Highfield Hall Cooks!

Summer Fun!

After quite a break in the regular sessions I'm happy to be getting back into the kitchen (and garden!) with the kids in just a few weeks. This year the program reached capacity sometime in May and enrollment has more than doubled! I've had registrations from all over the world—Russia, Andorra, Israel, and Hong Kong, among others! With the help of my friends Sarah Pring, Paul Marini, and Nellie Emigh, the garden went in quickly without a hitch this year. We even have irrigation and the bean plants have already grown bigger than they did all season last year. The Beautification Council donated a generous sum to get the garden in place—the money has thus far funded the majority of the work that's gone into the garden, allowing me to allocate more funding to the rest of the program. In short, we're off to a great start this year!

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone starting July 6^th!

 

Time Flies!

Hard to believe it's been a month since my last post! The week before school let out for vacation the younger kids made lollipop sugar cookie bouquets.




And Young Epicureans created chicken fajitas and caramel apple flautas.





We missed a couple of weeks in there with school vacation and Easter, and before I knew it we were full swing in the midst of April Vacation's Kids Cook Around the World program. The class was full and energetic. We made everything from Falafel and Pita Bread to Mango Lassi and Potstickers. The Caribbean Turkey Burgers with Sweet Potato Fries (also made in Young Epicureans) were a huge hit.

Outside the kitchen, in the garden, the lemon thyme, oregano, and tricolor sage joined the chives, stretching their green and yellow finery up towards the sun. The little bird who found a nest in an unlikely spot last spring has returned, and the strawberries we planted last month are beginning to grow bigger and stronger. Even the once-upside down asparagus is beginning to sprout.

The regular session resumed in the week following April vacation and Heather Vaughan discovered that the article for which we'd been interviewed and photographed had hit the newsstands!



Many thanks to Heather for the copy she gave me! I know Cape Cod Magazine probably saw a little spike in magazine sales in Falmouth because everyone ran out and bought at least a copy or five to share with friends and relatives. Writer Jessica Laniewski and photographer Alison Caron did a fantastic job of capturing the essence of the Sunday morning Kids Cafe Group.

During the last two classes of Kids Cafe for the spring session, the kids enjoyed making Chinese Lettuce Wraps and Baked Five Spice Tortilla Chips and an outrageously lemony Lemon Chiffon Cake.





(Tots made the lettuce wraps too!)

Mmmm...mmmm...gooooooooooood!

Spring Chives

This time of year is exciting because the earth is warming, flowers are quietly unfurling themselves towards the brightest sun we’ve seen in months, and the grass is greening up. I start to anticipate the bounty the vegetable garden will yield long before the first chives emerge.

And they have emerged.

They were the first things I saw as I walked slowly up the garden steps this week. Bright green and eager, they stand at the center of what was a large patch of herbs. The rest of the garden is brown and black and a tangle of straw-colored stems left trapped under last season’s early snow.

There are already worms and weeds taking up residence. The worms we love. The weeds not so much.

Megan and Amelia gave us some young asparagus and strawberry plants. They were ready to be planted, so on Saturday I took the Kids Cafe class out to the garden after we made Chive, Ham, and Potato Frittatas and Blueberry Lemon Muffins and we put those little plants in the wet, warm ground. 

I must admit that I had no clue how to plant asparagus. First we planted them upside down (!), but I quickly realized my error and ran out after the kids left to replant them roots down.

After I got home that afternoon I did some research and came to learn that although this time I’d gotten them the right way round they still needed to be replanted. Note to self (and anyone else wishing to plant asparagus):

1) dig a trench

2) make a mound of dirt the length of said trench

3) put asparagus plants along the trench, 12 to 18 inches apart, spreading their roots out over the mound of dirt.

4) cover with dirt up to the crown.

And now I have to hope that no one inadvertantly digs them up or steps on them (hello person with the giant shoe whose swirly-bottomed soles left prints all over the newly turned earth around the wrongly planted asparagus—USE THE PATHS!!)

Other than that this week we used chives in as many things as we could manage—frittatas, potato pancakes, and lovely green beans with lemon and butter. Nicole even said she doesn’t normally eat green beans, but she definitely enjoyed these!

Tots and Pans and Kids Cafe kids also made some truly yummy Blueberry Lemon Muffins (loaves) with wheat germ, yogurt, and oats. Delicious and healthy!

Young Epicureans also made Lime Shortbread drizzled with white chocolate, Ciabatta bread, and Sundried Tomato and Green Olive Stuffed Chicken Breasts.

