to taste and score all the chapatis and find the winners.
The judges were: Mr Ratner, who professed to knowing how the chapatis should taste, Mrs Mehta who certainly knows how to make chapatis, and Mr Ridler who doesn't know the first thing about making or rating chapatis but just loves (free) food and joined the judges to help them in their task.
Mr Collins did come in to see what was on offer for hungry teachers, but quickly departed. I wonder why?
Thanks also go to Cameron Hodgetts of Year 9, who was on crowd control. He did an excellent job in scrutinizing all those sixth formers who tried to get through the door and ousting every gatecrasher.
We hope to run another of these events this term as there were quite a few 6.1's who wanted to take part.
My only problem was the huge amount of flour everywhere after the competition. One boy had more on his blazer than was acceptable so we had to do a quick wash and tumble dry before Period 5 - the blazer, not the boy!
Last week Mr Ratner delivered a cross-curricular biology lesson for yr 7's with me. Boys were given doughnuts and many other smaller sweet items to create something resembling animal and plant cells with this food. The various components of these different cells were labelled and the finished product photographed before being devoured just prior to 4pm or packed away for later.   Hyperactive sons probably presented themselves back home with parents also wondering why they didn't want any tea?!!!

I hope to use this blog to give you snippets about food - interesting facts or stories, new findings, new ideas, new products etc.
Here's a few for this blog....
Why do we love chocolate so much?
Texture - it melts at just below blood temperature, the same temperature as our mouths, which accounts for that oozing sensation after the first few seconds
Taste - chocolate contains at least 300 natural chemical compounds, resulting in a complex range of tastes, which connect with our brain as they run over the most sensitive taste zones of our tongue.
Mike Longman, a Chocolate Wizard from Cornwall had to build his own grinder from an industrial flatbead maker from India. He fitted a new motor so that it would grind cocoa beans for 4 days straight - the time required to reduce the cocoa nibs and raw demerara sugar to 25 microns - about an eighth of a human hair - the optimum particle size for the ultimate bar of chocolate!

Each blog will also have extracts from written work being done in my Literacy TOAST club where certain boys are striving to improve their writing and attempt various 'projects' set by me and Miss Slater.
The first work in the next blog, will be from Daniel Brittle who tells us about his  2015 Xmas experiences.
Your chance to enter a competition for writing and expression...
Write a piece for me entitled ...'my Last Supper'.
Imagine that a meteorite is due to hit the earth tomorrow, and tonight you can have the last meal of your choice. Tell me what starter, main course and dessert you would chose and why, where you would have this meal and why, and chose 2 additional guests (apart from family and friends) who you would like to invite, and why. These guests could be from the past or the present - eg. celebrities, sports personalities, famous people from history. Bring the neatly presented work into Food Tech for judging. The best ones will win prizes and be blog-published. I am a stickler for correct spelling so take care to get that right.
Briefly, I would chose...a seafood platter, steak and chips, and a huge jug of custard. I will explain choices next time. I would have the meal at sunset, on the rocks overlooking the Irish Sea at the special bungalow we stay at every year on Anglesey. My chosen guests would be Graham Norton and Anne Boleyn!! Again, reasons given next time.
Finally, the first boy to bring me the answers to these 6 quiz questions will gain a house point and a chocolate bar.
a type of sushi - a rice filled, seasoned tofu pouch (5)
vine leaf chewed in South Asia as a mild stimulant  (5)
Raspberry .......  popular flavour of ice cream (6)
A generic Indian term for a mixture of ground spices (6)
City in Lorraine, France, famous for its macarons (5)
What is Mrs Phillips' favourite animal? (7)

Signing off for now .....Mrs P




Monday 4 January 2016

Hi everyone
Well, it's the New Year 2016 and one of my resolutions is to re-launch the Food Tech Blog after a couple of years of non-posting, due to lack of time, motivation, and seeming lack of interest from the pupils of Queen Mary's Grammar School.
However, several of the current Year 7 boys informed me that they have been reading the last few blogs and this prompted me to consider starting it up again. One Year 7 boy has offered to help with the re-launch so that's useful! Hopefully, in time, pupils will volunteer to post articles or quizzes on this blog and that would be great!
When I logged in today, I noted that, since the original launch, thousands of people from across the world  have viewed it at some point, so I must admit that I feel rather guilty that there hasn't been much to read of late!
So, once term starts, I will announce the re-launch by way of posters around the school and notices in assemblies and then I hope to post a new blog every 2 weeks or so. There will be general chat, amusing anecdotes about things that the pupils say and do in my lessons, and then there will be interesting facts about food, and often a quiz to take part in for a prize or house points.
If anyone reading this wants to get involved with the blog in any way please come and see me.
Mrs P