Learning to cook

I love to cook, a way of getting creative with colours and taste, the adventure of trying out new recipes or making them up as you go. The chemistry of how ingredients react with different techniques. And the heavenly scents that fill the rooms and turn it into home.

For the kids, the kitchen has always been their favourite place to play. When they were little it was banging pots and pans, a little bigger they were using the whisk and pans to make pretend food. They are now coming to the point where they don't longer have to pretend, they are making the real deal. Comes dinner time they love to help. Just the simple things, rolling out pizza dough and pasta, cutting veggies, adding ingredients to the cooking pots, finding herbs... They're great help making stir-fries, pasta sauce, pizza, salads and soup. It's a bit daunting to let Tim handle a knife, a real one, sharp. He has good coordination (and the knife is small enough to do no permanent damage), you only learn with practice. The pea and ham soup (photo above) was a great success.

They're still a bit young to follow a cook book, but when their reading skills pick up, they'll be able to make some simple dinners on their own. Applied homework: math, science and reading in one. 

And although decorating cakes and cookies is heaps of fun, cooking will be a skill for life.