The End.

Wednesday we had our final day of class. Four groups presented their Iron Chef Food Challenges. We had a great variety and some diverse foods as some of the groups made food from the different cultures they grew up in. My favorite food challenge was one that went on Wednesday and actually won the competition had foods from France, Guatemala, and Honduras. I loved all the flavors that were brought out in these challenges and the hard work everyone put into them. My competitive side wishes that we could have fairly judged the dishes everyone made each day as apposed to judging them all on the last day when people may have forgotten how good the meals earlier in the week were. (All the groups that placed cooked on the last day when we judged). But like I said, that is just my competitive side; everyone in the class tried hard and worked together to make this class as enjoyable as it was! I am sad that it is over because that means I have to start really studying and getting down to the books again, but I am thankful for this class and the great memories I will have from it.

Iron Chef Day 2

Wow, its been a while. To start off with we had cheese day last Friday. We sampled about eleven different types of fancy cheeses brought in by our guest who has a store on Wealthy. Cheese in one of those things that I really do enjoy, but I guess I have never had authentic cheese like we had in class. The only cheese that I really did enjoy was the Grafton Vermont Cheddar; a lot of the other cheeses were too strong for me. I think I would have enjoyed them more if we had some crackers to eat them with.

The past two days have been our IRON CHEF CHALLENGE days. My group went yesterday and made a first course with Italian Wedding Soup, the second course with Lemon Shrimp Linguine, and a final course with Ice Cream Balls and Hot Fudge. Today was the second day of the challenge and we had two groups go. To start with, the food of both of the groups was amazing. I love how everyone seems to bring out foods from their cultures and families; that makes this competition so cool.

The Woodland Mall

Yesterday for class we went to the Woodland mall and walked around different stores to see how they advertise and use certain techniques to sell their items. I have always known that there is some sort of method by storeowners to better sell their items, so this was a great opportunity to find that out. I went into ten different stores and I will give a little summary about what I found in each.

Icing: Right when we walked into the store we found a strong scent of perfume. This quickly diminished as we walked further into the store, but it definitely was noticeable. The store also had mirrors all around the top of the walls with lights that aloud a more three-dimensional view of some of the objects. 

Motherhood: In Motherhood the lighting highlighted certain clothes on the walls. The store owner said they like to advertise the clothes to make them desirable like stores like The Limited or Charlette Russe. The store owner also said they try to play softer music because they don't want to make it to loud or uncomfortable for the mothers or those buying in the store.

American Eagle: All the sales were at the back of the store to make it so people had to walk through the entire store to get to that section. They had a strong perfume scent throughout the store that is the typical "American Eagle scent." The music was much louder than Motherhood and there were speakers all over. They had fluorescent lights that made the clothes brighter and more desirable. They also had disco balls at the front of the store which made some of the clothes glimmer.

Yankee Candle: Obviously in this store there were some strong scents, but we determined that those scents were a mixture of all the different candles. They played "chill" music and had medium lighting.

Williams Sonoma: This was a store that sold kitchen supplies. Instantly when we walked into the store it smelled strongly of garlic. We found out that they had a "kitchen" in the store that was making a garlic pasta sauce which was the source of the smell. They also had lights on all of the products making them look desirable, as if the smell wasn't enough.

Aeropostale: They too had a strong scent right when we walked into the store. The music was very loud and the lights were on the outfits hanging on the wall.

Trade Home: This was a shoe store that had the sales at the front of the store. The store owner said this made people want to come in. It smelled like new shoes in the store which is always a pleasant smell. The store owner also said that some of the items had to be sold in certain places because the companies that the shoes were from told them where to sell their shoes from.

Potterybarn: Instantly when we walked in it smelled homey, like cedar. It makes you feel like you are actually in a home. They had lower lighting and once again the word that comes to mind is homey.

Hollister: Hollister had extremely low lighting. It smelled very strong of perfume and the music was extremely loud. They also had fans right when you walked into the store which blew your hair and made you feel like you were at the beach.

Forever 21: They had a fresh smell and everything was color coordinated. The girls section was bright and lit up well and the mens section had much lower lighting.

Carbs. Carbs. Carbs.

Yesterday in class we talked about hearing, and some of the illusions that auditory sounds can have. I was unable to blog yesterday, so I am including a bit about yesterday in todays. In class we listened to a few different types of music, sounds, and illusions. Music and noise is used in many different ways: joy, mourning, health benefits, and even creativity. One of my favorite activities in class was listening to an auditory illusion. I think everyone should take a chance and try to listen to one of these, so I will leave a link at the end of this section for you to try if you would like. (Make sure you listen using HEADPHONES!!!) Hearing, one of the senses, is an amazing gift that God has given me and I know that I take it for granted. I learned about hearing and the physiological way of how we actually do hear noises in my anatomy class last year. The process is so intriguing and in a way complex; I know I keep going back to this, but it shows how great our God truly is! 

http://www.radiolab.org/blogs/radiolab-blogland/2012/dec/28/ears-dont-lie/

Today in class we had one of the owners of Wealthy Street Bakery come and talk to us about bread. Okay, so I guess it was a little bit more than just bread, but that was the basic idea. She shared different methods that she used to make the bread and how yeast plays a factor in how the bread turns out. The best part was she brought us free samples! I am a sucker for free samples anyways, so this was a great day. I tried the three different types of bread that she brought and they were all amazing in different ways. The wheat bread was made with no white flour at all as well as honey, the sourdough bread was made with a special starter that was made with flour and yeast by the store owner herself, and the french bread was made with yeast; all AMAZING.

