This dedicated semester is Foodology, therefore Fontbonne opened some special classes about Food.

I signed up for a cooking class to learn the common food ingredients in America. This cooking class is taught by Dr. Houston, a director in the dietetics program. She taught us many useful skills in the kitchen. Actually, I’m good at cooking Asian food, but not very familiar with American food or cooking terminology in English. So, I really like this class because I’ve learned a lot.

This class included different kinds of food, such as butternut-quinoa soup, eggplant pasta, spring rolls, and tamale pie. It was so much fun to cook together with my American classmates. Last week, we had a Bok Choy salad. It surprised me because I never used Bok Choy to make salad. In our culture, we sauté Bok Choy with meat or put it in soup. Moreover, the size of Bok Choy in America is twice as big as the one we had in Taiwan.

After we did the Bok Choy salad, I felt the flavor was so yummy. Maybe I will try to put other Asian vegetables into salad instead of cooking it next time. Putting Bok Choy in salad is healthier and still delicious.

This semester’s dedicated semester is Foodology. There are so many meaningful events I’ve joined. One of them is “ World Food Day.”

World Food day is a very meaningful day, which has many volunteers join this event to package nutritional food in the USA. Then, the STL World Food Day group shipped the packaged food to the Republic of Tanzania in Africa. Each package of food can feed 7 malnourished children in Africa.

Last Friday, 30 Fontbonne students and faculty volunteered to package food in John Burroughs School. We took a “real” yellow school bus to go to the high school which was the location for gathering all the volunteers to package food in St. Louis. I felt so excited because it was my first time to join the World Food Day, and also my first time to take a real yellow school bus in America. We chatted with each other in the school bus, just like high school students.

After we arrived at the high school in Ladue, we wore aprons and covered our hair to protect the food. Then, Fontbonne separated into five teams to make the food packaging more efficient. Some people put rice into the bag and some people added vitamins. Each food package included brown rice, dried vegetables, soy protein, and a vitamin and mineral packet.

The weight for each package is 390g which can feed 7 kids. Fontbonne’s students and faculty did a very good job on World Food Day. We packaged 504 bags which can feed over 3,000 children in Africa.

Everyone was so happy because we packaged food for over 3000 children in just 45 minutes. We really did a good job packing food. I’m hoping the children in Africa can enjoy the nutrition packages.

Woooooaah, sorry  about the 2-week hiatus! Time has totally slipped away from me!

These past few weeks have been so crazy, hectic, and a little sad. A mix of  tests, projects, work, and family concerns have me slowly spinning in circles. But, I am slowly figuring it all out without getting too dizzy!

In my Foodology class, what my sister calls my homemaker class and to which I refer to it as my “Homemaker Wednesdays” , I’ve made asian stir-fry using Ramen noodles. To make it healthier, my partner and I added broccoli, carrots, baby corn, celery, and red and green bell pepper. Then, we added a whole bunch of Indian spices like cayan pepper. It had a nice yellow color and tasted very good, if I do say so myself!

This week, our professor made us two separate meat dishes, Chicken and Beef, in a slow-cooker! Since it required 10 hours+ of cook time our professor made it the night before for us to enjoy in class. Both meats had a maximum of two ingredients added to them. I’ve always been aware of how easy a slow-cooker meal was, but my mom has never made these dishes in a slow cooker before. I was impressed with how easy it was and how good it turned out!

Last week, I finished and turned in my Hoodie I made in my sewing class!! SOOO PROUD!! I added a half-zip, and a massive hood! It’s navy, with a silver zipper, and striped fabric on the wrists! Now, I have two blue sweatshirts, did not think the color through, obviously! (Through out its creation, I would sew a new piece then have a photoshoot, naturally! Well, each time I got a little more excited because it was almost done!! When I finally added the hood I couldn’t stop laughing because the hood covers half my face when on!! So my entire face was hidden and I erupted into uncontrollable fits of laughter!!) Two weekends ago, my family (all of whom are in the U.S. at the present time) came into town. It was nice to see them but a very sad occasion. And I’m still kind of recovering and wrapping my head around certain events, but I feel it will take some time to be able to understand. It was also a nice weekend, very sunny and breezy. I also needed a break from school, so it was nice to be around my family and constantly laughing and joking around to lighten the mood.

