At the moment, all three kids are involved in the kitchen, which is lovely to see.
Lizzie is making traditional Ethiopian shai tea. She has measured out milk and water in the proportions that we have come to love the most; and she has counted out cloves, cardamom, peppercorns, bay leaves, star anise, and cinnamon sticks. And it's now warming up, getting ready for black tea bags and...
...for dunking! Seth and I made Ethiopian bread this morning. It's about a 2.5 hour process, with two rising times, and it's just come out of the oven and is resting on the counter. In just minutes, we will enjoy our late breakfast treat...which has really become brunch!
Just as lovely, Matthew has our dinner on the go!
Yesterday afternoon, Matthew announced that he wanted to make soup from scratch for today's dinner. Who was I to deny him??! He pulled out a bag of beef bones from the freezer, dumped them into the crockpot with water and big chunks of veggies for flavouring, and that stock has been simmering away for the past 18 hours or so. This morning, he looked through our fresh produce (mostly direct from the farm - yay!) and, with the help of two little sous chefs, he chopped up carrots, celery, tomatoes (beautiful organic tomatoes that I slow-roasted last week and which taste divine), and sausages. He also pulled out of the freezer some of the onions that I had chopped up last week. This afternoon, the plan is that Matthew will cook everything up together with his stock and the seasonings he has chosen: S&P; basil; paprika; and freshly chopped parsley.
I'd like to say that, as a result of all of the kitchen activity, I've been able to put up my feet for a while. However, any parent who has done any cooking with children will know that this can be a harried process...which results in an enormous mess to clean up afterwards. Sigh...if only you could see my kitchen at the moment...
But mess aside, it really is a lovely thing that the kids enjoy learning and doing in the kitchen. Matthew and I wrote out his soup recipe just a short time ago, and he has added it to his recipe binder...it's great to see that growing right along with him!
Well done! That all sounds divine! Wish we lived closer so we could stop in for shai. Wonder if my boys would like it.
ReplyDeleteHere, we have been enjoying Cody's banana chocolate chip muffins which he makes independently, only checking in for the odd measurement clarification. And better yet, he is leading the charge for dish duty, since we decided to fire the machine. What more could I ask for?
Ellen
OK, so what stopped me in my tracks was reading that you fired the machine. Huh? Why??!!! Hand-washing?
ReplyDeleteBeyond my shock, good on Cody for both the baking and for being on dish duty...that's awesome!
And yes, how I wish you lived closer...it'd be lovely. And I bet the boys would love the shai - what's not to like about christmasy flavours like cloves and cinnamon and a good spoonful of honey to sweeten it!!!
Hugs, Ellen!!
Ruth
The machine firing started when the pump for our well kicked the bucket and needed to be kick-started every single time it ran. Not realistic to be running up and down the stairs anticipating the machine's needs. So we started hand washing once a day. Once the pump issues were all sorted out, we realized that it was far more enjoyable to stand together and chat while washing and drying dishes than loading and unloading the silly dishwasher. When stars are all lined up, Alexander also helps by putting away what dishes he can. Somehow, it's been liberating. And my little kitchen looks better without the pile of dishes that always seem to be waiting for the next load. Funny how that works.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we'll have to try to make shai. We love to have a family tea party on Saturday and/or Sunday afternoons.
Ellen