My little chef

Ahhh, it's great when you find a show that the whole family can watch together. A definite feat when the kids are all 7 & younger. But our family has found one. We've found a whole genre, actually: Food shows.

We're not just talking the Food Network, my kids are PBS food show geeks, too. During those parental moments when you need a little break from go-go-go interaction but you REALLY don't want to turn on a crack cartoon (which makes them scream when it's over or you try to turn it off), I can turn on America's Test Kitchen or really, nearly ANY food show (the more educational, the more they like it) and we can enjoy it together. We learn. We still interact (no crack-cartoon rapid-action shots to get their gumption going). The kids ask questions. We talk about our meals ... how we cook ... why we pick what food we do ... etc.

The only problem: The 5-year-old thinks he's a chef.

I came into the kitchen the other weekend to discover my 5-year-old at the kitchen butcher block with bowl and whisk in front of him as he stood upon a stool. "Hi mom! I'm making pie!" I believe there was water (cold); an egg; a bit of milk; a teaspoon of this; a teaspoon of that; some flour; some sugar (brown, the boy is OBSESSED with BROWN sugar ... he'd eat it for dinner if he could); and then he even added some Hershey kisses. Interesting ... and mind you, there was no disuading him. He had his mind set on making pie. And there was no "Oh, you can help mommy/daddy make a pie" ... he had HIS recipe. "I have a recipe! It's in my mind!" And if you interrupt him, all hell breaks loose as he yells at you for making him forget his recipe.

Ummm ... we baked it.

Let's just say as determined as he is, he's only 5 ...