That should catch you up on what I’ve been doing recently! AND Griffin Girls has started, that means that Basketball season is soon to be upon us!! EEEEEPPS!! So many exciting things happening! We are currently working on the dance for Late Night which is November 2, 2012!!! All ya’ll should come out and see us perform– because we are all pretty awesome!!

Have a good  weekend!

Lee

The blood drive was yesterday, and I can remember last year like it was just yesterday. So weird that it’s been a year already. But anyways, it was a very busy day for me. I first visited my family at the hospital because my uncle was getting brain surgery (sounds scary I know, but he is doing well and is resting at home). Then I came to school and helped out with the blood drive, then donated myself. Even though I had already done this last year, I was still nervous. But of course everything was over before I knew it. Although I guess I felt a little more effected from it this time than I did last year. After you’re finished, they tell you not to do anything extraneous for the next day. But of course, stupid me was like ‘oh yeah I can walk up the stairs to fourth floor of Ryan just fine!’. I don’t know why I decided to take the stairs because every other day I take the elevator, but by the third floor I needed to stop and sit down for a bit because I felt light headed.  Maybe that’s why it said in the pamphlet not to go up stairs alone…. oops?

Anyways, later that day I took the trip to the botanical gardens to the Coffee Class. Let me just say it was awesome! Workers from Kaldi’s coffee explained to us how coffee is made and sold, where is comes from and how to brew. Did you know there is even a Barista competitions? Like, that’s so awesome! I bet the things they do and make puts my pumpkin spice latte making skills to shame. Anyways it was so informational and the room smelled awesome the whole time. I can’t wait to go again to learn about chocolate and I think I’m going to sign up for the Tea one too!!

As a senior, this is my first time actually participating in a Dedicated Semester course! I mean, I should have participated more over the years becasue it was at my disposal, but I didn’t. Over the course of four D.S., I went to the events offered and even picked up a few t-shirts, but never took a course specializing in the Dedicated Semester.

Until this year! I am currently in a HES class specifically designed by students for this Dedicated Semester, The College Cookbook or College Guide to Cooking! As far as cooking goes, I “cook” pies, cakes, cookies, and am an expert juice maker; my family can attest to this. I leave the cooking to my mom, sister (on occasion), brother (he helps on occasion), and dad (Bill Miller’s, Luciano’s, Sonic, and various Taqueria’s*). I dont even like making salads, because I feel I cut the lettuce in too small of pieces or too big of pieces. There is a definite science to it and I have yet to master it!

Although I cannot cook, I have sold knives during a summer for an outstanding two weeks. I pretty much gave up when I sliced my finger, with the knives I was trying to sell, during a demonstration. Granted, the demonstration was for my mom, but still, it was pretty pathetic. That, and my salary was not as impressive as sitting in front of the tv watching my favorite movie (which is debatable and cannot be determined by how often I can watch it in a row)

I have now been in my Foodology class for a few weeks, and have made a few things I already knew how to make and a few things I am now pretty proud to say I can make. Now perfected: granola, quesadilla (previously perfected due to living in SATX my whole life), omelette, scrambled eggs (already perfected), pancakes (already perfected), egg-drop soup (NOW PERFECTED, my group had the best looking egg in our egg-drop soup!!), and spring rolls (not perfected at all, but edible!). Unfortunately, my group was unable to cook rice, make cucumber salad, or dipping sauce, so I’ll leave that to my mom or some other favorite asian restaurant of mine!

Hope you enjoyed my cooking successes, next week Ill talk about my sewing class and my sweatshirt endeavor!! It’s pretty rad and its not even fully sewn yet!!

Lee

*All these restaurants, excluding Sonic, are San Antonio,TX based. Luciano’s can now be found outside Texas.

This semester is a dedicated semester — Foodology: the Culture, Economics, and Science of Food. Therefore, there are a lot of interesting events to explore about the food we eat every day.

Last Saturday, I joined the dedicated event for “Plants as Food,” which was a day tour of the Botanical Garden in St. Louis. In this event, we had three tour guides from the Botanical Gardens who led us around the vegetable and fruit garden. They showed us many fruit bushes and trees, such as strawberries, apple, kiwi tree, etc. I’ve never seen a kiwi tree before; it looks awesome.

