TheBanyanTree: delightful havoc in the kitchen

[Julie Anna Teague]

I don't know what is going on in there, but they (the boys) are both in
the kitchen and they are not fighting.  They have both been really into
cooking of late.  Andy (13) made a wonderful apple pie for Mother's Day,
by himself, and then outdid himself a week later with a from-scratch
chocolate cake with from scratch chocolate icing, completely by himself (I
wasn't even in the kitchen), from a recipe that he found himself. 
Noticing the accolades his brother was getting for his fab desserts, Seth
decided that he would plan and cook a whole meal. He called it his "Soul
Food" dinner--fried chicken breasts, fresh green beans, rice, and black-
eyed peas.  I had to help him some (he's only ten) but he did a lot of it,
and it was a wonderful meal. 

So, back to the kitchen.  Cooperation abounds, and that in itself is a
near miracle.  They are playing "Iron Chef".  They asked me to give them a
main ingredient, like on the show, and they would devise dishes around
this ingredient.  They wanted to do desserts, so I gave them chocolate as
the main ingredient, knowing that I had half a bag of chocolate chips in
the cupboard, some cocoa, a square or two of white chocolate.  I've heard
the mixer going, pans clashing, oven timers going off, pleasant chatter
between the two.  I am not allowed to enter.  I am to judge the event when
everything is completed.  I hear Andy saying, "No no no no no!" to
himself.  Or to the chocolate, or the pan or something.  Seth claims to
have made use of the fresh strawberries in the garden.  I heard them
digging around for marshmallows.  I smell some cinnamon.  I heard Seth
say, "A whole stick of butter?  That will be unhealthy!" 

So we will see.  I'm simply excited that they are excited.  I shudder to
think of the mess, but they claim that they will also clean up.  On the
heals of a very bad week with much angst and screaming and fighting and
uncooperation, this is all very good.  

Julie