Creativity - Cooking lesson

Today i made chicken patties with rosemary and pancetta. It's a recipe that is not hard to make, and can make a lot of patties all at once, so it's good for a lunch the next day as well, etc.

First i peeled the onion and chopped it finely (i've finally learnt how to do that from all my salads!), then peeled two garlic cloves and chopped them finely as well. I then heated a non-stick frying pan, and put a thick slice of butter in there (in place of olive oil) and then dropped the onion and garlic in to soften. Once they were all a honey colour, i took the little cubes of pancetta (100g) and stirred them in. I then took the three sprigs of rosemary, and stripped the leaves from the stalks (apparently the stalks have no flavour and therefore contribute nothing to the overall deliciousness of the meal), before adding them into the mixture. I then let this cook for a few minutes until the pancetta is nice and coloured. Next, i mixed the minced chicken (450g) into the mixture, before seasoning quite generously with pepper and a little salt (my mom mentioned that i shouldn't put too much salt, as the pancetta already contributes to the seasoning).

Before doing anything else i had to preheat the oven to 190*C, to save some time. Next, the patties were ready to be made. I took the mixture and shaped it into six nicely sized burgers, depending on how much of the mixture was made (more mixture = more/bigger patties). I then had some time to just relax, as they need to settle for about half an hour. I wrote half of this blog post in that time, just because it was still fresh on my mind.

Next i took the onion pan that was used before and cleaned it a bit, then put it onto the stove to get it hot. I added some olive oil and added the patties. It didn't take long to brown both sides (my mom was watching over me here, as she wanted to make sure i didn't burn it; it really didn't take long at all), only about three minutes per side. Once done, i transferred every patty to an oven dish. Once nicely arranged i poured in the chicken stock (250ml made from chicken bones by my mom on the weekend) and then baked it for about another half an hour. I knew they were done when they were sizzling nicely, and the stock was bubbling.

I also made some rice in a rice cooker at the same time to go with the patties. Once plated up, i poured the stock over the rice to add some flavour to it. My mom helped by making some brussel sprouts to go with it (i didn't really want to learn, as i'm not a big fan, though i did eat them). On top of all of this, i made a nice salad to go with it (lettuce, tomatoes, onions, avocado from a tree in my garden).

Action - Volleyball

Volleyball was once again the same as it was last year. We have a friendly tournament next week, where we will play a few schools in and around Nairobi, and that will be some good practice for us, but other than that not much is different. We are slowly getting better, and we should be ready by ISSEA (November 2 - November 6).

Action - Football

This week was a bit weird, in terms of football. The first thing i think i should mention is that my school-workload has become a bit overbearing since the end of last week, and i've been finding it a bit hard to cope. And of course this lead me to a few decisions that i have been thinking about for some time; that i've also mentioned before in a previous blog post. Basically, to put it super simply for whoever is reading this, i quit the football team. The first league game of the season is on monday, and there is a huge tournament at my school today. But i have told my coach that i do not feel like i have the time to compete anymore. And for me school work always always ALWAYS comes first. So i guess that's my decision.

I don't think my coach is too happy. I mean, at the beginning of the year we all tried out knowing that we were making a big commitment, and i've just sort of broken that agreement that i would stay with the team until the end. I think he understands, but he's definitely no where near happy. Another thing is that yesterday was my birthday. Yeah, i'm 17 now! Young, i know, but whatever i'm happy, because i'm slowly getting to adulthood. But my birthday was a friday, i went out, and there's a tournament at school today. I think my coach expected me to come at least to the tournament today as it was a bit late for a replacement to be found, but i was out late, and to be honest, i didn't really ever intend to go. Tonight's my party, so i need to go and get ready, but hopefully my team mates won't be too disappointed with me; hopefully they will understand. And if not, oh well, nothing i can do - i still stick by my decision.

