I don't like cheesecakes any more.

After me baking cupcakes a week ago my cooking career became endangered. Baking a nice, tasty cheesecake before made me so self-confident that I decided to make something similar again. I made a decision and chose quite tough recipe ("I'm such a good cook, why not? There's nothing I can't cope with"! eh...) - cheesecake cupcakes with gingerbread underside and plum preserves.
Everything went auspiciously, I carefully followed every step of the recipe and put my cupcakes-to-be to the oven. After some time a really pleasant smell emerged from the kitchen. How complacent I was when I saw these beautiful, fluffy little cakes. Unfortunately, after an hour this image came to my eyes...

I have no idea what happened to them! The gingerbread base transmuted into a sad layer and cheese shrank without any reason, I took a risk and sampled my work. It was a bad decision. My conclusion? Don't be too self-confident and throw yourself in at the deep end. I'll be more careful during cooking something tough, go back to simply recipes and refine them. Furthermore, now I know that I shouldn't give up, because even if I fail, next time I'll do better. Here's curry with noodles, which I made just after baking these... whatever, I don't even know how to call it.

Very tasty :)

Cooking

February was definitely a month of salads for me. I’ve made so many of them since I wanted to master my “salad skill” and now I’m a little bit fed up with them. Nonetheless, I’m content with it, because I managed to get some experience in this special category. I learned which vegetables and other ingredients can be mixed together so as to taste better. Not so long ago, I used to add too much spices to all the salads I made. Now, I learned to use a proper amount. I came to a conclusion that I love preparing salads, because they are the only dishes impossible to ruin.

I also wanted to make sushi again, because I had just made it once with friends. I had to check if it was still tasty when I did it myself without any help. It occurred that it was even better, because I changed the recipe a little bit and added my favorite ingredients.

Never before did I realize how much I like spinach. About a month ago I didn’t have any idea what to prepare for dinner with my family. I wanted to cook something which I had never done before and was hard to ruin, because I couldn’t disappoint my relatives with an unpalatable meal. The only thing which came to my mind was spaghetti with spinach-cheese sauce. It occurred to be so delicious that only 3 hours later I was cooking it again for my friend, who was amazed with it too. Two weeks later I bought a new pack of spinach and decided to make pancakes with this. That time I created a recipe for pancake's filling made of tomatoes, meat and, of course, spinach. I've never eaten something like that before, the taste was just out of the ordinary. I was so amazed with it that I cooked first quiche in my life (with spinach, to be sure that it would be tasty). After me making this I heard the most beautiful words I could imagine. My mom told me that I was even a better cook than her!

I prepared something which I had never eaten before – muffins with a filling of cheese, ham, vegetables and spices. I had heard a lot about non-sweet version of muffins, but actually I didn't expect it to taste well. It turned out to delicious and I’m going to make it again. The only mistake I made was baking it too long, because muffins were a little bit too dry. Next time I'll do my best to take it out of an oven early enough.

And finally, things that I’m the most proud of – (very) chocolate cupcakes and cheesecake with carrots and pineapple. I’ve never been good at baking. It was impossible for me to bake something and not burn it. That's very sad, because baking is a part of cooking that I like the most. That time everything went perfect. I just have to work a bit more with decorating food, because my meals usually taste better than they look.

And some simple, but delicious cakes made of french dough:

Now, I can say without any doubts that cooking has become my best hobby. It helps me to relax, satisfies not only me, but also my friends and relatives, In this case experience is the best teacher, because I'm far better in it than I used to be at the beggining of September. I'm not ashamed to say that I'm proud of myself. I'm going to keep going and try out new recipes that I've never done before, so as to develop my skills.

Exercising during winter and 1st running session this year

Action

Some time ago I realized that I have a problem with systematicity. I tried to exercise regularly, but I admit that most of the time I was too lazy to do it and now I’m… ashamed. It’s obvious that if I want to see effects of activities which I do I have to be systematic. I’ve therefore promised myself that even if I am tired and lazy I will exercise anyway. It wasn’t an easy task for myself, but I think that I managed to complete it. Moreover, summer is my new motivator since I want to look good in clothes different from winter jacket in which everybody looks like penguin or Eskimo. I also realized that I don’t like my body altogether. Sometimes I feel jealous when I see fit thin girls on the street. I must get rid of this feeling!