Emily, our resident vegetarian, made some pasta and sauce, which everyone enjoyed.

(Huh? No, way was this picture staged!)

And now, some gratuitous cuteness:

Many thanks to Chloe for taking all these fabulous pictures for me and to Fran and Gina for helping with clean up again!

Wordle

This is a Wordle, automatically generated from the text in previous blog posts.

 

Session Five is Rockin'!

I know! I’ve been remiss! But I haven’t forgotten to blog, I’ve just been so busy I haven’t had the time to get on here and post the usual weekly reports about what’s going on in the kitchen these days. Busy because of the exciting upcoming April Vacation program, a bunch of birthday parties, the upcoming summer program (which is booking up so fast it’s making my head spin!), and some other projects that will hopefully be announced very soon. Time is just flying by here. I can hardly believe that we’re already two weeks into the Tots and Pans and Young Epicureans sessions and three weeks into the two Kids Café Sessions.

We kicked off Kids Café with Potato Gnocchi and Almond Pesto, which was a huge hit with the kids. That day we also had a visit from a writer and photographer from Cape Cod Magazine. Julie Arruda generously volunteered her time in the kitchen that day to help keep the troops in line while the photographer did her shoot and the writer interviewed and observed the class. Many thanks to Julie! As far as I know we’re expecting to be featured in the May issue. I’ll be sure to post details as they happen.

 

With the number of kids in some of these classes I’m starting to feel like I’m working the line in a restaurant again! Lots of pots and pans to keep track of.

 

During the second Kids Café class we threw together some Pinto Gallo from a recipe book given to me by Eva and Lisa Sloate who had just come back from Costa Rica. To my surprise, a lot of the kids loved it! I guess there was no need to throw them a bone with the Lava Cake….

Kids Café’s new Saturday class made almond-crusted, oven-baked chicken fingers instead of Pinto Gallo, and they loved them!

Young Epicureans took a stab at a full Costa Rican menu, which also included Coco Flan (coconut flan) and corn and cheese empanadas.

The kids weren’t huge fans of the flan, but their parents were practically slurping them off the plates at pick-up, so I think it’s safe to say they were a success. We had some trouble with the cornmeal dough for the empanadas, but the kids had a good lesson in fixing things on the fly and ended up enjoying the empanadas more than I could have predicted in light of the ribbing I was getting over the goofy recipe I’d given them.

Tots and Pans made some tasty breakfast cookies in their first week. C.J. was nervous at first, but as soon as I let him put his hands in a big bowl of flour he was hooked. Big smiles for the rest of the morning!

Maci’s well into her second session with me and continues to be a great eater and a very attentive and independent mini chef.

 

Reilly, who has been with me since the beginning, is practically a pro at this point, and she seems to be adjusting well to her new baby brother. Morgan cracked me up last week with her white terrycloth visor.

Wheat-free cornbread and pumpkin bread (not wheat free) kept this lot of tots busy in their second week of class.

Kids Café this past Sunday created beautiful roasted vegetable tarts with part whole-wheat flour, herbed crusts.

Young Epicureans took on a huge challenge this week with Middle Eastern food. They made pita bread, falafel, lemon tahini sauce, and spicy ground turkey “kebabs,” that we grilled on a tabletop electric grill.

I’m thrilled to report that they challenged their taste buds and left the kitchen with some really great-looking food. (There were a few who burned falafel, but all in all, a great job.) I also finally got smart and implemented a cleaning schedule for both Kids Café and Young Epicureans and it worked beautifully. The list of jobs is posted on the refrigerator, so there’s no confusion about who should be doing what and lo and behold, the kitchen was pretty near to spotless when the Young Epis left on Friday night! Kids Café did a good job too. I’m looking forward to next week and the upcoming April vacation session!

Now that we’re all caught up we can wish Delaney and Allison happy birthdays!

Delaney’s group did pizza and cake and Allison’s party did oven-baked chicken fingers and Lava Cakes (at Allison’s request because this is her second birthday party at Highfield!).

***A HUGE thank you to Fran for all of her recent cleaning help!!!!***

Chocolate Crinkles

My Tots were so great about trying new foods this session that I decided to treat them to chocolate cookies this week. They mixed…

And rolled…

And rolled some more…

Then they baked and blended (banana berry smoothies!), did some coloring and

 

And ate and ate and ate.

Young Epicureans: Italian

I decided to use the same menu for the Young Epicureans this week that I used for the Cooking Club. All of these kids have been with me at least one session before, and many have been with me since the very first session. I thought it was time to give them some menu items that require some finesse, and I have to say, they really did rise to the occasion—especially with the cake, a lovely and delicate genoise.

