The Webpage

I believe that my webpage is finally done. I enjoyed creating it and exploring Google sites. Who knew that I would learn so much and it wasn't as complicated as I first thought that it would be. This class is helping me not be afraid of using the wonderful resources that technology can give us.

Check out the website at: Culinary Masterpieces

Meal Planning: Friend or Foe

In many of my classes we talk about the importance of meal planning because it saves money, produces more nutritious food, and makes meals throughout the week much easier. With all that said, sometimes meal planning is not my friend at all. It takes time to plan meals and go shopping for the groceries you need. It is not a simple process. I want to meal plan and I enjoy it, but where is the time to do it? That is where I am presently at. I need to go to the store, but don't have tons of time to plan. I think what I need to do is plan out meals on Sunday and shop the following Saturday for the items I need. Hopefully this solution will work and I won't be as stressed during the week when making meals for my husband.

Amazing Cooking!

This past week in my cooking class I learned how to make homemade ricotta cheese and it is amazing. We stuffed homemade manicotti noodles and stuffed them with the homemade ricotta and topped the whole thing with a wonderful homemade marinara sauce. I love cooking food from scratch because it is so good and usually a lot better for you. All of these recipes are really simple and take a pretty short amount of time, so if I have a 90 min. teaching block, my students could make these recipes, which would help them see that making good food is really not that difficult. Cooking just brings so much joy into my heart!

Internet Safety: An Increasing Issue in the World Today

This last week in class we were discussing internet safety and why it is important. As I watched a few videos, I found it amazing and creepy how easy it is to find out a lot of information about a specific person. In one of the internet safety videos it mentioned how a lot of teenagers keep their passwords and other private information on their cell phones. I never even thought about doing that because it is not safe. If your phone gets stolen all of your information is out in the open. Over this last week I have come to understand how important it is for us to be informed about internet safety.

Last night I talked to my husband about internet safety and some things we wanted to institute in our future family. We discussed the importance of having the computer in a public setting like the kitchen/family room area because it is not as tempting and easy to access things that are not appropriate. We also discussed the importance of having multiple passwords, so if someone accesses one of your accounts they are not able to access all of them. I think one of the biggest things that we can do for our future family is to inform them of the dangers and that they need to be careful with the information that they post on the internet. For example, when my husband was serving a mission, he found out the name of his new companion a few weeks before the companion would actually arrive. Well, my husband wrote home to a friend of his and gave the friend the name of his new companion. The friend sent my husband a letter a short time later with a pretty accurate description of his new companion whom he had never met and neither had his friend. How did the friend find the information, you may ask? It was simply found on Facebook and a family blog. Thus, we need to be careful about what we write about ourselves and others because we never know who might gain access to it.

Copyright

This past week in class we started talking about copyright and were asked to critique two YouTube videos. The video shown below is a bad example of keeping copyright laws. The maker of the video states that he does not own the pictures or song, but he doesn't state who they belong to. The pictures have the Nickelodeon logo in the corner, which shows in part where the pictures could be coming from, but still there are no clear citations.



This video shows an example of a company (Bojam Productions) using a song from the Wedding Singer to advertise their videography service, and they probably did not purchase the song. Thus, they are breaking copyright laws.



Side Note: Do I break copyright laws by posting these videos on my blog? I am using them for an educational purpose, but...

I love google reader. It keeps me updated on what I love. The cake featured above is from an amazing blog. I really love most of the cakes posted on Pink Cake Box Wedding Cakes & More. The website is wonderful because the amazing cake artist lists the kind of cakes she makes (chocolate, vanilla, red velvet, etc.) and she tells you what kind of filling she puts in the cake (lemon cream cheese, hazelnut and chocolate buttercream, etc.) I LOVE that she does that because I have such a passion for flavors and combinations in food, but most especially cakes. The wonderful blogs that I am following give me so much insight and help me expand my imagination. The sky is no longer the limit.

Cakes to Bake

Last summer I got engaged and decided to pursue my love of cake making. Yes, I decided to make my own wedding cake. My mom and I started to experiment with fondant and different kinds of icings. It was quite the experience and many times a failure. We continued to practice and I took cake decorating classes, and magically the cakes became so much better. As the wedding date neared my parents' house became full of cakes, and our waistlines expanded. It was a very exciting time and when I tell people that I made my own wedding cake they think that I am really crazy, but honestly it wasn't that bad. I enjoyed it and making cakes it truly a wonderful experience, and has added to my love of cooking.

The Beautiful Wedding Cake

The Handsome Groom's Cake