Lifelong Learning

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Lifelong learning is the concept that states it’s never too late or too early to learn. The term recognizes that our ability to grasp knowledge is not confined to childhood or the classroom, but takes place throughout life and can range from something as simple as downloading a program for the first time with no assistance to preparing a Turducken as directed in Paul Prudhommes cookbook The Prudhomme Family Cookbook.

It has been the last fifty years that has literally shaken our world and directed us toward a point of no return. The scientific and technological innovations are making life different; not necessarily better or worse, just different. Dare I say it is changing the way we live, think, breath, and adapt.

As an educator for most of my life, whether in the classroom or at home, I have learned that the one thing you can count on in life is not just death and taxes, that’s a given. You can also count of “change” and your eternal need to “learn.” There are millions of people right now who are learning how to adapt to this new economy, and there will be millions more. If you are reluctant you will fall by the wayside, it will be painful. This is not to say you will die or something horrible will happen to you, but those who are willing to adapt to the riggers of change are the one’s who will rise victorious or at least with a more positive attitude.

I teach an online micro business course and I have noticed that those individuals that learn the most are the one’s who cast failure to the wind and jump in with both feet. My father died three years ago, but about twenty years ago he said something quite profound and I did not realize it until now. He was an accountant and saw all of the economic turmoil coming even back then. He said, “There will come a time when you will have money, and can’t spend it.” What he meant was everything, everything, will be so expensive, so out of reach, we will have money in our pockets but we will not have enough money to purchase the things we need, and “wants” will be of no consequence. I am by no means a pessimist but it is coming to pass.

The one thing you can do and it won’t cost you a thing is learn, learn all you can. Go to the library, read; read about history, read about science, the Internet is a breeding ground for those who seek knowledge. There really is nothing new under the sun. Join social networks and learn about whatever interest you. If you can afford it, go back to school, college or take lifelong learning courses. Don’t just sit and settle. It sets a terrible example for our children. I know you’re tired, I’m tired too, but “life” like “learning” is for the living, so get up and get learning!

Knowledge really is power!!!

The Recipe Writer's Handbook

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

If you have lived for a while on this earth you will notice that there is very little new under the sun, with the exception of perhaps technology, which we're not talking about here. There are creative and interesting ways to use sugar, chocolate, spices and herbs in baking. There are fascinating ways to decorate cakes, cookies and all things sweet and edible. If you are a seasoned cook/baker you probably already know about this little jewel of a book, but if you are not this may be something you will want to look into. Originally written in 1997 by Barbara Gibbs Ostmann and Jane L.Baker The Recipe Writer's Handbook is something all bakers should have on their cookbook shelf. Why? Because one day you will be (perhaps not a "baby-boomer") but a generation "X" boomer or generation "Y" boomer and you will be passing on knowledge to the next generation of bakers. This sort of information is helpful.

This little book is designed to teach you to "think" your way through a recipe to make important decisions and trouble shoot problems concerning format, syntax, spelling, cooking terminology etc." Those who attended at professional culinary art program probably already know this, but trust and believe if you live long enough it will escape your memory.

You may not think you will, but one day you may want to put all your recipes to pen or in today's case "Word," and publish all those dynamic dishes that have made you famous or not so...famous. Publishers are always looking for ways to take a bigger piece of your pie, so this book can assist you in structuring your recipes in such a manner that publishers will think you had help...well you did it just didn't cost you an arm and a leg.

The more you know, the more you can deliver and you won't have to rely on the publisher finding culinary writers to "clean up" your recipes.

I have the old copy (original 1997) and plan of purchase the revised and expanded copy soon. The chapters in my copy are well written and the information is invaluable. Here's a hint of what's in the book (1997 version).

Chapter 1 The Philosophy of Recipe Writing
Chapter 2 Recipe Writing Style
Chapter 3 The Style Sheet
Chapter 4 Recipe Testing
Chapter 5 Cooking Terminology
Chapter 6 Preferred Spelling of Commonly Used Food Words
Chapter 7 Generic Terms for Brand Names and Trademarks
Chapter 8 Metrics
Chapter 9 Nutrition Analysis of Recipes
Chapter 10 Copyright, Plagiarism and the Ethics of Recipe Writing and more (15 Chapters in all).

The new revised book is on Amazon for under $10 (used) and I have emailed the authors to see if they might be revising it again (it's 2009). As I mention before if this is old news, no sweat, but for those baby bakers out there, just another resource for your baking arsenal.

Mom made a "FEAST!"

