Agriculture Identification Contest

Yesterday, I participated in a Texas Agriculture Identification Contest at the Academic Rodeo in the East Texas State Fairgrounds. The  Academic Rodeo is where people from public, private, and homeschools all over East Texas come and participate in one or more of 14 different contests which includes the agriculture  identification contest, fashion show, writing and art contests, one act play, Lego mindset etc. At the AG ID contest you basically have to identify the product, answer if the product grows above or below ground. and what it classifies as. Today I found out how I placed. I placed 1st place over all the other middle school kids.


*picture taken from http://www.etstatefair.com

Buddha's hand fruit

Q. Can you identify this fruit?  This fruit originated in Northeastern India or China. It grows on a shrub tree with long thorny branches. This fruit's tree has leaves that are four to six inches long with blossoms that are white with a purple tint. It contains small amount of fruit and is juiceless. The Chinese and Japanese use it for perfuming rooms. The peel of this fruit can be succaded which is a candied peel of a citrus fruit. A neat fact I learned when researching this fruit is: Trees can be grown from cuttings taken from branches two to four years old. 

A. If you guessed a budda hand you're correct.

Food Show

My dish

Yesterday, I participated in the 4-H Food Show, Food Challenge, and the Food Quiz Bowl. First, I did the Food Show and won first place. The Food Show is where you make a food and tell how you made it, how it is healthy for you, and tell how many calories your dish has. After the Food Show, my team won first place in the Food Quiz Bowl. The Quiz Bowl is where you and a team of other kids have buzzers and buzz in answers about food nutrition and safety. Lastly, my team won first place in the Food Challenge. The Food Challenge is kind of like the Iron Chef but you have to tell how the food is healthy  how much it cost to make, and safety precautions you used. Since I won in all of the contests I will get to go to district with the 4-H Food Show, Food Challenge, and the Food Quiz Bowl.


If you would like to make the dish that I made, below is the recipe.


Chinese New Year Noodles with Shrimp
6 ounces thin spaghetti noodles
7 ounces shrimp, deveined
1 ½ teaspoon kosher or sea salt, divided
½ teaspoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1 teaspoon finely minced garlic
1/4 cup snow peas, sliced thin on diagonal
1/4 cup matchstick cut carrots
1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon Chinese rice wine can substitute for apple juice.
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
Bring a stockpot of water to boil. Add 1 tsp of salt to water and cook thin spaghetti, according to package directions. Drain. While pasta is cooking, place shrimp in a small bowl and add the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of salt and the cornstarch. Mix well and let sit for 8 minutes. Rinse the shrimp well, washing off the salt and cornstarch. Pat very dry with paper towels.
In a wok or large skillet, heat cooking oil on high until a bead of water sizzles and evaporates upon contact. Add the shrimp and fry until halfway cooked through, about 1 minute each side. Dish out the shrimp to a plate, keeping as much oil in wok as possible (you should have about 1 teaspoon of oil left and you may add a just a bit of oil into the pan if needed.)
Turn heat down to medium and add garlic. Fry until fragrant, about 15 seconds then add the snow peas and carrots. Fry for 1 minute, until the carrots and snow peas are cooked but still retain a nice crunch. Add the soy sauce and rice wine. Turn heat to high and add the drained spaghetti noodles and shrimp. Toss well to combine. Let cook for 2 minutes, until shrimp is cooked through. Toss with sesame oil and sesame seeds.

Happy new year

              Happy New Year!!
2013 Has finally come. One of my family's traditions is to write down what we want to accomplish this year. This year some of the things I want to do this year are:

1. Read the whole Bible
2. Ride Benny(Benny is the horse)
3. Plant a garden and keep it weed free.
4. Spend more time with my pets.
5. Write letters to our neighbors that moved and my friends.
6. Explore our property(again)
7. Get a tree house
8. Read all the books in my room.
9. Blog more consistent
10. Use our microscope more.
11. Cook new dishes.
12. Expand my poultry business.
13. Improve my shooting skills
14. Lead one of my neighbors to Christ.
15. Win 4-H Contest that I have entered.
16. Get more vet shadowing hours in the vet science program.

What are some of your new year goals?