Summer Recap

My favorite photo from this summer, taken during our trip to Litchfield Beach.

Where does the time go?

It seems like only a few days ago I was excited for the beginning of summer and here I am doing an end of summer recap.  I can remember as a kid thinking the summers seemed to fly by and school started way too soon and now that I feel that way even as an adult, I wonder if I'm going through my second childhood?

It has been a month since I've posted here at Wish Upon A Chef and while I never want to feel like this blog is an obligation and something that I absolutely have to do, I do always feel better when I write here and for my various other online sources.  But it's been a busy summer and while there has been alot of activity in my kitchen, other things sometimes take precedence over styling my food for a pretty photo and keeping up with the recipe to be recounted here.  I know everyone else is in the same situation trying to juggle summertime activities, vacations, and getting ready for back-to-school. 

I've spent a great deal of time this summer bonding with the Boy Toy's children and I'm pleased to report that things seem to be going well.  Food always seem to bring people together whether they are preparing it together or gathering around the table to enjoy the final product.  I'm lucky that Boy Toy's daughter likes to work as my sous chef and he and his son love indulging in the fruits of our labor.  Cooking with kids can be so rewarding - I believe that when children see what goes into their food and make an effort to help prepare it, they have a much better appreciation of what goes into their bodies.  A couple of weeks ago, we prepared these beef tips which are loaded with mushrooms and I was nervous because I've never met a kid yet that claimed to like them.  When my sous chef  spotted the shrooms in my frig, she immediately wanted to know if they were going into our recipe and I got the obligatory "Yuck!" when she found out the answer.  The same thing happened when we mixed up the milk, mustard and cornstarch - it was deemed "gross."   But imagine my delight when, as she was pushing the fungus around on her plate and I reminded her how hard she worked to slice them, she agreed to try one and decided it "wasn't that bad."  She also went into great detail telling her brother (who had two generous helpings minus the shrooms) about how we made gravy out of milk and mustard.

It was a beautiful moment.     

We also made Rachael Ray's sloppy joes and while I got some up-turned noses at the mere mention of sloppy joes, there was absolutely nothing left over to photograph.  We've done No Bake Cookies which contained dreaded oatmeal but were declared a winner and peanut butter cookies which disappeared rather quickly too.  I've made alot of pimiento cheese for their dad as it seems to be his favorite for parties, beach trips, and any day that ends in "Y."  And I did knock his socks off one date night with my shrimp and grits.  It pretty much sealed the fate of him loving me forever! 

Now that school has started its regularly scheduled program, hopefully I'll get back to pumping some new and exciting things out of the kitchen to share with you and I hope you enjoyed Summer 2012!