Mexican Monday
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| Aaaaand... we're back! After a week off to celebrate Independence Day, we are back and ready to rumble with a whole new set of chefs-to-be! Welcome to Week 4! We started the day with a handy-dandy acronym to help us remember the rules for the week:
Clean
Help
Experience
Friends
Safety
Thanks, Miss Sam! |
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| Next, we showed off our artistic skills when we created our very own noodle nametags! It looks like one little camper on the right had a case of the Crabby Camper today! Hopefully it's not contagious :) We also found out what we're making today - veggie quesadillas and homemade salsa! ¡Vámonos! [Let's go]! |
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| Ah, the promised land - the kitchen! Miss Paige taught us how to chop tomatoes, green peppers, and cilantro - who knew homemade salsa was so easy?! Check out the salsa recipe on our Recipes page! |
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| We also chopped some green peppers and spinach to stuff our quesadillas - the more veggies, the better! The chopping today was a little slow going, but with enough practice we'll be chopping champs for sure. |
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| Scrub a dub dub! Cleaning was by far our favorite part of the day! Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration. But we learned from Miss Jennie that to be a good chef, we always need to clean the kitchen when we're done! |
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| Finally, we each assembled our own veggie quesadilla! While Miss Paige and Miss Zeynep pressed the quesadillas, we had some time on our hands... |
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| ...Just enough time for some thrilling physical activities with Miss Carolyn! We played a game called Mail Call, which doubled as a healthy dose of exercise and a chance to learn each other's names. |
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| This game required lots of running, which we loved! Quick, find your spot in the circle! |
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| Ta-da! Just look at that quesadilla, browned to perfection, and all of those colorful veggies in our salsa! Not too bad for our first day, eh? Just wait till tomorrow - the camp counselors have a special surprise in store that is sure to stir up some excitement and cure that Crabby Camper bug for good! :) |
Tuesday, July 8 - Day 2
Italian Tuesday
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| Welcome to Day 2, campers! To start off the day, we got a special surprise when we learned that this week is the official SoFAB Kids Culinary Camp Olympics! We found out that we would be split into teams to represent different countries. Also, we would have the chance to make some new friends, earn points for our teams, and even lend a special hand in the kitchen to cook food from our country. Alright, can we get started already?! |
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| Once we found out which team we were on, we had to tap into our creative sides. First things first, we worked together to come up with an awesome team name! We also decorated flags to show our team spirit. Check out our creations below! |
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| Team Italy - a.k.a., the Piggy Meatballs! |
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| Team Thailand - otherwise known as the Flying Elephant Cops! *AWARD: Best Team Flag* |
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| Meet Team France - the Dancing Croissants! *AWARD: Best Team Name* |
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| And, last but not least, Team USA - the USA Eagles! |
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| Next, it was time for our first competition as a team - the Alphabet Food Race! We wracked our brains to try to name a fruit or vegetable for each letter of the alphabet! Can you think of one that starts with a Q or an X? Yeah, those letters stumped us all too! |
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| Next, we found out from Miss Sam what we would be cookin' up in the kitchen today. In honor of Italian Tuesday, we were making pasta with meat sauce and a spinach salad loaded with lots of veggies! Carrots, tomatoes, and peppers, oh my! |
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| Our chopping skills have already improved by leaps and bounds! We were amazed at how simple it was to prepare our spinach salad. Even though salads have lots of ingredients, we learned that all it takes is a little patience and some expert chopping to throw together a fresh, healthy meal! |
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| While some of us were chopping, the rest of us brushed up on some Italian culture with Miss Sam! We really had to use our noodles to correctly identify different types of pasta... see what I did there? :) Who's ready for a quick quiz? Test your noodle knowledge by naming the following pastas. Check your answers at the bottom of this post! |
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| While Team Italy stayed inside to help prepare the pasta and salad, the rest of us headed outside for a game of Four Corners with Miss Carolyn! See how lovely it looks outside, with the sun shining through the trees? Isn't this the vision of a perfect summer day? But wait, disaster strikes! Okay, more like lightning :) As the clouds rolled in, we quickly headed back inside to avoid getting soaked! |
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| Luckily, we still had time to play a quick game inside! Today was a great lesson for us - like all good chefs, sometimes you just gotta go with the flow. |
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| Delizioso! [Delicious!] We all really enjoyed the fresh, crunchy veggies in the spinach salad (learn how to make your own salad dressing on our Recipes page!). We also had a great time naming the noodles in our pasta after our lesson with Miss Sam. What a scrumptious end to a spectacular day at camp! |
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| At the end of Day 2, here are the team standings in the SoFAB Olympic Games! Looks like Italy, Thailand, and the USA have some serious work to do if they want to catch up to those Dancing Croissants :)
Answers to pasta puzzle:
1. Ziti (image retrieved from: http://remsset.com/pasta/Tubular%20Pasta.htm)
2. Rotelle (image retrieved from: http://www.grandparents.com/food-and-leisure/cooking-with-kids/know-your-noodles)
3. Linguine (image retrieved from: http://www.foodsubs.com/PastaRibbons.html)
4. Farfalle (image retrieved from: http://www.mediterraneanfoods.co.nz/short-shapes-c-102_7_45_22.html)
How'd you do? :)
Wednesday, July 9 - Day 3
Thai Wednesday
No way, we're on the third day of camp already?! This week is flying by! Today, we started by decorating our very own recipe books. Now we will have all the tools that we need to recreate the dishes that we've made this week.