After trying out those breads we were able to try out our own breads and muffins that we each made for the class. I want to say there were about seventeen different types of breads and they literally were all so great; we have some amazing bakers in our class. I do like myself some bread, but I still can honestly say I liked every single person's entry. We had a wide variety and they appealed to all the senses: the smell of bread was heavenly walking into the classroom, the site made my mouth water, and the taste of them varied so much but they all brought out great flavors. Rachel and I made a pumpkin chocolate chip muffin. I took a picture of a few of the different breads to share in no particular order.

More Chocolate.

This afternoon I watched a documentary entitled The Dark Side of Chocolate. After watching the video I instantly felt guilty for having gone out and bought a chocolate bar. The documentary showed how child trafficking occurs in Africa because of the cocoa industry. The farmers get paid so little for the cocoa from the big companies such as Nestle or Hershey's so the farmers have to use slavery to harvest and pick the cocoa beans. We learned in class that if a bar of chocolate would cost $2, the farmer only gets twenty cents of the two dollars. I personally think this is so unjust, and if the distribution of the money would change to benefit the farmer more then child slavery and trafficking might not happen so frequently. Unfortunately there are many unjust systems in our world, and I honestly do not know how to begin to make a change in them. I think prayer is the place to start; pray for the children involved in the trafficking as well as prayer for the adults who enable the trafficking.

After I watched the documentary (still feeling guilty for buying a chocolate bar and supporting the cocoa industry) I went to class where we had a taste testing of different types of chocolate that everyone contributed. We first watched a video on how it is key to place the chocolate on the roof of the mouth and then use the tongue to taste the chocolate. The chocolate crystalizes and melts on the tongue; the actual taste of the chocolate is strongly attributed to the smell it gives off.  I brought in my personal favorite chocolate bar which is Hershey's Milk Chocolate with Almonds. Yum, my mouth waters just thinking about it. We then were able to walk around and taste all different types of chocolate. My personal favorites in order from first to last are my very own Hershey's with almonds, Lindt Milk Chocolate, and Cadbury Chocolate with Caramel. Each of those chocolates was rich and creamy with a little something special about each one. I did enjoy the variety of chocolates that people brought; some of the chocolates I have never had before in my life. I do have to say though that I was sick of chocolate by the end of the class; I never knew that would be possible, but I tried almost 24 samples of candy within a short time. I think I am going to take a break on the chocolate for awhile!

Below are my top three chocolate choices from today!

My favorite chocolates...

Chocolate is definitely one of my favorite guilty pleasures so to speak. Most of the time I enjoy chocolate when it is combined with other ingredients such as Reese's or Twix. I also enjoy milk chocolate and almonds. Chocolate is one of those candies that I do not indulge in too often, but I do enjoy them when I am able. All kinds of chocolate would be satisfying for me, but I have to say I enjoy milk chocolate over dark chocolate which has a more bitter flavor.

The Rowster

Yesterday we were able to spend some time at a coffee roaster and see what actually goes in to roasting a coffee bean and ultimately making coffee. As I am learning to expect from this class, there are many senses that are used while making coffee.

To begin the process we were able to see, hold, and smell what an unroasted coffee bean is like. To be honest, it smelled nothing like coffee and was nearly impossible to chew. After that we were able to watch the process of roasting the coffee beans; it takes about ten minutes total. During the ten minute process the workers at The Rowster were able to take out a few beans periodically so we could see the difference of the beans throughout the process. It was so interesting how the smell of the beans grew sweeter and sweeter (like a normal coffee bean you would buy at the store) the longer it was in the roaster. The sense of sound eventually comes into play while roasting beans as well; the indication of the bean almost being done is a popping/crackling sound. After the sound of the bean crackling the beans are let out of the roaster to cool down before they are able to be used to make coffee.

 

The coffee beans at The Rowster are roasted a lot lighter than at the typical Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts; this in a sense makes the coffee less bitter (in my opinion) and also have less caffeine than a normal, dark batch of coffee. I myself am not an avid coffee drinker, but it was enjoyable to be able to watch the whole process. I could say my respect for those in the coffee making field has increased, I would consider it an art.

The senses of taste.

The idea of taste is complex. I realized this today; it is influenced by sight, smell, and texture (touch). Beyond that taste can be influenced by other foods or drinks that have been consumed as well as the type of toothpaste used to clean the mouth. I was struck by how much this was true today.

