StephanieG

=February 25,2011= Dear 1st period,

__Almost Home__ by Jessica Blank is one of her few books such as the Exonerated, Living Justice and Karma for Beginners. This novel __Almost Home__ has encouraged me to find out more about Jessica's novels and get to read them.

Eeyore, Tracy, Scabius, Rusty, Squid, Critter, Laura, are the main characters of this novel. Its about these teens who either ran away from their home because they weren't happy with their parents because they weren't wanted. So now they live with other homeless teens in the streets of Los Angeles and make money by selling drugs, revealing and using their body to other people, or stealing. In each chapter each character gets their own view point. That is what i liked about this novel. In the first chapter Eeyore starts off by narrating her side of her story and how she ends up living in the street.

"The bottom of my stomach feels like at the top of the first hill of a roller coaster just before you tip and go down: wanting to get out but knowing there's no way so it just fills you up till you can feel all your veins and your blood and your insides lift up like something is about to happen and you just hope the bar over your lap holds. Tracy is talking about sleeping outside. I would never be allowed to do this, no way not ever."

Eeyore is afraid and she doesn't believe that Tracy actually wants them to sleep in the street a whole night but she doesn't know how to tell her no and just leave her because she also doesn't want to go home and live with her step-brother sexually abusing her every night. Since she doesn't want to go back she stays with Tracy that night and doesn't go back the next day. I don't get why she didn't go back home to her dad and tell him what his step son did to her every night. Eeyore should have told her step mom and dad since the beginning but they probably wouldn't have believed so in a way I understand her. If she had told them she wouldn't have had to sleep in the street with people she didn't even know. Personally, I would have done things differently.

I do recommend this book because i thought it was a good novel to read about. You get interested to find out what will happen to all these teens especially Eeyore and Tracy.

Sincerely, Stephanie Garcia

=About Reading: Some Openers = The main characte r is Johnny a young man who i think could live forever because he's been alive for decades and he's still young or i'm not sure i'm not done reading the book. The reason i think that is because at one point in the book the time was during the fifties and Johnny was described as a young man and the setting is during the seventies and he is still young. So i guess Johnny is immortal but i do know he is not a vampire.Or i don't know i think i'm a little confused.....

**I was surprised:**when Johnny got off the car and decides to kill the dog at the family's home.He was trespassing and the dog was only trying to protect his home and then out of no where Johnny starts to think crazy so he brings out his gun and shoots him more than twice and still goes to hit the poor dog. It was surprising to read that because he seemed like a normal guy and then he becomes looney and scary.  I noticed: how the auth**or changes his narrative voice in each chapter for every character.** The genre: of this book of this book is fiction because none of the events are real.The Dead zone is a horror fiction book..... =**I couldn’t understand: why Johnny was like in another world while he was in a coma. He was a different person because he was evil and he was a killer. When he came out of his coma he was nice and he could even tell people's future by just touching them so that's something I thought confusing. ** = = =

=How to make spaghetti=

List of Questions: 1.How is pasta made? Pasta is made using olive oil, eggs, pasta dough, and then mixing it. 2.Who invented spaghetti? It comes from the idea of the Chinese noodles. They believe Marco Polo brought it to Italy and Sicily when he came back from China. 3.How is tomato sauce made? It is made using fresh tomatoes and then boiling them after adding seasoning and spices. 4.Where is it originally from? The idea came from the Chinese noodles. 5.How is it made? Spaghetti when ready is boiled also the tomatoes but not together and when the tomatoes are ready you just mix it with its spices. 6.What are the ingredients? The ingredients for spaghetti would be olive oil,pasta dough,eggs,salt and pepper. Tomato sauce has garlic,salt,pepper,meat, 7.Why is it called spaghetti? 8.How long does it take to make it? To make the Spaghetti should only take about twenty minutes or it depends on how much you're making. For the tomato sauce as well. 9.What is needed? A pasta machine,dough,tomatoes,meat,pasta dough,spices, and more things. 10.What are the steps? There is many steps to making spaghetti.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghetti

http://www.howtodothings.com/food-drink/how-to-make-pasta-from-scratch

http://www.catalogs.com/info/food/spaghetti-sauce-from-scratch.html

http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/tools-and-techniques/how-to-make-pasta2.htm

http://www.online-gourmet-foods.com/history-of-spaghetti.html

=Monday May 2nd 2011= Continuing Expert Project Research Article #1 (How to make Pasta from Scratch)

Summary of Article: "How to make Pasta" was an article about how to make pasta from scratch for spaghetti.It gives you the steps on how to make the pasta dough.Informs you what equipment is needed and the ingredients. For example how to make the pasta dough and how to roll it out then how to cut the pasta.