Next up, Miss Sam taught us about the country of the day - Thailand! We learned that the population of Thailand is over 66 million people, and that the country actually has more than 1,000 islands. We also learned about the five major flavors of Thai cuisine: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and spicy. Finally, we found out what we would be whipping up in the kitchen today - Thai chicken roll-ups with peanut sauce! A lot of us were excited to try a type of food that we hadn't had before!
Next, we headed over to the kitchen, where Miss Zeynep demonstrated how to peel and chop the carrots and shred the lettuce to put in our roll-ups!
While some of us were chopping, the rest of us reviewed the major food groups and the recommended portion sizes to stay healthy! For example, we learned that with each meal, half of our plate should be filled with delicious fruits and vegetables. For access to more information about portion sizes and nutrition, check out the MyPlate homepage.
Time to test our knowledge with a riveting round of Food Groups Bingo! This was a chance for certain teams *cough cough Italy, Thailand, and USA* to earn some points and redeem themselves after Team France's domination on Tuesday!
Next, we headed outside for some animal relay races! Here we are doing the bear walk!
The crab walk!
The bunny hop!
And finally, the cheetah sprint! We not only did an excellent job being animals today, but we also supported our teammates and cheered them on when times got a little tough. Great teamwork, campers!
In the meantime, the Flying Elephant Cops from Thailand stayed inside to develop our culinary skills! Here we are learning how to prepare the chicken for our roll-ups with Miss Paige. We also worked together to make the peanut sauce using none other than peanut butter! If you ever thought peanut butter was only used for PB&J's and Reese's cups, think again, my friends!
Team Thailand also worked with Miss Zeynep to put the final touches on our Thai chicken roll-ups! We all felt very accomplished when we served food from our country to our fellow campers.
อร่อย [That says "delicious" in Thai... I think!]
At the very end of the day, the updated team standings in the SoFAB Olympics were announced!
In 4th place, with 12 points, we have the Flying Elephant Cops from Thailand!
In 3rd place, with 13 points, we have the Piggy Meatballs from Italy!
In 2nd place, with 15 points, we have the USA Eagles!
And finally, in 1st place for the second day running with 17 points, we have the Dancing Croissants from France!
Looks like Team France is on a roll! But not to worry Italy, Thailand, and USA - over the next two days you will have many, many opportunities to show your stuff and pull ahead in the ultimate culinary camp competition! Until tomorrow, chefs-to-be :)
Thursday, July 10 - Day 4
French Thursday
Bienvenue [welcome], future chefs! We started off Day 4 with a lesson about French food and culture. First, we tested our French skills when we tried to find the French word for a list of ingredients in English. Then, Miss Sam revealed that we would use all of those ingredients in the kitchen today to make vegetable ratatouille, a traditional French dish!
Here's Miss Zeynep showing off one of the main ingredients in ratatouille: eggplant, known in France as aubergine! Great color coordination, Miss Z!
Before we got to chopping, we took part in an intense culinary competition to earn points for our team - the SoFAB Snack Wars! Our task: create an animal out of a banana and some peanut butter, pretzels, Cheerios, and dried cranberries. Before getting started, we first took some time to brainstorm about our animals with our partners. A good chef always makes a plan!
Wait a minute... how do you peel this thing?!
Maybe this is the way to do it? Monkeys make it look so easy!
Phew, got it!
Next, we presented our creations in front of all the campers and counselors. The presentations started off strong with Fish-a-Lego!
*Award: Best Presentation*
Next up, Fish Elephant!
*Award: Most Creative*
Meet Ele-turtle!
This little banana dog goes by Zoey!
Whoa baby, look at that Peacock!
*Award: Overall Best*
Here's Banird (Banana Bird), and his sticky-fingered creators!
