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Expressing my inner world -My Kitchen- UNC Chapel Hill Prompt


bluedolphinz 4 / 24  
Oct 30, 2010   #1
1. People find many ways to express their inner world. Some write novels; others paint, perform, or debate; still others design elegant solutions to complex mathematical problems. How do you express your inner world, and how does the world around you respond?

My kitchen combines all the elements of my world into a little space from which exciting experiments, smells, sounds, and tastes emerge. It is my chemistry lab where ingredients combine, react, mix, burn, and turn into delicious meals. I try to separate my kitchen into two halves.

The first half consists of the seemingly exotic spices-mint powder, turmeric, chilli powder, crushed mustard, saffron, and asafoetida. Along with these come grated coconut, minced coriander, fresh spinach, purple eggplant, and red onions. These are my Indian ingredients, the ones that I am most familiar with. I combine them in dangerous and flavourful medleys that make my tongue tingle- spicy savouries, crunchy fritters, and tangy chutneys. They lie in chaos; they are combined in chaos, the very essence of the seven years I spent growing up in India. I know these ingredients well, I experiment extensively with them; they are the soul of my cooking.

The second half of ingredients exists in order: clear, defined, order. These ingredients are drawn from my birthplace, America. This half comprises the all purpose flour, cheese, graham crackers, baking soda, apple sauce, and eggs. These combinations are extremely precise, neat and by the book; I do not know these ingredients as well. But I enjoy their products-the cakes, cookies, and tarts. I enjoy their sweetness, predictability and organisation.

I spread my two cultures, and my experience with them, through my cooking. Every school party kicks off a cooking spree in the kitchen, with eggs, flour and chocolate rapidly being whisked and baked into delightful concoctions. The effort is worth it as I see people eat and enjoy what I have made. At home, the Indian ingredients prevail as I mix pureed tomatoes and onions with sautéed potatoes and spice-stuffed eggplants to form a delicious curry that my family eats and appreciates. The delights that arise from making a successful meal are happy moments that brighten my world. When disaster occurs in the kitchen, I cry over the mess, but eventually I cook again, all the disasters provide something to learn.

Cooking is the lab experiment of my life, the mixture of my upbringings in two separate countries. My inner world is split into two halves that forever collide and clash, no matter how much I try to keep them apart. I experience both my cultures as I cook Indian and American. I taste them both. They make up me, my kitchen, and my world.
Michael48304 8 / 31  
Oct 30, 2010   #2
Smell the frying onions, lemon juice, and baking bread.

... of turmeric, and the shine of(stainless-steel?) appliances.

... bubbling of various liquids, and the hiss of water as it meets hot oil.

... eventually I cook again. All the disasters provide something to learn.

I like it. You use up a lot of space with fun, descriptive words, but I am not sure you fully answered the prompt. You focus a lot on your inner world but little on the reaction of the outside world, as the prompt requests.
swirllambm 2 / 7  
Oct 30, 2010   #3
I know these ingredients well, I experiment extensively with them

Cooking is the lab experiment of my life, the mixture of my upbringings in two separate countries.

I think these two sentences are comma splices.
mariahjg 1 / 5  
Oct 30, 2010   #4
I think you answered the prompt very creatively and you gave yourself a voice, which is fantastic.

However, you should consider cutting some of the descriptions (I hate this part of college essays, cause that's what I love about writing) and putting more into your final description of how it's the "lab of experiment" of your life. It'll leave the reader more satisfied and understanding.
EF_Kevin 8 / 13,321 129  
Nov 7, 2010   #5
I love it. I googled this phrase to see if it was a common phrase in cooking...
dangerous and flavourful medleys

I did not find any results. So.. I think this must be a culinary term you came up with.. very good stuff... you should use that term in some other writing projects, perhaps in advertisements for your restaurant.

You write so poetically, I don't want to change anything, but I'll give you a comma lesson:
Lists need a comma after every item:
cheesecake falls apart, pasta sauce remains stubbornly watery, and curries become an unappetizing mush.

Many people think otherwise, but they are wrong and I am right.
Actually, I see that you did follow this rule in the rest of the essay.

Here is another idea:
the ones that I am most familiar with.
the ones with which I am most familiar.

Now I am so hungry!!!


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