"cshenk" > wrote in message
...
> Julie Bove wrote in rec.food.cooking:
>
>> But... An unnamed female who lives in this house just told me that
>> she wants me to teach her how to cook because she wants to learn.
>> She also said that we need to buy more vegetables. I think this
>> might be hard to do as those are the food that I buy the most of
>> but... I told her when we go shopping tomorrow, she can pick some
>> out.
>>
>> Now... Let's just see if this lasts.
>
> Thats good Julie!
>
> From experience with this, a good way to start is to have her look at
> some of the simpler recipes. Need not be something you make often (or
> ever) but let her pick something that appeals and that other than you
> helping chop, she feels like she can make.
>
> Since your family is used to making different dishes for a meal based
> on who eats what, it's a good thing to let her make something she
> thinks she will like even if no one else is likely to to have picked it.
>
> What I find is in most families, there is one primary cook, and others
> maybe pinch hit a bit with certain items. (Like, Daddy does the
> grilling, Mom cooks most other things). If kids do not start young in
> the kitchen, they tend to be intimidated by it all. That almost
> happened to Charlotte because Don and I are good cooks.
>
> Once we realized it, we had her in a cooking class (HS Home Ec type but
> just cooking) and told the instructor on the side privately that we'd
> intimidated her but she had the background. Charlotte made straight
> A's and started getting cookbooks of things *she* wanted to try. A
> symptom of this is her cookbooks are German, Polish, Russian,
> Scandinavian and a nifty one all about Udon/Noodle soups.
>
> Charlotte now is 22 and still doesn't cook as often as Don and I do,
> but her miso-dashi-udon soups are supurb and she has many variations
> that span off that and are all fantastic. She's also great at comming
> up with uses for leftover chicken. We had a Scandinavian sort of
> 'wrap' earlier this week. That was a keeper for all of us.
>
> So the point is, give her her own zone to work within. You are dead on
> right to let her select some veggies and other things she wants to try.
> If she has a rough idea of what she wants to do with them, all the
> better as you can make sure you have the stuff.
>
> Charlotte and I are making a grocery trip tomorrow. Mostly fresh veggie
> run but there's a good sale on fresh wild caught tuna and a decent one
> on cleaned crab. Charlotte is looking up a crabcake recipe she wants
> to try and listing what she needs to try making them. I've never made
> them but she's happily pulling various spices to the side.
>
> I'll post more as our trip develops.

If I can get her out of the shower, I will let her pick what she wants when
we go shopping. However, I think the bulk of our groceries today will be
purchased at Target so that will be a tad limiting. Won't be able to do a
big shop elsewhere until next year. One can make a meal from Target food
but you just never know what they might have. Each shopping trip is
different. And while they do sell fresh produce, it's not a large
selection.