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Since my boys were bambinos I have been celebrating each passing birthday with a “themed” party. When they were young, we based our napkins, cakes, and party favors on fire trucks and dump trucks, baseballs, wizards, and rockets. This year was no different, though it was a bit of a surprise.
My to-be 11 year old picked his own theme: a cooking party. The theme hadn’t crossed my mind, but it was entirely suited to him. Over the course of this last year his kitchen curiosity was peaked; he loves to help me prepare meals and readily provides his food critiques. (Heard like this: “not bad for a 15 minute meal,’ or ‘in my opinion, you could’ve cooked the carrots a bit longer,’ or ‘I like the sauce, but am not crazy about the fish’). A food critique is born—or rather, was born 11 years ago.
And to celebrate his kitchen pleasures we invited a few friends over for a sleepover. First, we handed them each a white chef hat; they decorated them with permanent markers. Next, we provided miniature rolling pins. To commemorate their chef crown experience, I had them create their own Italian sodas (using easy to make syrups), roll and top their own pizzas and help me blend and roll cookies.
My son’s birthday present request was to attend a cooking class (which he was able to do via William Sonoma. Also look into possible classes at Whole Food Kids).
Kudos to kids in the kitchen!
Contributing author Janelle from talkoftomatoes.com is a full-time mom, part-time foodie talks cooking with kids, family recipes, dinner menus.
