Making New Friends

Each morning after our day campers get settled in we review the previous day.  I always ask them what they learned and what they liked.  Today one of the main things they liked was making new friends.  Little did they know, on day three of 4-H Jr. Chef Day Camp,  they were about to make many new friends that will be very important to their cooking.
We loaded up and headed to the Robeson County Farmer's Market in Downtown Lumberton.  There we had a scavenger hunt goal, and a shopping goal.  Our young chefs were given the reciepe turned shopping list for tomatillio salsa, and told to find farmers who were selling the ingredients and find the best prices.  This meant our youth had to have conversations with adults they did not know to get the information.  What they learned was that our farmers who grow are food are really nice, and have really good prices, however not all the farmers have the same prices.  They also learned that some farmers might sell some items by the piece while others might sell them by the pound.  Then they had to figure out which was the better deal.  When we got done we had a meeting and sent the actual shopping crew out to our farmer's where we had located the best deals to find the ingredients for the afternoon's snack recipe.
It was time to head back to the office and after snack we split up into two groups.  Mrs. Janice's group worked on making corn chips and the creamed corn from scratch while Miss Shea Ann's group got to watch A Chef's Life.  They learned more about sweet corn and farmer's in North Carolina who grow it.  After an hour or so the groups switched so everyone got to do a little of everything.
Lunch was pizza and some awesome creamed corn that our Jr. Chef's made.  As a matter of fact it was so good that there was no corn left at the end of the meal.
After lunch it was time to bake the chips and make some jalepeno poppers and tomatilla salsa.  Our youth got to sample what they made as well as take chips and salsa home.  While one group was in the kitchen the second group had the chance to travel to our offie break room and make three different vanilla ice cream bases that will be made into ice cream for our youth to sample on Friday.
Of course each and everyday must end with their favorite game of all, the silent game.  Everyone stretches out to see who will last the longest, without talking or moving.
  Tomorrow we will head out on a field trip like no other.  Stay tuned for more information.