Jr. Chef Extradonaires

   

  It's hard to believe that today is the last day for our Jr. Chef Day Campers.  We have tried to give them all sorts of challenges along the way and like a group of smart and dedicated young people they have risen to our challenges.  Today we are focused on taste testing, team building, and of course cooking up something special.  Today our challenge word is goodbye, although most of our youth don't want to say it, we are practicing for the end of this grand adventure.

  After listening to some of the conversations we decided we needed to work on a little team building.  So we refocused energies and asked our youth to write their name on a piece of paper.  We went ahead and added our adults and volunteers names to paper and proceeded to pass them around the group.  Each person was tasked with writing something positive about that person that no one else had written.  When teh youth got done we collected everything and gave it to our adults to write on as the day progressed.  After being reminded of all the positive things about our team it was a little easier to sit down and tackle the Sourdough Challenge.

  At this point we split into two groups one headed to the kitchen the other to the tables to work out sourdough challenges.  Our youth collected their data and the big talk was about the aroma of their starters.  I had brought in my starter and the youth said the smell was much tamer so we talked about how and why that happens and what they can do at home to make that happen for them.  They said they are excited about taking home their starter and hope that parents will let them make bread our other fun things as a result. 

After smelling our starter it was time to taste test.  Interestingly enough our youth felt that their sense of smell greatly impacted their sense of taste so they ballparked ways to clean the aroma from their starter so that they could better taste the breads we bought yesterday.  Today our youth got to sample: german pumpernickel; sourdough; warmed potato, cheddar, and chive, rolls; and cinnamon swirl bread.  They all recognized the pumpernickel from a famous chain steak house but this fresh bread was much different then the small loaves that they get from that chain.  Their favorites were tied between the dinner rolls and the cinnamon swirl bread.  All of them said the texture of the fresh bread was much different than store bought and they started creating ideas for tasty butters to put on them.

In the meantime in the kitchen our youth were prepping for lunch.  Today we had a taco bar.  So ground beef needed to be seasoned and cooked, chicken needed to be heated, and toppings needed to be chopped.  We had chips and flour tortillas so when it came time for lunch our youth could make soft tacos, burritos, fajitas, quesadillas taco salads or other fun things all made to order (because they are the chefs).  Lunch went over very well and our youth had a great time in the kitchen today.

After lunch we had a little downtime and then got our papers back from the beginning of the day with our names on them.  Everyone took a little time to see what folks read about them and some needed to know if statements were positive or negative.  For example is spontaneous, drink spitting funny, too crazy are those positives, negatives?  After exploring what folks thought and in some cases the person who wrote it saying why they wrote it spontaneous was because the person can act bravely in all instances.  Drink spitting funny was saying something so calmly and so funny that it was unexpected and made a person almost spit their drink out of their mouth when it hit them.  Too crazy was next level fun and craziness and too means more so too crazy.  All meant in a positive way and sometimes we need to learn to accept things in the manner in which they were intended rather than read into things.  A lesson we need everyday in life.

Our chefs had one more chance in the kitchen to make masterpieces.  Today is ice cream bar day and our chefs made their own ice cream sundaes.  they had vanilla ice cream, sprinkles, sauces that included chocolate, carmel, butterscotch, and strawberry, not to mention whipped cream.  The made some masterful desserts/snacks and apparently they were all delicious because they didn't last long.

Our last activity of the day involved live animals.  I know that seems a little shocking.  However tomorrow is our animal science program animal give out and 4-H members who sign up get to pickup their chickens, rabbits, and goats that will be shown at the fair.  That means our chickens arrived at the post office today and we had to pick them up and unpack them for tomorrow.  That also meant our 4-H members got the chance to touch, hold and learn about Rhode Island Red Chickens and about our animal science program.  I think they enjoyed this unexpected development in the day.

By the end of the day we had a slideshow and just enjoyed some time with our friends, old and new and talked about upcoming Summer Fun Camps.  We want to give a big thank you to all the staff and volunteers who helped out with this camp.  Also a shout out to former 4-H Agent Dave Welch who owns US Cellular for his donation of drawstring bags and water bottles for our youth.  It was the perfect thing to take our starter and cookbooks home with us.  We so appreciate your kindness to our 4-H youth.  We hope to see everyone soon.

