Baking and Eating

One meal that my mom and I always make is cheese fondue. This was one of my favorite meals growing up and it remains one of my favorites now as an adult. When I was a kid I just liked dipping bread in hot cheese but now as an adult I appreciate the flavors of the cheeses and its interaction with the wine. It has taken a while but the flavors have finally grown on Dan and he too enjoys cheese fondue. We've done this with Jonathan before but this was the first time he was allowed to dip his own bread. He thought it was so cool.


Notice the cheese on his chin. He was very focused on dipping his bread just right and not letting the bread fall off into the cheese.


Look at that focus and concentration as he gently spins the bread to shake off excess cheese. He really did quite well with the cheese fondue and loved the taste. We did beef fondue (dip meat in hot oil to cook) the next night but he wasn't allowed to do his own dipping because hot oil was just too dangerous. I think he was a little upset that he couldn't do the beef fondue all by himself.


Enjoying the fruits of his labor. The container of salad dressing on his plate is the dressing he helped me make.

My mom and I love chocolate desserts. The last night I was at home we decided to make the Barefoot Contessa's Chocolate Brownie Tart. Jonathan has told me several times that he doesn't like chocolate but since we were baking in the kitchen he wanted to help. He dumped in the ingredients and worked the switch on the mixer. When we were all done he asked to lick the beater. I told him it was chocolate and he said that he would take a "No thank you bite."


Hmm, just one no thank you bite? That looks like more than one bite to me.

Nope he didn't like that at all. Since he was already in bed when the Tart came out of the oven we saved a piece for him to have for breakfast before we headed out to the airport. He ate it up and when he was done he looked at me and said "I think I like chocolate now." Ya think?