(A List of four things that I learned and or found interesting) After i read this article, I found the following to be interesting: 1. I learned that salt and pepper are added to pasta dough. 2. A pasta machine is used. 3. Its cheaper to make your own pasta than to buy it. 4. It only takes about 20 min. to make.

My opinion of the Article: I think this article did give me a lot of information or at least the more important steps on how to make fresh pasta.Its instructions don't seem difficult to follow. This article was very helpful.

Article #2 (Spaghetti Sauce From Scratch) Summary of Article: Spaghetti Sauce From Scratch was an article about making fresh tomatoe sauce for spaghetti.Gives you information on what kinds and types of tomatoes you could pick.Also the steps on how to prepare the tomatoes and seasoning them.

After I read this article, I found the following to be interesting: 1.I learned that there is different kinds of tomatoes 2.Tomato sauce has a lot of ingredients 3.The meat could be combined with the tomato sauce(optional) 4.You don't have to remove the seeds from the tomato

My opinion of this Article: I think its better to buy the spaghetti sauce than to make it because it has to many steps.It would be more simple and easier to make it but I agree with the article if you make it from scratch it would taste better.

=Annotated Bibliography=

 Smith, S. E. [author's email address, if available]. "How To Make Pasta From Scratch." In "How To Do Things.Com" [ http://www.howtodothings.com/food-drink/how-to-make-pasta-from-scratch ].April 29,2011.

This website offers an overview of how to make fresh pasta. This site was important to my research because I learned how to make pasta in order for me to make spaghetti from scratch.

Henry, Julie. [author's email address, if available]. "Spaghetti Sauce From Scratch." In "Catalogs.com". May 5,2011.

This website offers an overview of how to make spaghetti sauce from scratch. This site was important to my research because I learned how to make spaghetti sauce which is my last step on making spaghetti from scratch.

the Editors of Easy Home Making Magazine. [author's email address, if available]. "How To Make Pasta." In "How Stuff Works.com". May 9,2011.

This website offers an overview of how to make pasta. This site was important to my research because I was able learn more about how to make fresh pasta because this website had photos and examples to demonstrate the steps to make spaghetti.

=Expert Project Glossary= Words and definitions that are important to my topic.

1.Spaghetti-A white starchy pasta of Italian origin that is made in the form of long strings, boiled, and served with any variety of meat or tomato sauce 2.Pasta-Any shaped edible preparation made from a flour and water dough 3.Scratch-From the very beginning or starting point 4.Seasoning-To heighten or improve the flavor of food 5.Tongs- A tool for grasping and lifting 6.Table spoons-A spoon that is a unit of measure equal to 4 fluid drams or 1/2 fluid ounce or 15 milliters 7.Skillet- A frying pan 8.Teaspoon- a unit of capacity used in cooking 9.Dough-Flour or meal combined with water 10.Mound-A heap or raised mass

=A little bit about my topic and why I chose it...= To make spaghetti takes a lot of work. It has a lot of steps, recipes, and ingredients. Especially if you want to start from scratch. Instead of just opening a can and microwaving it or just by boiling the spaghetti strings.Spaghetti comes from the Chinese noodles. It is believed Marco Polo brought it to Italy and Sicily when he came back from China. In order to start making your spaghetti you have to begin with making hand made fresh pasta. When you mix flour, eggs, olive oil, and some salt and pepper you have made pasta dough. After you roll out the dough you can cut the pasta into strands you can begin to let them cook on boiling hot water or you can refrigerate the spaghetti strands and make them later. When you are done with your pasta you start making the spaghetti tomato sauce from scratch. To make tomato sauce you have to pick out any type of fresh tomatoes.Then you begin to remove the skin by boiling for 30-45 seconds this way you wont have to hand peel that much.After you removed the skin and seeds chop the tomatoes and place them in a large pot and begin to let them cook. I wanted to learn how to make spaghetti from scratch that is why chose this topic. Even though I could make it using the easy way by buying everything prepared and ready to just boil or heat up but I decided to learn how it was done.

=Presentation Notes=

-Present home made spaghetti made from scratch -make a powerpoint presentation