To see the photos from today please click this link.

Van Trip!

 

  If there is anything we know that our campers like it is field trip day and riding in the van.  They like it so much they are trying to get us to have Van Day Camp where they just travel to places in the van.  Not sure about the educational value but they sure would have fun and have planned out quite the itinerary for one.  But I digress..today our challenge was to learn about different cooking opportunities in the real world.  Our challenge is to introduce them to careers and have them think about the value of food today.  Our magic challenge word is excuse me.  We are travelling to some populated areas, as you will see and invariably someone will forget to look around them and either bump into our group or members of our group will bump into them. So we thought this magic challenge word would be appropriate for today.

  Our group loaded up the vans to head to Raleigh where our first stop was at the Great Harvest Bread Company.  This franchise company uses fresh grains to make their own breads.  The variety of breads, flavors, and textures are amazing.  Our youth got to sample different types of bread and we brought back: sourdough; cinnamon swirl; potato, cheddar, and chive, dinner rolls to try from this location.  All the breads had been baked within the last 24 hours of purchase and we were excited to share what fresh breads taste like compared to store bought breads.  Our youth also got to sample several varieties of breads from muffins to scones to dinner rolls and sliced breads.  One of their favorites were the blueberry and cream scones.  During this visit our campers saw the prep going on to make the variety of fresh breads and  and different ingredients that can be used in breads.  They also learned that it is hard work to have a bakery being that bread at this location is usually baked between 2 and 4 am and it does take hard work and planning to make artisan breads.

 

  Our next stop was the State Farmer's Market in Raleigh.  Now this market is much larger and more diverse in terms of offerings than the one in Robeson County.  Because they pull from around the state they have a variety of fruits, vegetables, proteins, plants and flowers on sale.  There is also a commercial building selling packaged NC items, baked goods, and even snacks and coffee.  This location also hosts a couple of restaurants serving the freshest of foods whether it be typical country cooking or fresh seafood you really can't go wrong visiting here.  We did also make a couple of purchases for tomorrow including pumpernickel bread and tomatoes for our taco bar experience.

 

  Our campers were pretty hungry after walking and looking at food so we swung over to NC State University's Fountain Dinning Hall for lunch.  There you can find anything from pasta, to salads, pizza, to burgers, and even oriental and Indian cusine.  Of course their favorite is the fresh soft serve ice cream for dessert which is a crowd pleaser.

 

  After lunch we stop by another local establishment to pick up a niche food item for the youth to sample when we got home.  Crumbl Cookies is a franchise cookie chain that makes large (honestly can't eat one in one sitting) cookies that are baked to order and each week the flavors change although they always keep a version of chocolate chip and some type of sugar cookie on the menu each week.  The cookie flavors are very different for example this week we could choose from PB&J, butter, chocolate chunk, chocolate pretzel pie, lemon,  and honey bun.  

  When we got back to the office and started waking up from our food induced comas, everyone wanted a snack.  Thanks to Ms. Wendy's fine knife skills everyone was able to sample up to four different flavors.  They told us that they lemon was surprising sweet rather than tart.  The honey bun really tasted like a honey bun and for those who sampled the chocolate pretzel pie and like the sweet and salty that one was really good.  However I must say that the chocolate chunk sort of won everyone's heart, after all who doesn't like a chocolate chip cookie?

To see the photos from today's adventure please click this link and stay tuned for our final day in the kitchen.  What will we be up to?

Food Taster Challenge

 

We can not lie, we are making this one of the most challenging day camps yet.  Today we challenged our campers with their taste buds and their social skills.  The magic challenge word for the day was Hello.  We asked our youth as we travelled with mini-trips to speak and say hello to those around them.  It is a simple way to make someone feel welcome.

After a few games and some team building our day campers jumped into the week long Sourdough Challenge.  This week we are learning about other ways to make bread rather than yeast.  Sourdough is a natural starter that can be traced back to it's DNA origins.  So a starter started in North Carolina will be different than a starter started in New York, or Demark, etc.  Our youth gathered their data, measured, fed their starter, and their favorite documenting the change of the aroma of the starter.  For many people aroma and taste go hand in hand so it is difficult for our youth to understand how something so "Stinky" might acturally taste good.

