Yesterday was a day that I shall remember for a long time. Ben (10) cooked his first meal. No, I am not talking about a microwave prepackaged meal, which we don’t eat anyway, but the evening meal for the entire family. I was very proud of the boy when I arrived home and found out that he had assisted Kim with the cooking of Beef Chow mein, which included the harvesting of the three small cabbages that they used in the meal. Here is a few photos of the junior chef in action.
It tasted delicious, with green crunch and a curry flavoured bite! I savoured every mouthful. Kim did most of the preparation i.e. defrosting the mince, cutting the cabbage and supevised the event. But Ben did all the cooking. A great joint effort and one I praised Ben again for today.
Ben declared to me that he likes cooking, and we promised to let him help all weekend. He helped put the topping on our home made pizza tonight, and he is very excited (as am I) to be assisting me with cooking a pasta sauce from scratch and adding it to his favourite Tortellini pasta. The pasta is locally made (North Melbourne), and I source a few ingredients for the sauce from the garden. I will coax him into doing a little more preparation than he has done in the last two days.
Kim also informed me during our bed chat that Ben helped her with the Chickens, gathered the eggs, put them to bed and put their feeder into the shed. I feel proud because he really has begun to take an interest in how our food is prepared and grown, and maybe this new found interest will extend into helping maintain the veggie patch. He already planted seeds about a month ago, so needs to watch, learn and try to plant some of the seedlings into some of the vacant space that the cabbages have left behind. I have some pumpkins raring to go! Time will tell, but I am hopeful that he will maintain interest.
Now, those of you who may think that this sudden interest in cooking has stemmed from watching Junior Masterchef TV, think again. With the Telly still being absent from our lives, we have not watched an episode, so I don’t believe that this has influenced Ben in any way. It was just the right time to cook!
Nice job Ben. Another Iron Chef in the making. 🙂
The apple does not fall far from the tree. Yum, it looks great.
Both of my kids have helped me cook since they could stand on their own two feet. It’s very messy in the beginning and I think part of the motivation is sneaking ingredients before supper (like pepperoni when we make pizza).
I had 2 assistants canning my jam last year, ages 9 and 4. Kids really do love to participate in adult activities. Makes them feel grown up.
Well done Ben! It looks delicious, and isn’t it fun to go out and pick a vegetable then cook it right away for dinner.
I hope you have a fun time cooking over this weekend.
Go Ben! My kids are grown up now, but from when they were about 9 or 10, they started cooking one night a week regularly for the family. Part of the deal was deciding on a recipe, using what was in season and in the garden, and making sure any necessary shopping was on the list. One loved it and treated us all to a new culinary delight every week. The other regarded it as a chore, albeit an ok one, and treated us to spag bog every week. Both though are now great cooks, and the side benefit was that all through their student days, they were able to avoid the living on packaged food and takeaways trap and so had a lot more money for partying!
Great start Ben! What a fantastic role model & parent you are Gav…