Culinary was one of the training workshops we planned to do with the older teen orphans while in Kenya. We went with suitcases FULL of cooking utensils, mixing bowls, cutting boards, knives and LOTS of spices.
With Ryan as the instructor... it was sure to be a lot of FUN!
The first day was spent learning what each piece of equipment is and how it is used in the kitchen. Positions and jobs within a professional kitchen were discussed, as well as taste testing of different spices. By the end of the day... they were ready to COOK!
Each of the three cooking days had a theme, the first was Mexican Style. There was plenty of chopping and mixing as they learned to make fresh salsa and guacamole dip. Of course there was lots of taste-testing going on as well.
It was fun for us to sit back and watch the sheer JOY and EXCITEMENT of getting to try new things, use new equipment and prepare a new dish. SO much LAUGHTER in the ROOM!
Cooking Day #2 - Italian Style
Ryan had each of the kids taste both green & black olives, Italian dressing and spices. There were lots of scowls on their faces at the salty/bitter taste of the olives, but once the pasta salad was all mixed together.. they LOVED it!
Cooking Day #3 - American Style
What else could we make, but..... fruit SMOOTHIES and SOFT PRETZELS! You have to understand that these kids DO not eat sweets, nor do they eat COLD things...so SMOOTHIES were quite a NEW experience for all. The previous day, Ryan had the kids cut bananas, mangoes, and pineapple and put them into ziplock bags to freeze overnight. We purchased a new blender/food processor for their culinary classroom and it was put to good use blending fruit juice and frozen fruit. There were several different combinations made, but hands down... the majority LOVED the mango/pineapple smoothie!
THANK YOU to ALL who donated to the cooking supplies. We were able to take at least 3 of EVERYTHING... which is an amazing START for the new culinary classroom in the vocational school which is under construction. One set of everything is being used in the current kitchen, and the rest is being stored until the new classroom/kitchen is ready to be EQUIPPED!
The first day was spent learning what each piece of equipment is and how it is used in the kitchen. Positions and jobs within a professional kitchen were discussed, as well as taste testing of different spices. By the end of the day... they were ready to COOK!
It was fun for us to sit back and watch the sheer JOY and EXCITEMENT of getting to try new things, use new equipment and prepare a new dish. SO much LAUGHTER in the ROOM!
Cooking Day #2 - Italian Style
Ryan had each of the kids taste both green & black olives, Italian dressing and spices. There were lots of scowls on their faces at the salty/bitter taste of the olives, but once the pasta salad was all mixed together.. they LOVED it!
Cooking Day #3 - American Style
What else could we make, but..... fruit SMOOTHIES and SOFT PRETZELS! You have to understand that these kids DO not eat sweets, nor do they eat COLD things...so SMOOTHIES were quite a NEW experience for all. The previous day, Ryan had the kids cut bananas, mangoes, and pineapple and put them into ziplock bags to freeze overnight. We purchased a new blender/food processor for their culinary classroom and it was put to good use blending fruit juice and frozen fruit. There were several different combinations made, but hands down... the majority LOVED the mango/pineapple smoothie!
Next was soft pretzels. After showing them how to roll the dough and make a pretzel twist, we let them loose to make their own creations. Such CREATIVE kids! They had a blast rolling and designing shapes, then adding different spices to flavor them. We were SO surprised at dinner the next day when their CREATIVE designs showed up again in our fried bread they make for us. No longer was it in plain cut squares, but now we had stars, hearts and even circles linked together. We LOVED seeing them apply what they were learning in class to our meals. They are SO eager to learn!!
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