It's Happening

My son and daughter are doing to me what I did to my mum  at their age. I would have my own cooking adventures when she was at work, and leave a little mess from my endeavours (she would dispute this and say big mess), I would desperately try to clean up but always left a greasy trail, this was what I came home too yesterday, flour, butter, cheese, kitchen floor mopped but with no detergent, so now the kitchen floor's all slippery with grease spread round! 

Sugar cookies by Mitch

I thought it a bit suspicious when they would not allow me into the kitchen when I got home, and Mitch had just finished mopping, so the floor was wet and he said, stay out, I don't want you to slip.  But as our house is open plan, I could see the miniature chaos in the background.  I duly went to watch some TV and catch up my emails and FB, when they said, can we put the wooden pizza board in the oven? Use a baking sheet with parchment paper, I say.  We can't as I still have unbaked cookies on them... oh, well, use one of the other tins then as your pizzas aren't very big. Ok, Mitch said.

I had left for work yesterday morning having prepared the ingredients for homemade pizza in the evening. The bread dough was made and proving, the tomato sauce was cooked, the toppings all prepared and put back in the fridge. I had rung Dave at work and told him what to do, then told the kids that they could blend the sauce before using it. 

Dave was home late, he was stuck on a bus, delayed by a 3 car collision on Highway 7, so I was home first.  The kids decided they would have a go making the pizzas.... they had also made some cupcakes and sugar biscuits earlier.. it was an afternoon of culinary delights and discovery.  Unfortunately, despite numerous visits to Dominoes Pizza where they saw the pizzas being made, they still struggled with rolling of the dough, how much sauce to put on and so on and so forth.   What I saw on the pizza board was this - 3 pizzas, 2 mini ones, thick crust, one small pizza, dangerously thick crust... the crusts looked a bit puffed up, and I wondered if they had tried to stuff the crust too.

Mini pizzas

It's probably my fault, the bread dough was difficult to handle, probably too soft, and the minute they tried to roll it out flat, it would spring back at them. Anyhow, I heard a shout from the kitchen, I can't get it of f the pizza board. Ok, I say, I am coming...... I get in there, found the other baking sheet in the pan drawer and lined it with parchment paper. Turned to the puffy pizza and tried to lift it off, impossible, the sauce has soaked into the dough, it was all a bit soggy, started to stretch and tear... what to do? I tried folding it over and make a calzone, reasonable success but great difficulty getting it on the baking sheet, and it now looked like a monster, calzone gone terribly wrong, all stuffed with mushroom, cheese, onion and peppers, not to mention ooozing with zingy tomato sauce. I placed the 2 mini pizzas beside it, put them in the oven and hoped for the best, despite it's looks, the monster still had choice ingredients on its side, or its insides at the very least.

Monster calzone

In the meantime, my beady eye cast a glance over the entire workspace the kids had been working on, it was strewn with flour, butter, tomato sauce, grated cheese..... I tried to keep calm and not shout and failed miserably.. I will have to try harder next time.... Anyhow, I said to them, so much mess everywhere, there's even flour on the tea cosy! I ranted for a bit, saying that the best time for them to experiment in the kitchen is when I am not in, and to finish and tidy up before I get back! We tried mum, but all our cooking took up so much time and my sugar cookies were too soft and they required a lot of chilling time. I said, you had 8 hours to cook... well, Mitch said, we played for 2 hours, then Jas started making her cupcakes, then I started with my cookies.. Did you have lunch? No, we ran out of time... ran out of time?? Are you kidding me? I had left them some cash to go and get something for lunch themselves. This was done with the intention of getting them out of the house for a bit, as they have the tendency to stay in all day whilst I am at work.. it's the summer holidays and they are spending the majority of it indoors! WELL, we ate the cupcakes Jasmine made. Humph, I said.

purple cupcakes with blue icing

Jas, had left the kitchen by now, Mitch came in to help tidy, but was rather upset with me, understandably as I was being unreasonable and should expect the kids to make a mess, and for me to come home and clean it all up. It's all about discovery and independence... but I think I will stick to having them help me more in the kitchen in the future, but I am a rather bad teacher and prone to outbursts... argh....

The pizza Mitch and I made together

I can still hear my mum's words as she ranted at me for leaving the kitchen in a mess. Of course as time went by, I was getting better and better at tidying up after myself, but she would still discover signs of me having experimented despite the obvious delightful product to be enjoyed by the family, and the neighbours too, as I usually made too much. So, it's come full circle. My mum use to threaten me with the, just wait till you have your own kids, and me retaliating with I am not having kids, so there..... huh....what did I know? Perhaps, my mum saying I have eaten more salt than you have rice is true after all.......I have come full circle, was being shouted at, now I am doing the shouting, but I want to break this circle, shouting is and will never be the answer...