Creativity - Cooking lesson

Today i made risotto - which i have actually wanted to learn how to make for a long time - with whatever i could find in the cupboards in my kitchen. So i got to work, looking throughcupboard after cupboard, checking the freezer, fridge,looking for something to use (luckily my mom keeps the kitchen pretty stocked up on food, which made this much easier). In the end i decided on adding frozen peas and asparagus, as those were in my house and i thought would go well with risotto.

First, i took the asparagus, cut the tips off, cut each stalk into two and then cooked them in lightly salted boiling water for a couple minutes. My mom told me that some recipes separate the stalks and the tips, but she seems tothink that it tastes better if you keep it all together, so that's what i did. Once they were done i took them out and drained them. I then left them until they are needed. Next, i put olive oil in a pan, and added onionsand spring onions. I allowed these to saute until they were just about wilted - not too much to be overcooked, but they had to be cooked enough that they weren't all still hard. I immediately added the risotto rice, but gradually, not all at once. I also had to make sure that i continued stirring it while adding it, as otherwise it becomes very easy for the rice to stick to the pan if the oil already in the pan doesn't mix into it. I then added dry white wine into the mixture, for flavour, which had to be absorbed. Once fully absorbed into the rice, i then had to start adding ladlefuls of hot chicken stock (which i heated up before and which my mom made the day before from chicken bones). Even when this was done i had to keep stirring the risotto to keep it from sticking. After about 25 minutes of cooking (once the rice lost its chalky colour and became soft), i added salt and pepper, the peas, and the asparagus and then let it simmer for 10 more minutes. It was very important that i continued to taste the rice at this point, as i had to make sure that i didn't overcook it (that would have sucked after all that effort). Once i decided the risotto was ready i added chopped basil and some Parmesan cheese. My mom then mixed it gently, made sure to cover it and i turned off the heat. It was now ready to eat!

Action - Volleyball

This week i only had volleyball practice on monday morning and wednesday morning, as my football game got in the way of thursday practice. This week, however, were also the final cuts for the ISSEA team as we had 12 and that was cut down to 10 people, as only a maximum of 10 people are allowed to be taken per team. But i wasn't really that worried, particularly because i play such a key role in the team.

But my brother is on the team as well, so i was a little worried about him. He's only in 10th grade, so i wasn't sure whether he'd make it, and he's my bro, i mean i want him to get in. So yeah, a little bit worried...

But it was all good in the end, he got in and he's happy. So i'm happy too.

Apart from that, the practice's were just like last week. Not much change apart from the fact that we are slowly improving - hopefully enough, though i'm not sure we'll be ready for november. Hopefully.

Action - Football

This week we had another friendly. We played RVA (Rift Valley Academy) on thursday after school. It's the game of the year that i dread. Not because they're a difficult team to beat, which they are, but because it takes about an hour and a half to get to their school, and then another 2 hours to get back (more traffic when it's later). And because of this extreme amount of time where we are travelling, i never get any homework done on that day, or if i do it's because i stay up all night doing it. So, being me, i was debating skipping it. I mean, the team could cope without me; they would miss me, but they could cope.

But ahhh, after thinking it through i thought it was probably a better idea to go to the game. I didn't just want to abandon my teammates and lose their trust, so i ended up going.

On monday and tuesday, we had practice and we continued to practice the new style that we wanted to use for the season. To be really honest, i didn't enjoy it that much. I think this week i've begun to realise that i just don't enjoy football as much as i did last year. I think it's a bit to do with my fitness level and my inability to progress it much further than the first couple of weeks. But also, it seems that i don't have much of a part in the team anymore. I mean, there are three other strikers and i get to play about half of each game, where last year i would play the whole of pretty much every game - or at least a great majority. But there's another reason as well. It takes so much energy out of me (coupled with the volleyball) that most days i just don't have the willpower to do my homework, and this is worrying me. I don't want to see my grades job in the final year of school, and - i dunno - i've just been thinking about the possibility of quitting either football or volleyball. At the moment it's only a future possibility if it just completely overloads me, but a sport everyday (sometimes twice a day - before and afterschool) seems to me to be a little much, even though i did the same last year. But as i've said, i've lost the fitness that i had last year.

