Hello! This is my fourth post for this year’s In-Depth Project. To see my third In-Depth post, click this link: Third In-Depth Post

(Please click the view original button above to see my photos)

Progress Report

During these few weeks, I was able to meet with my mentor (online, of course) once and make brownies. In our last meeting, she had given me the task to find a bakery item I wanted to make, and find a recipe I thought would work well. After searching for brownies recipes online, I decided on a recipe from a website called Love and Lemons.

(Link: https://www.loveandlemons.com/brownies-recipe/)

During the meeting, my mentor gave me advice and taught me techniques I could use while making brownies. The main piece of advice I got was to never mix the batter too long or hard, as mixing it more would make the ‘bread’ part of the brownie too fluffy and “bread-like”. Instead, she told me to use a spatula and do something called ‘folding’. It is a technique where instead of just mixing the batter, you fold the batter in a circular motion. This would help reduce the amount of air bubbles formed in the batter, resulting in a heavier, denser brownie. Once I was finished making the brownie, she gave me the same task she gave me last week: to find another recipe. At the moment, I am looking at some cupcake and cake recipes for our next meeting. Below are some photos of my finished brownies.

Tasty!

Lots and lots of chocolate… 🙂

To Have A Beautiful Mind

QUESTIONS

From this section of the chapter, I realized that asking questions is a great way to grow a connection with your mentor, as it stimulates conversation and more back-and-forth interaction with your mentor. During my meeting with my mentor, I was able to ask questions to clarify things I didn’t fully understand or to gain more insight into what she was teaching me. A good example of where I asked useful questions was when she was teaching me how to fold my batter. It was a technique I had never even heard of before, so when she was trying to teach me through a video call, it was a little hard for me to understand what she. was trying to explain to me. Therefore, I had to ask many questions to further clarify what the technique she was trying to teach me was. Because of all the questions I asked, I was able to master the technique of ‘folding’, which made my brownies taste good. While I was asking questions about folding, she told me not to worry as “[she] also took a very long time to fully learn all these techniques, so [I] shouldn’t worry too much if [I] think [I] don’t get it yet.” These words of encouragement were very helpful, as it made me realize that learning new techniques are hard for everyone, not just me.

LISTENING

This concept from this chapter talks about how listening is the most important way for you to gain knowledge from your mentor. The book explained how listening is one of the most important factors that could make or ruin your relationship with your mentor, as being a good listener allows your mentor to know that you are interested in what they are teaching. Being a bad listener will immediately ruin any chance of you and your mentor being successful in the future. While reading this chapter, I realized that this concept was for both the learner and the mentor, as you need mutual respect for each other if you want everything to go smoothly. I was able to show my mentor that I was listening to her and cared about the things she was saying by frequently nodding my head, and agreeing with her points. I would immediately apply the skills or techniques she had taught me.

I think my in-depth project so far has been very successful, and I hope to see you in my next post! Thank you, and see you soon!

Amin Lotfi