Carrot Cupcakes

I'm taking that look on his face as pride!

It has been school holidays here in NSW for the past two weeks. Nic has been able to look after the boys while I keep on feeding the masses at work, however, yesterday I gave myself an early mark to come home and knock up a few ideas for my new website. I have decided to embrace kids classes and perhaps even do a kids 6 week cooking course for term four........work in progress!
Anyway Alex was at a mate's house for a good chunk of the day and when they came to drop him home I sat to have a cup of tea with his mate's mum while the kids went a bit manic. The two older siblings were bored, hungry and, well, looking for something to do without really talking to each other (10 year old boy and girl). What better way to keep the noise down and them occupied- bake a cake.

Straight out of the oven

I was going to make a carrot cake at some stage and then thought this would be a great way for them to test out a recipe for me. I wanted to see if it was going to be a good one for me to teach the kids in my up-and-coming classes. They were eager, excited and, before we knew it, talking to each other about how they were going to do this (I told them I wasn't going to help and that they needed to read the recipe and figure it out).

You can understand why the older kids wanted to get into the kitchen

I have to say the kitchen looked like a bomb (actually 3 bombs) had gone off in there, but the carrot cupcakes actually looked and smelt fabulous! They were proud as punch that they made them from scratch, by themselves and even more excited that they worked. Now I just have to get them to test about 10 more recipes and I'll be good to go!

Poached eggs by Max

We are at the end of term 3 school holidays here in Sydney. For the past two weeks while the catering side of the business goes into hibernation I have been teaching kids how to cook and we aren't just talking cupcakes!
For most parents, school holidays is a bit of a pain in the behind because sadly our working day is the same as ever and no matter how you dress it up, no boss I know would say 'kids are off school? no worries- take the week off and enjoy!' So, like most parents out there I also need to find something for the young Max to do all day (Alex is still in day care so that takes care of that....for a few more months anyway).

The classes were a great success I am happy to report. Ok, if the truth be known, 9am till 3pm is a LONG day when you have 14 kids all wanting to be master chefs ranging in ages from 6 to 13, but we did it and got a lot of repeat business so that in my books is a huge success.

Max did all the classes and I could see a gradual improvement in knife skills, following directions and confidence in the kitchen. So confident in fact he wanted to cook just about every night. This was all well and good but after 6 hours of teaching with 14 kids I really didn't want to have to guide another child through the kitchen when I finally got home (call me a meanie but I was buggered!).

So this morning, after a couple days rest I asked Max if he wanted to make breakfast for the family.
"Oh yes......but will you be there?' Of course I said, and with that he proceeded to pull out his recipe card on how to poach eggs and got to work.

The concentration was intense, but those English muffins we buttered to perfection!

We found that if you crack the egg quickly into a small bowl first, you were more likely to get a better looking poached egg as the end result

The closer the egg is the to water, the less separation you'll have with the white and yolk....he only made that mistake once and will remember this tip forever (with a bit of luck!)

Ok with all 7 eggs poached, plates clean with not a drop of poaching water, he was eager to sit us down for breakfast

End result? fantastic!! Max did a brilliant job of making poached eggs with ham and tomato on an english muffin. Only one egg had a bit of a separation issue, however after sorting out the problem you'd think these poached eggs were cooked by a seasoned professional. It looks like I am one step closer to getting breakfast in bed. 

Well done Max

Sydney cooking school is open!

To all of my frequent readers I have to apologise for my absence these past few weeks. I received a lovely email from fellow blogger Bryan asking after my existence which I totally appreciate- thank you. I was happy to tell him and now you all that all is well.  I was not sick, at death's door or anything else other than 100% consumed by the opening of our cooking school.

I think I put everyone and everything on hold just so I could get on top of of this new career challenge. Anyhow, I am happy to report we had our opening on Monday night and it was a huge success. We had a wonderful response and interest for classes and dinner parties, which is increasing by the minute.
For opening night we served guests snippets of food we will be teaching, ranging from paella, goat cheese tartlets and Morton Bay bug salad to handmade chocolates and macaroons.

Now things seems to be getting under control, I will be back to blogging, reading my favourite blogs and generally trying to learn as much as I can where food is concerned. A dream would be for fellow bloggers to come and show off their recipes and skills in our new kitchen, sharing the love of food and writing just that little bit more.......stay tuned and if you are in Sydney, please drop on by....

Alex turns 5 with a cooking party

Can my little baby really be turning 5?
I know he is because when I asked him that exact same question he looked at me, shook his head and in a 'what the hell' kind of tone answers "I am NOT a baby mum...geeeez!" and he is right, but when you know you are not going back for another I guess the last one will always be your sweet little one.

Alex decided he would like to have a cooking party this year. I'm guessing this is his was of supporting my new business? Anyway I was up for it and so were all his little friends. Alex also took the hard work out of wondering what to demonstrate. Alex being Alex, he knew exactly what he wanted
".....I want to learn how to make sushi mum and then we should decorate cupcakes..."
I couldn't believe he really wanted to make sushi so after asking a few more questions it was the nori rolls he loved and apparently only with carrot!
 On the day the kids did a brilliant job and the smiles on their faces when they finished rolling, decorating and dipping were well worth the work involved. I've put together a little photo collage so you can see for yourself how creative these 3, 4 and almost 5 year old's were.
When you see the sense of achievement on a child's face, you know you really should keep on pushing them to learn and create. As I have found out, they always excel if enjoyment is top of the list.
Happy Birthday my dear little Alex and welcome to the wonderful world of cooking xx