Sticky Fingers

Last month while Ed and I were reading Denver magazine's Top of the Town issue, we discovered that there is a children's cooking school, which earned Best Pick from the editors, held in the basement of a church just a few blocks away, and children as young as two can participate. We were only disappointed to have learned of it so late in the summer -- had we known about it in June, Ed could have taken Blanden there before he went back to work. However, once we settled on the dates for Grammy's return visit and knew that she would be here to watch Ellis, we found that it was perfect timing after all -- a "Look Ma, No Cans: Everything from Scratch" cooking camp was running this week, so Blanden and I signed up!

We enrolled in the parent-tot session, and Blanden happened to be the youngest in the class, as there were quite a few older, parent-free children enrolled too. The camp runs every morning from 9:30 to 11:15. Today we made homemade pasta. First, we decorated our place settings while we waited for everyone to arrive.

Then we went to our first cooking station: the sauce. Using a children's safety knife Blanden got to cut up tomatoes, garlic, and fresh mozzarella balls (almost) all by himself (with Mommy's hand guiding the knife)! Next he tore up some basil leaves, put in a pinch of salt and pepper, added some olive oil, and mixed it all up.

Each child got to do each ingredient at their own stations; we put everything into the bowl in the center and took turns mixing. The older children took turns pouring the olive oil into the measuring cup, but Blanden got to dump the olive oil into the sauce mixture, and he thought that was fun -- as was mixing.

Then we moved on to the pasta station, where the children measured out all-purpose and semolina flours, made a well in the center, added some eggs and olive oil, and kneaded the dough before putting it through a pasta press.

And finally, at the end of the class, we moved on to the best part of all: tasting our creation! Blanden devoured the homemade noodles (we will have to try making those at home sometime) and the mozzarella cheese, although he wasn't keen on the tomatoes (despite the fact that he loves to pick them off the plants and eat them fresh at home).

We wonder what will be on the menu for our little chef tomorrow?