Cooking for Children, Days 4 and 5
What a great day. Just finished days 4 and 5. What a great time. The children was wonderful. They really had a great time at cooking dinner for thier parents. They did a wonderful job. Yesterday we started the day with making fresh cinnamon rolls. They were perfect. After that we made pizza for lunch. Than they started preparing dinner for the parents. Oh my, they did a wonderful job. Fresh baked rosemary bread, pasta with a wonderful alfredo sauce, caramelized carrots, and pineapple basil drink with fresh basil brownies to finish. It was great. And they did it all with out my help. Children are wonderful, they learn so fast.
Today we went out and had a great time at the Queen Creek Olive Farm. It was really great. They learned all about olives and how olive oil is made. They were able to try all kinds of stuff and we ended the week with a great lunch and gelato.
I am beat, but happy. The week was great and the children were thrilled and want to do it again. I feel satisfied that they learned alot and have skills they will be able to use again.
The next one that has openning is coming up in August. IF you don't make that one see you or your children next summer. I will be offering them again next summer and I can hardly wait. have a great day. Chef Brad
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Friday, July 18, 2008
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Cooking with Children, Report day 3
Day three was wonderful. I really had a great time and I think the children really loved it. We had a wonderful class on sauces. We learned the five mother sauces and than we cooked some great food with the sauces. It was great. One funny thing, We were talking about white sauce and what liquid you used in white sauce. The answer was milk, than I asked what liquid you used in brown sauce. The answer was Chocolate milk. Made sense to them. We baked bread, one student wondered if we could do better than Macaroni Grill. I didn't say a word. We baked the rosemary flat bread and I just waited to see. They could not believe how good it was. Yes, we did better than Macaroni Grill. I have arrived.
For lunch we had a cream sauce with grilled chicken and a chicken sauce with grilled chicken served over Korean pasta that we bought at Lee Lees market.
We baked chocolate basil brownies, whole grain. They love chopping up the basil.
I got a report from my son who is friends with one of the boys in the class. He said he didn't want to come and waste so much time. After three days of long classes he is thrilled. He couldn't stop talking about what he was learning and how great the food was.
I am having a great time. It is long days, but so worth the effort. We talked about that, how the effort is always worth it. Even clean up is worth it when you consider what was done to make the mess.
Have a great day. I will report again. Next class they cook a meal for thier parents. Have a great day. Chef Brad
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Thursday, July 17, 2008
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Cooking for Children, Report
Yesterday started the kids class for this week and I thought I would blog a report. What a great thing. I love teaching children to cook and exposing them to new things. Yesterday we went on a wonderful culinary tour. We visited my favorite herb and spice shop in Scottsdale. They had a great time. I love the looks on thier faces as they experienced the vast selection of quality herbs and spices. We bought the most wonderful cinnamon, vietnamase, and we are going to make cinnamon rolls with it. We also bought the most wonderful dutch chocolate that they loved which we used today in the texas sheet cake. It was divine. I let them select 2 spices each that we will use in our cooking. Today we used the curry they chose for the chicken salad sandwich they made for lunch.
We had a great time at the spice store and than we went to a wonderul ethnic market to shop and have lunch. I loved the experience. On of the students actually tried the shimp. I love exposing them to new experiences. It is good for them to try new things. I don't care if the like it or not, that is not the important thing. Trying it is what matters most. We had a wonderful time. We did take a moment for some gelato ice cream, and of course they loved it.
Today was a great day also. We did a knife skills class to start. I gave each on of them one of my favorite knives. It is a sharp one, so it was important to teach them how to use it and care for it. They learned how to mince, chop, julliane, cube, and cut. They did a great job, I was please, so for no cuts. They also learned how to cut fruit, from pineapples to melons, they are pros now. It was fun and I was amazed at how quickly they caught on. After the knife skills class we prepared lunch. They made a wonderful curry chicken apple sandwich. They used the curry they picked out yesterday. With the sandwich they ate fresh fruit they cut up in the knife skills class. After lunch we baked a wonderful whole grain Texan sheet cake with the dutch chocolate they bought yesterday. It was so good. They could tell the difference the good chocolate made in the cake and they loved the whole grain texture and flavor. We also made pizzells with whole grain. Amazing, they loved the texture of the grains and the flavor.
After that we went out for another great culinary tour. We visited Lee Lee's market. What a fun experience. I don't think they will soon forget the pig snouts and chicken feet. We were treated with a woman telling them how wonderful they tasted cooked a certian way. I still could not convince them into buying them and cooking them. It was great fun. They loved the great selection of pastas. It looks like tomorrow they will be cooking with pasta. They did let me buy tofu. We will see what we can create with it tomorrow..
What fun. I am learning so much. I have shortened the next ones down to 4 days instead of five and lowered the price. I will say this is alot of work and I love it. Children are wonderful and I love teaching them. I will send a blog the rest of the week and let you know how it goes. Have a great dayh. Chef Brad
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Tuesday, July 15, 2008
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Travel Log
Just finished a wonderful 2 weeks cooking tour. It was great. I spent a week cooking in Utah, from St George to Ogden. What a great time it was. So much great food and absolutely the best people in the world to cook for. So much fun. The last week was spent at girls camp. What a great thing to cook for a bunch of girls. They are so fun and really appreciate what we do for them. They sing and decorate the door and leave wonderful notes. It was a joy. I am excited for the rest of the summer. Childrens classes are filling up and I am thrilled for them. It will be a great time for them and I am sure I will have the best time. You can check out the summer classes at my web site. I am offering lunch and learns also. I hope your summer is as fun as mine. Have a great day. Chef Brad
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Wednesday, July 09, 2008
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