Home Economics: Macaroni and Cheese

Hello, last Tuesday in home economics we made macaroni and cheese.
The people in my group were TJ, Kaleb and Tai.

Ingredients

2L Water

2t Salt

1 1/2  c Pasta

3T Butter

3T Cornflour

2 c milk

1c Cheese - grated

1 Tomato - Sliced 

Method

1. Bring water to boil. Add salt and pasta. Boil for 12 - 15 minutes. Drain (reserve a little cooking water in a measuring cup)

2. Pre heat oven to 180 C Fan Bake

3. Melt butter in saucepan. Gently saute onion and garlic (optional). Stir in cornflour and cook, stirring until bubbles appear on surface. (cooking the roux)

4. Remove from heat and gradually add milk and (optional) grainy mustard, stirring constantly.

5. Return to heat and cook stirring constantly until it boils and thickens.

6. Remove sauce from heat, gently stir in cheese and parsley (optional), season with salt and ground black pepper.

7. Stir cooked pasts gently into sauce and pour into a greased ovenproof dish.

8. Put tomato slices on top, sprinkle over some breadcrumbs (optional) and some extra cheese.

9. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes until well heated through.

Optional ideas:

* Gently cook finely chopped onion and garlic in the butter before adding the cornflour 

* Add some wholegrain  mustard to the sauce.

* Add finely chopped parsley

* Use the reserved cooking water from the pasta to loosen the sauce if required

* Top with Panko breadcrumbs for crunchy topping

* Add some cooked, diced bacon

Our team worked really well as we all spread out the work between each other. Something we need to work on is thoroughly read the recipe and not make any mistakes. 

Our Macaroni and Cheese looked very bright in color and the sauce was yellowish white. The macaroni was soft and a little bit chewy. You could distinguish the sauce and each flavor in the recipe. It was also easy to serve and clean up.

Thank you for reading my blog post.

Judgement and Inclusiveness

During these lessons I learn't that you don't need any labels are than Human.

This has made me feel sad that people treat other people based on how they look.

If i'm in a situation where I'm being judged I'll try to educate them and tell them how I feel.

And if I'm  judgmental to someone I will try to apologise and learn from my mistakes.

Thank you for reading and I hope you learnt about judgement and inclusiveness.

Home Economics: Spaghetti Bolognese

Kia ora, earlier this week we made spaghetti bolognese in home economics.

The people in my group were TJ and Kaleb.

Ingredients

2T Olive oil

1 medium onion diced

1 medium carrot diced

1 stick of celery, thinly sliced

200 grams of mince

1/2 t dried basil

Pepper to taste

200g pasta

Method

1. Heat the oil in large pot and add the onion and garlic.

2. Cook for 2-3 min, stir frequently until onion is soft.

3. Stir in carrot and celery and cook for another minute.

4. Add mince, stirring until the beef has lost its pink color

5. Add basil, tomatoes and tomato puree.

6. Bring mixture to boil then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and cover for 10-15 minutes

7. Boil water and then add pasta cook 10-12 minutes.

8. Drain pasta and toss with a little oil to avoid it sticking

9. Then arrange your plates dividing the mixture up evenly.

10. Garnish and then you're ready to eat.

Our team worked pretty well as we all divided the work between each other.

Our spaghetti needed to be cooked in a little longer but it still tasted good.

Our mince was great and I think it was pretty much perfect.  

Thank you for reading my post.

Imploding Can Experiment

Imploding Can Experiment


Expansion is when you apply heat to matter and cause it to spread out.

Contraction is when you cool matter down and cause it to be more dense.

Equipment - Element, aluminum can, scissor tongs, heatproof mat and an open container of water.

Hypothesis - The can will implode on its self.

Method -
1. Set up a element and get a container of icy water.
2. fill up an aluminum can with 60ml of water.
3. Heat up the can until it starts to steam.
4. Lastly pick the can up with the tongs and put it upside down into the icy water.

Results - The can imploded as soon as it touched the water.

Discussion - The reason it imploded is because the boiling water suddenly got very cool which caused it to condense.

