A Summer Angelenos Can Be Proud Of

No sooner did I walk out of my doctor's office, boasting my healthy ways, and proudly admitting "I don't eat junk food" did I find myself staring at my guiltiest pleasure in the world.

Unfortunately that was at Costco. And now my family has the daunting task of eating 24 ounces of these:

Our 4th of July picnic can't come soon enough.

This is the quintessential chip of my childhood. These crispy, light, perfectly salted chips taste of beach picnics, BBQ's, and poolside lunches. Each bite is filled with memories of salty summer air, from dockside picnics with Food Buoy sandwiches in Woods Hole, to birthday parties at Amelia's house in Cambridge, and fresh mozzarella and Kathleen's Bake Shop chocolate chip cookies at Kate's in Bridgehampton. These are the chips of good friends and great memories. The chips even filled our guests' welcome bags at our wedding last summer. And that was no small feat. We got married in Utah. (Indeed, as the boxes of chips arrived on my mom's doorstep, shipped dutifully from my mother-in-law straight from Hyannis, I began to ponder my life as a bootlegging importer of all things delicious.)

I've lived in LA now for 4 years. And each year I wonder, desperately, "how on earth will I make it through another summer without my beloved Cape Cod Potato Chips"? If they can import water from Fiji to every continent around the globe, and turn San Francisco sourdough into an American staple, why, on earth, aren't Cape Cod Potato Chips sold in SoCal!?

Thus, every summer I return to the East Coast for weddings and reunions, each time happily gorging on Cape Cod Potato Chips from the moment I land at Logan. (Eventually, I eat so many chips it seems like a good thing they aren't sold in LA.)

But that's all about to change. Armed with 24 ounces of my favorite summer snack, this summer I'll be making new memories, one crispy chip at a time, right here in sunny Santa Monica.

May...?

Indeed, that month is inexplicably missing from my recent blog posts. But I assure you, it wasn't for lack of activity. Just a massive lack of time.

In May... Kitchen Kid took it's first official vacation, and I found a terrific new culinary coach to teach my classes while I was gone. We spent a week in St. Barth's celebrating our good friend's wedding. A Caribbean island with French flare, the food in St. Barth's was incredible. Mahimahi tartare, beef carpaccio, lightly grilled squid with intense aioli. All over looking a sparkling blue sea in 85 degree sunshine.

In May... we had a Sunday Funday BBQ for my birthday and served Gourmet Magazine's Ancho and Cocoa Carne Asada for the nine-hundredth time since it appeared in the March magazine. Copy down this recipe and cook it tonight. You too will make it nine-hundred more times in the next 2 months. Yes, it really is that good.

In May... Kitchen Kid was touted in Pregnancy Magazine for helping Charlie Sheen's daughters, Sam and Lola, make personalized lunches and mash their own guacamole at the baby shower for his new twin boys, hosted at Adrienne Maloof's home.

(photo courtesy Spantman Photography)

In May... I was filled with energy, excitement, and enthusiasm after hearing Alice Waters speak at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica. It was a true pleasure to meet her and be part of an audience filled with encouraging hope. Moreover, I was blown away by 16-year old Sam Levin who spoke with the charisma, professionalism, and ease of a natural-born orator committed to the belief that "better school food is not a privilege, it's a right". He kinda stole the show. The message of the night: edible education is essential to raising healthy, happy children.

In May... we were VERY busy teaching our Classroom Cooks After School Enrichment Programs. Books for Cooks was taught at Camelot Kids Preschool in Silver Lake, and Grant Elementary and Edison Elementary in Santa Monica. We were also piloting our Global Eats enrichment class at Webster Elementary in Malibu and Virginia Avenue Park in Santa Monica. Some of our newest recipes include Thai spring rolls and handmade tortillas. Delish!

In May... I went to Palm Springs for my oldest friend's bachelorette party. Good food, good fun, good friends, and great stories -- but not really for Growing Up Gourmet!

In May... we went camping at Boulder Basin Campground in the San Jacinto Mountains, and gorged on campfire food. Really, isn't car camping all about the food? Still dreaming about St. Barth's, I stuck a Trader Joe's pre-marinated frozen mahimahi fillet in the cooler. By the second day it was perfectly defrosted, and wrapped inside some foil and set on top of raging campfire grill, came out beautifully flaky.

