Budding tastes

Tom Forquer

Sometimes it takes a sweet trick to teach a child. The ingredients

for one such ruse -- pretzels, graham crackers, shortening, sprinkles

and Ghirardelli chocolate.

“We always stress how to do it, and how to do it safe,” said

Debbie Dickens, instructor for Kids in the Kitchen, a class taught

every Wednesday at the Costa Mesa Neighborhood Community Center.

Each week, children 5 to 11 tackle a new dish, learning basic

cooking techniques and safety in the 50-minute class.

Last week’s 1:30 group, the 5- to 8-year-olds, were working on a

recipe called Fancy Dipped Pretzels.

“By making it fun, when they go home, they are safer doing it,”

Dickens said of her students.

As the 13 students filed into the classroom, almost every one

voluntarily walked to the sink and washed his or her hands, a part of

cooking that was ingrained in the previous three lessons.

“We repeat a lot,” Dickens said.

The materials were distributed to the groups of four, and the

first task was assigned -- opening the bag of chocolate chips.

The chips were then placed in a Tupperware container with a

teaspoon of shortening measured by another group member.

“He keeps eating them,” a student complained of one member of her

group.

Before the groups approached the microwave for the melting

procedure, Dickens quizzed the class on an aspect of microwave safety

the average adult might not consider.

“What do we not put in the microwave,” she asked.

“Anything that breathes,” one girl replied.

The chips were heated in 30-second bursts.

“Sugar burns faster, so we always cook it slow,” Dickens said.

Though policing was required to keep the children 3 feet from the

microwave, a radius prescribed by Dickens to keep the children away

from the radiation, the chip-shortening mixtures melted.

Then came the fun part, dipping and sprinkling the pretzels and

graham crackers. As one would imagine, things got pretty messy.

Skills adults take for granted can be totally new to some kids,

she said.

“When we say chopping, it does not look like an ax,” Dickens said,

making a hacking motion with her arm.

Dickens said the greatest challenge is keeping the children’s

short attention captivated, a challenge she addresses with a “watch

for two minutes, do for two minutes” strategy.

Aside from safety and skills, Dickens said, the children expand

their tastes through cooking.

“When they make something, they are more likely to try something

new,” she said.

* SUMMER LEARNING is a weekly feature in which the Daily Pilot

visits a camp in the Newport-Mesa area and writes about the

experience.