This was the week for knife skills – everyone got a chance to chop, slice, or dice something!

A’Laya bravely volunteered to chop the onion and tried to fend off the tears with a pair of sunglasses, to no avail. All of the measuring of ingredients also required some important sorting out of teaspoons, tablespoons, and cups. Priya figured out how to use the can opener to open the salmon cans and then did not shy away from picking out the biggest bones and pulverizing the smaller ones. While we waited for the food to cook, we had a lively discussion about who was the “superstar” of the day, with everyone pleading her case. We ultimately had to call it a draw, because every one of them had made important contributions.

And the meal was another success. The kids liked that the salmon cakes were a little spicy. Macie wished the vegetables in them had been softer, so that they had a more consistent texture, but she cleaned her plate nonetheless. Most said beforehand that they liked to eat sweet potatoes with marshmallows, so it was a pleasant surprise that just roasting them made the potatoes pretty sweet. A few of the kids asked for extra copies of the recipes to take home. Who could ask for more?