Chocolate Chip Cookies

Baking is something that really interests me but sometimes it can get tough. People start to throw out these crazy ideas and next thing you know, some Italian has made the world's largest cake sculpture in the world! That's why i like to stay with the classics. It might be fun to try out those crazy ideas once in a while but classics will always be the easiest and possibly even the tastiest! It's always good to start off easy and progress onward so today i am going to be showing you a easy and simple chocolate chip cookie recipe that you can try at home because it's not that hard. And plus, who doesn't like chocolate chip cookies?

The ingredients you will need are:

- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 

- 2 teaspoon baking soda 

- 1 teaspoon salt 

- 2 sticks (8 ounces) salted butter, at room temperature 

- 3/4 cup granulated sugar 

- 3/4 firmly packed light brown sugar 

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

- 2 large eggs 

- 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips 

Directions:

1. The first thing you do is preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and in a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla. Next you add the eggs, one at a time and scrape the sides of the bowl if needed.
3. After the two mixtures are all mixed, "beat the flower mixture in parts of three until combined" (Pansino 32). This step i think is such a important step because if you dont put the flour into three parts, it would get very messy and i know that no one want to clean up a mess of flour so i made sure i divided them into three parts and luckily, i didn't make a mess!
4. Next you would fold in the chocolate chips and place two tablespoon of sough per cookie onto the baking sheet. This part i kind of changed up a bit because i am making these for a specific occasion and needed different sizes but the recipe says 2 tablespoons of dough per cookie.
5. After the oven is done pre-heating, put the cookies into the oven for 7 to 9 minutes and after they are done, take them out to cool completely. I decided to set my timer for 8 minutes because it is in the middle of seven and nine. In the book, the author specifically says when cooling the cookies, not to place them in the freezer but let them air cool (Pansino 21). When you place the cookies in the freezer, the cookies start to crack so i made sure that i didn't put them int the freezer and it took for me about 30 minutes for all the cookies to cool and finally be complete and ready to eat! If you have a wire rack, that would be a better place to place the cookies overnight and wake up to them fully ready to be gobbled down!

Final Presentation: 
The total cookies that i had when i was done was 52 so grab all your friends and get ready to tear
 these cookies apart! When i first look at the cookie, it looks amazing and delicious but when i bit into it, something was off. It wasn't that it didn't taste good, but it was very chewy. The cookie dough wasn't cooked all the way which to be honest, i wasn't mad because i like cookie dough but my advice for people who are trying this recipe out, is to bake them for 9 minutes just so you can be safe and no eat chewy cookie dough. But overall, they were still super delicious and looks amazing. The cookie was so chocolaty because of all of the chocolate chips that were added so there was chocolate in every bite which is awesome! In conclusion, this cookie recipe is an amazing recipe that everyone should try because trust me, the outcome is the best!

There is also another plate full of cookies that couldn't fit in the picture!

Question: What is your favorite cookie and why? Also do you like to eat cookies when they are still hot and fresh out of the oven, or when they have been sitting around for a while and why?

Citation: Pansino, Rosanna. The Nerdy Nummies Cookbook: Sweet Treats for the Geek in All of Us. New York: Atria, 2015. Print.

F2 World Of Football: How To Play Soccer Like a Pro -Free-styling

How To Freestyle(basic)   

By: F2 Freestylers

Soccer is an amazing sport, it has an astonishing number of fans at 3.5 billion (approximate). Soccer is known for its fast pace of play and all the running in between the field, although soccer is a very mental sport as well. Soccer is a hard sport, which consumes a lot of time and patience in developing your skills individually. An efficient way in developing good skills on the field is juggling."Juggling is a basic skill which in many ways, is considered the base around developing your touch and technique in soccer"(3). 


First step:
Always stretch (warm up) your body before starting to play soccer. "An important factor when it comes to playing soccer is your warm-up"(4). Stretch out your calves, thighs even your upper body as well for at least a solid five minutes, even some jogging back and forth in between. This decreases your chances of self inflicted injuries and improves your overall performance (4). 