But back to the game: it was a good game, both sides were matched pretty equally, though we had the upper hand for a lot of the game. The final scored turned out to be 2-1 to them - a loss that was not deserved by us. One of our players (remaining unnamed) missed two penalties after scoring the first goal of the game, which RVA seemed to take as motivation and got the better of us. Next time we'll get them though!

Creativity - Cooking lesson

This week i chose to make baked fish and chips, though not in the completely classical english way. My mom has a slight alteration to it, which she picked up in a cookbook somewhere along the way.

Firstly, i preheated theoven to 220*C. I then got the baking tray that i used last week and put it in the oven for about 10 minutes just to heat it up. As this was happening, i took all the potatoes i needed (about 1kg) and sliced them up nice and thinly. At first i found this difficult, as i couldn't get each slice the same width, but eventually i figured out how to do it. It was important to try and get each individual potato slice about the same width, as if one was thicker than another it would take longer to cook, and then by the end each slice would be cooked differently. Once this was done (it actually took quite some time), i placed all of the slices onto a baking paper which was on top of the heated baking tray. I then sprayed the top of the potatoes with olive oil (using the handy sprayer), sprinkled some salt on top and put it all back into the oven. I then let this bake for about 20 minutes. I then took my fish fillets (200g per fillet of some type of white fish) and sprinkled them with lemon zest (which i had to grate) and some salt and pepper. Once the potatoes were done i added the fish to the tray onto the top of the potatoes and put it back into the oven for another 10 minutes or so (basically until the fish was just cooked through). This was the part that i found the hardest, cos i didn't really know when the fish was cooked through, so i had to keep asking my mom whether it was done or not. Over time, if i continue to cook this dish, i will slowly learn when it would be ready; it all comes with experience i guess.

I served it with a nice salad similar to the ones i made on previous weeks, but with a slight twist. In this salad i added a bit of nice cucumber which i found in the fridge and my mom said i could use. The cucumbers i first had to peel, and then i cut it thinly (and to about the same size).

Action - Football

Football this week was tough. We had the Rosslyn friendly on Tuesday, so that took over from the tuesday practice, but apart from that we still had Monday practice thursday practice (the other players usually have wednesday morning practice as well, but our coach cancelled it; though unfortunately because i do volleyball, i had to got to volleyball practice, which was incredibly tiring).

Firstly, the game. We lost. That's all i really need to say but i'll say more anyway. The final score was 5-0, and they just completely outplayed us. They were much fitter, and just seemed to be more alive, with more determination than us. And, they were also home with their own referees who gave some pretty bad decisions, but i'm not blaming that. So yeah, bring on the intense practices of the rest of the week...

Well, thursday wasn't actually as hard as i was expecting it to be. What we did was we worked on a new style of play that our coach wants us to learn so that we can implement it as soon as possible and become a very exciting team to watch. This new gameplay revolved around passing and moving very quickly, finding little gaps, and just trying to keep the passes flowing without holding onto the ball too long. And we were pretty successful, i must admit. We weren't perfect, but we did do a pretty good job of picking up exactly what we needed to do and getting it done.

Okay, i say that it wasn't as hard as i expected, but passing and moving around constantly in a game-situation is still pretty energy-consuming. I mean, try constantly moving for about forty minutes straight. It's HARD.

Creativity - Cooking lesson

This week i made tomato and three cheeses tarts with a nice salad.

In fact, my mom had never made this before either, so it was an important lesson for me to learn how to follow instructionsfrom a cook book, so that the final food still tastes amazing. This recipe came from a cook book called the Instant Cook by Donna Hay, which my mom owns.

