Affordances

Hello! Today is about Affordances…so what ordinary activities bring about!

Being occupied means we bring about changes in the world. The activities that we engage in also have the ability to shape our nature, bringing about changes in us (Mulligan, 2009).  Essentially, when we take part in the human form we are also formed!

In reflecting on my cooking experiences this week, I  used the three groups of ‘communication, connection and good /bad aspects’  to establish what the task of making pikelets ‘brought about’ for me this week. Have a wee listen to my story to see if you can make the connections, enjoy!

Late Thursday night Alice my flat mate was sick so I decided to create a kind gift by brewing up some pikelets with delicious homemade jam. Feeling all bubbly and cherry I walked into the kitchen to find the sink was blocked up with disgusting food substances and used dishes water to the rim of the sinks edge. Frustrated at the sight I identified it to be ‘Bobs’ mess in which unethically he hadn’t had the respect to clean up after his chore of dishes for the evening. Clearly after doing the dishes you empty out the mess and tidy up after yourself however Bob hadn’t quite caught onto this as yet. Respectfully I prompted in a kind tone for him to please clean it up as its what you simply do when you have finished doing the dishes chore. Unsurprised, Bob didn’t move an inch. I felt my temper boil and body language tense as I banged and clashed the dishes around, while making up the pikelet batter. I cooked in silence until moments later I expressed loudly “bugger it” as I burned the pikelets continuously. My cooking  failed terribly however I managed to salvage a few nice ones to give to Alice and slide down my hungry tummy to.  I can certainly say that this dirty mess and my behavior brought about a change in me tonight, Mrs Trunchball compared to the Mrs Honey I usually am! ;-) ;-)

On a happier note….The pikelet recipe I chose to use was my Mothers. From a young age I have memories of watching her make this recipe many times, one she would always use when she was entertaining guests or when she wanted to give a kind food gift to someone in need. From these experiences of watching over mums shoulder, helping her crack the eggs and getting out the old school egg beater ready to cream the mixture, I started to learn how to cook and grow a passion for food. This aspect of my life relates to a learning experience a young woman had in the book “Tivaevae: Portraits of Cook Islands quilting” as she to learned how to do an activity by observing her role models in her life. “I was 20 years old when I first tried to make my own tivaevae. In those days we learned by watching women. I belonged to a vainetini group in Avatiu, my mother in law was the president. I watched my mother in law and other women making their own Tivaevae. Then I’d come back home and make my own; that’s how I learned to sew” (Rongokea, 1992).

References:

Rongoken, L.(1992).Tivaevae: Portraits of Cook Islands quilting. Daphne Brasell Associates Press: Wellington.

Mulligan, M. (2009). Marx Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844. Progress Publishers Moscow. Retrieved September 17 2011 from: http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/manuscripts/preface.htm

The Ergonomics of Cooking!

Hi there, Today is all about the Ergonomics of Cooking!

An understanding of ergonomics underpins the ability to “constantly make slight invisible adjustments to an activity to adapt to the needs of those taking part and ensure that it continues to work for its intended purpose” (Creek and Lawson-porter, 2007). When considering ergonomics the main factors can be broken into interrelationships of person, activity and environment.

Ergonomics In relation to my cooking experiences this week was all about how the activity of cooking a roast was shaped by me adapting and doing the best possible job I could in the tiny, messy kitchen environment that was present! Read below to see these factors more in-depth:

Person: In considering my life stage, According to the developmental stages of Erikson I fall under the ‘Young adulthood categories’. Erikson states that “Our significant relationships are with marital partners and friends” (Harder, 2009). Thus I can relate with as today I was cooking the divine roast for my flat mates and boyfriend as a gift from my last finances left thanks to study link. Thanks to my passion for cooking I felt competent in my cooking skills to produce a winning feed and I must add that I enjoyed the adventure and creativity of sprinkling herbs and a hint of lemon over the delicious chicken thanks to the suggestion of Nana and her fine recipes!

Activity: I reckon I could say I have cooked about 50 roast chickens in my time, making the flow of cooking up the fest a breeze! Turn oven on, put water in roasting dish, plomp chicken in and into the oven, peel and chop veggies, add to the dish, cook for about 1.30mins-2hours and BOOM you have a delicious feed! No cookbook or instructions needed with this one, however time constraints on this occasion were that we needed to have dinner cooked in enough time to let our food digest before we headed to the pool for our nightly swim!

Environment: In cooking up this roast there was certainly a storm brewing up in the kitchen. Dishes were spread out on the bench to the moon and back with no clear space to fit in a chopping board to cut the veggies up on. Thus I had to improvise where I soon found myself set up on the couch with the chopping board on my lap and veggies being chopped and put into a dish on the floor. This did cause a few looks and laughs but what choice did I have due to the never-ending mess! It made for a bit of fun and banter where I got the others involved in peeling and chopping, creating a wee production line!  

References:

Harder, F. (2009).The Developmental Stages of Erik Erikson. Retrieved September 18 2011 from: http://www.learningplaceonline.com/stages/organize/Erikson.htm  

Creek, J, & Lawson-porter, A. (2007). Contemporary issues in occupational therapy: reasoning and reflection.Chichester.John Wiley & Sons ltd.

Participation and Occupation 2 Blog

 Kiaora! This new blog is created for the paper ‘Participation In Occupation Two’. In this course we are looking at activity analysis, where we are required to create a blog to express our personal experiences of a chosen activity, which In this case I have chosen to analyse my experiences of Cooking 2 hours a week. I will be expressing cooking from all aspects in terms of ergonomics, ambience, affordances and practical considerations.

Lets get started....

Today I had my fist face to face tutorial for this course with our new lecturer! We were involved in an engaging reflective writing exercise where we brained stormed a range of occupations under the headings food (everything that is consumed), paper (permanent things in the world)  and plays (how we express ourselves). We were then asked to choose a specific activity from what we had brainstormed and without hesitation I chose COOKING as I instantly felt a connection due to my passion and love of Cooking! So, what is cooking?......

Food + Cooking = Fundamental human need. . . .  .

Food is a fundamental human need and well as a fundamental indicator of culture and belief. In order to consume food we need to go through the processes of food production i.e COOKING! Alleyne (2011)states that Cooking is the process of preparing food by applying heat selecting, measuring and combining of ingredients in an ordered procedure for producing safe and edible food. The process includes a number of methods, tools and combinations of ingredients to help with the flavor or digestibility of food. Factors affecting the final outcome include the variability of ingredients, ambient conditions, tools, and how good the individual can cook. Applying heat to a food usually, though not always, chemically transforms it, which also changes the flavor, texture, consistency, appearance, and nutritional properties.

The MEANING of cooking to me……

*From a young age I was required to teach myself how to cook in order to put food on the table for my family in the evenings, because the pressure on my parents from owning a business and  working long hours meant they were very stressed and tired, so just a simple gesture of preparing a meal for them each night by the time they got home really meant a lot. They could come home, relax and enjoy there families company over a nice meal without the pressure of preparing a meal for the whole family.

*Fun   *Meaningful *Passionate about it        *Way to express myself *What I produce feeds my rumbling tummy *Constantly learning new cooking skills and enhancing my knowledge *Social activity as I enjoy inviting friends and family over to shear what I cook *Cooking is a way to learn roles and responsibilities.

Just a thought to ponder until next time…

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).

Ciao!

References:

Alleyne, A. (2011). What is Cooking. Retrieved 7 septemeber 2011 from: http://ezinearticles.com/?What-is-Cooking?&id=1758999