Learning contract

Topic: How to make the Linzer Torte

Purpose: Since I am staying in Linz for almost half a year and the Linzer Torte is a local speciality, I would like to learn how to make it. I love baking as well as consuming sweets and I would like to prepare the cake for my family so that they could taste a bit of the country I was staying in.

Resources: web-based tools - wiki to find more information concerning the cake, blogs to read some personal experience with making the cake, youtube to see how to make the cake, flickr and google pictures to find inspiration how it may look like, convert-me.com to convert the ingredients into the format I know, caloriecount.about.com to count the calories in my cake
technological resources - computer with Internet access, kitchen utensils, camera (to take a picture of my product)
human resources - diners, my mum - for giving advice

Strategy: 1. finding some theoretical/historical background about the cake - why is it called the Linzer Torte and what is the story behind it? (maybe my diners will be curious and ask me some inquiring questions), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linzer_torte, http://www.linz.at/english/tourism/873.asp; 2. finding the suitable receipe - I guess there are many different receips available, so it might be useful to compare them and find the suitable one - the critera for this is to be close to the original receipe and the availability of ingredients - I would use a searching engine to find the receips and personal blogs to get advice; 3. watching some videos on youtube concerning making the cake, taking notes; 4. finding the ingredients - what is the cake made of? and what is the proportion of the ingredients? where can I buy them?; 5. deciding on the design of the cake - how will it look like? how am I going to serve it? - finding some pictures and ideas on the web; 6. getting all the ingredients, finding the place where I can bake it and the appropriate kitchen utensils; 7. start doing it

Outcome evaluation: The diners taste my cake and give opinions/critique. I will expect or ask for the comments on the visual side of the cake as well and also ask them if their expectations came true. I will compare my expectations with the outcome, too.