Food Photography!

Hi all,

It's been some time since we last blogged and that's because our we've been busy with our microteaching lesson, which is on 26th September. Not to worry, we'll be taking loads of pictures and blogging about our experience for that soon!

Anyway, we had a lesson on Food Photography today by Ms Johannah Soo. She's really experienced and offer a lot useful tips and advice on taking pictures of food. Here're some of the pointers she shared during the lesson:

1. Food should look already look good.
2. Shoot from lower angle, not limited to aerial view
3. Lighting is important
4. Close and crop tightly 
5. Avoid the blur
6. Use shallow depth field
7. Add a little oil
8. Don't over prop 

Some rules to keep by:
Triangle Rule
Food items should form a triangle in the picture. ie don't out plates or food straight, put them at an angle 

Rule of Thirds 

When framing the shot, the ratio of the subject to the background should either be1/3 or 2/3.

Other tips:

• Use some shapes
• Accesorize the food- Place some chopsticks at the side? Use appropriate plates or bowls.
• Use colour wheel- use complementary or contrasting colours 
• White plates give a clean look
• Have different levels in the presentation dish
• Oval plates are for savoury food and round plates are for sweet food.

We were given some donuts to play around with and here're some of my photos!

 Taken outside the Foods Lab

I think this close up shot looks better. It gives the feel of an afternoon tea session in a place that is away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Finally a picture of us on our blog! :)

Batteries for a teaching pack!

Website 1: Tools for puzzles, bingo worksheets
Recommendations: For creating worksheets

I felt this site particularly useful for teachers in using technology for lesson planning. A simple software is able to save the precious time of a teacher. This website provides free downloads such as school test template, bingo templates and many more..

As teachers-to-be, we are well aware of the usefulness of a simple bingo or puzzle sheet. First, it saves time as it has a build in generator where every bingo card is different. It saves the hassle of rearranging the words again and again to make it perfect piece of worksheet. It motivates students by making lessons effective and engaging. Yes, thats what we teachers want, don't we? Thirdly, it allows applications of knowledge gained with quick results to reflect on their understanding. Perhaps, the most important thing its free!

The effectiveness of a teacher is judged by her ability to manage her resources efficiently by tapping on what she has to make her lessons productive, engaging and  enriching for every single student in the class.



Website 2: Learning Seed
Recommendations: Theory and Practical

I am pretty excited to share with you this blog, simply for the reason it excites me! Personally I felt this blog particularly useful and a great tool of resources for us teachers to be.

This is what you will see when you enter the web page. There are various categories that might interest you such as Food&Nutrition, personal communication, child development and etc.. Definitely we are looking for Food &Nutrition .. and as we click it.. 

Tada! There are many different topics that you can choose from.

Hang on! There are even videos provided too! It is useful as it caters to the visual learners in our class:) This would definitely exhibit another tool for practical demonstration.   

Worksheets are also provided to give teachers ideas on creating questions. 

Yes not forgetting that it contains textiles component too!
It is a highly recommended website for teachers to vist for creative ideas :)


Website 3: Brainpop
Recommendations: Concepts in theory

I enjoyed this website very much as a teenager. My teachers would use this website to educate us on certain important key concepts and diseases that were hard to explain. The power of visualisation! I love the robot too, its just amazing how captivating this website is!

This is how the webpage looks like when you enter.. 

 Click on health, the orange label.

Now click on nutrition .. 

And here you are! Presenting the different topics available. 

It has videos available to illustrate the diseases. I am quite sure that it will excites your students like how it attracted me too!

Website4: Exploratorium

Recommendations: Experimental component of coursework

This website provides some ideas of experiments tagging along with its scientific explanations, history and some recipes related to the food product. It is quite limited in the products of food available. Yet, don't be dismayed! It is a good start of tool to build up resources and look for fresh ideas. The site is user-friendly and you might want to get students to do some reading before coming for lessons on food commodities!

 Here is what you are greeted with when you enter the site :)

The site has interesting diagrams to explain theories that students find it so hard to understand. Thank God for the internet which makes information so easily available.  

I am not sure about you but for me, I am pretty amazed about this site! 

Under the topic on eggs, it has a portion on a journey to an egg farm. How cool is that! We don't have free excess to egg farms in Singapore and students miss out on such experience :( But well, this site provide us with all that we need to know with the know-how! And students are not short-changed too!

