PLN at KIS

There’s none better than enjoying comfort foods on a relaxing day.   You’re sitting on a comfy couch, watching a movie, and, of course, eating your favourite comfort food… Those are the best days.

What are your favourite comfort foods?  Homemade apple pies, chocolate chip cookies, or ice cream?

This blog is all about our favourite foods.  I want to hear your stories and unforgettable childhood memories about the sweet comfort foods.  Post photos of the foods, yourself, or even photos from your childhood.  Share great recipes and laughs brought by those who love food just like me!  Perhaps, you can try new recipes and discover the new flavour.

I’ve tried two different projects and both of them didn’t work out.

Not until recently, I haven’t fully understood the point of connecting with people around the world through twitter and skype.  I often wondered, ‘what’s the point of this, why do i need to talk to other people to do my project?’  But now I think I’ve found the solution to this problem.

I thought that designing my own bar would be really cool.  Thinking of different ways to put different things together in a space…  So, my group members and I decided to research about how we can design a good and attractive bar/restaurant that would be unique and just different than any other places that exist currently.  We wanted to my our own thing.

In the beginning, it was a smooth sailing.  We all discussed about how we can get started, such as, what our theme is, who our audiences are, and what we can do to make it work.  I even downloaded GoogleSketchUp to start sketching out our dream restaurant.  But that’s when our project idea started to fall apart a little bit.  We wondered, ‘what are we going to do after we design this bar?’  My group members and I agreed that our project should be something meaningful, and it should also feel fulfilling.

When the ‘networking’ idea was presented to the class, our thoughts jumbled up even more; because we wanted this to be completely our idea, we didn’t see the point of asking others for anything.  It’s true that since we don’t know about interior designs, we should find out stuff that can help us to get started.  And we did research as well.  I guess that in the end, we didn’t see where this was going.. Nothing was being achieved and things have just gotten pointless.

Then, our group decided that we should change our topic.  Something that’s more interesting and that can involve more networking.  That’s how we came up with an idea to blog about different restaurants/bars all over the world.  Our vision was that whoever visits our blog would be able to find out which restaurants/bars they should go to if they were to visit certain cities/countries.  It would be like a service that we provide for tourists and visitors.

Once again, with fresh open minds, we began our new project.  It seemed to have been going pretty well.  I was able to talk to this very kind lady from Australia who was very supportive of my ideas.  She suggested a popular Indian restaurant in her town, and I wrote about it.  I interviewed her through e-mail and did a little research by myself about that restaurant.

BUT… once I finished the first blog, I was told that I could make it better; funner, more interesting, and of course, not too schooly.  I also agreed that I could do better because I think that everything can be done better.  Yet, for this assignment, I didn’t know how I could go farther with it.  I interviewed the lady and put in pictures to advertise this restaurant.  What more could there be?  I just didn’t know what else I could do.  Soon, I got started on my next blog about another restaurant.  As I started writing it, I began to ask myself again, ‘is it worth it?  because I don’t feel as if I’m doing something that feels fulfilling and meaningful’.

I feel that I need to do something that makes me feel proud at the fact that I’ve done it.  I also should be able to elaborate more to that idea and contribute more without getting bored with it.  What I’m thinking is this: I need to find a new project that deals with something that I’m interested in and that I’d be willing to work on.  I’ve learned that not everything can work at first, but it’s just a process to get me to where I need to be in the end.

During the course of the week, our group finally step foot on common ground and decided exactly what we were aiming for and the steps we were to take to achieve them. We divided up, set up a new, separate blog for our project and began.

I was fortunate enough to get to write about the conversation we were able to have with Scott Schwister through Skype, and uploaded a blog post outlining the perceptions we had gained through the interview, and further introduce First Avenue to the world, through our new blog and interesting information we had gathered through research.

<worldbars.wordpress.com>

I also emailed back Steve a thank you note for all the information he provided us with, and gave him an update on what our group was working on and gave him a link to our new blog. I also emailed Steve McLellan asking if we could set up an interview and outlined what our group was working on and provided him a link to both our KISPLN site and our new blog. (I also emailed these two mails to you Mr.Burell)

I also took pictures of a bar that my friends and I visited over the weekend, that’s set up with an Indian theme, and asked the bartender for the number of the bar owner, but I think he gave me the wrong number because I called and it said the number doesn’t exist. I’m planning on going back there this weekend when I’m in the neighborhood and asking again : (

“Obladi”

Also sent messages to Motownmutt on twitter asking to set up an interview and gave him the address to our new blog.

If you happen to be in Adelaide, South Australia,

check out TAJ Tandoor!!

TAJ Tandoor is one of South Australia’s most popular Indian restaurants. It has been serving delicious Indian foods for the customers at the exact same spot for 20 long years. It’s best known for its luxurious dining (cocktail parties, wedding receptions, birthdays, conferences or any other gatherings) space where 60 people can be catered at once. Its cozy and stylish interior design provides great comfort for all the customers.

