Cooking with Tom and Jack

I started nannying my nephews two days a week after school, and tonight we cooked dinner together.  We made spicy cucumbers using my sister Jeannie's recipe - so easy and really good.  Tom peeled the cucumbers, although he thinks it is called zesting.  For the dressing, Tom poured in the rice vinegar, about 1/4 cup, a Tablespoon of Sugar and Jack added the chili-garlic sauce and tossed the cucumbers in the dressing.  Don't worry, I did all the cutting.  It is a great addition to an Asian meal.  

While we were cooking, Jack asked, "Are we on TV, you know, on that weta show?" (WETA is our public television station).  "Because if we are, I should put a shirt on!"   Jack wants to have a show called "Cooking with Kids."  Then he started singing, "A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down . . . "

We also made chicken lettuce wraps and a yummy Asian-influenced slaw from epicurious, that the boys loved - grocery store grated carrots and broccoli slaw mix with some green onions.  I julienned a Granny Smith apple that was looking sad in Jeannie's fruit bowl, the recipe called for daicon, but I didn't have time to go to a special store.  The boys made the dressing for this too:

1/3 cup rice vinegar

3 T minced ginger

1 T sesame oil

2 T chili-garlic sauce

I made a Mai-Tai-ish drink for us to have too, and the boys had fresh lime-ade, all in sugared-rimmed glasses.  The more time I spend in the kitchen, the happier it makes me!  The reviews were good, and the neighbors requested an invitation to my next dinner.

Now I need to figure out what to do for two dinners next week - I would love to try the pork tenderloin recipe the caterer served at my graduation party.  And plan ahead to get some easier desserts ready before dinner, most of my recipes from my pastry class are time-consuming.  We are going to make fruit gelatin next week - layered by color in clear glasses.