Where did our summer go?! We only have 1 week of summer left and boys will be back in school. I can’t believe that they will be in 2nd and 4th grade already! Boys had a busy summer this year having fun at different camps. We got to try some new camps this year but we were happy to go back to some of our favorites like the Cooking Round The World kid’s cooking camp! Boys attended the Oakland location which was only 5 minutes away from our place on Grand Ave. This was our third year coming back to this camp. Boys are starting to really enjoy helping out in the kitchen and interested in trying new food. Cooking Round The World camp offers weekly summer camps for kids to explore and learn about cooking and different culture by participate in cooking dishes from different countries each day. Each week has different theme and boys attended week of Peru, Switzerland, Finland, Korea and New Zealand. I asked Mindy, the program director if I can come by on the Korea day to take a peek at how things run in the kitchen. Here are some snaps from that day.

I was totally impressed with how kids were working so efficiently in the kitchen. I have to say, I think they were more impressive than my own cooking class! They worked in smaller groups and each group prepared two different dishes. Each day they prepared 5-7 dishes including dessert. Yes, desserts were part of menu each day! 

Older kids were doing more advanced prepping and cooking (by the stove) and younger kids were doing simple prepping like peeling and mixing and setting the table. Everybody had some part in creating the dishes. 

Chef Scott was so great with kids and other teachers assigned for each group were also very friendly and approachable. Things can get pretty stressful in the kitchen when you have so many people (esp. kids!) working around each other. But everyone seems to know what they were doing and looked enthusiastic about learning and helping each other. Kudos to everyone!

In addition to cooking in class, there were other cultural activities like language learning, cultural games and field trips to nearby markets and ice cream factory like Fentons creamery here in Oakland! Camp hours are from 9am to 1pm but they have extended care until 4pm for kids to enjoy these extra curricular activities.

These are some of the dishes made during Korea day. From top left, Mandoo (Korean dumplings), Bean Spouts Salad, Pajun (Korean green onion pancake) and Gyeran bbang (Korean egg muffins). Notice everything they make here is very cultural and all vegetarian! I have picky eating kids, or I should say I used to have picky eating kids but I noticed that boys are starting to open up about try new food and not so resistent about eating vegetables. This might have changed over time but I think Cooking Round The World has a lot to do with it. Kids tend to at least want to try what they make. Wouldn’t you? It’s a great way to introduce them to new food!  

So impressive how kids were cleaning as they were cooking. I always tell my class to clean as they go!

I had a great time joining them one day at the camp. I was so impressed with these amazing and talented kids. They really inspired me. At the end of the week, recipe book was emailed to parents so we can try these recipes at home. You can download the PDF recipe here which includes the dishes from Korea day. 

Please make sure to check their website for updates on afterschool programs, upcoming winter, spring and summer camp schedule. Boys will definitely returning next year and hopefully more than just one week.

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