ella in the kitchen

when she not yet two, i would sometimes come home to find ella and her father watching foodtv, which he HATES (chris, unlike me eats to live, instead of lives to eat). i am especially fond of rachael ray & alton brown. they are both a bit off and quirky, that entertains me. i also enjoy rachael's fast-paced cooking; alton, because of the science he brings to food. (i am not a scientist. biology grossed me out, i failed chemistry, and did not attempt physics.)

in the mind of alton brown, i, and millions like me, am a baking cheat. (too much chemistry involved.) i do the box thing when baking cakes and muffins. ella is thrilled by this. it means that she gets to help in the kitchen. she is allowed to sit on the counter and get dirty. not just watch me at the stove from a safe distance. it means cracking eggs, stirring batter, and most of all, licking the beaters.

yesterday, she graduated to power buttons on small kitchen appliances. the first was the blender. we were making a poppy seed vinaigrette. (she loved the sound and watching the dressing spray up the sides of the pitcher.) while we are putting things in the blender i explain to her what we are doing. her teachers will be very surprised to hear her playing in the "housekeeping" center at school and using the word emulsion. big word for a two year old. i find out next time we make dressing if she remembers what it means.

the other small appliance that she discovered was the kitchenaid stand mixer. we dumped the cake mix into the bowl, added an instant pudding pack, then the wet ingredients. (totally the wrong order, but...) she turned the mixer on, played with the speeds and helped me scrape the bowl sides, asking the entire time, "lick it?" who among us has not loved licking the beater? good thing it was bath night.

my proudest moment of our day in the kitchen together was when she patted the mixer and said "alton has dis". either she is overly observant or she is watching entirely too much foodtv. my husband would claim the latter.