Overview

This experience has taught me a lot about myself, about others and about components within Occupational Therapy. I now view activities that i am involved in, especially cooking, in a new exciting way. Although many activities can be considered to be in more than one category that we discussed throughout this course, it is important to remember its main purpose in life and why we as individuals need to be apart of it.

I have now been able to make comments to the following students blogs
Kendyl
Janine
Judith
Shilmoni

Thanks to everyone who has made comments on my blog posts. The feedback is very useful.
These are the references that i used throughout this blog:

Arendt, H. (1958). The human condition (2nd ed.). Chicago: Chicago University Press.

Ephron, N. (Director). (2009). Julie and Julia [Motion picture]. United States: Columbia Pictures.

Green, T. F. (1968). Work, leisure and the American schools. New York: Random House.

Hagedorn, R. (2000). Tools for practice in occupational therapy: A structures approach to core skills and processes. London: Churchill Livingstone.

Lawson, N. (2004). Feast:Food that celebrates life. London: Chatto & Windus.(this quote was also presented in BT127001 lecture notes)

Sunderland, J. (2010). Adaptive living occupation: BT127001 [Lecture notes]. Dunedin, New Zealand: Otago Polytechnic, Department of Occupational Therapy.

Sunderland, J. (2011). Participation in occupation: BT230001 [Lecture notes]. Dunedin, New Zealand: Otago Polytechnic, Department of Occupational Therapy.

This overall experience has been a lot of fun and i hope that you have enjoyed it as much as i have!!

BYE BYE

A Wise Lady and Ambience

I have always liked Nigella Lawson as a cook. She combines new and old recipes well and says things how they. You could say she is a traditional cook with a bit of a twist. I believe that traditions are key to cooking agree with a quote that was discussed in Participation One: New technologies are never totally superior to the older technologies they attempt to replace (Sunderland, 2011). This relates to cooking as new tools used within cooking do not necessarily make food taste better, new processed foods are not better for you and old fashioned recipes are likely to produce affordable and long lasting food. Nigella has said many things that have influenced my decisions around cooking but the following i think is very appropriate to my blog

“Cooking has many functions, and only one of them is about feeding people. When we go into a kitchen, indeed when we even just think about going into a kitchen, we are both creating and responding to an idea we hold about ourselves, about what kind of person we are or wish to be. How we eat and what we eat lies at the heart of who we are – as individuals, families, communities”
                                                                                                                          - Nigella Lawson (2004).

I think that this quote sums up how i feel about cooking very well!

This then leads me on to ambience. Ambience is described as a feeling or mood associated with a particular place, person or thing (Sunderland, 2010). After considering this, i view my own ambience as a large part of why i cook. As i have stated in previous posts, i love to cook because i find it relaxing. I now believe this is because of how i feel which is normally associated with a place, person or thing. For example i get more joy and relax more when i am using my great great grandfathers recipes or when i make a meal that i have had in the past on a fun or special occasion. An example of this is i love to make an unusual pizza i had when my family and i were in Fiji. I love making it because it brings back memories of that fun holiday and especially that particular day. It makes me want to return to Fiji and work harder in life so i can do so. I have many examples like this when ambience is a apart of my cooking.

Lawson, N. (2004). Feast:Food that celebrates life. London: Chatto & Windus.(
this quote was also presented in BT127001 lecture notes)

Sunderland, J. (2010). Adaptive living occupation: BT127001 [Lecture notes]. Dunedin, New Zealand: Otago Polytechnic, Department of Occupational Therapy.

Sunderland, J. (2011). Participation in occupation: BT230001 [Lecture notes]. Dunedin, New Zealand: Otago Polytechnic, Department of Occupational Therapy.

                                                         

My Comments

I am having difficulty commenting on others blogs and so far no one has been able to fix this problem. So here are the comments I would make if i could:

On Kendyls Blog;
This is a very interesting post kendyl. I really enjoyed the video and that you commented on adjusting things to suit you. I also do this when cooking. Your lucky to have found a job that you enjoy so much!

On Janine's Blog:
You make some very interesting comments. i was never made to do the dishes as punishment, and as we normally use a dishwasher, i dont mind handwashing the dishes. But your right, things have certainly come a long way, men are almost expected to chip in and help out with the dishes.

On Judith's Blog:
I am really enjoying your blog Judith. I believe that knitting is a good way to fill in time. However, I am too impatient for it! You make a good point about your activity leading onto other activities. This had made me think about the other activities involved with my activity of cooking. I agree with Janine...it wold be lovely to see some finished pieces of knitting!

On Shilmoni's Blog:
I think its wonderful that you not only take such pride i your cooking but also that food is an important part of your evening routines.You noted that consumption of food needs discipline, I believe that this is a very interesting point as a lot of people do not think about this as they eat wheatever is easiet to access and do not like wasting food so they eat far too much.

A new way of Cooking

In the holidays I went home and decided that it was time to make a big chocolate cake with proper ingredients – the last time I made something was in my flat and I had to use mashed banana instead of eggs, cheap chocolate drops instead of high percentage cocoa chocolate and we didn’t have a sieve for the flour or measuring cups and as I result it was a major fail! – So at home I checked and organised the ingredients the night before making the cake as I would be getting up extra early to make it as I was supposed to be starting work on the farm at 8am. This went well and I went to bed looking forward to baking something that would be appreciated by friends and family once it was completed. However, the next morning when I got up I was told that I was no longer needed on the farm as it was pouring down with rain. So I went back to bed and was thankful that the process of making the cake would now be less stressful. I started making the cake just before 10am and everything was going well. I was happy to be back in a familiar environment and to be able to use ingredients and equipment that would result in a better looking and tasting cake (fingers crossed). While mixing the cake i thought about i what i had learnt so far in this course. I recognised that the activity that i was completing was a form of labour as its main purpose was for consumption, and as i stated earlier the familiarity within the task was comforting and beneficial. This fits within ergonomics and because i was so familiar with the environment i was able to adjust this task for the better (this was required as stated further on). I also thought about fulfilling my need of being creative while i was able to. It had been a long time since i was able to do so as i am restricted with this in my flat. However, my plans were soon changed when my dad came in from work and said he was taking me to town for lunch. I had only just got the cake in the oven and it would take at least 1 and a half hours to cook and it was now 10:30am (we had to back from town by 1 to start work). I didn’t want to turn down the offer so I decided to turn the oven temperature up. Thankfully, i know the tricks with our oven and so this adjustment did not affect the outcome of the cake! That night after work i knew that the cake needed to be iced before we went our for dinner as i was giving it to family friends that were going to dinner with us. I thought i had plenty of time but i didn’t get off the farm until 6pm and we had to leave within 20 minutes. Not enough time for me to get ready and ice the cake...well so i first thought. Luckily i had measured out the ingredients needed for the icing after lunch so the task was sped up. I got help from my mum and we iced the cake in no time at all (it even looked presentable)! After all this rushing around, the cake was muchly appreciated and it also looked and tasted ok!

As described within a previous post on affordance, I typically find cooking to very peaceful and can complete the task without any interruptions. This fits within part of my spiritual self as i believe cooking can be therapeutic as for me it releases stress, improves concentration and can be very health beneficial. However, this was not the case this time and I now know that although i love to cook as it is relaxing, i can still enjoy it when i am in a hurry. This is because i have still achieved something and it can be enjoyed by myself and others through either viewing it or eating it.

Cupcakes

Today i thought i would share an area of cooking that i enjoy a lot - baking cupcakes! I first started becoming interested in baking different types of cupcakes and decorating them about 3 years ago. I try new recipes at home for my family and spend a lot of time perfecting the end result so i can give cupcakes as gifts.

Here is a recipe that i use to make basic vanilla cupcakes (i had to combine a few recipes before i found one that i liked)

115g butter, softened
100g caster sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
140g self raising flour, sifted
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 200C. beat butter and sugar until pale and creamy. gradually add the eggs and beat. Fold in flour. Stir in vanilla extract and milk. Spoon into 12 paper cases and bake for 15-20 minutes.

Here is a picture of a cupcake i made for a friend the other day using this recipe.

The need for cooking

After discussing the need for my occupation of cooking in class, i narrowed my choices down to one. Creativity. Over the years my combination of cooking and creativity has developed a lot. There are many reasons for this and why cooking meets my need of wanting to be creative.

- I did not enjoy typical creative activities such as painting or sewing as i was not good at these
- Other creative activities such as photography, were interesting but too costly
- I grew up in an environment that involved non stop cooking as my mum did and still does get up early to cook meals and baking for us and others.
- Living on a farm i was always able to make what i wanted as ingredients were always available close by.
- I was always encouraged by my family and teachers to use cooking as an area to push the boundaries.
- I have been fortunate enough to experience fresh foods from many different cultures, which has expanded my view on colour, texture and taste of foods.
- I also have many memories within my life where cooking has been positive and influential on my decisions.

These, are just some reasons why i am able to use cooking as a way of being creative. Currently, ergonomics plays a large part in my cooking and creativity as i am a poor student. I have limited money to spend on ingredients and cooking tools. However, this has taught me to be creative in new ways. The planning of the meal is know the key creative aspect of my cooking, rather than putting together the end result.

The need for occupation

In this tutorial we discussed the overall need for occupation and how this is relevant to our own activities. The key point that i took away from this tutorial was that we all need something that will respond or fill an area within us/our lives. An example of this may be that in order to fulfil our creative needs we need to cook as when we cook we feel we can express our selves. For me, cooking is the one activity that i can complete in a structured way, whilst altering its taste, texture and colour to suit me or the consumer, therefore meeting my creative needs. Other needs that cooking fulfils within my life is self satisfaction, caring for others and the role as the giver. As cooking has always been a crucial part of human existence therefore there are many aspects within that are very familiar. However, it may be argued that traditional cooking is a thing of the past with takeaways and technology taking over. I believe that it is important to consider traditions within cooking whilst taking into account the improvements of tools and access to ingredients that is available today. I enjoy cooking with fresh ingredients from our farm and garden and mixing them with high quality ingredients both locally and from overseas. I enjoy the ease of creating something with cooking tools that are new and basic to use. These two factors combined make all cooking experiences a joy.  The following is the key points from the tutorial that i believe relate to cooking when discussing the need for occupation:

Labour
- survival
- we have to
- a way to make a living
- freedom from life stresses
- meditative
- societal expectations (organic food)
- memories with smell/de ja vu
- feel a connection

Work
- improving aesthetics

Play
- making a statement
- playing a role
- nature is king