Thursday, September 06, 2007

Summer camp with an 11-year-old foodie

SoRa at the market
We’ve been putting on "camp" in our backyard for awhile. Come every summer (or so), our nieces and/or nephews bring their sleeping bags and we have a few days of total kid immersion. This isn’t just any camp. Oh no no no. This camp has a logo, official t-shirts, brochures and registration. This year, registration for camp took the form of a website. People, this camp is hard core. There’s swimming, camp outs, biking, museums, siteseeing, arts and crafts—the whole shebang. And of course, don’t forget the s’mores. It’s fun.

This year we had just one camp participant. SoRa is eleven, and is the youngest foodie I know. She’s always been a foodie. For her 10th birthday she wanted to go to Chez Panisse and her family trekked hundreds of miles on down to Berkeley so she could experience the famed Alice Waters restaurant. I told you she was a foodie. She bakes, she cooks, and she critiques. Once you just accept it, it’s fun.

So we added a trip to the Portland Farmer’s Market to this year’s camp. And it was so much fun to experience the market through the eyes of a young cooking enthusiast who had never seen a market as expansive and beautiful as Portland’s. It really is beautiful...
High time for tomatoes
IMG_2526.JPG
So many choices
So beautiful! Camp was a success this year, and even involved a podcast. And while our niece never admitted to us she had a fabulous time, murmurs have gotten back to us that she hasn’t stopped talking about it. She can tell everyone she knows that she’s seen purple peppers and tomatoes bigger than her hand...
Tomatoes so huge!
And a woman who showed us radishes so gorgeous and explained they taste better the bigger they get...
Huge radishes!
This is the official camp pledge:
I, (insert name here) do solemnly pledge, from the beginning to end of Camp, I will…
• smile more than frown,
• laugh more than cry,
• be helpful more than stubborn,
• say yes more than no
• have good times more than bad
and have a kick butt time!
I think that's a pretty good pledge, don't you?
More photos here.

5 comments:

Monogram Queen said...

That is an AWESOME pledge! Can I borrow it for work?
I would be in heaven at the Farmers Market! (and at your camp too)

Kathryn said...

I need that pledge for Chez RSG.

Where's the macaroni art?

bemused said...

Do have an age limit? Or will accept oldsters like me? ;-)

What great fun!

SassyFemme said...

Wow, you guys rock in the aunt department!

Care to put on a blogger camp? :)

Is SoRa thinking of being a chef?

Rozanne said...

Excellent pledge--and not just for campers!

Jeez. The Farmers' Market. Reason #260,372,550 to love Portland.