Independent Study 2

Log:

Note: Cooking refers to the overall process: grocery shopping and preparation.

Evidence: http://fyeahcookinghealthy.tumblr.com/

LIA:

Literal:

a)"I, Zarah Soberano, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work."

b) For my independent study, I documented all the food that I've cooked via blog.  Using the ADA (American Dietetic Association) cookbook, Cooking Healthy Across America, I mostly prepared dinner for my family during the week.  I typed the recipe, nutrition per serving, and made notes on the process and my overall cooking experience.

Interpretive:

Preparing a meal without the help of a parent is unfamiliar territory.  It is not to say that I lacked culinary skills, but that cooking and baking are different in terms of preparation.  The moment I received my cookbook I was looking for a feasible recipe while simultaneously going through the refrigerator and pantry to look for ingredients.

My responsibility to cook dinner combined with my blog represents 30+ hours of work.   My time spent on cooking and blogging nearly drained me.  I'd spend my time planning what to cook, preparing the meal, cleaning up afterwards, and finally, blog my experience.

While it may not seem like 30 hours of work, part of my cooking time went into planning and grocery shopping (where I applied my third answer, which is to understand the nutrition basics).  Not to mention that it was time consuming to perform one step of the recipe, and then take a picture of it.  That was especially difficult if I was handling meat or produce.  I learned to dislike preparing onions.

The responsibility that goes with cooking is that I also had to clean up after dinner.  While I didn't count that in my log (because I'm not sure if it does count), I only mention it because this is part of the reason why this task was not kind to me. 

Blogging took forever to finish due to the picture uploading.  I used my phone to send myself the pictures, which took a good while to complete.  When blogging, most of my time is spent uploading pictures, editing/formatting the blog, and typing everything -- ranging from how I felt to what I could do better next time.  Overtime I think the pictures showed improvement on my cutting skills.

Applied:

Documenting my cooking experience has helped me answer my EQ by giving me insight on the importance of my remaining EQ answers.  While I do believe it is important to understand the medical history of the client, the process of cooking (the planning, the shopping/budgets,  the time, etc.) has given me a glimpse as to how my second answer, plan feasibility, works when it is applied. 

My second answer is in regards to income, culture, time and location.  While I do want to buy the freshest ingredients, I learned to be mindful of my budget and that the local grocery store is my only access to food resources. 

In addition, when I went grocery shopping, I was able to make use of the knowledge I had on reading the food labels.  When recipes called for a vague ingredient (i.e. Family favorite pasta), I read the labels of the product as well as their ingredient list.  I made sure to purchase the healthier option of the ingredients.  For produce and meat, I paid attention to the texture, color, and smell of the products before purchasing it (especially for fish)...