Website5: Love Potatoes

Recommendations: Theory (Food groups in health diet pyramid)

I have a secret. Do you know that I love potatoes alot! I don't know, perhaps is this asian genes that makes me go crazy about starches, about carbohydrates. I am totally head over heels about that. I love french fries, even though I am studying all about nutrition. :)

As such, when I chanced upon this site it caught my attention:) It has a link on "The Potatoes" that educates readers about the different types of potatoes available in the world! It is packed with recipes, nutrition and fun facts of potatoes. Just that! All that for potatoes lover which many of our kids are loving french fries and fast food. But fret not! It is an educational website that educates the healthy way of cooking potatoes interestingly! 

A sneak preview of the site .. 

Thats all I have for you right now :) stay tune for more updates! Can't wait to share more of our interesting findings with you all out there!!

With love, 

Candice :)

Other Interesting Resources (as promised!)

Well since I'm on a roll from my previous blog post and my ideas are still fresh on my mind, I shall share about some interesting craft ideas I've come across while surfing the net for ideas for our group's micro teaching as well as DIY/ money-saving ideas for my upcoming wedding! :)

Seriously, I'm thankful that I've stumbled onto my ideal job. I get to do what I like and its called WORK. 

So here you go!
1. DIY Party Favor Bags

This website provides step-by-step details on how to create these adorable party favor bags and they are really simple! I like how versatile they can be and it all depends on the occasion, target recipients and they are inexpensive to make!
I will definitely try making these and I'll post pictures of mine when I get them done!

2. DIY Utensil Bags

Another site that I stumbled upon while looking for ideas for micro teaching. This is a great party idea especially when you are housing guests for a housewarming party, baby shower, Christmas parties or simply gatherings. Simply get napkins that are suited for the occasion and ta-daa! It's simple, inexpensive and adds that 'wow' element to a typical buffet/potluck meal when your guests arrive! It's so simple that I wonder why I never thought of this before.
I'm definitely doing this for my wedding lunch buffet. :)

3. Champagne *burp!

This is not really a link to any website but I chanced upon this on Pinterest (my favorite online scrapbooking site and my go-to website for ideas on anything I can think of). Put coloured candy floss in the champagne glass and you get a cool effect after pouring the bubbly in! Definitely make the standard champagne ceremony out-of-the-ordinary and maybe the champagne will even taste sweeter! I'm not really a fan of the bubbly. =p
We're considering doing this for our champagne-pouring ceremony during our wedding dinner but my fiance says we should try first. So keep posted for pictures of our trials!

4. 65 Printables for Weddings

Yes like the website says when you enter, get your printer well-stocked with ink! I love how the paper projects in this website comes in various themes and unlike how the name suggests, I don't think the projects are limited to weddings only! They serve as good decorations for holiday parties and other events as well. I've pinned this to my to-do board on Pinterest and I'll definitely try some of the printables when I host my first house party!

5. My Pinterest Boards!

My last recommendation will be my favorite site - my Pinterest board.
Like I mentioned before, this is where I go to for anything under the sun- hair styles (men and women), food ideas, quotes, running inspirations, funny pictures to destress, house decoration and furnishing ideas, art and craft ideas, wedding inspirations etc. This is the website that I update frequently and most of my resources come from there.
I definitely recommend this for everyone though I have heard that it is more of a "girly" website but I beg to differ. Try it out for yourself! :)

That's all for now!

Some Useful Web Resources

The internet is where we go to for information nowadays rather than the library and I believe it is for a good reason! There are so many different tools and resource libraries available on the internet and you can find anything and every thing you can ever think of. Here're some of the websites that I've uncovered recently and I believe they are especially useful for upper secondary coursework.
Check out the recommendations segment for the ranking of the sites! (max 5 ☺s)

1. Foodgawker

What is this about?
This website is an online 'scrapbooking' website where members contribute pictures of food recipes, interesting food decoration techniques, food art and craft ideas, etc. The website is updated frequently and you do not need to be a member to access the resources on the website. All you have to do is to click on the pictures and you will be directed to the websites where the pictures originated from.

Recommendations ☺☺☺☺
A good starting place to explore possible recipes for coursework whether or not you have an idea on the type of dishes you will be cooking.
I used this to brainstorm for ideas for our micro-teaching recipes!