The first thought that comes to my mind when I think of orange juice is citrusy goodness. That is true, but it isn't true after just brushing your teeth. I know that I am not the only one that has tried to drink orange juice or another type of juice immediately after brushing my teeth, and I think we can all agree that the taste is not pleasant. Brushing the teeth not only affects the taste of orange juice but I found that it affects most of the tastes: it dulls the sweetness of sugar, it gets rid of the taste of salt, it escalates the bitterness of tonic water , and it multiplies the sour of lemon and lime juice.

Smell can also affect taste. I was astonished when doing one of the experiments how hard it was to tell what type of chip you were tasting while smelling the other type of chip. When I smelled the original potato chips and ate a barbecue chip, I believed I was eating an original chip.

It truly is amazing to me how the mouth receives the stimuli for different tastes: sour, sweet, salty, bitter, and unami. Taste, what I thought as a simple everyday occurrence is so complex and interesting.

Salsa, yum.

The first thought that comes into my mind when I think of class yesterday is "yummmmmmm." Okay, maybe that isn't my first thought but it was definitely a thought. Entering into class yesterday I thought about taste and how the focus of class was that, I couldn't have been more wrong, making salsa involves tastes as well as sights and smells. When making the salsa we started with a basic recipe that we found online is called for 3 tomatoes, 1 small onion, lemon juice, part of a jalapeno, sugar, salt, and cilantro. We first made the salsa like this, but then we decided to add some corn, black beans, and yellow pepper to add to the taste and color of the salsa. Making the salsa was a fun experiment. I now know that I have the ability to make it, it tastes good, and making it may be a healthier option to the store bought salsa!

The perfect sunset

Eye sight is a pretty extraordinary thing, and it is something that I know I take for granted. This morning as I was driving to work, looking through the iced window, I remembered how lucky I am to be able to see things clearly because that is not the case for all people.

Knowing I would not be able to make it to class I made it my goal to use my eye sight to experience God's glory in various ways today. The first thing I did this morning was open my eyes; although I didn't see anything more than the white ceiling in my room, using my eyesight was still the start to my day. I continued the morning by going to the gym with my brother. As I was jogging on the treadmill I watched all of the Calvin students and faculty who walked on the path in front of the big windows. I noticed while doing this that God is so great to create everyone so differently. There was not one person who walked by that window who looked alike, and that is how it is in the rest of the world. Every person has their own story, and whatever look they might have on the outside reflects the person who is on the inside. I finished my day by bringing my brother to the airport. As I was pulling out of the airport, a little nervous and sad for having just dropped my brother off, I saw one of the prettiest sunsets that I have ever seen. I pulled over to try to get a picture, but that picture does no justice. This sunset was a great ending to my day and reminded me that God is so good and great and he is in control of my life.

Same shape, different smell!?

Linalool and Geraniol. These are two substances that have the same molecular formula, similar (almost identical) molecule structures, but two very different smells. I was amazed today as I thought about smells how two different substances that are so similar at the molecular level can be so different when perceived by the human brain. Fructose and glucose, artificial vanilla and natural vanilla, artificial almond and natural almond, hexane and 22 Dimethyl, and the list goes on. All of these substances are nearly the same to one another but when tested by the human brain via taste, smell, or sight they are increasingly different. 

Smell is one sense that I am constantly aware of. Before today I never thought of smell as a chemical formula, but to think that every scent has its own individual formula (though some can be very similar) is awesome. Our God created this world so complex, yet so amazing.

A little about me...

My name is Abby Jo VandenAkker. I like to brag to people that my name is actually Abby and not Abigail. When I was younger I didn't like the name Abby and told everyone that my name was Jennifer; I have now come to love my name and I accept it with open arms. I was born and have grown up in Whitinsville, Massachusetts. I live with my parents, my younger brother Tyler, and my cat Duke. One of my favorite memories associated with Whitinsville is living down the street from my grandparents and being able to run around and play on the farm.

One of the things that I absolutely love in life is food. I love the aromas, tastes, and looks that go with different types of foods. I would have to say that my absolute favorite food is pizza. I enjoy thin crust, stuffed crust, original crust, and deep dish pizza. If I had the choice of ordering a pizza or a bowl of pasta I would most definitely choose pizza. I love the crunch of the crust and the semi gooey inside of the sauce and cheese with whatever toppings have been added. (As much as I love pizza I am one for toppings. I don't like just plain cheese pizza.) My top three toppings would have to  be pineapple, ham, and green peppers. Besides pizza I also enjoy almost every kind of fruit; there is nothing better than a nice firm and juicy grape. That may sound a little strange, but its true, I know you agree with me. :) Although I do like most foods, there are some that I would rather stay away from. My short list includes quinoa (because of the texture and bland taste), kidney beans, and substitute salt. I am sure I have other shortcomings when it relates to food, but these are currently at the top of my list.

This blog is about my senses and how they are perceived on varying days throughout this semester. God has blessed me with these amazing senses: taste, touch, smell, sight, and hearing. I am excited to explore these senses and think in a greater way about how these senses affect me and how my life would be different if I was not given all of these gifts.