fledge capable of flying, from Middle English flegge, from Old English -flycge; akin to Old High German flucki capable of flying,
Old English flEogan to fly -- more at FLY
intransitive verb, of a young bird : to acquire the feathers necessary for flight or independent activity

Friday, December 28, 2012

No. Si. Si.

"Mom, can I make a Costa Rican dinner?"

"No."

(Kill my child's initiative just like that, right? Listen, it's not me...it's the kitchen... I've discussed our stove, Mr. Roper, before. And then there's the kitchen sink, which is a situation. Which is a $2000 situation to repair, so that it is no longer a situation, just a sink. Right now, I'm working with the situation. I call it The Sink-uation. But can the 14-year-old handle The Sink-uation? Yeah, probably...not.)

"I need to make a Costa Rican meal for Spanish class. It's worth, like, 100 points or 200 points or something."

"Let me rephrase: Yes."

Costa Rica is definitely on my bucket list. In fact, Costa Rica could very well be my entire bucket list. Let me be in Costa Rica and then I can die, that's fine. So, okay, well, why not? Make me a dinner costaricense, son, whatever that may be.

grind_corn_1

Whatever that may be was a savory beef stew (olla de carne), spicy rice and beans (gallo pinto) and corn pancakes (chorreadas).

Can you say "yum" in Spanish? Sabroso it was!

I kind of have to hand it to the kid: He did a pretty darn good job. Looked up recipes online, selected ones he thought he could handle, prepared a shopping list and actually did a good deal of the food prep and cooking, including corn pancakes from scratch! And he set a pretty table, with a pretty tablecloth...whole ten yards.

He even said, "Cooking is fun. Kind of Zen. Can we do this again?"

Yes. We can do this any time you like. Mr. Roper and The Sink-uation be damned.

corn_pancakes

olla_carne_3

And leftover chorreadas and gallo pinto for breakfast? Si!

breakfast_leftovers_1

5 comments:

Michele said...

That's one talented kid you got there.

Jen said...

So cool. My brother was about that age when he discovered cooking and for a while we had some innovative dinners. Then he grew out of it. My other brother's son started cooking around 14 and is now contemplating the possibility of going to culinary school after he graduates high school in June. And my younger 2 love the movie "Ratatouille", so they fight over who is going to help me cook so that they can "be Rémy". I say, cook on! Plus, it gets you out of cooking, right?

Crafty Mama said...

Oh, way to go !!!! That looks awesome :)

willow and moo said...

Totally awesome!

I can't believe you have a 14 year old! Eeks!

Lola Nova said...

Costa Rica is on my list too. My brother surfed there a couple of times, he said it is amazing. He also said that in the jungle there are spiders as big as your face.

Fantastic dinner made by a great kid! Love the "Yes." Si Si!

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