Lucky Ben and pals spent the evening at a local bakery creating and baking personal pizzas. When asked by the bakery owner to come up with a few names of 4,5 and 6 year olds who might enjoy an evening in the kitchen, we easily came up with a list. We arrived with extra manual egg-beaters in hand and each baker dressed in their own apron. The preparation area was ready and waiting with flatbread par baked pizza dough, pizza sauce, two kinds of cheese and pepperoni. Each young baker was responsible for their own pizza and patiently waited as they baked in the large gray commercial oven that sent homemade bread smells swirling around the seating area at the bakery and tempted the hungry parents waiting and hoping for some leftovers.
Next came an experiment in patience, of which apparently, Baker Jenny has been blessed with bread truckloads. Imagine nine children trying to separate eggs. All senses were titillated with sights, sounds, touch and eventually smells and taste. The cracking of the eggs in Ben's novice yet seemingly confident hand as he rammed his thumb into the gooey egg mess. One egg....pierced yolk. Two eggs...gooey yolk again. Third egg....egg white in bowl, yellow yolk left in his hand. A success of sorts. After whipping the egg whites (with yolk) for a bit with the clanky hand held beaters Baker Jenny commented, "If there is any yolk in the whites it gets pretty foamy because of the fat in the yolk. Ben, just dump yours out and try again." "What?", I think remembering times in the kitchen cooking with my boys and getting irritated with the mounding messes and wasted ingredients. "Was she for real?" Yes, she was and she didn't bat an eye or lose a millimeter of her effervescent smile as she passed the plastic dump bucket piled high with broken egg shells and frothy, fatty "almost but not quite" meringue. So, we tried again. This time much improved. The group combined efforts and with the help of the mammoth kitchen aid mixer and metal whipping attachment Baker Jenny whipped those egg whites with added sugar into shape.
As they waited for their meringues to bake, they mopped the kitchen floor. Who knew 6 year olds would enjoy that as much as they did!!
End result was some creative sprinkled meringues and a lot of happy kids. Thanks Baker Jenny!!
"Oh, fiddlesticks" is a rated-G term of frustration I often use when dealing with the minor daily irritations of life. Last saturday, however, we left the house by 9:00 am to go to a Fiddlesticks concert at Heinz hall in downtown Pittsburgh. Okay...really...it was closer to 9:15 am, but our intent was good. Anyhow this is family friendly concert put on by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra where you show up an hour before the show for crafts, sing-a-longs, dancing, introduction to the instruments (we heard a duet by a cellist and violinist who then talked about their instruments to the kids). It was FANTASTIC. Very relaxing and enjoyable. Ethan spend the first 30 minutes walking around Heinz hall saying "This is FAN-cee." As the boys posed in front of the waterfall, a woman walked by with her cute little daugther all frilled up and said a statement that I seem to hear a lot, "Wow. Three boys. God bless you." I smiled and responded in some generic albeit friendly way, turned to look at my three fellows calmly obeying my call for a regular smiling photo and realized I wouldn't trade a one of them.....most days. 
Lucky Ben and pals spent the evening at a local bakery creating and baking personal pizzas. When asked by the bakery owner to come up with a few names of 4,5 and 6 year olds who might enjoy an evening in the kitchen, we easily came up with a list. We arrived with extra manual egg-beaters in hand and each baker dressed in their own apron. The preparation area was ready and waiting with flatbread par baked pizza dough, pizza sauce, two kinds of cheese and pepperoni. Each young baker was responsible for their own pizza and patiently waited as they baked in the large gray commercial oven that sent homemade bread smells swirling around the seating area at the bakery and tempted the hungry parents waiting and hoping for some leftovers. 
