Monroe kids add imagination and stir up winning recipes
Published 10:45 pm Monday, April 6, 2009
MONROE — Black beans plop into a bowl of brownie mix.
Cocktail sausages are fashioned with sheep costumes made out of crescent roll dough. A slice of ham smiles with an apple wedge mouth.
The competition is sizzling hot at the Kids Can Cook finals.
Emma Nagle feels nervous and a little inferior as she eyes the other fourth- and fifth-grade chefs and their creations.
She spent weeks perfecting Emma’s Chicken Salad Wrap, but it’s pretty straightforward — chicken salad wrapped in a tortilla. It’s not so much that she wants to win — she’s pretty sure she won’t — but she doesn’t want to be embarrassed.
Emma grew up in the kitchen, mixing flour for pancakes and pizza dough at 18 months. Now 11, she’s on to more complex dishes — meatballs, spaghetti and macaroni.
At slumber parties she skips the movie and watches the Food Network’s “Ace of Cakes” until midnight, when sleep takes over.
She competed last year with Chunky Apple Berry Parfait and has been brainstorming recipes ever since.
First, she tried combining turkey and pineapple.
“It tastes weird.”
Tuna and pineapple?
“Fish and pineapples is not too good, I discovered.”
Then, inspired, canned mandarin oranges, canned chicken and light mayonnaise, wrapped.
“It tasted better than the other stuff.”
Good enough to win a school competition. Out of 120 wannabe chefs, just 15 made it to the finals.
On Game Day, Emma starts off jittery, hands shaking, pink shoes pacing. She finds a rhythm as she mixes chicken, washes lettuce and seals her wraps with mayo, like Elmer’s Glue.
Two hours go by. She walks out of the kitchen and puts a paper chef’s hat on — ready to face the judges. A victory in itself.
Kaitlin Manry: 425-339-3292, kmanry@heraldnet.com.
Send us your School Life ideas
This is part an occasional series of 300-word essays about school life. If you have a suggestion for the series, contact reporter Kaitlin Manry at 425-339-3292 or kmanry@heraldnet.com.