Snack-a-saurus Rex says RAWR!
*Award: Best Name*
Introducing Gregory the Banana Bunny!
And, last but certainly not least, Rainbow the Unicorn!
*Award: Best Teamwork*
After the nail-biting excitement of Snack Wars, we got down to business chopping some vegetables for our ratatouille! Our version had eggplant [aubergine], zucchini [courgette], green pepper [poivron vert], tomato [tomate], and green onion [ciboule] - you can find the recipe on our Recipes page!
While we let all of those veggies get friendly in the ratatouille pot, we headed outside for a few fun-filled rounds of Chefs and Waiters, a camp favorite! The best part about this game was that we supported our teammates and showed really great sportsmanship, even when we got out of the game. The USA Eagles soared by winning the first three rounds, hooray!
Mmm, lunchtime! Some of us were a little nervous to try the ratatouille - we hadn't had all of those vegetables mixed together in a stew before! Luckily, we overcame our melongenophobia (fear of eggplant) and realized that this French dish is fantastique [fantastic]! :)
In the words of Miss Jennie, bon appétit, let's eat!
And finally, we now reveal the team standings in the first ever SoFAB Olympic Games:
In 4th place, with a total of 20 points, we have Team Italy!
In 3rd place, with a total of 24 points, we have Team Thailand!
In 2nd place, with a total of 27 points, we have team USA!
And in 1st place, with a total of 29 points, we have Team France!
Team France has dominated the competition so far - can Italy, Thailand, and the USA catch up before it's too late?! Check back tomorrow to see which team will take the cake and be forever glorified as kings and queens of the kitchen! :)
Friday, July 11 - Day 5
American Friday
Wait, it's the last day of camp already?! How did it go by so fast? Before we got the chance to earn a few last-minute points for our teams, Miss Paige helped us to personalize the bands for our very own chef/graduation hats.
Lookin' good, future graduates! We were all so excited for the graduation ceremony at the end of the day!
Here's Miss Paige workin' hard to put our chef hats together! Thanks so much for helping us to look good, Miss Paige! :)
To the chopping block! After we found out what we were making today (vegetable chili with grilled cheese - both American favorites!), we prepared the carrots, tomatoes, celery, and onions that we would add to our big ol' pot of chili.
While some of us took our turn to chop the veggies, the rest of us autographed some thank-you signs for our sponsors! We are so grateful for the generous donations that allow us to come to camp - and to whip up some seriously yummy lunches!
Next up, we played a riveting round of USA Trivia with Miss Sam! Check out this video of the USA Eagles using their history knowledge to snag some points!
Fun fact: Even though all of the trivia questions were about the USA, Team Italy swooped in to dominate the game with 10 whole points - great job, Piggy Meatballs!
While Team USA stayed in the kitchen to keep an eye on the chili and flip some lip-smackin' grilled cheese sandwiches, the rest of us headed outside for some marshmallow madness! First, we tested our teamwork skills with an over/under relay race.
After working together so well with our teammates, we split into partners for the thrilling Marshmallow Fling challenge! This one took some serious hand-eye coordination. We learned that to develop the very important life skill of flinging marshmallows into a cup, practice makes perfect!
And now, the moment we've all been waiting for allllll week - the announcement of the winners of the official SoFAB Kids Culinary Camp Olympics (dubbed the SUPERFAB Olympics by some creative campers)! Here were the final team standings for the week:
In 4th place, with 37 points, we had the soaring USA Eagles!
In 3rd place, with 43 points, we had the no-nonsense Flying Elephant Cops from Thailand!
In 2nd place, with 45 points, we had the Piggy Meatballs from Italy, who rolled ahead today after their trivia triumph!
And, in 1st place, with 47 points, we had...
TEAM FRANCE! These Dancing Croissants were rockin' and rollin' all week and earned their claim to fame as the champions of the SUPERFAB Olympic Games! Congratulations, Croissants! May your victory this week inspire you to continue developing your chef skills long after graduation from camp today.
Congratulations to all of the participants in the Olympic Games this week! Thank you for your hard work and enthusiastic attitudes :)
Here we are with Miss Jennie, getting ready to graduate! Cue Pomp and Circumstance, DJ! Oh... we don't have a DJ? Hmm, maybe next year :)
Congratulations, chefs! Throughout the week, all the campers showed great teamwork, diligence, and flexibility - all important characteristics needed to excel in the kitchen! From all of the camp staff, we are so proud of y'all and wish you the very best in your future culinary endeavors! And, in honor of team France's victory, we wish you au revoir [goodbye] :)
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