What's cookin'?

Two weeks ago, while they were still on school holiday, the boys both chose a day to be in charge of dinner. They got to dictate the menu, but it had to be well-rounded, i.e., include plenty of veggies, some protein, etc. William immediately declared that he wanted to make a one-dish meal we usually just call "Chinese noodles." It involves a huge amount of cabbage, carrot, and onion (see the big bowl in the picture below) mixed with ramen-style noodles, peanuts, and chicken, plus a homemade gingery sesame sauce. William also definitely wanted to make a dessert, a lemon yogurt cake with lemon frosting. He worked dutifully throughout much of the afternoon and was very proud of his dinner!

He was bummed to find I had no sprinkles for the cake, so—entirely of his own volition—he found some gummy candies in the cupboard and strawberries in the fridge and decorated with those instead while I was distracted doing something else.  :)

Josiah's choice a few days later was pasta with a hearty vegetable-tomato sauce and meatballs, plus a big salad with a homemade dressing that we've called "Josiah's favorite salad dressing" since he was little. Oh, and a slab of fudge for dessert! I haven't made fudge in years, I can't think we've bought any in years either, so who knows what made him land on that as a dessert—but he was psyched!

He helped get produce and eggs at the outdoor market.

Both of the eggs we hard-boiled for the salad turned out to be double yolkers. Cool.

Chopping chocolate isn't easy, but the promise of fudge is a solid inducement to stay on task!
In the meantime, he learned all about double boilers, the notion of seizing chocolate, etc. 

A very yummy family dinner...

...and an absolutely decadent dessert that took us almost a week to consume, one delicious little cube at a time!