Top Chef

Dear Laney,

You LOVE the show Top Chef. 

We have a new tradition on Thursdays now where Grandma Sue comes over for dinner and the grown-ups have some wine and watch Top Chef, and while the show is on, you run to the kitchen and prepare your own competitive dishes in real time. Sometimes, I make up challenges and give you parameters: "This is a presentation challenge, so I will be judging you on your knife skills and your overall use of color and design!" That'll usually keep you busy through two commercial breaks. 

Sue and I try not to pay too much attention to the chaos in the kitchen - we ignore our impulse to see what you're cooking in the microwave or investigate why you've gotten 18 condiments out of the fridge. Sometimes, the best thing you can do for a kid is let them try new things and make a huge mess and learn from it. 

A few weeks ago, you learned that you could smoosh a flour tortillla into a dessert bowl, fill it with cheese and hot sauce and nuke the hell out of it in the microwave, and it would come out a semi-hard dome. Then you topped it with honey and a potentially poisonous leaf from one of my house plants. We rated this one surprisingly tasty and you were allowed to remain in the competition vs having to pack your knives and go. Also, no one got sick, and that's always a nice bonus. 

Speaking of knives, I gave you a knife skills challenge, and you made this interesting plate-on-plate presentation with a purely decorative nest of shredded napkin, coddling four old grapes. I bet some chef in LA is angry they didn't think of this first. Here, we learned that peppers on cucumbers is a delightful combination. 

Tonight, it was a burrito (lots of your creations are tortilla-based) stuffed with graham cracker crumbs and honey, then coated in Nutella and sprinkled with M&Ms. Your brother Hagen declared you "The best chef EVER!" for this one. 

Keep doing what you're doing, and I'll keep loading a full dishwasher on Friday mornings. 

Worth it. 

Love,

Mom