My daughter has a reward chart currently on the go. This is to recognise her efforts with tasting new foods, behaving well and to mark any special achievements. If she gets 30 stars we treat her to a new book. This is how we’ve arrived at what is turning to be a little bit of a mini obsession.

We love visiting Waterstones the book shop. On a recent trip there, after spending an age looking at all of the story books, she came across the hobby section. She was memorised by the cookbooks! This took me a little by surprise as she has never shown a big interest in cooking before. But I agreed if she was to get her 30 stars target then I would get her one as her next reward.

Well last week she hit said target and proceeded to beg and plead to go to Waterstones that instant to get the book. I managed to calm her down and negotiated a trip at the weekend. And so on Sunday we spend a lovely morning browsing the books and having a coffee (tea and a cake for the little lady). I even convinced her to let me have another good look at the board games. There’s some awesome looking ones which will be definitely going on my Christmas list. But I digress…..

Why wait? There’s brownies to be made!

We were due around the grandparents for Sunday tea and all the way back from the shop iBear discussed her cooking plans and aspirations. She wanted to get started straightaway and selected Grandma as her inaugural sous chef. I’ve never seen her so driven and excited for ages. And she can be pretty excitable at the best of times (Thank you Daddy genes).

The brownies were delicious and iBear was being all coy with the praise she was, rightly, receiving. There was no time to waste though and she was already planning her next creation…..

iBear Italiano

Next on her culinary journey was to be tea for the three of us on Monday evening. She chose Spaghetti Bolognese and this time Mammy had the honour of assisting. Everything was timed to perfection and I was greeted with the two of them about to serve up as I walked through the front door after work. iBear had been good as gold for her mam when they went shopping for the ingredients and not a cross word was uttered during the preparation.

I had to step in for the serving however as iBear insisted she do it and seeing my wifes face as her daughter attempted to lift a big pile of spaghetti out of the pan was hilarious. She managed it though, (we’ll forget the sauce splatterings all over the tops) and we sat down to eat.

We have gotten used to using ready made pasta sauces in the past due to convenience and this dish was an eye opener. It was just as tasty, if not more so. Crucially iBear, who can be very picky with her food, wolfed it down announcing we were never going to use jars ever again!

Dipping into other ideas

With momentum still going strong, iBears next creation, (with Nana in the sous chef position this time) was a cheese and herb dip. Nana had to do all of the chopping for this dish, safety first and all that, but iBear enjoyed putting it all together. She even tried a little of the carrot sticks and dip. They weren’t to her taste but that wasn’t important. Once again it was very tasty.

The following day iBear took the day off but her cookbook never left her side . She’s even been taking it up to her room at bedtime to continue her research! Apparently today I am going to be the one assisting and its pizza on the menu. There’s no pressure on her to keep this going. So if it turns out she doesn’t want to when I pick her up from school later then that’s fine. Although I’m secretly hoping we’re still on. I mean who doesn’t like pizza, right?!

The Business Plan

Apparently this isn’t just a hobby that’s developing. It’s a whole career! iBear has proclaimed she now wants to be a chef when she grows up and is going to have her own restaurant. The initial plan is, I’m advised, as follows:

• Every meal will be priced at £16.
• Puddings will be free, but must be purchased with a £16 meal
• Coffees will be £1 and teas 50p.
• I will have soup made for me every week for my lunch. This will cost me £1 per week for three weeks. Then free for three weeks….
• For a groups of 16 people, there’ll be special offers.

We’ve yet to decide on a name for the restaurant. To be confirmed at a later date.

OneDadsView

This week has been just brilliant. iBear has taken on a new hobby with so much passion and it’s been amazing hearing and seeing her being so enthusiastic about it all. I’ve no idea how long it will last but I’ll be encouraging her all the way.

Although how some of the tasty treats she has planned will fit into my diet I’ve no idea!