First i preheated the oven to 180*C, so as to make sure that i wouldn't waste any time. I then took some pastrysheets and trimmed them a bit to get a nice square shape of the size of two put together and cut it in half, giving two decent sized sheets of pastry. I did this twice, as there are four in my family,and each could then have one. I then placed the pasty bases on some baking trays lined with baking paper, and let them chill there. I then had to combine ricotta (a type of cheese), basil and parmesan (another type of cheese) in a bowl, making sure it is mixedwell, and spread it out over the pastry. The one problem was that i had to make sure to not put too much of the mixture, as i had to leave enough gap on each border. This would allow the cheese to melt in the oven, while not overflowing the pastry. It just made it nice and clean to eat. Next, i arranged some slices of mozzarella (another type of cheese) over the mixture, again leaving that small gap on the borders. I also had to make sure that i didn't overload the pastry with cheese, as it could have easily turned into a cheese mountain. The recipe didn't actually mention this, but i decided to sprinkle a bit of grated parmesan on top of the whole thing just to add a bit more of a kick to it (and also i love parmesan!). I then topped the mixture with some cherry tomatoes, which i had cut in half. The recipe said to make sure that the cut side was up, which i didn't actually notice at first, meaning i had to waste time flipping all of them to the proper way. Apparently, if the cut sides are up (according to my mom) then the tomatoes become roasted quicker and retain their flavour. I sprayed olive oil over the whole thing with this handy olive oil sprayer that my mom has and then sprinkled it with a bit of salt and pepper.Once all this preparation was done i then put the four tarts in the oven and baked them for 20 minutes (or basically until they were golden).

I also made a salad to go with it, which turned out to be exactly the same as the one i made last week. Except for the fact that this weeki made pretty much all of it by myself. The only thing i messed a bit up on was cutting the onions, as i didn't manage to get them fine enough and my mom had to help out with that a bit.

Action - Volleyball

Well, volleyball has been going well. I'm worried for ISSEA, as our team is definitely not as good as last years at this stage, though hopefully we'll improve by november. Our biggest problem is that we don't have enough tall people, though. I have actually even tried to convince some of the taller people in our grade to come and join, as we seriously need some extra height, but unfortunately it hasn't worked.

Each practice we first warm up, then we work on basic skills. Once a reasonable amount of time has been spent on those skills we move into the tactics and different tactics that can be used to beat opponents. I have to say that our coach (a math teacher called Stevenson) is really good. He was good last year, but this year where we have a number of people who haven't played large amounts of volleyball before (such as some of the younger players) and it is clear to me that they are going to improve drastically under the guidance of our coach. Well, that's what i'm hoping.

In terms of the fitness, it doesn't really bother me as much in volleyball as it does in football, as volleyball is more of a game where you don't run around. You still need to move around, sometimes at pretty crazy speeds, but it's not the kind of sport where you need endless amounts of energy and ridiculous stamina levels. Though, Stevenson makes us do fitness at the end of each practice (usually consisting of a few suicides, push-ups, sit-ups, and various other exercises).

Action - Football

After my initial successes in increasing my fitness during the week of tryouts, it seems as if i can't progress anymore. Over the course of this week i have found training as difficult as it was last friday, on the final day of tryouts. I am a little bit worried, as it either means that i have not been pushing myself hard enough, or that something in my body has happened to stop me from increasing my fitness any further. Another possibility may be that the practices have slowly been becoming more and more strenuous, and that it has meant that i have viewed each practice as been equal to the last in terms of how easy i found it.

I also plan to go cycling for at least a couple hours today and tomorrow so that i continue to gain more and more fitness. If not, it may come to the point where i will have to choose between football and volleyball, though i hope it doesn't, as i wouldn't want to let either of the teams down. For now at least i am hoping to continue as best i can, and once the friendlies start coming up i will be able to see how i can cope with a game situation.

Each practice has been pretty physical, with each player trying to develop both our skills on the pitch, our understanding of the type of game play we will use through the season, and also continue progressing our fitness levels to get us match fit before the season actually starts properly. We have a friendly this coming week against Rosslyn Academy (BIG RIVALS), so hopefully we will be ready for then. If not we will just have to work even harder, which i am not looking forward to, so hopefully we do win.