A BIG thanks to all of you who voted, or encouraged kids to vote, for  Who’s Cooking Tonight? in the Readers Choice section of the NZ Post Children’s Book Awards. Voting closed yesterday and we are thrilled to say that we had 41% of the vote – the closest rival was on 20% – so looking good – BUT they still have to count all the votes from booksellers and libraries so fingers crossed we can hold that lead!!!

The results are announced at the Awards ceremony on the 18 May – so will find out how we got on in the non-fiction section then too…

THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT – I REMAIN VERY EXCITED AT THE POTENTIAL IMPACT WE CAN MAKE IF WE CAN MANAGE TO WIN AN AWARD – BUT NO SMALL FEAT GETTING THIS FAR!!!!

Claire is now getting a steady flow of really cool e-mails from kids wanting more cooking tips or telling her what they think about the book or how a recipe turned out. This is great because it really encourages interactivity. Certainly with her weekly TV appearance on Small Blacks and with last weeks TVNZ  Good Morning show she is getting quite a following in NZ, but we are also excited about the number of kids from all over the place who are also reaching out.

I think this emphasizes just how much kids need someone they can relate to, share experiences with and feel comfortable asking questions when they are learning a new skill. It is part of our strategy which both Claire and I want to see develop.

We now clearly have two lines of strategy and communication…

• adult to adult (www.TeachChildrenToCook.com –  you are here!!)
• teen to teen (www.ItsMyTurnToCookTonight.com)

These both work in tandem to support each other.  I think the easiest way to share what we are doing is to show you diagrammatically… (if the font is too small for you to read , just click on them to enlarge)

So off each site we have two blogs, two newsletters, some specific resources and also a lot that are in common – like the cookbooks, YouTubes.

Vision : to help parents and teachers teach kids to cook

Vision : to inspire teenagers to cook

I really value the feedback and suggestions, so please ‘ keep your ideas coming’ …  This is such a big and important area to tackle, I can use all the help you can offer!!

Glenda Gourley

At the recent Auckland HETTANZ meeting Claire and I were able to share our strategy  with teachers – it  was a great evening and awesome to have such support for what we are doing. It was also a good opportunity to explain the two parts of the strategy  (adult-to-adult and teen-to-teen) as many teachers were only aware of the teen aspect via Claires site. being an ex Home Ec teacher myself, I am absolutely certain that the resources we are producing are totally supportive of all classroom teaching.

We were also very fortunate to be able to use the fabulous Bosch rooms in Albany where teachers could have a really  ’up close and personal’ look at the latest  appliances! Very cool.

Matthew with the ham

I simply have to share our family Christmas from last year – it was so good you just have to try it!!!

There was a huge amount of hilarity coming from the kitchen as the teenagers and young adults in our family gave their parents ( me included) and grandparents the ultimate Christmas present – “this year you all relax – we’ll do the cooking!’

Spurred on by the start of It’s my Turn to Cook and what started off as a joke, the 2009 Christmas rule ‘if you are over 30 stay out of the kitchen’ was fantastic. The kids absolutely got into it – they even insisted you had to dress in theme. Each of us were given character from the nativity scene– so I had to go as a King ( I’ll got to wear the new dress I’d already bought some other time), my sister as a manger, an uncle as a star and yes we had a swag of sheep, a donkey and shepherds on hand! Of course we had a Jesus, Mary and Joseph – made even more hilarious as the list got rigged so males got the females and vice versa…

The food was just stunning – much had been pre-prepared and because there were eight of them they were able share the load. They kept the food simple and were all able to focus on what is really important – enjoying each other’s company. There was not even a whinge about who is doing the clean up – between them they had the roster totally sorted!

There was a bit of nervousness that if they did the cooking too well they would be lumbered with the task every year. It was such a treat, yes - I think the ultimate present, to see the children all getting on so well and having so much fun doing something for other people. 2009 was their turn to give.

Their efforts were so appreciated and all of us have totally assured them this that year we’ll take our turn again. But if you haven’t tried this, I can simply say it was fabulous!!

Katherine on kitchen control

Some of the Christmas Day cooks

Last night Claire was on Close Up ( National TV)  talking about why she  think its important for kids her age to cook. I also was interviewed form my perspective.

They described Claire as  ‘a teenager cooking up a storm’ and said she had  ‘a striking resemblance to Jamie Oliver’ ( she was a bit concerned that they meant to look at??!?) but  we  take that as a huge compliment! Jamie is awesome and doing such fabulous things with his Food Revolution.   I feel very proud that our efforts should be compared to his.

Have a look athe interview on the TVNZ ON Demand site… 

After  months of waiting Who’s Cooking Tonight? is finally here!  Check this out to see why Claire thinks all these easy kids recipes are a total must have!

Pop over to Claire’s site if you want to have a look at some sample pages and I am sure you will agree – she does not ‘do complicated’ and she has a lot of fun cooking!

Please share this with all your friends with teenage children … you will be doing them a HUGE favor!

Thanks

Glenda

Over the past few weeks, and for quite a few to come, Claire has been presenting really easy kids recipes on after school TV. Amidst the cartoons and lively banter of kids TV presenters Claire has a two minute segment called Claire Cooks .

I believe this is perfect positioning – cooking is being portrayed as fun and easily achieved by everyone. The presenters really support Claire and encourage their viewers to ‘have a go’. A lot of basic food skills  are covered and and nutrition messages delivered in a relaxed and  fun way. To me this is nutrition education in action! The role modelling is awesome.

The recipes we selected have been incredibly simple and all have come from Claire’s collection of recipes in the ‘nearly’ released book Who’s Cooking Tonight? (Out very soon!!)

The programs that have screened are all loaded to Claire’s website in the video section. New ones are  added as they are aired.

It was fabulous to touch base with so many food teachers at the recent HETTANZ Conference in Auckland last week. There was definitely a common bond in desire to teach children to cook and I really appreciate all the support and encouragement  so many  of you have given me in the development of this project.

Being an ex – Home Ec teacher I believe that our resource will totally support you in your classroom teaching – its great to hear so many of you agree!!! I think teachers do such an integral job in preparing our children to make good food choices – but sadly food teachers simply do not get to every child… and food choices and skills are important to those kids too – so anything you can do to point them in the direction of www.itsmyturntocooktonight.com would be awesome.

The task to inspiring kids to cook is HUGE – but it is possible if we all work together!  No matter how little or big your efforts are, it is cumulative, and it will make a difference. The issue of motivating kids to action is the same in almost every developed country… make it fun or they wont engage… Claire does a pretty good job! Let me know if you have any ideas of resources you need.  Thanks, Glenda

I am delighted that there has been a lot of media interest recently  in cooking with children and presenting easy kids recipes that can teach children to cook.

Last week Claire was on The Erin Simpson Show on TV2 where she discussed her philopshy of food ( do as little work as possible but get as good tasting food as you can) and prepared one of her favorite recipes. It was great to see the presenter so  enthusiastically encouraging kids to get into the kitchen and have a go.

Over the weekend we had another TV film crew filming in our kitchen for another after school kids TV show Studio 2. For this show Claire was  filmed doing  six step by step recipes.(You can imagine the juggle this has was around her school work and family life – the photo will how you just how invasive this is!!!!) and these will screen over a 12 week period.

In both of these cases I was impressed and heartened by the enthusiasm and fun way they wanted to impart cooking skills to the kids and also deliver nutrition messages as well. If we have any hope at all of inspiring kids to go the whole ‘have fun – let’s make it cool’ concept has to be paramount.  Pop over to Claire’s site and follow the links if you are interested. I will let you know when the series of six segments begins so you can see what I mean.