What a picture!

The Kitchen Studio and I were recently featured in The Frederick Gazette for our kid’s holiday cooking camp.  This is a special two-day camp we run every year over the holiday break between Christmas and New Year’s Day.

This year our focus was on holiday foods from around the world, and boy, did those kids and teens whip up some tasty treats!

Here’s a little sample from the article:

“They could have spent their Christmas break at home playing video games or watching movies.

But instead, the 12 junior chefs in Christine Van Bloem’s The Kitchen Studio Cooking School, put on their aprons, pushed up their sleeves and spent two days of the winter break chopping veggies, mashing potatoes, grating, measuring, baking and learning to cook delicious holiday dishes from all parts of the world.

Like a military general commanding her troops, Van Bloem, of Frederick, stood surrounded by her little chefs in the middle of her kitchen in an office building on Buckeystown Pike on Tuesday and guided them as they worked to prepare a meal of English meat pie, German potato dumplings, Dutch desert pastry and whipped cream.”

Sounds good…right?  You can read the full article here.

Since we’re cooking with kids (all the time!), I thought we’d let you know that Kitchen Studio summer camp registration opens on March 1. This summer we’ll be offering a full 8 weeks of cooking camps for kids ages 6-8, 8-11, and 12-17.  You’ll be able to register at www.KitchenStudioFrederick.com.  Until then, keep on cooking!

Chef Christine

For those of you not in the know, BlogHer is a collection of female bloggers representing so, so many facets of blogging. Though I’m a huge fan of BlogHer Food (and am waffling on whether or not to hit it again this year), the “regular” BlogHer was just in NYC, my old stomping grounds. I knew it was a quick trip, so I registered and headed to the Big Apple for the conference.

I knew going in that this conference would not be focused on food.  Indeed, I felt lucky to pair up with a few awesome food bloggers at a writing creativity talk. But really, this conference wasn’t about the workshops. It was about the swag. And the parties. And the mommies.  Not really my cup of tea, based on where I’m taking Gotta Break Some Eggs, but still full of wonderful people, all in on the subject of blogging.

The Highlight? Absolutely hooking up with the folks from Got Milk & Egglands Best. I’m hoping to work with both of these terrific organizations to both kick-up the school assemblies I do and to provide great teen & tween-centric recipes for their sites, so that we can get everyone cooking!

The Low Point? I have to say, it was on the discussion of raising gourmet kids. Let’s preface by saying that the three women giving the talk were lovely. And that they absolutely have kids that eat more than buttered noodles (gimme a holla!). BUT…their kids are not really at cooking age, though the one does have a 9 year-old. All told, these women were not about getting kids to cook. They were about occupying the kids while they cook for the little rascals.  The mom of the 9 year-old said that she likes the child to have a job that takes a lot of time because she likes everything just so when she’s cooking.

I get it. That works for them, but it goes against every single thing that I (and this blog) stand for. Because kids CAN cook. Because teens and tweens SHOULD make a bit of a mess. And because these guys can absolutely CLEAN UP after themselves. It’s ok to work it through the whole way, not just the fun cooking part. ;)

Maybe teens & tweens (8 & up) shouldn’t cook every single night — we’re busy — but don’t ignore adding them in.  Just yesterday, I guided an 11 & 14 year-old to making chocolate eclairs, from the pate a choux, to the pastry cream, to the filling and topping with chocolate, completely from scratch. And they kicked booty. ‘Cause that’s what I’m about. And you should be too.

So, BlogHer ’10?

Meh.

Hooking up with Got Milk & Eggland’s Best?

Potentially awesome.

Realizing that this blog is actually really important in the quest to get teens &  tweens cooking good food on their own?

Completely priceless.

Stay tuned folks. New videos coming every week starting Monday, August 16. New recipes starting on Wednesday, August 18. And wait ’til you see what we’ve coming…

The afternoon group spent their time making sushi, and tons of it! From rinsing the rice to learning how to roll the perfect roll, they did an amazing job.  They also pulled together tempura green beans & sweet potatoes, and just for fun, homemade marshmallows.  It was a great, great day!