Jenmenke

Road Warrior

monday campaigns

The Kids Cook Monday Two. Morgan Take One.

It’s official.

I’m a genius.

I was going to say, ‘We had our first real Kids Cook Monday’, but then my mind quickly ran back over all my predictions in the first two entries about it and I realized what I’ve always known:

I’m a genius.

I was right about everything, as usual.

When I predicted Morgan would actually like Kids Cook? I was right. When I predicted the kids would agree on nothing? I was right. When I predicted Morgan would run straight to her dream mom, The Pioneer Woman for a recipe? I was right. (correction: she claims PW is not her dream mom, PW is her dream life. good grief, it’s worse than I thought.)

Last Monday, the kids didn’t have school. I pretty much give up trying to get any “work-work” done when they are home. It is not their faults. Well, it is mostly not their faults. It’s just too chaotic and distracting for me to work. So I do things that I have been meaning to do for a while, but don’t require fits of concentration.

Like put the remaining basement level Christmas decorations away. And research the distance of the parallel parking spot that Morgan will have to wedge the Suburban into for her driver’s test in a couple weeks.

Oh, why do I lie?

She’s taking the test in Dave’s Cherokee.

But isn’t it gleefully funny to imagine her parallel parking the Suburban? (By the way, the parallel parking size is somewhere around 8 feet wide by 24 feet long, if you must know.)

Then I went outside and dug those dimensions into a snowbank and marked the corners with soccer field flags.

I seriously did that. Somewhere into the second half hour, I realized there really is something terribly wrong with me and my priorities. Shouldn’t she be the one to be doing this?

And she still hasn’t used it. But no one’s going to point the finger at me when she doesn’t pass! Nevermind the fact that I never let her drive anywhere because I’m always so late, right?

Anyway, our Monday was passing by fairly uneventfully and I was eager to give the kids some direction other than Youtube and Netflix, so I said (rather, I yelled) into the next room “YOU’RE COOKING TONIGHT.”

I didn’t hear a peep.

Low and behold a link popped up in my email from Morgan directing me to — wonder of wonders — the cream and cheese wizard of the lower 50, http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/01/quesadillas-de-camarones/

Who was I to complain.

Well of course I complained, but not about the recipe. I was complaining because she actually — get this — expected me to drive to the grocery store! Can you imagine? …did she think my hard and fast no-going-to-the-store-for-items-we-are-missing rule would fly out the window with Kids Cook Mondays?

But she can be real persistent and whiny .

(So I called Dave and made him go to the grocery store on his way home.)

Obviously and as usual, Charlie had no idea what was going on around him. He was busy building a robot that would sense movement and simultaneously shoot a ball at you while saying, “Sorry.” When he got wind of the recipe Morgan wanted to cook, he immediately started complaining. There is no solution to this. I simply point it out to make everyone with bickering kids feel better.

I quickly laid the Kids Cook ground rules that I had previously given no thought to before today: One kid is the boss, picks the recipe and does most of the work. The other one is their helper/grunt/line cook. I will, no doubt, come to regret these rules that will be thrown in my face as the weeks fly by, but it is what it is. My destiny has been set.

Morgan, being the quicker of the two, quickly grasped the concept and put Charlie to work at the sink peeling the legs off the frozen shrimp.

I thought he was going to faint.

It was about that time that I remembered I was supposed to be at my Book Club in the city in about an hour. Again, yes, this seriously happened. I do this type of thing all the time. I completely space out the places I am supposed to be. And really, I couldn’t even begin to make this stuff up.

BUMMER! I would miss the circus.

I handed the camera over to Dave and kids and took my leave:

Morgan wasn’t very happy about the green enchilada sauce. (I forgot to tell Dave to get red.) I was just happy I had any at all! (And that he didn’t cave in to the princess and go buy the red stuff.)

I’m pretty sure the line cook set the table…

And there they are, in all their glory. (I did not take these pictures, or they would surely look more delectable.) I did, however, have the left overs the next day and I gotta say: they were amazing!  Good job Morgan!

And I’ve got a great idea for next year’s resolution: Kids Blog Mondays. If I can get them doing it all? That would be so awesome. (Say that last line with the voice of Kevin from The Office and it goes from being lame to being funny. I promise.)

