Jamaican Food

I am a huge fan of Jamaican culture. I love the way how people there live, their food, their philosophy of life, music, language and their country generally speaking. I am learning the Jamaican language which actually is called patois ( it is pronounced: patwa). It is a speaking language so I watch a lot of videos of people speaking like this and listen to reggae songs where Rastafarai speak with this accent. In order to go deeper into this culture I decided to go familiar with Theo cuisine and make a dish that is commonly eaten in Jamaica. But let me introduce you a bit into the concepts of their believes. Rastafarai, which are the majority of Jamaican population believe that their body is a temple. That take care about it for example by not eating process food, red meat and not using any addictive substances. Therefore I think that the stereotype of Rastafarai might be a bit unfair. Jamaica is a land of fresh fruits, vegetables and intensive spices so the dish that I decided to make tastes exactly like this.
Recipe: 1. 0.6-0.8kg of sweet potatoes 2. 3 glasses of coconut milk 3. Half spoon of cinnamon 4. Half spoon of ginger 5. Half spoon of nutmeg 6. 1 and half spoon of vanilla 7. Quarter of glass of brown sugar 8. 2 glasses of soaked raisins 9. Half of glass of flour 10. 0.2 kg of carrot or beetroot Procedures: 1. Blend potatoes and milk 2. Dice carrot or beetroot 3. Mix all ingredients in a bowl 4. Put it into a greased baking tray 5. Bake firstly for 1,5h at 180 C and then 25 minutes at 150 C 6. Immediately put out of the oven 7. Eat after 5h or the best on next day Activities like this are particularly challenging for me. As I stated previously I hate cooking and I can't do it very well. I am aware of this that this is important ability in my future independent life and I try to develop it because I need it. But actually it was a great fun and the final outcome was satisfying for me. I think maybe someday I might like it.

Learning Outcomes:

• Increased awareness of strengths and areas for growth
• Undertaking new challenges
• Developing new skills

Cycling

The weather becomes better and better. I finally start to feel that the spring is coming. I think that my organism needed it and I plan to get as much as I can from every sunbeam that appears. Now I have a lot of work because final exams are very close and I spend a lot of time in the house learning. I believe that it is not good. Learning becomes less effective when there are no sufficient breakers made. So I decided to do sainting with it. Through the the recent break I started the cycling season. I do really enjoy riding a bike because in this time I can think about my life, some current events and listen to music which I love. Music is my life and lately I had no time to enjoy it so cycling allows me for this. Because of all the important decisions in my life I have some sleeping issues. This morning I decided not to wast my time and do something useful for my body and my mind so I took a morning trip. I was amazing because I could heat the birds in the morning singing and feel the fresh air in the forest. I was really great. And after I came back home I was full of energy and ready for effective learning. I believe that it is important to keep the learning hygiene and do not overdo. Our body has some limits and it is important to take care about it. We cannot put anything in our lives over physical and mental health.

Learning Outcomes:

• Increased awareness of strengths and areas for growth 
• Developing new skills 

30 days challenge

I've just started 30 day squat challenge. I was inspired to do this by a Matt Cutts' lecture. He is a computer science specialist. He said that firstly you have to state what you always wanted to do. Then just do it. Only for 30 days. It is not for very long so even me with terrible (not) strong will is able to do it.
Matt did photo every day and he was surprised that the remembers each moment clearly. He did not eat sugar for those 30 day. However in the 31st day he had eaten tones of sugar. For 30 day he has written a book, it was not good but it was his dream. For 30 day he had been cycling to work and he still does. Now he is more self-confident and from a guy they was only sitting by his desk he has changed into a person that is cycling to work for his pleasure. And after a few 30 days sessions he had climbed on Mount Kilimanjaro. The highest mountain in Africa. Matt said that there is nothing to loos because this 30 days would pass anyway, so why we should not try something that we always wanted to do, to change in our life. I believe that this challenge is not about doing those things that we will plan, but it is about breaking the routine in our lifes and realising that we are able to do whatever we want, because we state our borders and capabilities and that is something what should always be in our mind. This challenge is very important for me because I do not want it to be a flash in the pan (as usually) but a step to change my life and I believe that this time I will be able to engage in this action and do not resign when first obstacles will occur.

Here is Matt's presentation.


Learning Outcomes:

• Increased awareness of strengths and areas for growth 

• Planned and initiated activities 

• Showing perseverance and commitment 

• Developing new skills 

Go Vegan!

I've started new activity in my life. I hate cooking but because I'm becoming older and older and I would have to be an independent adult when I go to collage I decided that this is something that I need to be able to do. I have started to explore the world of vegan cuisine, because it is healthy and suitable for my allergic problems. I'm not saying that I went totally vegan, but I thought they it would be nice to implement a few recipes like this to my diet. I wanted to start with something quite easy so I decided to do vegan chocolate and bean cookies. Here is the recipe:

• 1 and 1/2 cup of red bean
• 3 and 1/2 spoons of peanut butter
• 3 spoons of cocoa
• 4 spoons of grinded Xylitol
• 1 spoon of flax meal
• 1 teespoon of glutenfree baking powder
• 1/4 cup of water or vegetable milk
• toppings: almonds, cashews, vegan chocolate

I did a lot of them so I was able to treat my family with those sweets. Surprisingly they really like them and do did I. There is a saying on all vegan forums that vegan sweets does not fatten. It might be funny but in fact a bit true, because for example in this recipe there is no sugar added. Vegas cuisine is very healthy for the organism if substitute all the products that are forbidden to use on a right way. My sister, which inspired me to implement a bit of vegan cuisine in my life, is on this kind of diet for over two months right now and the examinations that she recently has went very good, much better that it used to be. In this way I decide to take care about my health and change my eating habits a bit in order to deliver to my organism important vitamins, minerals and others and also to remove sugar and and other not healthy substances entirely from my life.

Tasts great with coffee

Learning Outcomes:

• Undertaking New Challenges
• Developing New Skills

Chocolate and bean cookies