Real life French teacher, and blogger extraordinaire and photograher, Mardi of https://www.eatlivetravelwrite.com invited me for a return visit to guide her enthusiastic junior chefs through another Canadian Living recipe. This time 9 boys, most of whom are about 9 years old, divided and conquered the tasks to create Canadian Living's Pad Thai, in the Science Lab during their after school cooking program. The kids each have a cutting board (secured with a wet dishtowel) a knife and bowl. They divide up the tasks, so each concentrates on one or two tasks, then adds their ingredient to the others to complete a meal. What a simple yet brilliant approach to teamwork! By sharing the work, the culinary whiz kids, chopped, [caption id="attachment_3062" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Make your eyes water shallots"] [/caption] [caption id="attachment_3063" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Meticulously sliced peppers"] [/caption] [caption id="attachment_3064" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Cutting shrimp in half"] [/caption] measured, [caption id="attachment_3065" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Trying to get the fish sauce out of the bottle"] [/caption] and sauteed , [caption id="attachment_3066" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Frying garlic and shallots "] [/caption] [caption id="attachment_3070" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Shrimp turning pink as they cook "] [/caption] their way to piping hot dinner (to take home in containers) in under 1 hour. [caption id="attachment_3067" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Ready to take dinner home "] [/caption] [caption id="attachment_3068" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Pad Thai ready for home "] [/caption] What is so special about cooking with burgeoning chefs is both their enthusiasm and their honesty. When I passed around fish sauce for a sniff, I chuckled at the responses: Fish sauce, they told me, smells like, "stinky feet" "ear wax" and "Parmesan cheese." I love cooking with young chefs, exposing them to new and sometimes unfamiliar tastes and aromas on a voyage of discovery. It reminds me how valuable it is to have time in the kitchen (or Science Lab) with kids. What is your most memorable kitchen moment?