Cooking and Kids - Cooking with Kids

Published in The Fauquier Times-Democrat Weekend on June 24th, 2011

My mom always says that the hardest thing about cooking is deciding what to make. Once she visualizes the menu, it all comes together. Correction: It flies together, three burners madly bubbling away with the fourth dedicated to puffing up the hand-kneaded, hand-rolled, hot chappatis that could make a meal in themselves. She always whips together a couple of chutneys on the side in the midst of this culinary tempest: one fiery and the other sweet and tangy. Everything is served up pronto, piping hot, pungent and salivatingly delicious. Here’s another remarkable thing about my mom. The woman cleans up the kitchen as she goes along. When she finishes cooking, you have something that you’re prone to overeat just because it tastes so good, and she has a clean kitchen. When I finish cooking, I have a disaster in my kitchen, and what’s on the plate are the survivors from that wreck.


Alas, I did not inherit my mother’s cooking talents. I may have had a better chance had I spent more time in the creative side of the kitchen rather than specializing, as I did, on the consuming end. Hey, I can appreciate good food. I won’t even turn my nose up to mediocre food either, because that’s how I’ve survived in my own kitchen.


The only hope of cooking salvation is that I’ve pushed my own children into the kitchen every summer, weekend, holiday, and at any other time they appear to be idle. Depending on the child, this can be quite often.


Better were the homeschooling years when you could have some time in the kitchen together “doing” fractions, discussing nutrition, and munching ingredients. We made quite a mess, but we also made some amazing things: our own doughnuts, lollipops, ice cream, even corn chips from scratch. They also made enchiladas, baked chicken, soups from scratch, and big, soft pretzels.


Not every child learned to cook. Some just learned to look busy.


This summer, I am supposed to be living the life of luxury. With school out, I’m not teaching. We have five children largely at home, so I’m not rushing them places. (The eldest daughter, working on campus with a summer internship, has abandoned her role as chief household baker and assistant chauffeur.)


The luxury is that my eighteen-year-old daughter, the second eldest, is cooking dinner every weeknight. Here’s an even bigger boon: she cooks more than four things, so there is something different every night. In my household, this is the dangerous and revolutionary sort of thinking that is bound to cause unrest in the fall. What will I do in the fall when she returns to campus? Last summer my daughter Tevy and I teamed up to teach cooking classes for children at Tagaloo, a nifty little shop that specializes in children’s themed parties and classes for both adults and children. It’s located in Old Town Warrenton.


To tell the truth, the classes, menus, shopping, and planning were all done by my daughter. I was there helping out, taking pictures of the children in their colorful aprons, or working with children as they wrote out the recipes in their recipe books. Basically, I did what I have always done best in the kitchen: assist, support, laugh, and eat.


This summer, as a young adult, Tevy is again offering the cooking classes through Tagaloo. You might be surprised to learn that none of the cooking the children did required the use of a stove or oven. There was cutting and microwaving, and each day had its own theme. The children were taught about nutrition and to clean up after themselves, too. Even children as young as five really enjoyed and benefited from the class.


There was a day of Summer Fun of making fresh squeezed lemonade, a big fruit salad in a watermelon basket; a Mexican Fiesta with fresh guacamole and salsa, a bean and cheese soup in the microwave, and an English tea party complete with hot tea and cucumber sandwiches.


The classes are being offered again this summer. Each is a week long, from Monday through Friday. The July 25th – 29th session is in the mornings from 9:00 – 11:30, while the August 1st – 5th session is in the afternoons, from 1:00 – 3:30. I’ll probably be there as the support crew again.


If you’re interested, give Kimberly Entrican a call at Tagaloo, 540-229-1656 or visit http://www.tagaloo.com/.  

Now you might think to yourself that I have just used this whole column as shameless advertising for my daughter, but that’s not true. I still have the ability to feel shame.