Now, instead of working out with the “exercise agenda” I created about 3 months ago, I decided to change it a little bit, so as not to get my muscles used to doing the same activities all the time. I searched Youtube and found videos with trainings I’ve been really entranced with, e.g. BeFit’s, Jamie Alderton’s and Tiffany Rothe’s. Every time I exercise I choose some of their videos and mix them to create a competent training session lasting at least 1 hour. Then, I do a training consisting of stretching exercises made by myself, because I like it so much and hope that one day I would be able to do splits, which has always been my dream.

There always exists that critical moment just before working out, when I feel lazy, totally non-productive and worn out after whole day. During these moments I recall myself that I ruled to be systematic, can’t disappoint myself and will feel complacent and happy after (as always!). Then, the feeling of shame comes and I have no choice but do a training J My problem is that I’m very impatient and when I don’t see effects of my work, I give up and quit. Unfortunately, changing the way the body looks takes much time and requires hard work, thus I’m still trying to accept it and be active. I am doing everything to be persistent and work out (at least?) 3 times a week.

Running

Yesterday was the first time I went running this year. The weather was so beautiful that I instantly felt an overwhelming desire to go jogging. I remembered that amazing feeling I used to undergo during every run and couldn’t do anything different but do this. Simultaneously I thought that it was going to be a complete failure, because I hadn’t been running for about half a year, so my physical condition wasn’t so good as it had used to be… Additionally, all the exercises I had done at home were the muscle-growing type and running is a typical cardio workout. Nevertheless, I did my training. As I expected, it occurred to be very close to failure, because I got a colic at the very beginning and wasn’t able to get rid of it during the whole session. I could catch my breath, though, and didn’t feel a terrible pain in my legs, so it wasn’t so bad. Besides, the only training which is bad is this one, which never took place, not this during which something went wrong! J

Today I had a really terrible day. My mood was… hopeless. I felt like crying and then, suddenly thought that I may check out if running helps me. Not only did I run 40 minutes without any break, which I consider as a success, but also cheered myself up. There’s no better way to improve your mood than running! Nothing is able to clean human’s thoughts the way it does.

Sport

Working out at home is a type of activity that I’ve been practicing for 3 months by now. In my opinion, keeping fit by doing sport is one of the basic things in humans’ life. Without this it would be impossible to stay healthy.

At the beginning of this process I used to exercise with help of videos on youtube shared by sportspeople. I think that they do a really great job by showing others how to exercise correctly and I often followed their training plans. Nevertheless, after some time I decided to stop working out with the help of the Internet and create something myself. I made a simple list of my favourite exercises for muscles of the whole body and decided to follow it every time when I did sport.

Actually, after this short time of keeping fit I can see the difference in my body and I feel really complaced. I loosen some weight and grew my muscles a little bit and in my opinion it’s a big progress since I would hardly ever do any sport before. My physical condition is getting better and better, even though I still can’t find enough time to do it as often as I want. The thing which I’m the most satisfied with is that I began to run a more healthy, pure diet because of my will to keep the effect which exercising gives me, which cooperates with practicing cooking skills. I hope to keep on going and try something new, what I could add to my list of favourite exercises and boost my physical condition.

Service

The Maratathon of Writing Letters - Amnesty International

The marathon of writing letters held by an organization called Amnesty International was arranged 13 December 2014 in Katowice. Amnesty is a type of organization which fights for human rights all over the world. Marathons are actions consisting of gathering together and writing letters expressing opposition to violation of human rights to heads of state who treat its citizens badly. I’ve written letters defending a person from Norway who changed  sex and was sent for a compulsory psychological treatment, a woman from China, who was arrested for fighting against corruption and many other inequitably sentenced people.

During writing it many thoughts about important issues crossed my mind. I was analyzing the reasons why governments of many countries simply ignore human rights. I realized that there will never be fairness in our world if we don’t change anything. The whole society has to start fighting for being treated with justice. A simple action of writing letters may be helpful and that’s why I’m going to take part in the marathon again.

