First day of Little Masterchefs

It was so lovely to see Shelley back at Ohana this morning and she too felt happy to see us all. We had a lovely early morning with free play on the mat and then we really got down to business! The business of being “Little Masterchefs”. We learnt the word “chef” from Shelley and we will tell you how it all began. When we arrived at school we saw trays on the table with knives; some plastic plates and chopping boards as well as a packet of something and the hot plate. What were we going to do today and for the rest of this week? Well, after tidying up our things at the end of free play time, we stood together and held hands in a circle and sang some songs with our friends and teachers. We sang “5 balloons” and “5 little candles” and then Shelley sang us a new good morning song. Each time we had to make a different face because the song went like this: “Good morning everyone, the day has just begun, I like to see your……………….face, good morning everyone”. Each time Shelley chose a different feeling e.g. surprised, happy, sad, angry etc. Then she put on a tall white hat and asked us if we knew who she was. Eva said: “Shelley”! Oliver said: “A cook”. Yes, this is what we are for this week. We are “chefs” and that is how we learnt the word “chef”.

We are going to be cooking foods from all around the world and today we started with Japan because that is where we all live, at the moment. Kana loves cooking so she did the actual cooking.  Today’s menu was “Okonomiyaki” and we set to work first by chopping cabbage into small pieces. Eva kept on saying that it was not working and then her teachers helped her hold the knife and put pressure and then she realised that it was working! Everyone had a chance to cut the cabbage and then chop a small sausage into little pieces. This seemed a lot easier than chopping the cabbage.

Then Goh san measured the powder that was in the plastic bag which was on the table when we arrived at school; this was the “Okonomiyaki” mix. We added in water and egg that we had mixed together with a fork. There were two eggs in the recipe and Shelley cracked them on the edge of a jug. When she opened them we saw that there was a yellow part called the “yolk” and a white part that almost looked see through which is called the “albumen”. The liquids were added to the “Okonomiyaki” mixture and then the cabbage and then the sausages. Kana then set to work; she heated the hot plate and placed inside small pancake sized portions of the mixture.

While Kana was cooking we sat down for snack time and then we ate the “Okonomiyaki”. She made lovely little ones for us and some of us had four or five of them to eat. They were soooooooo delicious. Thanks Kana for the delicious “Okonomiyaki” and to everyone for making it a special day with all of our “Masterchef” friends and teaches. Tomorrow we will be leaving Japan and heading into a little bit of controversy. The reason for this is the England is famous for its pies however America says that they are the country of real apple pies. We are happy to include both countries in our “Masterchef” cooking class tomorrow as we make our own individual apple pies.

We are loving both making our fare and of course eating it. While some of us are more adventurous than others with regard to tasting what we have made, we nevertheless are enjoying this theme and have been singing “What’s cooking in Kana’s pot?” and some other eating and cooking songs.

With love from Shelley, Kana, Rachel, Goh and Miyuki.