We read a story this morning in which the main character made a lemon meringue pie. When I finished reading, Sarah said, "Mom, can we make a lemon meringue pie?" My first thought was of all the reasons I wanted to say no:
1) I don't like lemon desserts
2) I don't like meringue
3) I don't have any lemons
4) I don't have a grater to zest the lemons that I don't have
5) I've never made lemon meringue pie before
6) It will take the rest of the day
7) Cooking with the kids is messy and tries my patience
I knew that they were mostly selfish reasons. I was lazy and didn't want to be inconvenienced. I looked into the eyes that were looking up at me and waiting for an answer. I realized that, whatever my response was, the kids were going to learn something. They would either learn that it's all right to be selfish and lazy and not try new things, or they could learn to be flexible, to bring books to life, to measure ingredients, separate eggs, follow instructions, work together, take turns, and be adventurous.
So after a Walmart trip to buy lemons and a grater, we started by making the crust. The kids enjoyed zesting and juicing the lemons. Things were going well until it came time to separate the eggs. Neither child could successfully do it, after many tries (we're having omelettes for dinner). I patiently instructed and demonstrated; they continually blew it. Then I got frustrated and my patience ran thin. So, in addition to learning all those other things, we also learned humility and forgiveness in pie school.
3 comments:
Noah, being the great connoisseur that he is, might already know this one, but I saw on the Food Channel a neat way to separate eggs - which might be helpful.
You crack an egg into a small bowl. Then over another bowl - with your palm up - pour the egg into your loosely held fingers. The yolk will stay in your fingers - hopefully - and the whites will seep down into the bowl. Well, it looked kool on tv anyhow. I told someone else about this idea and their response was, "gross". I think it was a girl.
In any case, omelets are good!
Actually, we tried that, and he squished the yolk in his hand and it dripped down into the whites. I think we ended up eating a full dozen eggs in our omelets that night!
Silly me! In looking back, picture #2 actually shows the "egg" demonstation. Much better than my wordy explanation. Oh well.
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