  Learning about the smell and taste of breads and how our youth perceive taste is important to learning what they like, how to react in social settings, and how to be willing to try things over and over again.  For expamle your taste buds change every seven years, so something you don't like today you might like down the road, so it is important to be willing to try things.  We also talk about making faces when we eat something you don't like.  The phrase, don't yuck someone's yum, is to remind our campers that what they don't like could be someone else's favorite thing and we don't want to make them feel bad about what they like, or made.  So instead we encourage them to say, "It's not my favorite."   

As part of our taste testing today we focused on different kinds of bread.  Our youth did a blind tasting of four different breads.  We used store purchased sourdouch, traditional white, whole wheat, and gluten free.  Our youth were not fond of the gluten free bread.  Sourdough and wheat were in a dead heat for second or third place.  The traditional white bread was their favorite becuase it was the softest, had the mildest smell and taste.  After testing bread we went ahead and tested butter.  We had some compound butter made up and thought it would be a natural test to go along with the bread.  The two butters; a cilantro lime, and brown sugar were looked at skeptically.  However they were brave and willing to check it out.  The cilantro lime was definately not their favorite as they said it was too tart and some did not like the taste of the fresh cilantro.  However the brown sugar butter was a hit.  Most thought it would taste like cinamon butter and were surprised to find out that it did not have a strong sweet taste, just a very light taste. 

With all this food we are eating and tasting we noticed hand washing breaks were getting shorter.  So we decided to do another science experiment known as Glo-Germ.  Youth put on a special location that fluoresces germs  under a black light.  We then talk about properly washing our hands and then go do it and check to make sure we have gotten all the germs off our hands.  It is a fun and very visual way to learn why you might want to wash your hands.

  After lunch it was time to head to the Robeson County Farmers Market.  We challenged our youth to do two things; first use their challenge word fo rthe day, and two tell us what they thing would bring more people to the farmer's market.  We also explained the the market recently moved to the corner of Third and Water streets and we drove them by the old location so they could see the difference.     

Once at the market our youth met with vendors and the market manager.  They learned about different products and produce, and they even helped Mr. Chrochet get his booth set up as he was running a little late in the heat.  Our campers spent a great deal of time talking with Mr. Haywood McCormick and his neice about what it takes to come out to the market and why people should shop there instead of the grocery store.  Mrs. Marie, the market manager also talked to them about the importance of having a farmers market and why it is important to not only our health but the local economy.   

After visiting with everyone we had a chance to enjoy a Sunset Slush with the 4-H Family that owns the business.  It was definately a welcome treat on such a hot day.  One our way back to the vans the campers stopped to talk to Mr. Chrochet who is a veteran, father, and youth advocate.  He told them that their attitude will determine their altitude in life, so being positive is important.  Our youth enjoyed getting a chance to speak with him and thanked him for his service to our country.

   When we got back we talked about our visit and our youth were as insightful as always.  Sometimes people don't give those under 18 enough credit but they see things with less filters that most adults and they gave some really good feedback.  They said on hot days when it is harder to get the produce maybe the market should be open when it is cooler in the day rather than the heat of the afternoon.  They felt like the old location was better becuase of the shade and that it was bigger so you could walk around to the vendors more.  They said special events might help to boost folks going to the market, or music, something to eat and a place to eat and they also suggested a petting zoo or other fun thing to make kids want to be there becuase then parents could entertain their children and shop.  The one thing I really enjoyed hearing was that they know eating fresh local foods is important and good for their health but it's not so much what is being sold as the people that are selling it that make our market great.  They were impressed with how nice everyone was to them and welcoming and willing to talk to them and tell them about their products, and they said you can't find that in a grocery store.  As we said, insigtful youth.

   To see al the photos from today please click this link.  Stay tuned as we turn up the taste and fund testing tomorrow.

