These past 2 weeks my family and I have all being suffering from dengue which has been quite tough on all of us. This was much more difficult as we had no external help due to the current lockdown in Sri Lanka. For the first 5 days, both my parents were suffering from the virus but it hadn’t started to affect me yet. Due to their unfortunate inability to provide for themselves, for the first time in my life I had to take care of them. In addition to constantly checking up on them and providing them with the necessities to successfully defeat the virus, I decided to make my Mom’s favorite apple crumble.

Cooking and baking is definitely not my strong suit as I have never really learned how to do it. For once, I decided to take initiative and I found a recipe online that was doable with the ingredients that were available at home.

Preparation: Slicing and distributing the apples

Final product:

LO1: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth

Through this experience I was able to develop areas for growth as I tried something new and worked on my skills within that area. More specifically, I successfully baked an apple crumble for my parents. This was something that I had always put off until college as I assumed that within that independent atmosphere, I would be forced to learn how to cook and then I would find a passion for it. I learned way sooner that the earlier that I start this process, the better I will become at baking or cooking as, right now, I have the supervision and support of my parents who thoroughly enjoy cooking.

LO2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process

It was my first time shaving off the skin of the apples and I was expecting some mistakes. I thought that I might cut myself with the knife, unevenly shave the apples, and/or incorrectly mix the ingredients. It turns out that I did everything perfectly and there were no mistakes. I found that developed a new skill, paying very close attention to detail which turned out to be good and bad. It did prolong the process of making the apple crumble, but it also allowed for me to make it just the way I wanted to. I learned that I have a difficult time settling for anything that is not perfect (in respects to the task at hand) which forced me to push myself, concluding in a very delicious apple crumble.

LO7: Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions

Finally, I recognized and considered the ethics of choices and actions. This was done as I recognized that my parents were struggling to fight off dengue and I made a choice to brighten their day, and their palettes, through making one of their favorite deserts. Even though this took quite a few productive hour out of my day, I evaluated the situation and decided that family was most important. I put my schoolwork to the side to make sure that my parents were taken care of which was an ethical choice that resulted in a stronger bond between my parents and I.

Unfortunately, 5 days later, I started to feel sick. I suspected that it was dengue as both of my parents were currently fighting off the virus and my suspicions were correct. I missed a total of 4 days of school including a weekend which was a major set back for me. In spite of this sickness, I felt good mentally as I realized that I did the best that I could to take care of my parents and now they would reciprocate those actions. The apple crumble may seem insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but it proved to my parents that they were in good hands and it also allowed for me to explore a new skill that I had always put to the side.