Everyday Dorie in action (aka: that time Dorie Greenspan cooked with my cooking club!)

Kids cook with Dorie Greenspan and Mardi Michels on eatlivetravelwrite.comUm, yeah. That’s Dorie Greenspan. In my STEM lab. With my Grade 3 cooking club boys (and my Grade 9 helper). Having just cooked fried rice from Everyday Dorie with us (in an hour!).

Wow, right? If you’d asked me 10 years ago where I thought I might be on December 5th 2018, I doubt I would have said “Oh, you know, hosting a New York Times bestselling author in cooking club in a science lab, then interviewing her in front of a large crowd at George Brown College later that day.” But you know, life’s got a wonderful way of making things happen that, well, just feel right. Like they are supposed to be.

Dorie Greenspan showing kids how to chop onions on eatlivetravelwrite.comIt’s a week later and I am still kind of looking at these photos and wondering – did this really happen? But it did. The boys are still talking about Dorie (and comparing “how famous” *I* am compared to her. HA! Right…).

Dorie Greenspan showign boys how to slice bok choy on eatlivetravelwrite.comMy STEM lab (where we cook) doors  are always open to chefs/ authors/ food enthusiasts who want to come and share their talents with the boys and when I knew Dorie was coming to town as part of her book tour, I figured it didn’t hurt to ask. If I’ve learned anything in the past year or so, it’s that you never know unless you ask. Imagine my surprise when the publicist came back letting me know that Dorie would be THRILLED to come and cook with us. Gulp! What had I got myself into? What would she think – of my teaching/ cooking skills, the boys, the way the lab is setup etc… SO MANY QUESTIONS.

Kids chopping bok choy on eatlivetravelwrite.comIn the end, it actually couldn’t have felt more natural. I’ve met Dorie many times before – in Paris, New York and recently in San Francisco – but hey, it’s nerve-wracking to have one of your culinary heroes working right alongside you. With your students. The boys are awesome but they are still 8 years old and anything can happen at any given moment during cooking club….

Kids chopping cabbage on eatlivetravelwrite.comDorie was everything I expected she’d be with the boys – patient, kind, funny, loving and thoughtful. She answered all their questions (except maybe the one about how old she is…) and didn’t skip a beat at, well, 8 year-old behaviour (she raised a son of her own so I’m sure this session brought lots of moments back!) including a hilarious discussion about how our cabbage looked like a baby (!) “or no, actually a blimp” 😉

She was thrilled to be dubbed “a cooker” (one of the boys asked if we (me and Dorie) were both “cookers”) and looked to be completely in her element. Later that day she mentioned that on book tour, she doesn’t get to actually cook (apart from demos and that’s different) so she had really appreciated the chance to get in the kitchen and get her hands dirty!

Kids make stir fried rice from Dorie Greenspan's Everyday Dorie on eatlivetravelwrite.comOh and their fried rice? (It almost felt like an aside to her actual visit but we cooked the fried rice from Everyday Dorie…)

Fried rice from Everyday Dorie on eatlivetravelwrite.com“Just like in the book” proclaimed one of the boys. And they loved it!

Later that night…

Mardi Michels and Dorie Greenspan at George Brown College on eatlivetravelwrite.com I’m pleased to report that our “in conversation” went well 🙂 I’ll share some of Dorie’s wisdom in a future post so stay tuned for that!

Meanwhile, back in the lab… I had a bunch of leftover ingredients – bok choy, garlic and ginger and all the ingredients for the fabulous sauce (soy, honey, chili paste) so I figured I could put them to good use. My older boys cooking club had requested that we make “a dinner dish” so this was perfect – who doesn’t need to know how to make fried rice?

Slicing bok choy on eatlivetravelwrite.com Kids mince garlic on eatlivetravelwrite.com Kids chopping carrots for fried rice on eatlivetravelwrite.com Kids slicing cabbage for fried rice on eatlivetravelwrite.comIf you have all the ingredients (or others – we chatted about how to customise this according to what you have on hand, because it really is the perfect “clean out the fridge” dish), this dish comes together really quickly….

Kids making seasonings for Dorie Greenspan fried rice from Everyday Dorie on eatlivetravelwrite.com Roughly chopping poached chicken on eatlivetravelwrite.com Kids separating clumped rice on eatlivetravelwrite.comI had the boys separate the pre-cooked “leftover” rice so that it didn’t clump in the frying pan…

Kids making Dorie Greenspan fried rice on eatlivetravelwrite.comThe boys loved how hands on this dish was – it’s a great recipe to cook with kids because there is so much to do! These boys are slightly older and pretty much made this dish on their own – with just a few tips about how to chop the vegetables, they were off on their own, chatting and cooking quite happily…

Kids make fried rice from Everyday Dorie on eatlivetravelwrite.comAnother tasty result from Everyday Dorie!

Everyday Dorie cover on eatlivetravelwrite.com

 

Buy Everyday Dorie on Amazon (this link should bring you to the Amazon store closest to you) Or for free worldwide shipping, buy from The Book Depository.

 

Please note: This post contains affiliate links. I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. This post also contains affiliate links from The Book Depository. This means that if you click over and purchase something, I will receive a very small percentage of the purchase price (at no extra cost to you). Thank you in advance!

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Disclosure: I was provided with a copy of “Everyday Dorie” for review purposes. I was not asked to write about the book, nor am I being compensated for doing so. All opinions 100% my own.

 

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