English 271 Reflection

           When I first entered into this class I wasn’t very excited because of my past experiences with English classes. During my 101 experience, the learning objectives seemed to be mostly focused on how to properly use a comma. However, the number of creative opportunities that were apparently present in our first assignment “Wikipedia Article,” mirrored the chances that we got to employ our own ideas in all of the following assignments. Honestly, when I first signed up for this class I wasn’t positive what expository writing was. In the first couple weeks, we immediately discussed what expository writing consisted of and set out to write our own form of a Wikipedia article, the pinnacle of expository writing. At this point, I thought that recognizing an author’s intention on an essay would be a breeze. They want to give you information on a topic, duh. When we moved onto rewriting the news and later assignments, I quickly realized that the intentions of an author are much more complex and intricately woven into their writing.

            When writing post #3, I tried to incorporate a little voice into my essay while not only, staying true to the expository format, but also staying true to my audience. During this assignment and also while reading the articles about facial acupuncture, I noticed how much of a difference the reader perceives when there is bias in an article. Recently, whenever I read an article online or in the newspaper, I find myself trying to seek out any sort of bias that the author has included, whether it be explicitly or implicitly. Also, without thinking twice, I’ll ponder the ways that their style and voice affect the piece of writing, and how I would modify it to reflect both my personal tone and my opinion. Although the first three posts were difficult for me I really learned how to take apart a piece of writing and analyze the audience, intention, and style.

            I was more comfortable writing the following posts because I had a clear objective. For example, in the extended definition essay, I enjoyed having a clearly defined word and then expanding on it using present examples. At first when I decided to use Herman Cain as my example for charisma, I wasn’t so sure it would work out. However, while writing, I found that it was easy and fun to expand on a definition using this rhetorical mode. The rhetorical mode essays showed me the different kinds of essays that can be composed using expository writing. All in all, this class has taught me to subconsciously analyze writing in new and more specific ways, and what kinds of essays to apply expository writing to.

French Cuisine Through the Ages

Many food aficionados venerate French cuisine as the finest form of the culinary arts. While people in other countries were making the simplest, most cost-effective dishes they could, only so that they might receive proper nutrition, the French have long placed taste above all else. Contemporary society still knows the names of French chefs from long ago, such as Guillaume Tirel, sometimes referred to as Taillevent—and he cooked in the 14th century. Today chefs classify French cooking into different categories: the age of haute cuisine, the age of the mother sauces, modern haute cuisine, and modern nouvelle cuisine.

The Age of Haute Cuisine

Haute cuisine began in the 17th century by a man named La Varenne. Also known as grande cuisine (high cooking), haute cuisine comprised of many small dishes both prepared and presented elaborately. He prepared lighter dishes than his predecessors in the Middle Ages, and the roux—a thickening agent for soups and sauces made today of flour and butter—was first listed in his cookbooks. Many consider his first cookbook, Cvisinier François (“French Cooking”), to be the first true French cookbook. He was the first to define marinades and to treat ragout—a traditional stew—as a dish instead of a garnish. Like his contemporaries, he belonged to a guild that determined when, where, and what he could cook. La Varenne made countless refinements to French cuisine, many of which still exist today.

The Age of the Mother Sauces

At the end of the 18th century, French cooking evolved further. With the French Revolution, guilds were more or less abolished, meaning that chefs had much more freedom to cook as they pleased. Marie-Antoine Carême, born in 1784, was originally a pastry chef, but eventually was cooking for Napoleon Bonaparte. He is credited with the creation of the “mother sauces,” the three base sauces from which most others are derived. These were called espagnole, a concoction of a roux, water or veal stock, vegetables, bones, and beef; velouté, a light stock thickened with a light roux; and béchamel, hot milk mixed with a light roux. Cooks continue to employ these sauces every day. Soufflés first appear in Carême’s recipes—dishes prepared with eggs which rise significantly when baked. He employed variations of the roux which La Varenne created. He also continued the tradition of haute cuisine.

Modern Haute Cuisine

Between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, a man named George Auguste Escoffier revolutionized French cuisine. Working in many hotels, he invented the brigade system. In it, cooks are organized into different groups to prepare different parts of the meal, rather than a single chef working on one dish at a time. Instead, he organized his cooks into five groups: the garde manger who made all the cold dishes, the saucier who cooked the sauces and soups, the entremettier who prepared all the vegetables and the starches, the pâtissier who made the desserts and pastries, and the rôtisseur who grilled, roasted, and fried ingredients. In this manner, dishes could be prepared far more rapidly and presented to the customer in less time. Escoffier continued the tradition of many elegant dishes, but made them lighter and sought to focus on the flavor of ingredients rather than masking unpleasant ones with heavy sauces. He used roux as well, though with less frequency.

