Yesterday, Nina and I took Niko to a kid’s cooking class at Maggiano’s. My parents emailed me about this on July 6th, so we have had this planned for several weeks. As the date kept coming closer, I reminded Niko about it as sometimes it’s hard to do planned things with him, and this one was on a Saturday at 9 am. I hated to wake him up for this, but I had to as I wanted to leave by 8:15 am, and for the past several days, he has been waking up around 8 am. I wanted to make sure he had time to use the bathroom and get something to eat beforehand.
I thought it was going to be setup like MasterChef with Gordon Ramsey and Niko would crush the competition with something delicious and then be declared the winner, and then Nina and I would go with Niko on a worldwide cooking tour!
Nope, that didn’t happen.
When we arrived, Niko was given a paper chef’s hat, but he had a hard time getting it on as he has a lot of hair. They had markers and crayons to decorate it, but Niko wanted no part of that. He also, doesn’t have a lot of patience, and wasn’t happy at the start as we had to wait.
Eventually, once everybody else arrived, we were treated to a nice Italian buffet breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, French toast, potatoes, and lots of fruit and bread and muffins. They even had coffee, orange juice, and apple juice.
After about 30 minutes, one of the chefs finally did a cooking demonstration of stromboli. Niko found a good place to watch and really enjoyed himself. While he was showing everybody his techniques, a crew of workers was putting the same supplies on tables so the kids could do it. Niko and I got a tiny piece of the stromboli that the chef made, and it was super delicious.
Niko enjoyed making his stromboli, and when we got home, we cooked it to a golden-brown color, and we all enjoyed it very much. He did need some help from the chef in the rolling of it, and he told him, “You are doing a great job, and one day, I will be working for you.”
Towards the end, the chef took the kids on a tour of the kitchen, and Niko got right up and stood in a line to go.
As we were leaving, all the kids got a goodie bag which had the stromboli recipe, a branded Maggiano’s water bottle, a pencil, an eraser, and a couple of branded Maggiano’s after dinner mints.
After Maggiano’s, our adventure continued at Starbucks, as Nina and Niko got cold drinks. I got nothing as I am not a Starbucks aficionado. I was happy with my propel water.
Then, we went to Bass Pro Shops. Niko likes to get in the boats and the front seats of the 4×4 vehicles. Plus, he likes going up and down a glass elevator that is right behind some water that houses some fish.
After Bass Pro Shops, and thank goodness, I didn’t sign my life away for a boat, we went to Jared to get Nina’s ring resized. Nina and Niko like shiny expensive things. Thank goodness, I didn’t sign my life away for a diamond for Niko to play with and hide in his vault!
I think we will do this again at Maggiano’s. Niko really enjoyed himself once it got started.