Moreover, the bee keeper told me many facts about bees. I can’t remember all of them, but I was surprised that each honey bee produces about 1/12 teaspoon of honey in her lifetime. After I heard this fact, I know I need to cherish the honey I have in my home.

What most impressed me was a corner in the Botanical Garden called “PLANT DOCTOR,” which is a very convenient service to offer people, to let them ask the plant doctor about their plants. The best thing is this service is FREE to visitors.

The Botanical Garden is a really pretty garden, and it’s the biggest garden I’ve ever seen. I really liked the event for “Plants as Food” because I’ve learned a lot about food from their tour guides: vegetables, fruits, herb, and honey. It was so much fun there.

If you missed the events about the Botanical Garden, don’t worry about it, we still have many events to give you a chance to explore food. Please check this website if you’re interested in foodology: http://www.fontbonne.edu/academics/academicresources/dedicatedsemester/

Something that I have come to love about Fontbonne is its Dedicated Semester every Fall Semester. The Dedicated Semester is something fairly unique to Fontbonne and features a broad topic that gives the Fontbonne Community a chance to learn about and discuss the topic through various classes, activities, and events. This year’s Dedicated Semester is “Foodology: The Culture, Economics, and Science of Food.” I knew that I would love this topic as soon as I found out about it. However, I have learned that I really don’t know a whole lot about food.

This past Wednesday, I went to a talk at Schlafly Bottleworks where a family came in to talk about their farm and what it’s like growing some of their own food.

Coming from the suburbs of Chicago, I’m always amazed by people who are able to grow and produce their own food.

The Biula Family even brought some tomato samples from their farm to share with the audience.

This Dedicated Semester has also motivated me to explore new foods on my own. For example, thanks to a local company called NeighborGood Foods, I recently received a basket of fresh local produce from different farms around the area. And I love them even more, because they deliver right to my residence hall on campus!

Another event that I participated in for the Dedicated Semester was a trip to the Missouri Botanical Gardens, which is one of my favorite St. Louis attractions.

We took a tour through some of the areas with people who work/volunteer there and learned about some of the things they’ve been doing at the Gardens.

Some other fun happenings at Fontbonne/around St. Louis:

Fontbonne now has a Quidditch Team/Club (you’ll understand if you like Harry Potter)!

And the Great Forest Park Balloon Race also recently happened! It’s one of my favorite festivals of the year.

Until next time…
Peace, Love, & the Energizer Bunny!

My gosh, I can’t believe I’m a sophomore already. I was just thinking about when I moved in last year into the dorms. I was so scared and excited all at the same time. Now walking in as a sophomore, I feel like I own the school. Ha Ha, not really. But I do feel like I have a better sense of what I’m doing.

So I feel like this dedicated semester course was meant for me: Foodology. Not only do I love food, but I want to have a career with it. Currently I’m a psychology major, but I wanted to specialize in the study of food behavior. I’m taking the Nutrition class and I love it! I find everything to be so interesting and homework to be fun. (Weird, right?) I decided that after I graduate and get a master’s in psychology, I want to go back to school and become a register dietitian. A lot of school, but a part of me is super excited for it.

I hope everyone’s semester is getting off to a great start!

What I’m most excited for next year is that I will be living off campus with my best friend. She is my closest friend, and I miss not seeing her every day in high school. She goes to SLU and although I still get to see her a lot, it will be nice living together. We get along really well, so I believe it will all work out nicely. I also am pretty excited for most of my classes that I’m signed up for because they are a part of the dedicated semesters. They sound very interesting, and I like learning new things.

I feel like this year has gone by so fast. It feels weird looking out my window and seeing leaves on the trees and people out enjoying the weather. It feels like just yesterday it was Christmas break! And look, here we are getting ready to register for class for next year. I can’t believe how fast this semester is going. I almost wish I could freeze time for just a little while because I’m afraid I’m going to miss something.

I’m so excited though for the dedicated semester next fall: Foodology. I’m a psychology major and plan to specialize in health and wellness. Food has always been something I enjoy not only eating but learning about. Nutrition is just something that has always been interesting to me. I’m looking forward to taking some of the dedicated semester courses that are being offered next year, and I encourage everyone to do the same! Happy spring, everyone, and I hope you all have a wonderful Easter break.