The minute you walk into the restaurant, you’ll see smiling servers ready to lead you to your seats. The neat and tidy look of the restaurant is loved by all customers. In addition, gorgeous Indian artifacts (pictures, drawings) hanged up on the walls add another flavour of India besides the delicious food. The large windows allow you to watch the daily lives of South Australians passing by Rundle Street which can be opened on warm evenings.

One of the things that cannot be missed out in TAJ Tandoor is that the service is always very good. The servers always have bright smiles on their faces that makes you feel welcomed whether you’ve visited the place for the first time, or a long time customer. They serve you the warm and tasty Indian food in beautiful Indian brass dishes and put it right onto your plates.

A common question asked when visiting popular restaurants is this: “What do I eat?” Well, all the foods in TAJ Tandoor are scrumptious and hard to keep yourself from not eating. The owner and head chef - Pammi Sandhu, with qualifications as a five-star hotel’s executive chef, has been adding his own touches to every meals that he serves, thus any dish will satisfy your tongue for sure.

If you’re still hesitant about what to order, here are a few suggestions by long time customers of TAJ Tandoor.

• Start your meal with Indian version of fried vegetables: Vegetable Pakora (left) and Onion Bhajis (right).

• If you are a vegetarian, try the Vegetable Korma, the South Indian variation of ‘vegetables in rich gravy’. One spoonful of this dish will take you straight to India’s authentic taste.

• If you prefer spicy dishes, Beef/Chicken Vindaloo, creamy curry with big chunks of beef/chicken.

It’s located in the centre of the city at Rundle Street with convenient public transportation system nearby. Thus all the tourists visiting Adelaide will be able to stop by TAJ Tandoor without worrying about transportation.

Address

290 Rundle Street

Adelaide SA 5000

Australia

(call) +61 (0)8 8359 - 2066

cburell bar design pln group doesn’t get it. dropped that idea to instead design…kitchen utensils?! hate it when ppl don’t realize their own gold. about 1 hour ago from TwitBin

  Bassman_Sean @cburell slap them… about 1 hour ago from twitterrific in reply to cburell

sschwister @cburell kitchen utensils? I’ll be hard-pressed to come up with a Mpls reference a la First Ave. This? http://tinyurl.com/38h89e 37 minutes ago from TwitBin in reply to cburell  

dmcordell @cburell If they’re looking for off-beat ideas, have them check out BoingBoing.Too bad; there’s always room for a good bar! 29 minutes ago from web in reply to cburell  

Reply to this in comments, bar design people:

1. This is an English class.  That means you do have to do the verbal and communicative things that English classes focus on:  Write.  Speak.  Visual/symbolic (graphic) communication.  Read.  So my question:  How is designing kitchen utensils related to writing, reading, and speaking? How are you going to write and speak on your website weekly about kitchen utensils?

2. Why did you change ideas?  That means your first month is wasted.  Worse yet, you’ve taken a great idea - one I would sincerely check out just as I do any publication with interesting ideas in a magazine or on a website - and replaced it with one I would have no interest in at all.  Cool spaces around the world for eating and drinking, and what you learn from them about creating one of your own (the design experiments for which you share with us on your site as well)?  Excellent. Fascinating.  Spatulas, soup-spins, blenders, and can-openers?  Boring in comparison.  So what was it about the first great idea that made you give up and quit?  Quitters don’t win.  I don’t want you to quit.  That’s the first lesson of success.

3.  What is it about the very exciting possibility of learning about the best bars in cities around the world, writing feature articles about what makes them great, borrowing the best ideas for your own designs, and (when possible) interviewing their owners and/or customers - and building network relationships with these people around the world - that turns you off?  Here’s my suspicion: You still don’t see how easy it can be to do these things.  Am I right?  If not, explain how I’m wrong in your reply.

Final comment: My job is to keep you from quitting.  I’ve given you a month to find and develop your project idea.  I’m going to do my job and play teacher by a) telling you that you cannot quit; and b) helping you learn how to solve the problems that made you want to quit in the first place. So:

4.  What problems do you need me to help you solve?

What my group and I have been trying to do has been quite confusing for us all.

It’s true that we wanted to create restaurant, but it seemed as if we didn’t need any outside help. The purpose of creating a restaurant design was to open up our imagination.

Our new project that we came up with last class is this. Come up with unique furniture or kitchen utensil designs that restaurant owners may be interested of using it. We’ll make a blog with our latest design ideas and try connecting with people who are fond of our designs.

It seems a little hard to try connecting with people while you’re trying to come up with your own idea. We’ll see how this idea flows, and either stick with it change it hopefully within this week or so.

By Friday, my group members and I are going to come up with 2~3 designs each that we’d want to publicize in bars/restaurants that look unique, yet suitable for everyone’s needs.