1. FNBE 0413
Cheah Teck Wei 0315215
ENGL 0205
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN
THE DESIGN SCHOOL
FOUNDATION IN NATURAL AND BUILT ENVIRONMENT
NAME: CHEAH TECK WEI
STUDENT ID NO: 0315215
TOOL SELECTED: CUTTING BOARD
WORD COUNT: 636
ENGLISH 2 (ENGL 0205)
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 1: NARRATIVE ESSAY
LECTURER: CASSANDRA WIJESURIA
SUBMISSION DATE: 14th NOVEMBER 2013
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2. FNBE 0413
Cheah Teck Wei 0315215
ENGL 0205
As a cooking lover, the cooking utensils are part of my life which I can’t live
without. Every of them are unique and specific to me as they carries out different
functions and helping me preparing dishes in a blink of eye. Among the cooking utensils,
the one that I loved the most is the cutting board.
Some of you might be unaware of it, but its existence is undeniably crucial to
neither me nor every chef. A cutting board is basically a rectangular board, which mostly
made in wood or plastic. For my own lovely cutting board, it was made in wood and it’s
approximately the length of a normal men’s palm to his elbow and with a height of one
and a half palm of a men. It was slightly bigger than normal ones as I use it to cut bigger
ingredients such as chicken, beef and so on. It’s only a nail thick so it is only slightly
heavier than a book. There is also a rectangular shaped long hole on the right side as a
handle to provide convenience while bringing around and also a stainless-steel ring on
the top right corner which allows you to hang it. The brown colored woody pattern on it
enhances its appearance. Besides, there are dense knife cuttings on the middle of its
surface as we use it to cut the ingredients hence giving it a rough texture while you
touch and sweep on it where other areas of the board gives a smooth texture as it was
processed before selling. In addition, the corners of the board are not sharp-edges so
that it won’t cause harm to people while holding or moving around. The name and logo
of the company of this cutting board is carved beside the handle.
Other than its physical appearance, it is hard and stiff which it cannot be bent or
changes its shape. It also produces a bright and clear “knock knock” sound when you
knock on it. Normally the board has no temperature, which I call it as neutral. Its
temperature varies when I put different ingredient on it and later on it will return to
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3. FNBE 0413
Cheah Teck Wei 0315215
ENGL 0205
neutral again in a short while based on the nature of wood. Moreover, it also gives a
wood smell like a dry furniture smell and also a little bit smell of the mixtures of different
ingredient which I cannot name how it really smells like. It can also absorb little amount
of water on its surface and drying out very fast.
After all these observations and explorations towards the board, I can
confidentially tell that the board is used as a platform to prepare the ingredients by
cutting, slicing and so on without doing it on the table as well as damaging the table
because of its hard and stiff characteristic. More than that, it provides a clean platform
to prepare the ingredients and it can be cleaned easily.
While I am digging out what it is, I sincerely found out that this is a great and
useful cooking utensil in term of its function and also design. I observe the cutting board
first, whether in close or far and look into details. Then, I move further on testing what it
is by carrying out certain experiments such as applying force on it, hitting on it, sinking it
in water, feel it with bare hands and so on, trying to find out more about it. The
information I got from my experiments are recorded in a piece of paper and arranged
accordingly as pre-writing. Finally I wrote a narrative essay with the information I have.
It is a smooth process for me as I had stated out what I should find out before I started
my experiments hence everything worked in a smooth manner.
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