Blog Post Reflection

Looking back at all the blog posts we have written throughout the semester, one thats stands out to me in particular is my post titled, "Gai Daan Jai". It was one of my favorite pieces to write because of the freedom we were given to choose a food/dish we cared about and able to use it as the basis of our emulation of Lily Wong's, "Eating the Hyphen".  While looking back at the piece I think I did a pretty good job of grabbing the audiences attention from the very first line by opening with, "One does not go about their day in the city of Hong Kong without coming across some Gai Daan Jai." The sentence is both attention grabbing and gives the reader insight as to what the rest of the piece will be about.

Another thing I feel I did well on was having good imagery and descriptions, which can be seen in phrases such as, "watching as buttery clouds escape from the gap between the two hot plates" and "follow by tiptoeing over the edge of the stall trying to eye the perfectly golden brown semi-spheres."

One thing I could improve on is small gramatical errors I made throughout the piece. For example I say, "Those three little words is what gets me every time, because thats the best way to have them, fresh off the hot griddle." where It makes more gramatical sense to say, "Those three little words are what get me every time, thats the best way to have them, fresh off the hot griddle."

Another thing I would improve in this post is that in Lily Wong's "Eating the Hyphen", Wong makes use of dictionary definitions and listing, which are tools I should have more explicitly included in my emulation.

The Cookie - Marcel Proust

The excerpt, "The Cookie", from Marcel Proust's Remembrance of Things Past, is a piece that explores a man's journey down memory lane, trying to pinpoint the time in his life where he first tried the madeline that was causing him such pleasure. "Whence could it have come to me, this all-powerful joy? I sensed that it was connected with the taste of the tea and the cake, but that it infinitely transcended those savours, could, no, indeed, be of the same nature. Whence did it come? What did it mean? How could I seize and apprehend it?" 

It all began when he accepted tea from his mother which he normally does not, and dips the madeline into the tea, which causes him deep pleasure."An exquisite pleasure had invaded my senses, something isolated, detached, with no suggestion of its origin." He finally remembers that the first time he has tried a madeline was with his aunt when he was a child. "And suddenly the memory revealed itself. The taste was that of the little piece of madeleine which on Sunday mornings at Combray (because on those mornings I did not go out before mass), when I went to say good morning to her in her bedroom , my aunt Léonie used to give me, dipping it first in her own cup of tea or tisane. " He goes on to explain how the memories he is experiencing last forever because of the sensory details he experience during the time the memory was made such as taste and smell.

I can relate to what Proust is saying in his piece about food being able to tie you to memories from your past, and people often vividly remembering specific moments due to the feelings they were experiencing or food they were eating. This can be seen in people who eat comfort foods and how it brings them back to a time where they were calm and comfortable.

I want to go Home Kong Pie

It's been 4 months since I've last seen my family, and its hit that point in the semester where I want nothing more than to go home to Hong Kong. "I want to go Home Kong Pie" is going to encompass a sense of comfort as well as curb one's craving for some traditional Hong Kong cuisine. The pan is going to be lined with a thick and crunchy graham cracker crust, filled with rich chocolatey and fudgy filling, and topped with a lattice of traditional Hong Kong styled circular egg waffles. The pie's chocolate filling is the perfect source of comfort  for chocolate lovers who turn to chocolate in their times of need, and the egg waffle brings a bit of Hong Kong to the pie as egg waffles are one of Hong Kong's traditional desserts. 

Blogpost Draft Peer Review Reflection

In my peer review my partner suggested that I define certain concepts I brought up in the piece sruch as,  "good atmosphere" and "cute drinks". I initially chose to have such colloquial language in my article as I wanted it to be style similar to a Buzzfeed article by having it quite conversational and casual, as well as targeted towards a young adult audience.  The suggestion t made me realized that while I hoped most of my target audience would realize what I was talking about by saying phrases like "good atmosphere" and "cute drinks" they might not know exactly what I'm talking about. One way I could fix this is by being more descriptive in my article and add extra details that help define these subjective phrases. Another thing my partner said was that I should add a bit more background about the restaurants I am reviewing such as when they opened. I think I will take her advice and try to include more background information on the restaurants.