With eagerness, they tackle the skills of food preparation

"Who eats breakfast every morning?" Hands shoot up and then come down a tad. "Sometimes I sleep too long," says Nyla Richards. "I don't have time," comments Amir Johnson. The concept of oatmeal was not unfamiliar, but making it from scratch was. They all loved it! As Reuben Smith stirred the pot and watched the milk, water and oats transform into a thick, luscious porridge, he said, "It looks delicious." - Katie Rhodes, Amy Steinberg

This week we focused on basic cooking concepts, how to hold a knife, what it means to slice and then dice, why we should carry our knives tip down, and the difference between wet and dry measuring cups. They really enjoyed saying "Behind You!" when walking behind another person with a knife or something hot.

- Amy Falkenstein, Heather Finkler

"I want to cook for my family," announced Bryson Barnes at our first class. Arianna Melendez chimed in, saying, "I signed up to learn how to cook nutritious foods." The delicious and nutritious oatmeal was the perfect first class! As well as being a manageable dish, the prep of the condiments provided the best beginning dicing lesson using a large chef knife.

  - Sylvia Wilson,
Ruth Biemer
 

The concept of texture was an important part of class as we explored the look, feel, and taste of steel cut oatmeal. How would it compare with rolled oats? The final verdict? All agreed it had a better flavor while Ciani Mitchell and Dajah Bryant liked the slight chewiness of it. - Greta Haebel,
Ilene Miller

Casidhe Pierre clearly enjoyed her attention to detail as she worked on precise fruit cutting. She quickly assimilated new vocabulary with "mise en place, mincing, and presentation" naturally rolling off her tongue. Ladaya Winrow-Jones and Chelsea Smith loved working the heat station. The most memorable quote of the day: "Chelsea, never leave milk unattended on the stove!" - Greta Haebel,
Rachel Josloff

The children didn't expect oatmeal for our first class, but "breakfast for dinner" was a big hit! Ciani Brooks said she never knew milk and water with oatmeal would be so good: "This I will remember!" The students had only had the instant kind. It tasted nothing like this! "I loved it," said Xavier Brown. - Lisa Krader,
Linda Todorow

When the oatmeal was thick and creamy we spread the toppings - apples, bananas, raisins, walnuts, almonds, and several different spices - on a table so each student could make their own. Everyone loved the cinnamon, but the ground cloves caused some wrinkled noses. "It smells so strong," said T'yana Smith, "but I bet if I try it, it will taste good." Maybe next time.

- Brenda Waber, Kristin Stitz

As we sat down to eat our piping hot oatmeal, we made predictions about what we thought it would taste like. Mikal Bonilla correctly predicted we would enjoy what we were about to eat because we were able to choose the healthy toppings to sprinkle on top, which would delight our taste buds.

- Nicole Molino,
Nicole Jackson

What can you put on your oatmeal? This was the question many of our chefs were asking as we began. The best part was tasting the oatmeal and putting on the toppings. We decided it was like an ice cream sundae bar with all of the choices to put on top. The favorite seemed to be brown sugar!

- Sharyn Adelman Lorrie Craley

"I tried lots of new things. I tried California raisins and thought those were very good!," said Bailey Cahill. Gianni Chacon said that going into it "she didn't think it would taste good, but after she ate it she said it was the best oatmeal she had ever had. It really gets you full!"   - Sue Pinto
 

The weather was perfect for our meal. Sara told us she never had oatmeal like this before. After dinner, she wrote she really liked how it tasted. Sean liked using the knife, eating, helping out and setting things up. He loved the oatmeal. Kaylee thought it was delicious.

-Beth Stack,Chris Hoyler

Each one of the boys presented themselves and behaved so maturely. They were meticulous in their measuring of ingredients and really prided themselves in their ability to follow the recipe and successfully cook the oatmeal. Our principal, Michael Roth, stopped by and had a taste, too!

From Kenneth Davila: I enjoyed cooking with people that I never met and I believe "My Daughter's Kitchen" should be in every school." - Che Che and
Joe Bradbury