On cooking

Anna is craving to create new recipes these days. Given that cooking has become more of a passion (and past time) of mine lately, it makes sense. But there is a delicate balance between allowing her to explore and create and get messy, and putting an end to the outrageous clean up efforts that it takes to get my kitchen back in order.

While many chefs start their recipes with olive oil or butter, Anna's seem to always involve crushing saltine crackers and shredding the peeling off of a head of garlic. I walk into the kitchen to see her merrily destroying my clean counters and I have to sigh... I know this is the essence of childhood exploration and so I just keep channeling my inner instinct that I might be fostering greater creativity by allowing it to happen.

However, I'd love it if her exploration involved something that didn't necessitate a broom.

This all being said, I'm not complaining. I love that she has an interest in being in the kitchen and maybe she'll enjoy food and tastes and restaurants more in the long run because of the fun she has there.

So without further adieu, I'd like to introduce you to her most recent culinary creation -
the goldfish popsicle.






I forgot I even had these popsicle containers upstairs (most seasonal stuff lives in the basement) but leave it to a four-year-old to root out the fun stuff in my cabinets. Sure enough, there were some in the back and Anna filled it up with goldfish and water and called me in because she was having trouble snapping the handle into the mold.

A few hours later we had our own mini-fish tank. And she actually ate it (to the extent that she eats anything) that afternoon.

Now if I could just get her interested in a broccoli-cauliflower popsicle...