Monday, January 12, 2009

I am going to tell you a story so just roll with it. Once upon a time there was a little child who loved his mother very much. Mom and dad worked very hard to provide "little man" with everything he needed and most of the things he wanted. One day it was discovered that mom was going to have a baby; twins to be exact. This made "little man" very happy. When the babies arrived home, a very interesting thing happened. Mom decided to stay home with the babies until they got bigger. This made "little man" really, really happy. He had his Mom and sister and brother home when he arrived from school each day.

One day "little man" explained to his teacher that he was just so happy his Mom was home with the babies because she now prepares a "feast." The child went on to say, "Mom is COOKING US DINNER AT HOME, she made a chicken in-the-oven, and green bean casserole, rolls, and a pie and we are so happy."

So why was the child so happy? This little story is true and was provided by a teacher in a public school system in the south. It was reported that most of the children in the school eat out for dinner every night, rarely getting a home cooked meal. And we wonder why our children are obese, diabetes is on the rise and our little ones suffer from all sorts of allergies, headaches and insomnia?

I will continue to say it until I am blue in the face. GET BACK TO THE BASICS! GET BACK TO THE BASICS! GET BACK TO THE BASICS! Please parents, understand that it starts with you. Don't talk about how busy you are, or how you have to work late and don't have time. Learn, take a cooking class or two or three. Learn how to organize your food pantry and LEARN TO COOK! I teach private classes and I had maybe two inquires last year. Today people want to be entertained, but you better wake up and get educated about food preparation. Look, just think about!

We have already lost two generations, how many more must we lose.

Attention Home-Based Bakers – Is Your Online Business Revenue Struggling

Friday, January 9, 2009

What purpose does a website serve today if it’s not generating revenue? I teach a home-based bakery course and work with home-based bakers who sell their baked goods either for a living or part-time to generate extra income for the household. As our economy dips further into a recession everyone is searching for ways to make extra money. It would be wrong to say all these little earn extra money schemes are effective, most aren’t and few people will tell you that.

When economic times are tough expendable income becomes more precious than gold, silver, and diamonds (combined) and trying to pry it from the super glue drenched hands of the everyday consumer is near impossible. I have friends and acquaintances who constantly want to send emails asking me to purchase this or that from their site and I want so badly to say, I am not spending the extra income I have on sweet smelling stuff, candles or other items that end up cluttering my home. If I am going to spend extra money on anything it is usually going to the theater, movie, out to dinner or planning a dinner party with family and friends.

There are simply too many online businesses chasing too little online revenue. The whole Web 2.0 social networking genre has created a multitude of online businesses whose main focus is to build followers and databases of contacts without a clear definition of how they will generate revenue.

For the home-based baker one way to create a sustainable income is to create forums whereby all consumers who purchase from you; receive your product over time. A sort of get your money up front ventures. For example, one home-based baker devised a plan to ship out miniature pound cakes (6 ounces) to retiring teachers across the nation who belongs to a specific organization. The organization has a database of retiring teachers and each time someone retires they receive a gift card congratulating them on their retirement and pound cake. The gift is personal. less expensive than flowers, rarely thrown away because it’s delicious.

I still believe people involved in the food business are some of the most creative folks on the planet. The one item people will always be interested in spending their expendable income on is FOOD!

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Can you prepare a simple dish of Peppered Steak? As I look at all the ingredients involved in making this seemingly simply "skillet" dish, I began to realize the endless amount of knowledge about both ingredients and technique needed to make it a reality. Then I got to thinkin about the basic make up of this dish and...

Slow food. I know there are those of a different generation who want to think that this concept is something new, but it’s not. According to slowfoodusa.org, slow food embodies “the pleasure of food with a commitment to community and the environment.”

I'll stop now and tell the truth, I was not thinking about that as I prepared to make my Peppered Steak.

What I was pondering however was that in many parts of the world, our nation, even my community, the idea of "Slow Food" has never changed, it’s just that we now acknowledge that if we are to exist and produce food, healthy food on a global level we must change the way we think about food, the community and the environment.

Okay, I haven’t really said anything profound or anything you haven’t heard; but what most people don’t realize is that it is not so much about the food, it’s about the people, people!

I am going to make a statement and it has nothing to do with anyone outside the United States. I'm talking about Americans in the U.S.

“People don’t cook.” There I said it. What American’s are learning to do is “dabble” or work at cooking in an “amateurish manner.” Good old down-home cooks have gone the way of the Dinosaur.

Why do we watch cooking programs? So we can dabble in the kitchen. Do we really want to know the cold hard facts about cookin and what it's really all about? No. We want to dabble and throw a steak on the grill like Bobby Flay or garnish a plate with seasoning salt like Emeril, and shout BAM!

