Our little Chef

Things are back to a little bit more normal this morning. The temperature is minus 13 with expected highs of minus 6. Much better than earlier in the week!
Well, it seems that since I left Guelph, James has become somewhat interested in cooking. He even watches the food network from time to time - a bit unusual for a nine year old boy. Before Christmas I went to the local mall where Chef Michael was signing copies of his new cookbook. I had already gotten mine during Fall Flavours so I bought one for James to share with his mom. Gabe was with Chef Michael so I had him sign his name as well.
I gave James the book for Christmas and one of the first things we made was bread. Chef Michael has a recipe that is so simple it's ridiculous. You mix up a few simple ingredients in a bowl, set it aside over night and then you add some more flour, mix it in, shape it, put it into the pan and let it rise again, and then bake. It's a little time consuming and if you work you really can only do it on the weekend but it's quite tasty.
So, James set out to make this bread. It was perfect! He made two loaves out of the recipe and they turned out beautiful. I think the kids were amazed at just how delicious a piece of fresh from the oven bread slathered with better can taste.
Fast forward to last weekend and Chef Michael was on Iron Chef and got his butt kicked by Bobby Flay. SO I sent him a picture of James with his bread, something I'd been meaning to do but just hadn't gotten around to.
The following is the message I sent along with the above picture:

Dear Chef Michael

One Hundred Years from now
(excerpt very loosely taken from "Within My Power" by Forest Witcraft)

One Hundred Years from now
It will not matter
what kind of car you drove,
what kind of house you lived in,
how much money was in your bank account
nor how many Iron Chef's you defeated.
But the world may be a better place because
you were important in the life of a child

And especially this child. Thank you once again Chef Michael for continuing to inspire. The attached photo is my nine year old grandson, James Dennison who lives in Ontario. You and Gabe both signed the book I bought him for Christmas at the Confederation Mall in December. He and his family were here on the island for Christmas and he made your bread all by himself. I think the smile of pride on his face speaks volumes.
Thank you
from James and his Grandma, Sandy Denny


I sent it to him on Tuesday night and this is the response we received on Wednesday:


Sandy,

Thanks, you made my day. Greetings from Whistler! We're up and running. I'm leading 100 chefs in the Athletes Village, gearing up on behalf of Canada to feed 85 Olympic teams, peaking at 12,000 meals a day! The biggest single challenge of my career to date...

Iron Chef was a blast! What a thrill just to cook in Kitchen Stadium, we clearly got robbed but had so much fun that we really don't mind. It's just TV... And Johnny's Oysters sure looked good.

For more Olympic details check out billandmike.blogspot.com

Please say hi to James and tell him how impressed I am with his bread!

Cheers, Michael

Sent from my spiffy I-Phone

I haven't talked to James yet but I know he will be pleased that Chef Michael responded to his picture. We enjoyed some quality time together in the kitchen when the family was here for Christmas. That 's one thing I do really miss.

One night at supper someone asked a question about if there was anything you regretted doing. I answered no. I think it was Meghan who prompty said "Even moving away and leaving us?"
Good old Meg - she likes to tell things just as they are. She doesn't mince her words or hold back when she has an opinion. She is an interesting personality. There are no gray areas in Meghan's world - everything is either black or white. She's like that now but she's always been somewhat that way. I think she likes a good argument. I imagine when she gets into high school or university, she will be a huge asset to any debating club or team they may have. What fun it will be for her to discover there actually are avenues for that particular trait!