The Kids Cook Mondays!

OK, so at the risk of becoming a cliché, I take on another Monday Campaign as an entire-family “New Year’s Resolution.” However, this year, I resolve to not be psychotic in my resolve.

Does that make sense?

I loved Meatless Mondays. And — for the most part — I’d say it was a success. If you know me well in the real world, it is likely that you are shaking your head right now and calling me a liar. If you are over the age of 45, you probably said it out loud to your computer.

But anyway, no, I am not a liar. I did love them, even though at times I complained, at times I failed and –in general — they were a mental pain. Why, then, do I say I loved them?

I go back to my very first Meatless Monday post. Those reasons still hold true:

Actually, I just re-read that entry and there are no compelling reasons listed. I know I wrote them somewhere, but who knows where. [Aside: oh my gosh. my eyes are just going down the tubes. I have taken my reading glasses on and off and on and off about three times in the last 5 minutes. It’s the beginning of the end, I tell you.]

If I remember correctly, my compelling reasons were something like:

  • reduce our carbon footprint.
  • discover new foods to work into our rotation
  • feel smugly superior to those who don’t participate in Meatless Mondays

So, with those goals in mind, our personal Meatless Monday campaign was a huge success.

As I’ve mentioned in a few of my recent writings, I have experienced a level of busyness the past few months unequaled to any other time in my life. [hence the infrequent updates here and the swirling motes of cat and chinchilla hair in the corners of my kitchen] For that reason, I was not able to devote any real thought to my 3rd annual Menke Family New Year’s Resolution. I just kept thinking that it would be revealed to me at the right time.

That is called faith, by the way. –And I was not disappointed.

On January 6th, Joanna (Joey) of the official ‘The Monday Campaigns‘ wrote me an email about a recipe for the Meatless Monday website. In our banter, she mentioned her new project, The Kids Cook Mondays. And while it initially seemed more suited for younger children, it got me thinking…

Yes… It would be perfect!

Photo opportunities, Embarrassing moments, and the opportunity to lord over my kids and bark out commands.

Yes, it would be perfect.

It would be lying to say I didn’t have selfish reasons for considering this new direction, however. And no, it isn’t because I’m lazy. I have no delusions that The Kids Cook will lighten my load. No doubt Morgan will be pouring over Bon Appetit recipes that require multiple trips to specialty stores deep in the hood. Charlie will require endless, normally rhetoric, questions answered. Also no doubt, ‘The Kids’ will agree on nothing, creating chaos and mayhem galore.

Don’t worry, I’m used to that.

But can you image the potential material? Maybe I should close the blog now and start the book.

No, no, I can’t write my book until I’m 80 and everyone else is dead. Hopefully except my kids and hopefully they won’t care at that point.

As usual, the reception to my message was mixed:

Charlie, who doesn’t even know what we are talking about half the time, was enthusiastic beyond words. To say he fist pumped and yelled “YES! Yes! Can we? Really? Can we?” would be the closest approximation.

Morgan, at the table applying eyeliner or something, looked up at me with half-lidded interest said, “Mom. No.”

And I knew I was golden.

Oh, I forgot about Dave. Actually I don’t think we’ve even told him about it yet. And if we did, he wouldn’t remember anyway.

So, with apologies to the movement, I will need to modify our participation. Realistically this year (I’m learning…), I know we won’t be able to do it every week. We will try, but I’m not going to be mental about it like I was with Meatless Mondays.

Also, given the teenage status of my kids, I’m not going to dictate the ingredients and be totally healthy-centric. In general, I cook very healthy. But to truly get Morgan on board, I will have to lift my ban on heavy cream in the kitchen. That just goes without saying. But true to the movement’s purpose of: “dedicating the first day of every week to health. Every Monday, individuals and organizations join together to commit to healthy behaviors that help end chronic preventable diseases.”… I promise to uphold my part of the pact and to do my very best.

Both my kids love to cook already. I just tend not to let them do it. The challenge, you see — for me — will be to really let them do it.

I’m a kitchen control freak.

But I vow I will let them cook and go down in a blaze of glory doing it.

I just hope that last line isn’t literal.