As I said before, I was away from home for 3 days and 2 nights last week. I took my seventh graders to Marine Biology Camp in Port Townsend. I know that if I find it hard to be away from the comforts of home, the kids who are with me might look happy to be away from home, but are likely missing it.
Camp means lots of learning for the students and lots of work for the teachers and parents who come along. This year I took a teacher who used to teach science and two dads, who each took a turn making dinner for everyone. The other teacher and I made breakfast and sack lunches.
The word "foodie" was tossed around a bit over the three days. Both dads consider themselves "foodies". I'm not clear on what makes a person a foodie. If I like to eat, am I a foodie? If so, I'm a foodie. If I like to cook, am I a foodie? If so, then I'm a foodie. If I like to try different stuff, am I a foodie? If so, I'm a foodie. If I know a lot about food or cooking, am I a foodie? If so, I'm probably not a foodie. I have a lot to learn. I can definitely learn from the two dads who cooked for us at camp.
The first dad was fabulous. His dinner was at the Hostel, so he had the kitchen and refrigeration at his convenience. He bought way too much food, which was good for the kids. He served roasted chicken, pizza, pasta, broccoli, salad, baked apples and bread. The kids ate and ate. All the pasta with marinara sauce was eaten. The pizza was demolished. They tried the chicken, but there was a lot left. He asked all of them to try the broccoli - one young man tried to hold out, but caved with some cajoling. He struggled to swallow the broccoli, and said he'd never try it again. After eating dinner, we all ate ice cream. The students went to bed full and happy.
The second dad was fantastic. His dinner was at the fire pit on the beach. He brought 3 different kinds of dogs to roast. We had sausages, and kosher dogs, and plain old hot dogs. The kids were thrilled to roast their own dog in the fire except that the skewers we used were too short, and the kids were too impatient to wait for coals, so there was a lot of funny stances and people holding their sticks way out and with the tips of their fingertips. Most of the dogs were eaten - even the sausages. The kids also ate chips that night.
The best part about the fire was - drum-roll please! - the s'mores. Thanks to the overindulgence of the first dad, we made gourmet s'mores with Resees Peanut Buttercups. The kids and the other teacher had a rousing discussion about how a marshmallow should be roasted. Some of the kids liked to catch theirs on fire, blow out the flames, and put them on the s'more. Some liked to lightly brown theirs and then put them on the s'more. Neither of which melted the marshmallow enough to make it run all over the chocolate on the graham cracker. The other teacher had an expert method of deeply browning all side of the marshmallow without burning it so that all of the inside was melted. One of our kids had never had s'mores before. She raved about them and wrote in her journal that night that she had been missing mom all day, but now was excited to tell her all about s'mores.
I know camp was a success after reading journals - everyone enjoyed the lessons and the food!
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