Sunday, August 10, 2008

Summer Chefs

One word can best summarize this week in camp: DELICIOUS ! Or, as some of the campers like to say, DELICIOSO !!
Hopefully, you were able to take a look at the cookbooks your campers assembled and took home. Each recipe in the book was from a different day of the week.
The unanimous favorite food were the rice krispies treats.
The english muffin pizzas were also enjoyed, with a certain degree of variety; some children preferred to not have cheese on theirs, some loaded up on tomato sauce, some with extra cheese. The fruit kebabs were also a favorite, and the campers were able to choose from a yummy assortment of fresh fruit, including pears, watermelon, apples, grapes, mango, strawberries, and oranges (and one marshmallow each).
The mango smoothies were a bit tart at first, since we were using plain yogurt, but we were able to sweeten it up with honey.
On Friday, we treated the campers to an ice cream sundae buffet, with loads of wonderful fixin's, including: chocolate sprinkles, rainbow sprinkles, bananas, chocolate fudge, caramel sauce, cherries, magic shell topping, chocolate chip cookies, and whipped cream. What could be better! The most amazing aspect of this treat was how the campers were behaving after consumption. Usually filling them up with sweets can lead to a chaotic classroom, but we channeled their energy into making their cookbooks, which they focused on for nearly 45
minutes!
I am a big fan of trying new things, particularly when it comes to food. I am amazed by the variety of fruit that exists in our world, and much of it is available to buy in Chinatown! Some of the more exotic types are beautiful to look at, regardless of how they taste. I jump on any opportunity to introduce the children to a new kind of food, to help them realize that there are fruits beyond apples and oranges, while encouraging them to expand their palate. The dragonfruit (aka strawberry pear, or pitaya), shown below, was enjoyed by roughly one half of the campers. It has the consistency and flavor of a kiwi, but on the milder side, and grows on cacti in Central and South America. Yum!