Banana Pancakes

After a long day at work I was ready to come home and go to bed.  I knew that wouldn't happen.  It's Day One of our cooking excursion and there would be no delays.  At least I was allowed to change in to comfortable clothes before getting started.  

Connor was as excited as I expected he would be. He grabbed his apron, and ingredients and utensils started flying.  He needed very little help from me.  I gave a few suggestions, but he seemed very comfortable in the kitchen.  What was most pleasing was in between the measuring and mixing. Connor shared his day with me.  This seems to be something of a struggle in our house.  "How was you day?" or "What did you do today?" is usually followed with one-word answers... "Fine."  and "I dunno. Nothing."  

Today was different. I heard about field trips and stories that the teacher is reading.  Gossip from the lunch table and homework hassles.  None of it was prompted by questions.  It was really awesome.  There is something very relaxing about mashing and stirring. The pace that he cooked with didn't seem frenzied or rushed.  As we enjoyed the smells and waited for the perfect brown before he would flip, there was nothing to do but talk and it seemed more natural than ever before.  

Connor's calm in the kitchen just seemed to be another assurance of his comfort in that room of the house, and it impresses me. I could take some examples from him.

As for the meal itself.... the pancakes are so yummy!  Connor,of course, added chocolate chips to them. In this house, there is no such thing as pancakes without chips. He also make scrambled eggs and sausages.  Before allowing anyone to eat he stood at the head of the table, made a speech introducing the meal as "the first official blog meal" and had an air of pride that flowed from his eyes as much as his words. Kudos to the chef!

Shopping

Why am I doing this myself?  I should be shopping with Connor in order to truly let him be a part of the entire process. Yea. Because grocery shopping is so much fun.  Oh boy. Wahoo.  I know... thats not the point.  He needs to experience the whole thing.  Choose his own bananas, pick out the blueberries.  See the obscene prices for butter and milk.  This is his journey and I'm along to monitor, assist and write about it.  

Its difficult to balance the pressures in my mind about my role versus his.  It seems to be easy to get excited about his desire to cook, but I struggle with actually LETTING him cook.  Slowing down to let him chop, teaching him not to blow up the house by turning on the stove without allowing the electronic pilot actually light the burner, and taking him through each step of creation is going to be tougher than I thought.  I may have more to learn than Connor does.

Why I Love Cooking(By Chef Connor)

1. Making the food (Very fun!)
2. Buying the ingredients (Very fun again)
3. Plating the food (Fun time)
4. For fun (MHHM)
5. YUMMY (OF COURSE!)
6. Gives energy (YES!)
7. Healthy (Yes it is)
8. Smelling the food ( OhhYeahh)
9. Eating The Food (Another OhhYeahh!)

These are only nine of the other five I have.I think cooking is one of the best careers out there!But other people don't like it so theres your goods and your wrongs and your greats and your"HOLY CRAPS!!!!".But mostly your goods and wrongs.I also like singing but that's a whole different blog.So that's basically why I love cooking.

P.S."God Bless America"For cooking!!!

Step One

The toughest part of this journey seems to be making itself clear already.  Patience.  Connor is very excited to begin this process.   Right now.  The glory of children is their vision of a finished product and not being overwhelmed by the tasks of getting there.  This seems to come from the fact that they dont see there are any steps between what we want to do and doing it.  
We have managed to choose a cookbook to start with.  Last Christmas, we gave Connor several cookbooks of his very own, and he has read them and examined them in detail cover to cover many times.  His favorite seems to be Willams-Sonoma "The Kids Cookbook" (Oxmoor House -2000).  It has beautiful pictures of each recipe, has very clear, easy to follow steps, and provides and equipment list in addition to the ingredients which helps with getting the tools needed together ahead of time.  My favorite feature is the spiral binding.  Why isn't it a rule that all cookbooks be made this way?  It makes them soooooo much easier to use!
To preface the discovery of this book (and a few others I have found to be great cookbooks for kids that want to cook) let me just say.... the choices out there for kids that want to learn to cook sucks!  I spent many hours in and out of bookstores and doing online searches to find only a small handful that provide what I was searching for in a format that was user-friendly for a young boy.  I found tons of cutesy childish creations that said they were "kids cookbooks".  No. These are cookbooks for adults that want to make food that looks cute for kids to be entertained by, not to cook themselves. Connor doesn't care about making smiley-face pancakes as much as he cares about making pancakes... period. 
Other "kids cookbooks" I found were geared toward adapting recipes into bland, small-portioned adjustments of what the adult version was.  Stir-fry where you remove the child's portion before adding the sauces and seasonings (where the FLAVOR comes from) and similar ideas were abound.  Nope.  The rest were intended for cooking with very young children like toddler/preschoolers, or pink, frilly, girl cookbooks because apparently the stereotype of women in the kitchen is not beyond booksellers either.


So Williams-Sonoma, my hats off to you for giving us someplace to start. 

Where Do I Begin?

I have a son that loves to cook. I know, that doesn't sound like a big deal and not really something worth starting a blog about. Lots of people like to cook including plenty of kids. Let me put this another way. I have a 9-year-old that is CRAZY about cooking and does it well. His idea of Saturday morning cartoons is watching Food Network shows. In fact, he has already decided he wants to be a chef. I believe he can, and will, especially with a little encouragement and some fostering of an already-present passion.

He has has some opportunities to grow his love affair for the kitchen. One of the more unique and memorable for him was an evening he spent one-on-one at the Minneapolis Hilton cooking with the Executive Chef. It was an amazing evening for him and a catalyst for an even greater desire to encourage his love of all things food. He frequently can be found in the kitchen exploring new tastes, flavors and combinations of ingredients.

This all sounds wonderful, and it is. The other side of this is that many nights when I just want to get a meal on the table and eat after a long day, being teacher, safety monitor and personal shopper isn't always high on my list of "want to's".

Nonetheless, I believe it is more than just a passing fancy for him and as his mother I need to do all I can to assist him in reaching for his dreams.

My husband and I just rented the popular movie Julie & Julia. This has inspired me to begin an similar process. (I have a sneaking suspicion there are MANY with the same inspiration.) Mine is a little different in that I want to embark on this journey with my son...my Future Chef. Not only do I think it would be a wonderful experience for him, but I feel safe in assuming there will be numerous benefits for myself. I think I have as much to learn as he does. Maybe not so much in the cooking, but in the experience itself. Things about myself, my son, and how to help a child grow to become what they dream to be.

So this is the beginning. It starts with this blog. Next we decide which cookbook to use. Then the real learning begins.....

Thank you for being a traveler with us!