2. Food Science Projects

What is this about?
This website may look plain and boring at first glance but rest assured it is power-packed with interesting chemistry experiments all related to food. The interesting titles will definitely entice you to click on a few of them and the pages describe in details the duration and equipment needed for the experiments and detailed procedures as well.

Recommendations☺☺☺☺
This is especially useful for the investigative section of the coursework and students can use this website to brainstorm for food experiments that are out-of-the-box!

3. Exploratorium

What is this about?
This is another website that provides various ideas about food experiments that are categorized into the food types. I would think that this website has rather limited food types listed but it serves as a good complement to the second link. It also provides information about the food types besides the possible food experiments. The pages are interestingly designed to entice the readers to make exploring the website an entertaining experience.

Recommendations ☺☺☺
Look at this website for some ideas about food investigation projects and also on how to link the projects to the properties of the food types. Students may need to refer to other websites as well for more project ideas as well.

4. Food Science for Kids of All Ages

What is this about? 
This website is maintained by Food Science department of Penn State University (PSU). What I like about this website is that not only does it contain resources grouped into levels - simple experiments for lower secondary, advanced experiments for upper secondary and resources for Food Science teachers, it also has information on the advantages and career prospects of studying Food Science. This certainly helps to anchor in the point that Food and Nutrition is a recognized area of study today.

Recommendations ☺☺☺☺☺
Treasure trove of resources for teachers and students! Need I say more? :)

5. Spicynodes

What is this about? 
My last recommendation is not a "resource" site but a "utility" site. This was a website that one of my ICT tutorial mates recommended to the class. Spicynodes allows users to create attractive mindmaps easily. Note: You do need to sign up for a membership and the trial phase is FOC.

Recommendations ☺☺☺
Good for students who are visual learners when they are doing their task analysis.

That's all the resources I'll be touching on here! But rest assured it will not end here! Our group will be updating our resources page as we come across new sites so do continue to visit our blog!

For my next post, I'll be sharing some other not-so-serious web resources that I've come across recently. Till next time then! :)

Food for thought

Obesity is the condition in which a person is considered overweight when fats constitue about 1/3 or more of his body weight. A recent National Health Survey (NHS) conducted in 2010 highlighted the increase rate of obesity from 6.9% in 2004 to 10.8% in 2010.

Check out this man.. What do you think?
Is this becoming a common trend in Singapore?

Learning Fest 2012/ FSC Club

The Learning Festival is a half-day event held annually in National Institue of Education (NIE). It is a platform for members in the NIE Community to boost their existing knowledge and skills through attending workshops held by the various clubs in the community.

And I have my privilege to be part of the Food Science Club, in short FSC, where we are involved in the preparation and assisting of the learning fest. The theme of the event is 'Carnival'. We contributed through practical way of offering assistance such as the decorations, food preparation and going down to the micro level of decision making. The event was an eye-opener because we get to observe how the seniors go about planning big events like this, which indeed is useful in the future as a teacher for us.

Enough of my blabbering, let the pictures do the talking :)

Prior to the learning festival (Prep)

Prep for Decorations

Carnival theme! 

Product of our hardwork- paid off!

Its already 730pm! But everyone is so focus and diligent
in finishing their task in preparation for tmr :)

Continued discussions .. 

My group was in charge of deco and door gift - mainly this caramelised apple :)
It tasted amazingly nice! Drools! *

Time for a break while waiting for the caramel to dry :)

Actual Day of Learning Fest Workshop 

Photo with atig after the cooking session :)
Posting with the food participants made. 

Tom Yam Mini Burgers

Tandoori Chicken Wrap

Ice-cream cone cupcakes before frosting :)
*Don't be deceive by the looks - it tasted esp nice.. esp for a hungry stomach! 

Photo of us while helping participants to deep-fry their carnival corn hotdog ! (Cheese!!) 

Left: End product after frying
Right: Queuing for a space in the frying pan

Isa- One of our participants for the day:)
He mentioned that he enjoyed the cooking sessions very much, though he felt helpless
but at least he understood how tired his mom felt after cooking meals for the family. 

Isa piping his ice-cream cone cupcake. He enjoys it al ot! 

Piping of his ice-cream cone

Carnival theme decorations :)
Isn't it beatuiful? :) such creative ideas the seniors have.

I hope that these photos give you a glimpse of what we do during learning fest and what it is all about! I'm looking forward to join it next year if there are such opportunities again! :) What about you?

Till then,
Yong Candice