Chef Benjamin

Hi friends. This is Mark writing. I've been meaning to write for a while about all of Ben's culinary endeavors. Man, this boy really loves to be in the kitchen! We still make "cheesy eggs" almost every morning. He can rattle off all the ingredients we'll need anytime you ask. On the weekends he wants to make waffles. "How about frozen waffles Ben?" "No, I want to MAKE waffles!" He and Katherine make muffins most weekends too. This is great because they make pretty healthy ones with things like oatmeal and zucchini and not too much sugar. And these make great snacks throughout the week. He and I usually whip up something on Monday afternoons to take to our bible study. Often it's just break-and-bake cookies but he has fun still. We recently had a great time as a family assembling potstickers. That's something I didn't imagine three years ago. I really like this about Ben, and it truly is a blast to see him having so much fun. But sometimes it tries my patience, especially when I'm trying to make something unfamiliar or delicate. For example, I was trying to make empanadas a few weeks ago. If you've never done that, it involves puff pastry which is really awesome stuff, but has to be handled gingerly. That was a bad idea to have a 2 year old involved. So here's some pictures of us in the kitchen, and a few bonus ones. Enjoy!

Ben and Katherine making muffins. You can tell he's very proud of his work:




Transferring some lettuce:


Helping at the stove (okay, mostly just watching):




Oopsy


Contemplating jack-o-lantern design


The finished piece: