Today we had our ‘cook off’ where we were able to cook our own meals based on the research and ingredients we had sourced on Monday. This lasted from 9am to 12:30pm giving us 3 and ½ hours to complete our dishes. The meal my teammate and I cooked today consisted of a vegetarian Spanish paella and lentil stew with a side of bread. Originally we were not planning on making the bread however we realized that we had extra time and all of the necessary ingredients so we decided to further challenge ourselves. Neither my teammate or I had made any of these three dishes before, making this experience completely new and exciting for the both of us. 

Overall, I really enjoyed the experience and the freedom we were given to create our own meals to match our personal preferences. Everything tasted amazing and the cooking process was fun and enjoyable.

Through this experience, as we were encouraged to work with little-to-no guidance from the teachers (though support was provided when needed), I was able to become more aware of my own strengths and the areas in which I had opportunity to flourish in. No meat products were used, allowing us to understand and consider how our actions impact the environment, and how choosing a food option with meat in it is not always the better choice. Since we had to cook dishes that were specialties of a specific country, we were able to develop international-mindedness and broaden our palettes. This activity was mostly independently planned. We were required to do our own research on the dishes we wanted to make and inquire in the ingredients needed all within a budget of $400, and had to take responsibility for any errors made. We were forced to persevere during this activity because if we gave up, nobody would carry out the task for us. Lastly, I worked with Micah, who I am not familiar with working with. I developed my communication skills and risk taking skills through this, and he turned out to be a very good partner that was helpful and understanding during this unfamiliar experience.