Farm to Fork Challenge

   

   
Today our 4-H Jr. Chef Day Campers loaded up in the 15 passenger vans and headed to see exactly where their lunch was going to come from.  They were also excited to be joined by our Horticulture Extension Agent Mr. Mack Johnson and one of our 4-H Alums turned 4-H Volunteer, Brooke Canady.  Ms. Shea Ann also gave them their magic word challenge for the day, and it was, "Thank You.".  With instructions in hand of how to use their word our Chefs loaded up and headed out.  Today the traveling Chefs headed east toward Holly Ridge to visit a farm by the name of Xanadu.

 

Xanadu farms started just after World War II when the government was selling land at Topsail Island.  The Yow family purchased land and retired to their farm named Xanadu.  Decades later their great grand children are operating the farm and have become leading producers of biodynamic fruits and vegetables as well as event hosts by using their natural landscapes to offer group experiences.  Our Jr. Chefs got a first hand tour of the farm and even sampled some of the fresh offerings such as Blueberries right off the bush (some of our 4-H members were prepared to eat their weight in juicy, sweet, blueberries).  Our youth also got a chance to go in to the high tunnel greenhouse and help plant, suash, pepper, and cucumber seeds in trays for seedlings to begin.  One of the neat things about this farm is that they ship their food fresh off the farm to local restaurants who prepare the food and you have the chance to really enjoy a farm to table experience.

   

One of the restaurants that does this is Dockside.  After enjoying the morning on the farm our 4-H Jr. Chefs when straight to the restaurant where they enjoyed incredible views and had a chance to enjoy farm fresh items with their meals.  Once they were full from lunch our campers loaded back up on the vans to head back to the office.  

   They made it back just in time to feed their sourchough starters and let Mrs. Jade know what they liked and learned on this trip.  When they left they said thank you to everyone for helping them gain a greater appreciation for where their food comes from.  

   To see all the phots from today's adventures please click this link.  

The Great Cooking Challenge

   

Our 4-Her's had their first day of Jr. Chef Day Camp and it seems as this week we will be working to challenge them daily as we go.  They are bright, eager, and passionate about their food.  Today we worked on getting the lay of the land and a little team building becuase they need to work as a team in the kitchen.

 

We split into two groups and one group went into the kitchen to start making lunch while the other groups was working on the great Sourdough Challenge.  The Sourdough Challenge allows our youth to make their own sourdough starter and learn the chemical properties of the starter and how they are growing microbes and bacterias and how they impact the food they eat.  Specifically sourdough bread.  Today they started the experiment by measuring flour and water, measuring the ingredients in their jars and collecting other data such as aroma and tempreture.

While the great sourdough challenge was going in one room in the kitchen our Jr. Chefs were tackling other challenges.  Today they learned about food safety and knife skills as they practiced chopping things like parsley, garlic, and measuring bread crumbs and cheese to make meatballs.  Each group took their hand at both activities and the meatballs were part of our pasta lunch bar.  

I have to say we all thought the meatballs were great at lunch but even our County Extension Director, Mac Malloy came in and sampled their cooking skills and was quite impressed.  After a full lunch that included salad, corn, pasta, meatballs, garlic bread, and dessert we hit the carpet to give our group a chance to digest theri food and the adults a chance to clean the kitchen before the next round of fun.

After a little rest we split back up and one group learned about and sampled a variety of smoothies, including a Spinach smoothies which we understand was not everyone's favorite.  However the peanut butter and chocolate smoothing and well as the strawberry banana smoothie, well those were big hits.  Our youth also got a frozen fruit parfait which had many good reviews.

While one group was enjoying the smoothie bar the other was learnnig about foods and chemical reactions.  Corn starch and water make a nonnewtonian fluid that always has our youth smiling, getting their hands a little dirty and making them curious about how properties interact to do things.  This particular mixture, depening on how you work with it, can be both a solid and a liquid at the same time.  How cool is that?

One other thing we are doing as part of camp is the etiquette challenge.  Each day we will try to use a magic word in our interactions with each other at camp and at home.  Today's word was please.  Our youth did their best to practice using the word please and tried to make it more common in their everyday language.  We hope parents will encourage their word challenge at home each day as well.

To see all the photos from today please click this link.