COOKING !

The girls love cooking, there were ooohs and aaahs of excitement on Christmas when they opened a variety of kitchen gadgets!
There were egg timers which changed colour in the pan to indicate how the egg was cooking, spatulas in the shape of people, cotton candy and cookie makers, mini graters and measuring spoons in lurid colours.
Then there were the cookbooks - Jo Seager, Gordon Ramsay, Jaimie Oliver..beautifully illustrated, so many to choose from. We recently took, 'Never Trust A Skinny Cook' out from the library, and it made us laugh!
Replacing cartoons are 'Hell's Kitchen' and 'Iron Chef' (for another laugh) even Nigella has joined the viewing list ** don't get me wrong they still follow 'New Zealand Idol' fanatically!
And then there's the food that comes out of the kitchen regularly - mouth-watering recipes, and they never seem to go wrong! The confidence of children!
We have the full range of vegetarian dishes, with several hundred different uses for pumpkin, courtesy of Jess.
And for the omnivores we have Sophia's dishes, souffles and spicy recipes.
The photos below don't really do justice to the dinners - but you can blame the photographer!


Filoettes, rapberry & cream cakes, asparagus rolls and olive tapanades


Jess creating cheese twists

Strawberry shortcake supreme


Banana souffle - yum!


Pesto pinwheels


Rasperry triple layer birthday cake


Homemade meringues nests with blueberries and double cream


Gingerbread men in the making


Bread and butter pudding with blueberries


Dark, rich fruit cake with almonds


Fruity mince pies


Moist chocolate sponge smothered in Smarties


Gingerbread tree biscuits


Dark chocolate Brownie cakes


Jessica's tomato & basil tarts


Sophia's pizza bites


Sophia's Persian lamb stuffed pita breads with minted yoghurt sauce

Pavlova with red berry cream and cherries


Sophia serving the pavlova


Meatballs in sour cream and dill sauce


Gorgeous pineapple cheesecake


Foccaccino bread with rosemary & sea salt


Bread for starters


And what have they benefitted from being in the kitchen and cooking? Wll, they've had fun, first and foremost. They have learned so much, economics, maths, health, creativity etc.. I'm talking to the converted, I know. It's so lovely to see them make something from scratch, and they appreciate it so much more.
In today's world of McPersons all wanting blandness and sameness, relying on predictability, I'm glad that they are demanding something different!


Jessica's pisaladiere, very olivy!




Sophia's white chocolate mousse in dark chocolate sauce


Close up of said pudding


Sophia's Red wine risotto with raddichio and blue cheese sauce