Second Step:
Now you're ready to begin, lay the ball out about a foot ahead of you giving some space for you to pull the ball towards you. This "pull back" should be done with one foot typically your stronger foot. Body positioning should be relaxed but balanced and straight, being relaxed is very important in this lesson and for all future lessons because it helps with focus as this is not an easy skill for beginners.

Third Step: 
As you pull the ball back slowly to your body, flick the ball up with the same foot you pulled it with. The flick should not bring the ball to high or to low, the ball should end up between your ankle and knee (height wise) (5). The ball should be fairly straight and close to your body, establishing a control and balance over the ball. This is where the patience plays in as the ball would tend to go away from your body and not in your control. 

Fourth Step:
Great so you are almost there, now tap the ball up as it comes down this is done repeatedly and at a steady pace (6).  The tap should occur no lower then your shin area and bounce up to your knee height. Keeping a steady balance on your other foot is key, as it helps in keeping good body positioning and even your control over the ball as it helps keep a steady foot to tap the ball with... 

Now you have the essentials to start juggling, the key of free styling, remember skill doesn't come free but with hard work and dedication, keep trying again and again and the results will come!

Do you think juggling is the most effective way to develop free-styling skill/technique in soccer?
Freestylers, F2. F2 World of Football: How to Play like a Pro. London: Blink, 2016. Print.

Protecting the Passer

Protecting the Passer

The game of football is made up of many important aspects and multiple aspects must align in every snap to have a strong passing and rushing game. One of these aspects is the pass protection. The offensive line (the blockers), plays a key part in the pass protection. For your team to have a good chance at a strong air attack (passing the football), your blockers must give the quarterback and receivers time to both get open and pass the ball. Coaches can try and improve their air attack, but the protection is the foundation of the passing game as Gonzalez says, “Any passing scheme is only as good as the protection afforded by the protection unit” (Gonzalez 46). If you want a solid offense you must start by winning the battle in the trenches with your offensive line to allow your offensive scheme to develop and perform to its peak level. From this I can learn that the game of football is won in the line of scrimmage, if your blockers don’t give you enough time for your play to develop, there is no possible way that your game plan works the way it was meant to work. Without your protection, your game scheme falls apart.

(OLB: Outside Linebacker, MLB: Middle Linebacker, DE: Defensive End, DT: Defensive Tackle, LT: Left Tackle, LG: Left Guard, C: Center, RG: Right Guard, RT: Right Tackle, QB: Quarterback, RB: Running back)

To improve your protection scheme, you can adjust and change many parts of your game plan. Strong teams figure out multiple ways to gain the advantage on their opposition. The quarterback is in charge to read the defense on every play and make sure his offense is ready to execute their play as best as possible. As Dan Gonzalez said in his book, “Concept Passing: Teaching the Modern Passing Game” each quarterback is taught the protection system. He is to reassign protectors in a certain scheme which will both enhance and sharpen the execution of each and every play (Gonzalez 46). For your team to perform well, everyone must be prepared- especially the quarterback. The quarterback is the leader in the team huddle when your team is on offense. The quarterback’s job at the line of scrimmage is to make sure your offensive scheme is ready to dominate your opponent. If he sees something he doesn’t like, he should adjust the play so the team has best opportunity at performing well on the play. From this I can take in why the quarterback position is so vital to the game of football. The quarterback is like the brain of the offense; without a good quarterback your offense will shamble apart. Your quarterback and the protection you give him are vital to the success you will have on the field.

Do you think the protection duty is more on the blockers doing their job or the quarterback adjusting the play? Why?

Gonzalez, Dan. Concept Passing: Teaching the Modern Passing Game. Monterrey, California: Coaches Choice, 2009. Print.

Getting Started

Hey guys my name is Juan, and Iv'e never done a blog before... woopty doo. So I've been drawing for some time and I could never get, what I call an 'accurate', body shape or figure. With this problem in mind I chose a book written by Lee Garbett, a British comic book artist who in the past had worked for DC comics, to help me with my...predicament. As I read through his introduction I was thinking to myself 'What if this book doesn't help me? what if I'm wasting my time?' but as I kept reading I came across an answer to my question; Garbett questioned himself abut how he could teach anyone how to draw, but continued in explaining how he wanted to share how he approached his methods, saying I need find a style and stick with it. That's when i realized I don't need to draw someone else's way, i need to study someone else's to find my own.