And Gabrielle and Tasha put their heads together and decided to roll a layer of parmesan right into their gnocchi, which was brilliant.

Capturing Henry in pixels is growing more difficult with every class. More often than not, just before the camera snaps off a shot he drops his lengthy locks over his face, but this week, Dominique outsmarted him and managed to capture an unprecedented close-up.

Something tells me that Jason, seen laughing there in the background, might have assisted in some way. Nice work, guys!

 

Cooking Club: Italian

The Cooking Club met this week to create an Italian meal for four.

They had their choice of Gnocchi or Pasta to go with their Tomato Almond Pesto, a side of Marinated Roasted Vegetables, and Genoise Cake with Strawberry Champagne Sauce for dessert. Of course we made the pasta and gnocchi from scratch.

 

At the last minute I threw in a Cibatta bread to show them how easy it is to use the no-knead bread method. Cibatta works especially well with that method because it's better with less handling.

There are five more Cooking Club classes coming up: Asian, Spanish, French, Regional American, and Southwestern.

 

 

 

Thai Food and Cake Decorating 101

This past Sunday morning I had a request for wheat-free foods, so we decided to go Thai. Fresh Spring Rolls with bean threads, tofu, cucumber, and carrots with a sweet and spicy dipping sauce and my own kids' all time favorite, Satay Chicken. A slam dunk for little Hanna who took such big bites I thought she might inhale spring roll whole!

 

 

Sunday afternoon brought the usual session finale—CAKE. Again! (At their request, of course.) This time I decided to teach them how to make and use marshmallow fondant and we experimented with a new white cake recipe (essentially the same as the chocolate cake, substituting the cocoa for cake flour). Sarah and Chloe worked together—one made chocolate, one made white—and together they made two marble cakes.

Everyone used their imaginations to come up with unique cake designs

ranging from Nora's American flag

to Chloe's spring-inspired beauty.

Sarah's cake had a moon and stars theme and she created a very cool marbled look to her fondant with food coloring.

Ben is currently obsessed with Guitar Hero, so his cake featured the neck of a guitar,

and hearts figured prominently on Shayna and Jenna's cakes.

Somehow Nick and Julia escaped without a photo of their cakes—next time I'll get them!

The next session for Kids Café I and II begins March 14^th and 15^th respectively (10am to noon for both). Kids Café II is currently full, but there are a few spaces available in Kids Café I.

Another Full Week and the Question: Has Dylan Squidward Finally Arrived?

A couple of weeks ago, I asked Reilly, one of my Tots, what her new baby brother's name would be. He was due to arrive within the month, so I figured they'd picked out a name already. Without missing a beat, Reilly replied, "Dylan Squidward!" For those of you living on Mars, Squidward is the name of a rather unattractive squidlike creature on the cartoon, Spongebob Squarepants. You know, the square, yellow sponge who lives in a pineapple under the sea…. Somehow I doubt the wee lad's real name will involve a Spongebob character, but when Reilly didn't come to class this week I had to wonder whether little Dylan Squidward had made his entrance. If he has, I'd like to offer my congratulations to Taylor, Barry, and Reilly, teller of tales and singer of songs (she does a fantastic rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow, by the way).

In the kitchen, the week started with some gorgeous calzones in the two Kids Café classes. They began by sautéing spinach (the first time on the stove for some!), then they mixed the filling (ricotta, egg, spinach) together, rolled out some beautiful ciabatta dough, placed the filling on one half, folded and crimped. Then we popped them into a very hot oven.

 

Instead of the predictable marinara for dipping, we created an extra tasty honey-dijon sauce. A home run!

The week rolled on and on Wednesday afternoon I welcomed the Ostroff family and guests to a birthday party in the Highfield kitchen.

 

It was an afternoon of pizza, cake, and some good old fashioned birthday fun!

I think I can speak for all the adults who were present that day when I say that we thoroughly enjoyed Bianca's cake eating technique!

Thursday brought the Tots back into the kitchen for some Chinese dumplings and fortune cookies.

Morgan did some excellent tofu-dicing

And Maci enjoyed her dumplings so much there were none left for mom when she arrived to pick her up! (Although evidence of their consumption was all over the front of her white shirt!)

Friday brought an actual Henry sighting!

Not to mention some pretty tasty upside down tomato tarts,

chocolate dipped cream puffs,

and an oven load of French (equation) bread.

What could be better than a bread basket full of the (warm) formula for the area of a circle?