Modern Nouvelle Cuisine

Nouvelle cuisine was coined as early as the 18th century, but the current style of cooking is referred to by the same name. In the 1960s, with increased immigration from Portugal, French cuisine changed tremendously. Nouvelle cuisine was a rebellion against the traditions of French cooking. Throwing away the idea of many, elaborate dishes, chefs began to serve fewer, simpler plates. They looked toward the flavor of each ingredient even more than Escoffier, and began to omit the use of the béchamel and espagnole sauces, deeming them too heavy. Some think that meat shortages in the Second World War contributed to the development of nouvelle cuisine. Regardless, it was a drastic change. Ingredients were cooked very lightly to preserve the original flavors they possessed, and steaming became very popular to help accomplish this. Freshness of ingredients was essential. Herbs, lemon juice, vinegar, and butter became more popular instead of thick roux. Regional dishes gained more importance, too, and modern equipment—including microwaves—became popular. Also, rather than the traditional concept of the chef cooking as he wanted, chefs paid much more attention to the wants and needs of the customers. Finally, cooking became more inventive and playful, and chefs tried to present new, unheard of combinations of ingredients. Though in the 1980s nouvelle cuisine fell out of favor with some and there was a return to modern haute cuisine, the two forms of cooking are both used extensively throughout the world.

Haute cuisine enjoys a rebirth today, though the foundations laid by all the essential chefs remain, both in French cooking and in other types of cuisine. Each step of old haute cuisine, mother sauces, modernization of haute cuisine, and nouvelle cuisine have been crucial to the evolution of the fine art of French cooking.

How to Jailbreak 4.3.3 iOS on the iPhone 4 and iPod Touch

This article will give you a step-by-step guide on how to jailbreak not only the iPhone 4, but also almost any Apple device running on 4.3.3 iOS. Technically speaking, jailbreaking removes the limitations Apple places on its products. Practically speaking, jailbreaking allows you to get free applications, moving backgrounds, and many more modifications and "tweaks" on your device. However, the process will void the warranty on your device, and may make your device slightly slower. By following these instructions and navigating through each step successfully, you will be able to jailbreak any 4.3.3.3 iOS Apple device.  

Cydia theme that features 5x5 app display

iWild Flowers theme 

Jailbreaking Your Apple Device

Step 1: First, on your iPhone or iPod Touch, go to “Settings” > “General” > “About.” Confirm that under “Version,” it says “4.3.3.” If your Apple device says something else, you have an alternate version, and this method may not work. Then plug the device into your computer using a USB cord. iTunes may or may not open automatically. If it does, make sure not to download any updates onto your device, but if it doesn’t, open iTunes manually.

Step 2: Next, you need to download two items: Redsn0w and the new firmware you will be putting on your device. (Redsn0w is the software that helps you to jailbreak and firmware is the small amount of basic programming that structures an electronic instrument). To download both of these, see the following link: http://tysiphonehelp.com/home/2011/5/6/untethered-433-jailbreak-iphone-4-3gs-ipod-touch-3g-4g-ipad.html

Step 3: When you have the link above opened, look under the heading “4.3.3 Firmware.” Click on the device you plan to jailbreak to ensure you download the correct software. Scroll further down the page to the download links for Redsn0w and click either on the link for Windows or Macintosh, depending on which operating system your computer is running. Save both these files to your computer’s desktop.

Step 4: After you’ve opened the download link, open Redsn0w and click “Browse.” Locate the firmware that was downloaded to the desktop in Step 2 and then click “Next.” Make sure that the box next to “Install Cydia” is checked. I would recommend also checking “Enable Battery Percentage” but that step is optional. Enabling the battery percentage will allow you to view the amount of battery remaining as a number, instead of a partially filled outline of a battery.

Step 5: Make sure that your device is turned OFF but is still plugged into the computer. Do not turn your device on, and then plug it into the computer. Make sure to plug in your device first, and then turn it off. There are practically no risks in jailbreaking your device, but just in case you can’t access normal apps from the Apple marketplace or just want to revert back to a non-jailbroken state, you can always just plug in your iPod to the computer and click restore on iTunes.

Step 6: On Redsn0w, hit the “Next” button. Now you must put your device into DFU mode. This can be a little tricky but should only take a couple attempts at the most. I’m sure that by now almost everyone is familiar with the buttons on your iPhone or iPod touch, but just as a reminder, the circular button below the screen of the device is the “Home” button, and the small rectangular button on the top edge of the device is the “Power” button. When you click "next" on Redsn0w, the program will guide you through the process of putting your iPhone or iPod touch into DFU mode. You will need to hold down the power button for three seconds. Finally, while still pressing the “Power” button, simultaneously begin holding down the “Home” button. Count to ten seconds before releasing the “Power” button, but keep pressing the “Home” button for another 30 seconds.

Congratulations! You have just jailbroken Apple device. Before you worry about legal repercussions, know that jailbreaking is legal in the United States. The only serious negative effect from the procedure is that Apple reserves the right to void your warranty if they discover you have jailbroken your device. Battery life and system stability may be affected slightly, but batteries can be replaced easily, and you can always restore your device back to default settings. Enjoy your newfound electronic freedom!