Wk 4 - Lunch by the beach~

The group after us had the theme of 'Lunch by the beach'! I felt that they did really well for their table decor. They used the colour theme of brown, orange and green to bring out the beach atmosphere into the kitchen. I also liked their idea of putting seashells. One plus point - they even played slow drum music to blend everything together!

During the debrief, our tutors also reinforced our decor techniques, where there should not be too many objects scattered all around the dining table as it will take away our attention from the food (which is supposed to be the 'main lead')!

The dishes we made were based on the commodity 

FRUITS

Grilled chicken with strawberry and peach salsa

Coconut baked chicken

Deep fried prawns with apple curry sauce

Panna Cotta with mango gelee

All the dishes tasted delicious. I could see how fruits are creatively added into the recipes and my favourite was the prawns with the apple curry sauce. The apple adds an interesting fruity flavour to your usual curry sauce.

Had such a feast this week, looking forward to the next cooking session!

Adeline :)

Our Microteaching Day !

10th October 2012 was a memorable day for all three of us. It was our micro teaching day. Since we were  in Group 3 and our micro teaching day coincidentally fall after the recess week (for diploma holders), we had more time to prepare for our big day. 

During the recess week, besides meeting up for lesson plan and consultation sessions with Mrs Stevenson regarding our lesson plan, we have also started planning for our table presentation. Our initial group theme was Victoria Style Tea Party but one day Halloween Party theme just came across my mind and our group decided to work on it. We made a trip to Daiso at IMM to shop for the decorations, Giant to buy the treats, Popular to buy materials and also a bell. Liyana even went to Geylang to source for cloth for our mannequeen and table cloth while Adeline went to buy balloons and utensils. 

We researched online to get some ideas on how to decorate our table. We discussed and exchanged ideas whenever sparks came across our minds. We also did last minute shopping like buying napkins from Spotlight and ping pong balls for our creepy eye balls. 

In midst of preparing the decorative items for the table presentation, we had to finalise our powerpoint slides and also recipe handouts. Not to forget doing some research and read up at home before performing our best on the day itself. 

On that day, everyone was so impressed by our table setting. We managed to borrow a skeleton figure from the  Biology Lab to be used as our mascot of the day. We kicked-start our micro teaching with some expectations and also recapitulation of theories which they have learnt in the previous lesson. The micro teaching was running smoothly for first half of the session as we kept closely to the planned timing and we were even ahead for 30 minutes. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, the pumpkins in the pumpkin's soup took too long to be soft and so it caused us to exceed the allocated time.We were also weak in explaining and answering  some of the students' questions which we need to read up more and improve our content knowledge.

Below are the feedback from the teachers for our group:

Strengths :

1. We have done well for preparation. They never expected that we would be so well-prepared, be it table setting, ingredients preparation and etc.
2. We are confident in delivering and carrying out the practical. 
3. Our voice projection is good and everyone in the lab could hear us clearly.

Room for improvement :

1. We have to manage our time well. We can skip some demonstration steps which are not the main teaching points, to save time. 
2. We have to brush up our content knowledge. This is the most critical part as teachers are not allowed to deliver wrong information to the students, further causing multiplying effect. 

Overall, it was a successful micro teaching day for us. We will reflect on our mistakes and make sure that we will never repeat it. 

The Halloween backdrop

Mr Skeleton - our mascot of the day. 

Red Sea with eye balls

the skull napkins. 

Halloween candle holder.

part of the decoration.

Spooky Yoghurt Cupcake

Close up for my cupcakes.

Ghostly Quiche

The overall table presentation.

our group photo.

                                                                                                                          - Vivian Lee -

I love FOOD photography!

On 24th Septermber 2012, Ms Soo has shared with us some useful photography tips as shown below:

                              1. Make sure the food looks good to start with

                              2. Shoot from a lower angle than you think you should

                              3. Learn the Light

                              4. Get in close, crop in tightly

                              5. Avoid the blur

                              6. Use shallow depth of field

                              7. Add a little oil

                              8. Don't over prop or set yourself up wide

Besides, there are also some rules that we have to obey such as 

Triangle Rule : We can imagine there are lines going through the picture and form imaginary triangles. Therefore, when shooting, we can frame the objects or food items in triangles. It need not be precise, a rough framing will do. 

Triangle Rule

Rule of thirds : We have to make sure that the ratio of food items and the background is 1:3 or 2:3. Ms Soo also showed us some wedding photographs on Rule of Thirds. For example, the photo could consist of 2/3 background and 1/3 objects if we find the scenery breathtaking. 

Of course, we can also use props such as chopsticks to help achieve any of the rules above. We can also make use of garnishes such as sesame, parsley to provide colours to our food if the food item is too plain. 

Remember, oval plates are for savoury food while round plate is for sweet food like desserts. 

After a short introductory course by Ms Soo, we are given the opportunity to apply what we have learnt. Below are a few snippets of our trial and errors of the day.
                                      

First attempt : arrange the donuts and strawberries in triangle form.

We tried to shoot it close.

We chose a better background to match our accessories but the lighting is dim at the back. 

   

We shot from a lower angle. 

Another setting with triangle rule.

We felt that the background is too complicated. 

We tried to focus on the donut and blurred the background.

It is indeed not easy to use correct photography techniques. After this session, i will be more particular in taking photo by applying the rules and tips that I have learnt in class. Practice makes perfect. I believe that our photography skills will definitely improve.

- Vivian Lee -