Digital Tech Introduction

Kia ora and welcome to my blog. In this post I will be showing you what we have done so far in digital technologies.

First off we have been working on code.org. So far I have made two games, a pong game and a basket ball game.

Secondly we started working with the Mbots, we didn't get to use our robots because our ones weren't working but we got to play around with the other groups one a little bit.

I didn't really enjoy it because our robots weren't working but when we used the other groups it was quite fun.  Code.org is pretty enjoyable but it gets a little bit boring after doing a lot of it.             
                                       
Thank you for reading my post.

Home Economics: Vegetarian Nachos

Kia ora and welcome to my blog.

This lesson I was absent but here is what my group made.

My group made vegetarian nachos, I was told the nachos tasted good but could of been better if they left it in a little longer.

Ingredients:

1T Oil
2 - 4 Mushrooms
1/2 Onions
1/2 C Corn
1/2 C Green beans
1/2 Can chopped tomatoes
1/2 Can Red Chili Beans
Corn Chips
1/2 C Grated Cheese
Sour Cream

Method:
Step 1. Gather equipment & ingredients in correct amounts.
            Preheat the grill to high.

Step 2.  Slice mushrooms.

Step 3. In a large nonstick pan: saute onion with a 1T of Oil for 2-3 Mins (Until Clear)

Step 4. To the pan add:  Corn, beans, 1/2 can of tomatoes, 1/2 can of chili or baked beans.
            Stir for 3-4 minutes until tomato is just softened.

Step 5. Arrange a large handful of corn chips around a plate.
            Spoon the bean mixture into the middle of the plate.
            Sprinkle cheese on top, place under the grill to melt.

Thank you for reading my post.

Medical Facts

Castles in the Middle Ages were surrounded by a mote which was to keep invaders out, but they were also used to store faeces.

Slam Dunk: The Middle Ages

Life in the Middle Ages

What was life like in the middle ages? 

Interestingly life in the middle ages wasn't so great, it was considerably different to how we live today.

In the middle ages life wasn't easy, there would be faeces anywhere and everywhere. The poor would struggle to do even the simplest things because there was a huge gap between the rich and the poor.

This is one of the reasons why the Black Death spread so easily, houses were run down and hygiene in the middle ages pretty much didn't exist. Life in the middle ages was very rough.

Thank you for reading.

Social Wellbeing: What makes a good friend?

What makes a good friend?

- Loyalty
- Stands by you when things get tough
- Honest / Trustworthy
- Someone you can talk to
- Someone you can communicate with non - verbally
- Someone you are comfortable being around.
- Someone who has similar interests.

Friendship to me is having a bond with someone and being able to trust each other, I think If you want to have good friends then you have to be one yourself.
Thank you for reading!

Home Economics: Stir Fry

Source: Jill Van Nortwick

Kia ora, recently in home economics we made stir fry.
The members in my group were TJ, Tai and James.

Ingredients: Chicken, noodles, spring onion, chilli peppers, honey, soy sauce, carrot and onion.
 

      Method:

1. We started chopping up the vegetables and chicken
2. Boil the noodles in a pot
3. Mix the soy sauce and honey into the chicken.
4. Sauté the chicken and onions.
5. 5 minutes later we put the rest of the vegetables into the pan.
6. We then put the noodles into the pan and waited for it to be served.

Our team worked very well together as we all evenly split the work and all did our jobs.

Our stir fry tasted very good even though we did burn it a little bit on the bottom.

In conclusion I have learnt how to sauté and how to make stir fry. I will definitely make this again in the future.

Thank you for reading.

Tea Bag Rockets

Tea Bag Rockets

Kia ora, today in chemistry we did a tea bag rocket experiment.

We did this to observe convection in real life.

Equipment:  Lighter, Tea Bag and a heat proof mat.

                                         

First we took all the leaves out of the tea bag and turned the bag into a cylinder. We then set the top of the tea bag on fire and saw it fly into the ceiling. 

This is because the particles got lighter, split apart and started moving faster.