Folks don’t want to really cook, that’s like work, and that’s hard. Cooking involves thought, analysis, decision making and possible failure. Why would we want to get involved in all that since we have deal with "life" on a daily basis? It’s easier to just pull out a George Foreman grill and lay marinated salmon fillets on it for the allotted time. Right? Right?

Then I started to think about all that is involved in cooking. The physical energy needed along with the complex layers of knowledge to make really good food; not to mention the tiny tidbits of information that's usually shared at the hip of a mother or grandmother, (not in any cookbook) no wonder folks don’t cook.

What really brought it home for me was when I watched my daughter’s boy friend who loves to bake carrot cake, fill the carrot cake batter to the rim of the cake pan; never realizing that it would run over and cause a horrible mess in the oven. It did.

It was at that point that I knew we must teach people to cook. No, not watch Food TV Network, but really cook. We need a little old down-home grandma in every household, staffed by Mama Lula, Mama Mazolla, and even men like my grandfather affectionately known as “Poppie.” The unsung heroes and sheroes who appreciated the knowledge needed to prepare a good meal; who wanted (from the heart) to prepare a good meal. We now have two generations that don’t have a clue, no really, they don’t have a clue and for me that is scary. I can just see myself in a senior center having cardboard like substances shoved down my throat, being pawned off as the redeemable by-product of the new “Slow Food” initiative of 2025.

Food TV Network stop creating celebrity chefs and let’s get folks back in the kitchen learning about the craft, the act, dare I say the art of cooking.

I personally don't want a 30 minute meal, I want the real deal, even if it takes more than 30 minutes!

Career Options 2009

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Are you threatened by a potential job-loss? Recently I had an opportunity to speak with a woman who loss her job. She had been in the retail business most of her adult life and benefited from the base salary and the commissions received from sales. There was never any doubt that this would be her lot in life, until unemployment made her think, perhaps life would deliver an alternative.

I met this woman just after the demise of her job. She was still fairly hopeful and upbeat and wanted to look at another career field, but really did not know how to do about it. We met through a mutual friend and ran into each other at the Farmer’s Market. She asked if I had time for a cup of coffee and so we drove to a local coffee shop in Cary for a chat.

As we talked about her future and mine, she started to talk about all those dreams from yesterday. She wanted to be a nurse, then a designer, then she finally settled on cake decorating, something she thought she would be great at since taking a Wilton Cake Decorating class. We talked more about developing this cake decorating “business” so to speak, and she decided she would give it a try.

Last week I received a call from my cake decorating friend who started with customized Christmas cookies and miniature cakes. She sent me a photo of one of her cakes and it was beautiful. She is officially on her way to a promising future while collecting unemployment and looking for another job in retail.

I share this story because it may help someone struggling with finding their way in a most unpredictable economy. The woman I spoke of looked to her gifts, something we often take for granted. It might be carpentry, jewelry making, can you sew, paint, is pottery your thing? In this world of Internet searches, Wii and online gaming, it may be time to get back to the basics a turned to our natural God given gifts for answers to our economic and emotional well being. Share your gifts, it might just provided a way for you to earn some much needed extra income?

Home for the Holidays

Thursday, December 25, 2008

This Christmas I spent the holiday week with my daughter’s boyfriend’s family. It was a large boisterous group full of love and laughter. This was sort of the pre-Christmas party slash family reunion at the end of the year, you know a “let’s give it a last hey yall experience.” There was a lot of finger food, special dish contributions, wing dings, mini smoked sausages, seven layer salad and Chris' famous Carrot Cake, seen here to your left.

It has been many years since I participated in this sort of family holiday get together and I forget how wonderful they really are. I am sitting here writing this Blog and thinking about the upcoming New Year and what it will bring in the way of opportunity and future family gatherings. It continues to amaze me how family and food go hand in hand during these special times of the year and what an important part food really does play in the physical and emotional well being of people.

Next year one of my resolutions, besides to lose weight, is to feed the masses, to join a church or become part of a soup kitchen that feeds the hungry and helps those less fortunate than myself. I have always been so busy trying to make a living that I often forget to take the time to create a life and pursue a way to use my gifts.

As I look back over an absolutely divine life filled with God’s grace, the next 50 years will be filled with serving others less fortunate than me. No traveling to the Greek Isles or sunning on white sandy beaches, just serving human kind, making a real difference. This year I am wishing everyone a wonderful New Year and prosperity in every conceivable form.