Cookies and Other Confections
Today was the food room, tomorrow is too. I'm having the students make cookies and ice cream blizzards (alternating classes, one does one, the other does the other). I took a recipe from the Food Network and added just a little bit of my own to it. The cookies aren't bad. That's the nice thing about cookies, it's pretty difficult to make them inedible. And, even if they are, you can usually find someone to eat them just for the sugar fix.
The cookies I made, and helped my students make today, were ok. E brought granulated brown sugar which, of course, doesn't do so well in baked goods. This ended up giving the cookies a 'sugar cookie' feel as the granulated sugar made their texture rougher. I personally prefer the packed brown sugar.
Now, to a few batches I added Hersey's Chocolate Syrup. To a few I added allspice (give it a nice holiday zest). To one I added both, and to one I added neither. Now, if I'd had the Wal-Mart baking isle at my disposal and a conventional ovan you would have REALLY seen something.
My point is this though, the Koreans loved my cookies. The Koreans loved my cookies and I was kind of upset about it. It took me a little while to sort it, but I think I understand why now. The Koreans don't know how to bake. Most of the teachers I work with, scratch that, all the teachers I work with who are native to this country aren't native to an ovan. They treat me like I'm doing magic when I bake. I asked them to put dough on a pan between class and they all gathered around (baking's a novelty you see), and thought that making flattened circles of dough would yeald cookies like the ones I'd just fed them. I had to stop them and explain that they had to be in clumps or balls or they would burn in the ovan. The Koreans were surprised. They don't know how this stuff processes.
The only cookies they eat are comercialized prepackaged, or premade. From scratch is a mystery to them (I honestly don't think there should be another way. Even from scratch it's easy and fast).
So, with that said, they're liking my cookies means next to nothing. Of course, there's the joy in them enjoying something I did, in me having effectively brought my students through the cookie baking process, but otherwise their compliments are null.
Now, if the American teachers like my cookies, that's a different story. See, Americans have eaten cookies, many kinds of cookies. Americans have baked their own. Americans have had them strait from the ovan or right off the spoon. Masses and masses of cookie experience is under any good American's belt. And, so, if they like my cookies it means that I made them well. They like them, they were good, but "not Tollhouse." Yeah, well, I didn't have baking chocolate chips AND I had granulated brown sugar. And a toaster ovan. But, I'm really glad they liked them. I'm glad they were interested in how I altered the process to fit a toaster ovan rather than a conventional. I was complimented that they thought I had succeeded at something rather diffucult in this country. Though they weren't nearly as impressed with me I was much more complimented by them than the Koreans. And forknowledge is why.
It's like when someone posts a fanfiction and gets back lots of happy responses. Do you know what that means? One, it means you have good timing, two, it means that what you write has at least some entertaining factor, three, it means that one can follow your story. Not much else can be gathered from most reviews. You see, most people who review the stories wouldn't know a good story from a bad one. They wouldn't know smoth flowing words or an excelent use of spot on vocabulary. They wouldn't get references or sublety, or notice grammar or spelling mistakes. They wouldn't appriciate how you broke up the story or the lines. They can't tell good from bad and so they love it. It's not really a compliment then is it? If the person doesn't know. It's nice that they enjoyed it, but you can't glean any real self respect from it. So it's the same with my cookies and the Koreans.
I know, it's been overthought, but those are my thoughts on that.
On that note, my level 4s were the only ones to trash the food room today. I screamed at them. I mean SCREAMED. Hurt my voice on a throat that was already hurting. I may not have much of a voice tomorrow. But, we'll see. I may. I am difficult to damage and I recover quickly.
I said something I thought I'd never say to them. I said "what is wrong with you?" when they were being so disrespectful of me. I can't think of many worse things to say, and even as I feel guilty, I can't think of anything else that would have gotten them under control in the time I had to do it. But, lets see, once in four months when I spend six hours a day with a baker's dozen of children isn't so bad I guess. This class. I feel for the good ones.
I suppose that's about all for me right now.
Later people
The cookies I made, and helped my students make today, were ok. E brought granulated brown sugar which, of course, doesn't do so well in baked goods. This ended up giving the cookies a 'sugar cookie' feel as the granulated sugar made their texture rougher. I personally prefer the packed brown sugar.
Now, to a few batches I added Hersey's Chocolate Syrup. To a few I added allspice (give it a nice holiday zest). To one I added both, and to one I added neither. Now, if I'd had the Wal-Mart baking isle at my disposal and a conventional ovan you would have REALLY seen something.
My point is this though, the Koreans loved my cookies. The Koreans loved my cookies and I was kind of upset about it. It took me a little while to sort it, but I think I understand why now. The Koreans don't know how to bake. Most of the teachers I work with, scratch that, all the teachers I work with who are native to this country aren't native to an ovan. They treat me like I'm doing magic when I bake. I asked them to put dough on a pan between class and they all gathered around (baking's a novelty you see), and thought that making flattened circles of dough would yeald cookies like the ones I'd just fed them. I had to stop them and explain that they had to be in clumps or balls or they would burn in the ovan. The Koreans were surprised. They don't know how this stuff processes.
The only cookies they eat are comercialized prepackaged, or premade. From scratch is a mystery to them (I honestly don't think there should be another way. Even from scratch it's easy and fast).
So, with that said, they're liking my cookies means next to nothing. Of course, there's the joy in them enjoying something I did, in me having effectively brought my students through the cookie baking process, but otherwise their compliments are null.
Now, if the American teachers like my cookies, that's a different story. See, Americans have eaten cookies, many kinds of cookies. Americans have baked their own. Americans have had them strait from the ovan or right off the spoon. Masses and masses of cookie experience is under any good American's belt. And, so, if they like my cookies it means that I made them well. They like them, they were good, but "not Tollhouse." Yeah, well, I didn't have baking chocolate chips AND I had granulated brown sugar. And a toaster ovan. But, I'm really glad they liked them. I'm glad they were interested in how I altered the process to fit a toaster ovan rather than a conventional. I was complimented that they thought I had succeeded at something rather diffucult in this country. Though they weren't nearly as impressed with me I was much more complimented by them than the Koreans. And forknowledge is why.
It's like when someone posts a fanfiction and gets back lots of happy responses. Do you know what that means? One, it means you have good timing, two, it means that what you write has at least some entertaining factor, three, it means that one can follow your story. Not much else can be gathered from most reviews. You see, most people who review the stories wouldn't know a good story from a bad one. They wouldn't know smoth flowing words or an excelent use of spot on vocabulary. They wouldn't get references or sublety, or notice grammar or spelling mistakes. They wouldn't appriciate how you broke up the story or the lines. They can't tell good from bad and so they love it. It's not really a compliment then is it? If the person doesn't know. It's nice that they enjoyed it, but you can't glean any real self respect from it. So it's the same with my cookies and the Koreans.
I know, it's been overthought, but those are my thoughts on that.
On that note, my level 4s were the only ones to trash the food room today. I screamed at them. I mean SCREAMED. Hurt my voice on a throat that was already hurting. I may not have much of a voice tomorrow. But, we'll see. I may. I am difficult to damage and I recover quickly.
I said something I thought I'd never say to them. I said "what is wrong with you?" when they were being so disrespectful of me. I can't think of many worse things to say, and even as I feel guilty, I can't think of anything else that would have gotten them under control in the time I had to do it. But, lets see, once in four months when I spend six hours a day with a baker's dozen of children isn't so bad I guess. This class. I feel for the good ones.
I suppose that's about all for me right now.
Later people