As I read through the first page after the introduction, which was the materials page, I read through what I - or what Lee Garbett would need - for drawing, the tools he listed included a pencil; either putty or plastic, and also says "You can never have too many of these...find on that is clean and has a nice edge to work detail..." (Garbett 8). Pencils, either mechanical or traditional or both but the mechanical pencil has more of a defined line when drawn. Unfortunately I do not have any of the other tools such as stencils, correcting fluid, or ink pens, just the bare minimum.

 

In the past I attempted to draw a male figure but the shape of the head or the chest and lower body area never looked right, like something was too wide or something was too thin. Reading through more of the book and studying the sketches Garbett gives on the pages, his side notes give insight to how this step in drawing a figure is help full; for instance the cylinder figure method (I call it) uses cylinder like shapes and rectangles for various parts of the body like limbs, but excluding joints.



The idea of mapping out where your figures limbs will be, is important because positioning and body language determine emotion and feel of the character, otherwise the boring poses of a figure. I think I could use this method for my future works, even though there are many other methods of having a rough sketch of what your planing to draw. I am also very curious, what do you consider a boring pose? And what other methods do you use before applying detail to your character?

Defending the soccer goal

If you ask anyone on a soccer team if they want to play goalkeeper the most common answer you will get is NO! This position may be the most unpopular but it is the most vital position on the pitch. As a goalkeeper you have to have really good agility, reflexes, handling, and positioning sine you are the last resource that can stop the ball and avoid being scored on. This is a very difficult position because if you make a single mistake it can cost you the win, that's why it's important for the modern day goalkeeper to be up to date and be practicing all the time. The strikers are getting better and the goalkeeper always has to be on top of their game to block anything that goes towards goal.

   In the book that I am reading titled "Soccer for Dummies" by Thomas Dunmore it teaches you all the techniques you need to know from the basics of learning how to properly catch the ball to the more expert level of blocking one on one shots. In the text "The full extension dive: Used when a shot is heading toward one of the corners of the net, the keeper has to extend himself to the fullest, making his first stride as long as possible with arms extended and away from the face to see the ball as clearly as possible"(Dunmore 34). This quote from the book really emphasizes the amount of athleticism an individual needs to have in order to be a goalkeeper. Just blocking the ball from your body isn't enough you have to be willing to plunge and make the save, after all the goal is 8 yards apart, That's 8 yards that you need to be defending. Letting a goal in can be crucial, it can be the difference from winning or loosing an important match  

The full extension dive is one of the main skills a goalkeeper has to know how to do well, most of the shots will be taken from fairly long distances and will be aimed at impossible to reach places of the goal. That's why it is important to master your diving techniques, knowing the proper techniques like standing on your toes and extending your arm out all the way can really have an impact when it comes to match day. That's why it is important to always keep practicing and never giving up, if you learn from your mistakes during practice you will surely have a great performance when it comes to the big day.

Question: Have you ever seen a goalkeeper in action? And if you have, what impressed you?

  

the importance of warming up

With any type of Sport, it is always important to warm up your muscles so that they are ready to be used when you start doing an activity. Misty Copeland is a principle dancer for the American Ballet Theatre in New York. She says that every morning before she starts on her jumps and turns she does the same barre warm up to help prepare herself for the things she is about to do. She says that even though it is structurally slow it is perfectly designed to help bring her to her center so that she is able to dance freely without the barre. If you give yourself a proper warmup then you will most likely have a better performance because your body has been physically prepared to do that certain thing whether it is dance, soccer or basketball you should always get your body warm and ready so that it can handle anything that it is about to endure.


In the book I am reading Misty is explaining how it has been very hard for her to jump because she has an injury in her leg. She says that if you Stretch and warm up before you participate in an activity it will lower the chances of you getting an injury, and you will be doing what you love to do for a very long time. She said that she would usually do a quick barre than go straight into dancing but she then realized that it wasn't good for her body and she starting to have pains in her leg. when warming up it is a good idea to take your time and really sit into every stretch so that each muscle gets strengthened and you can work every part of your body and do your absolute best.










Do you believe that when doing a physical activity warming up is necessary?