In May... my mom came to visit from Park City to celebrate her birthday! She requested a second-annual birthday trip to Pizzeria Mozza, which I was all too happy honor! Dining on the chicken liver bruschetta, tomato & burrata salad, and pizza with English peas, cream, and guanciale has simply got to be the best way to grow another year older.

What a relief, May is finished! On to June!

What's Growin' On Around Town

I was pretty excited when SlowFood LA announced yesterday that Alice Waters would be speaking about edible education and school gardens here in Santa Monica on May 19. The event, which benefits Canyon Charter School will include a presentation, book signing, and Q&A with Ms. Waters and 15 year-old Sam Levin, who founded a sustainable garden for his public school in Western Massachusetts.

Tickets and complete information available here.

Watch a sneak preview of Alice's new book, The Edible Schoolyard, a Universal Idea:




AND

Get your edible garden groove on the weekend before the celebrated Berkley chef comes to town, with Gardens of Gratitude's 100 Garden Challenge! The goal: plant 100 victory gardens and transform LA's Westside to an edible paradise of fruits, berries, nuts, veggies and flowers!

For more information about Gardens of Gratitude, and to find out how to participate in the event May 16-17, visit the 100 Garden Challenge, here.

I can't think of a more perfect activity do with young foodies, eco-friendly families, and anyone Growing Up Gourmet!!

Foodie Family Wife Swap

Want to swap lives with a junk-food-gorging, TV-dinner-feasting, un-foodie family? Here's your chance!

I occasionally get contacted by casting producers about upcoming shows featuring kid chefs. (I can't wait to actually see one on TV...)

Most recently, this came across my desk:

CASTING SEARCH:
Kid Chefs and their Families!

Casting Directors for ABC TV’s hit reality show, “Wife Swap,” are now conducting national searches for fun, dynamic, outgoing and interesting families to star on Season 5 of “Wife Swap”.

· Do you have a child that’s a chef?
· Do you consider yourselves Foodies? Do your kids like to prepare and eat exotic foods?
· Would you like to share your passion for gourmet food with another family?
· Would you be excited about the chance to change the life of a deserving family or improve your own?

If so, we’d love to consider you for prime time!!!! In order to apply you must have at least one child between the ages of 7 and 17.

To apply or get more information contact us today:
(TEL.) 646 747 7947
(EMAIL) jessica.jorgensen@castingrdf.com

And please be sure to mention Kitchen Kid!

FEATURED FAMILIES RECEIVE $20,000

What I want to know: what kind of food does the other mother feed her family?

White House Hosts Kids Kitchen for Easter

At 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Easter was all about... get ready... kids in the kitchen. Okay, there may have been an egg roll and some food dye. But with the theme "Let's Go Play!" that emphasized physical activity and healthy eating habits, the Kids Kitchen activity station really took the cake.

White House executive chef Cris Comerford demoed healthy recipes for kids, and celebrity chef Jose Andres was accompanied by his daughters for a hands-on demonstration of gazpacho and mini olive pancakes.

Kids who attended the event donned presidential paper toques and made fruit lollipops.

Complete coverage of this exceptional event can be found only at Obama Foodorama. Pictures courtesy Obama Foodorama.

No, Thank YOU!

Awwww. Two of the best thank you notes I've ever received. My favorite part was that after Natalie gave me the card, she quickly took it back to add "it was the most fun party ever!".

And how about Alexandra's note. Is it cuter that she signed it "with cooking skills," or that she may be the first 8 year old ever to illustrate an immersion blender? And by the way, we did "do it again". Alex celebrated her last 2 birthdays cooking with Kitchen Kid!

Cooking: Not Just for Mom & Dad

Still looking for more reasons to get cooking with your kids???

Our friends at gastrokid.com posted a great Top Ten today. (Perhaps the introduction to their forthcoming book?)

My favorite is right in-line with Michelle Obama's remark last week.

1. Feed Them Perfect Produce
Buy the best, ripe, in-season, local produce you can find, whether at a grocery store or farmer's market. Asparagus in spring to teach your kids the essential less of eating seasonally and locally. Strawberries in summer. Apples in fall. Citrus in winter.

Perfection. Perfection. Perfection...

Read the rest of Gastrokid's Top Ten here.