What's cooking at Pine Lake? Students are!
“Evening Magazine” showcased the Pine Lake Date Night segment this spring.
It aired Monday, April 23.
Pine Lake students love Gail Oseran's cooking class, but their parents might like it even more—for at least one night each trimester.
The young culinarians' final project includes preparing a "Date Night" for their mom and dad. Think sushi and shabu-shabu served on a table adorned with Japanese lanterns and lilies. Or stuffed mushrooms and sautéed chicken breast cast in the glow of white candles floating around a miniature Eiffel Tower in a glass bowl.
"They get pretty fancy," Oseran said. "They make things I would order in a nice restaurant."
The students must use all of their newly acquired cooking skills to plan, shop for, prepare, and serve a four-course meal at their home. They write reflection papers about the experience and turn in a folder that includes pictures and a parental critique.
Oh-and they clean up after the whole ordeal, of course.
Many households might actually find the kitchen cleaner than before as students scrub and sanitize to Oseran's exacting standards. After a class in which the students prepared pizza dough, Oseran ran her finger along sink edges and oven hoods hunting for any speck of gunk.
"Is your mom a snoop like this?" she laughingly asked one student.
"No way," the student replied.
Oseran's class is not all pizza and chocolate chip cookies. Students do enjoy the fun of eating their creations, but they work hard to get there. Groups meticulously write up recipes and work
plans before each project. They are docked points for safety violations (washing equipment in cold water, for example) and using incorrect measurements and tools. If they commit the grave error of—gasp!—leaving the food processor's arm up, they must affectionately give it a small kiss of apology.
By the time they complete the class, they sound like chefs. One student told his classmate during the dough-forming process: "Don't over mush it. It's going to develop gluten!"
More importantly, they cook like chefs.
Sixth-grader Austin Kinzer chose a Thai-inspired theme for his Date Night: an appetizer of King crab legs on seaweed; a bok choy and bean sprout salad with miso dressing ("I don't like wavy salad; I like it crispy and crunchy," Kinzer explained); pad Thai with shrimp for the entrée; and a dessert of whipped mango mousse.
John Curley from the local television show "Evening Magazine" was so impressed with Kinzer's menu that his crew filmed this Date Night, which occurred in the Kinzer home on November 20. The segment will air sometime in December on King 5.
Kinzer expects that this is only his first brush with culinary fame.
"Who says you don't know what you want to be when you grow up when you're just a young kid?" Kinzer said. "I want to be a cook, a good cook."
Top picture: Teacher Gail Oseran demonstrates her pizza dough technique.
Bottom picture: Grant Bair and Dallas Mills team up to prepare their own pizza.