WOŚP - Wielka Orkiestra Świątecznej Pomocy

“Wielka Orkiestra Świątecznej Pomocy” is a charity campaign I’ve recognized since the stage of my early childhood. I’ve always wanted to take part in it as a volunteer, but I wasn’t allowed to since only people over 16 were allowed to do it. Now, as I’m 16 I was finally permitted to become a volunteer.

It was really easy to apply, because the school helped us to fill all the documents and it was for sure simplier than doing it myself.

I decided to collect money in the Gallery of Katowice as I thought there would be warm and I’d run into many people willing to give some money for charity. In fact it didn’t work out at all, because there was so many volunteers that I didn’t collect as much as I had expected.  Nevertheless, it wasn’t money that was the most important aspect of this action. The magical spirit of WOŚP’s endeavor was the thing which really affected me. Nearly 80% of people in the gallery wore a specific heart-sticker and they were behaving more kindly than usually.

Although all these well-known charity campaigns enable people to help others and people tend to take part in them from time to time, it really brings me down that they do it so rarely. I wish humans would someday become more empathetic and helping one another would be recognized as our habit.

Christmas gifts for children from orphanage

Just before Saint Nicholas’ Day some people from my school announced that they organize a charity action consisting in collecting gifts for children from an orphanage in Katowice among students. When I found out what was going on, a good idea came to my mind. I decided to ask students from my class to bring a small amount of money and I would buy sweets for children with it. How shocked was I when it occurred that nearly everyone brought some money!

After I had collected funds, I decided to go to many shops so as to catch the best bargains and buy as many gifts for children as possible. I bought a tremendous figure of sweets and it gave me a feeling of satisfaction that I had never experienced before. It was just pure happiness.

The campaign ended up as a success, because the whole school collected a great amount of gifts. I had never expected to be rewarded for what I had done, but someday after Saint Nicholas Day I received the best prize I could imagine. These children for whom I had bought sweets gave me and my classmates hand-made Christmas cards with acknowledgments for the presents. It really touched me and I would like to organize such a campaign myself.

Cooking

Cooking is a type of activity I’ve always wanted to be good at. After a long period of trying to begin learning this, I finally started and I’m truly proud I did. Till now I’ve prepared many dishes, which occurred to be successive and tasty. It hit me that cooking isn’t as difficult as I thought it was. Preparing food is one of the most relaxing types of action. During making meals I always turn up the music, sing, think about various things and limit my level of stress. I also conclude that this is one of the most creativity-boosting activities.

At the beginning of my “cooking career” I used to cook meals based on recipes found on the Internet, check all the details of instruction and then strictly follow it. Now, I’ve gained a feature like cooking intuition and I don’t need recipes any more. I just check the basic ingredients of a dish and then add various ingredients that come to my mind, and in fact, they nearly always match the rest, composing a satisfying whole.

My cooking abilities have improved for sure. Instead of simple meals I used to prepare at the very beginning, I started to make more complicated courses as sushi or home-made chocolate.

Not only have I found a new hobby, but also my food-habits have changed. Now, I eat in a more complex way, even when I want to consume something fast. I’ve quitted eating out and replaced it with cooking at home everything I eat. I try to eat in a more healthy way and as a result I figured a recipe for wheat bran pancakes with cottage cheese and home-made black currant jam, which fill in for common fatty pancakes. Additionally, I limited the amount of sweets I eat, and even when I do, I prepare a healthier version of it. For example, I made a chocolate, which recipe for I had got from my friend. I used coconut oil, genuine cocoa, almonds and goji berries which replaced butter, sugar and sweet cocoa.

Since I took up this hobby I’ve lightened my mum’s core of housework and we both are satisfied with this. I got used to preparing food for myself and my close family and it’s become my habit. Since I found out that my relatives adore pancakes, I started to cook various types of it for them regularly and they love it.

I consider cooking as a great way of spending leisure time with friends. Preparing food and consuming it together is far more quaint than ordering it in a restaurant. Once, we met with friends and tried to prepare sushi for the first time ever. It was such fun! We didn’t know all the right techniques and didn’t follow instructions at all, but the final effect still was delicious.

I will to continue to cook and try to create some recipe myself, since I want to check my kitchen skills. I hope that they will develop and I’ll become even more keen on cooking than I’m now.

Here are some photos of the dishes that I've cooked: