Through my book presentation

Hello, I would like to write about my book again.

The book I had been reading is, as I mentioned earlier in this blog, Uncommon Ground ~The History Of Coffeee and How It Transformed Our World~. It was published in 1999. In my presentation, I introduced about the author of the book who is Mark Penergrast. He is from Atlanta Georgia, and earned a Bachelor of Art degree in English Literature from Harvard College. Later, he attended Simmons College in Boston and obtained a Master of Arts degree in Library Science. He worked as an academic librarian and free-lance writer until he became a full-time writer. He decided to write this book because he was personally interested in deceptively narrow topics that in fact have figured in world history for millennia. Coffee has a long history starting from its discovery on an ancient Ethiopian hillside to its role as millenniall elixier in the Age of Starbucks. Coffee has dominated and molded the economies, politics, and social structures of entire countries. In his book, he mentions not only about the start of coffee, but also about Coffee Crisis that occured in 2002, which caused global prices to plummet, and at the same time, to the rise of Fair Trade movement.

The attractive aspect of this book is that this book is interesting for those who like coffee, like me. On the other hand, I think it is a boring book for those who aren't since it doesn't have many pictures and images inside, and mostly it is the explanation of coffee. I became well selective of coffee after reading this book. Since I work in Starbucks, I learned a lot about the taste of coffee, its origin, where it was grew, and so on, and now I am looing forward to sharing these knowledge to people who came to Starbucks as costomers.

Genre Analysis

http://www.aogaku-daku.org/restaurants/

Dirty French on the Lower East
Sidehttp://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/12/10/dining/10REST4/10REST4-articleLarge.jpg

*Does the reviewer show any special insider knowledge of the chefs or the restaurant's plan for the future?
Yes.

*What is the writing style of the review?
The review is written in an uneasy expression which is a style of flowery language.

*Does the review include a convenient grid so that the reader can see, at a glance, such facts as the restaurant's location, the price range of menu items, wheelchair accessibility, etc?

Yes it does. The address is written down with categories as
ATMOSPHERE ,SERVICE ,SOUND LEVEL ,RECOMMENDED,DRINKS AND WINE ,PRICES,OPEN,RESERVATIONS,WHEELCHAIR ACCESS.

*What additional information can you find out about the restaurant from its Website? Does anything on the Website contradict what's written in the review? If so, discribe.

*What did you learn about the values of the reviewer and cultural values through this review?

*Based on the review, would you and your partner like to try this resturant? Why or why not?

Restaurant Review

Restaurant Evaluation

Afternoon Tea Room

Tama-Plaza Station 045-905-0708

Hinako and I went to Afternoon Tea Room in Tama-Plaza station. The restaurant was very easy to find, though there were no particular signs at all, because it was located just in front of the station. The building seemed to be new and clean so we were feeling very excited even before entering the restaurant.

Actually, a store called Afternoon Tea is famous as a general store. It gathers lots of cute and pretty goods and it is basically popular among young girls. However, next to the store, we could find a stylish restaurant. There was a nice looking service staff warmly waiting for us in front of the restaurant. She wore a brown apron which all other staff members wore as well. They were friendly, and answered to our questions about the food professionally.

Inside the restaurant was overall clean. The weak light was okay. With the comfortable atmosphere, we were able to feel our self at home. There were few people studying, so it might also be a good place to go as a café. When I went to this restaurant with Hinako, it was like being at home.

We ordered a set of food, tea, and sweet. That cost 1220 yen which was very reasonable. The food had no problem with the quality, quantity, appearance, temperature and so on. We were full and satisfied at last.

The only thing we were unconvinced was that the restaurant did not provide any restrooms inside. The restroom was about 500 meters away from the restaurant. Anyway, it was definitely one of the restaurants that I would like to visit again.

 

1) Service Staff

Are their uniforms neat and clean? (5/5)

Are they friendly; enjoying their work? (5/5)

Are they smiling? (4/5)

Are they well groomed and professional? (5/5)

Do they serve fast enough? (3/5)

 

2) Restaurant

Cutlery clean? (5/5)

Music volume and type appropriate? (4/5)

Restaurant clean and orderly? (5/5)

Overall feeling positive and fun? (4/5)

Restaurant comfortable? (5/5)

 

3) Building and Surroundings

Access to restrooms? (2/5)

Signs visible, attractive, maintained? (1/5)

Access to the store? (4/5)

Surroundings clean? (5/5)

Lightings okay? (5/5)

 

4) Food Categories

Taste (5/5)

Quality (5/5)

Temperature (4/5)

Appearance (5/5)

Cost (5/5)

 

86/100

How Coffee is Made

Hello. Today I would like to introduce a YouTube video on a theme related to the food related book that I am reading. Please take a look at this video!

It explains how coffee is made.

http://youtu.be/DYsWECLaakI

Never Seconds

Hello everyone. Today I would like to talk about what I thought reading "Never Seconds."

 

What do you think of Martha Payne and what she accomplished?

Speaking of what she achieved, I think she is incredibly awesome. I could not have done what she accomplished when I was in the age of hers. It is really interesting that she decided to discover about school lunch also in overseas.

What are your memories of your school lunches?

In Japan, every students has the same lunch prepared for the day. However, that was what was different from my school in Morocco. I used to live in Morocco when I was in elementry school. My school prepared for various kinds of lunch every day, so we were able to choose what to eat. My memories in my school was that school lunch was made mainly for Islams, because Morocco is an Islamic country. Therefore, there were no pork in the cuisine.  Still, the menu was delicious and I used to love it. School lunch reminds me of my good days.

Did you feel that you had any input on the nature or quality of your school lunches?

I wasn't actually eating school lunch in the veiwpoint of nature or quality, so to be honest, I am not sure about the reality. However, maybe it did include vegetables and fruites made locally,.

What do you think of the dining facilities at AGU and how do you think they can be improved?
I think it should be more nutritious. Since they rarely include meat and vegetable, I think it is quite unbalanced.

What creative way(s) do you think we (individually or as AGU students) can help others in the world less fortunate than us...especially in connection to food?

What is important is to reduce the amount of food we throw away. In Japan, over seventeen million tons of food are disposed annually. Waste reduction may not help the world less fortunate than us directly, but it is necessary for us not to throw away such a huge amount of food.

Analyzing a food blog

Hello I'm Risako again.
I hate Autumn. It's freezing cold outside. I couldn't wake up early this morning because my bed didn't let me go. But one thing I love about Autumn is that there are a lot of delicious food. Pumpkin, sweet potato, chestnut and so on.

The food blog that Eri, Hinako, and I were given is called "Oh, Ladycakes." It is a blog about vegan baking cakes. The quality is quite high. The beautiful pictures and the neat explanation of various kinds of sweets are interesting. Moreover, since it has recipes written, I suppose it is useful for mothers who loves cooking for their children. As I mentioned earlier, the pictures on this blog visually attracts the readers. Doesn't this look tasty?



Unfortunately, this blog is written only in English. Therefore, I thought that it is better if it is accessible for foreign people, such as Japanese and French as well. Overall, I like this blog. It is a so-called 'Kawaii' blog. I hope you enjoy reading them too. http://www.ohladycakes.com

About My Book

Hello, I'm Risako. Thank you for visiting my page.
This is my first time to post on this blog. I hope you enjoy.

Today I would like to introduce my book that I have started reading.
The title of the book is called "Uncommon Grounds."

Author: Mark Pendergrast
Year of Publication: 1999

What kind of topic do you associate this title with? Well actually, when I first found this book, I had no idea what it was about. But as I read through the summary, I found out that this was a book basically about coffee. I chose this book because I love coffee and I was interested in the origin of coffee. To tell more about myself, I now work at Starbucks as a part-time job. Since Starbucks is a store that specializes in coffee, I thought this was a good chance for me to know more about it.

I haven't read much yet, but I would like to share some bits of knowledge.
Try to answer to my question: Do you know where the birthplace of coffee is?

The answer is.. Ethiopia.
Maybe some of you already know a kind of coffee which is actually called "Ethiopia."
We don't know when or by whom coffee was discovered, but there is a famous legend about a goatherd called Kaldi.

Kaldi is a boy not only a goatherd but also a poet who loved to wander around with his goats. He knew quite well about his goats, but one day, he found something wrong with them. He saw the goats dancing excitedly. They looked really strange. Then, at the same time he found berries (of coffee) as well. Therefore, Kaldi thought that this Ethiopian berries has a power to give people strength and vigor. This is why "Ethiopia" is still a famous, prestigious kind of coffee.

That's it, see you soon. Bye!