She wanted to help.
I let her.
That may sound like a straightforward request and response, but in my kitchen, that scenario is the result of scheduled cooking lessons last year. I thought the lessons were something I would repeat this summer, but somehow, those formal lessons just unlocked the kitchen for both the children and me.
We approach cooking much more organically this summer, responding to recipe requests and spontaneous helpfulness and interest. Genevieve found a coconut bread recipe in a book. Ben wanted to make chocolate cake. As supper helpers, they choose herbs, taste for salt, select condiments, and suggest menus. Genuine cooks! It's great fun to have my older kids in the kitchen.
3 comments:
The skills they're picking up from you will stay with them their whole lives. That's a pretty big gift.
Bread. Mmmm. I've been thinking of making some, but this heat has me using the oven as little as possible. How do you manage in the summer?
Jenny-o, I usually put other things in the oven as well to justify the heat. And I run my exhaust fan on high, plus blow a box fan at the oven. Bread is really the only thing I consistently bake in the summer - everything else is stovetop, grill, or crockpot.
The exhaust fan/box fan is a great idea. (Unfortunately for me, the exhaust fan on our stove vents to ... the kitchen, believe it or not.) But now you have me thinking about baking bread in the gas BBQ. I've made pizza that way before. Food for thought!
Post a Comment