Thursday, November 17th

11/17/2022

Wilder's Birthday Committee

Today we would like to share some of the work that has been taking place this week to prepare a very special birthday celebration for our friend, Wilder.

Drawing by Lily

When brainstorming what to choose for his favorite meal, Wilder shared that he "really loves sweet potatoes because they're so sweet".
He also shared that he would be fine with us making pumpkin pie, brownies, or apple cider.
The birthday committee decided to take the sweet potato suggestion and research recipes using some of our classroom cookbooks.

Surprisingly, Hugh and Lily couldn't fine one recipe that included sweet potatoes as an ingredient!

But they did find a recipe for stuffed potatoes and smashed potatoes.
Agreeing that the stuffed potatoes seemed more interesting than smashed, they brought the idea to Wilder who agreed that it sounded like a good idea for his meal.

Lily and Hugh used Google to search "stuffed sweet potatoes" and found so many tasty ideas.
They realized they would need Wilder's input before deciding which ideas to choose to make.

I would like everything except the tomatoes, because I'm still a kid. - Wilder
But I've ate a tomato and mozzarella salad before, but all what was in it was tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. - Hugh
And no chili. Chili sounds spicy and I don't like spicy. - Wilder
Yeah, and too messy. - Hugh
Maybe not salsa? Because it's too spicy. - Wilder
It's actually good. We can do salsa that is not very spicy. - Hugh
Okay. Can you do the same kind of salsa that we put in our chips (at school) because I loved it. - Wilder
Do you like the black beans? - Hugh
I love them. - Wilder

I think the breakfast one, but without the tomatoes. And barbecue with chicken.
And no jalapeño but yes yes yes avocado. - Wilder

Using the computer as a research tool proved to be useful, exciting, and maybe a little tricky.

Taking Wilder's preferences into consideration, the committee narrowed the meal options down to...
Stuffed Sweet Potatoes, Three Different Ways.

Hugh made the connection that the birthday meal menu choices seemed to offer a theme.
I think one is breakfast, one is lunch, and one is the dinner. - Hugh

"Breakfast" Sweet Potato

"Lunch" Sweet Potato

"Dinner" Sweet Potato

Breakfast = Bacon, avocado, egg, chives

Lunch = avocado, salsa, corn, black bean

Dinner = barbecue chicken, chives

Hugh and Lily created a "menu" for each type of potato offering so that it would be easy for friends to choose their favorite during the birthday meal.

I think since the potatoes are really big, we can cut some up and everyone can have some of each if they want too.- Hugh

Maybe can we make our own salsa? - Hugh

We can put it in a blender.
With onions. - Hugh

And there's tomatoes.
- Lily

Taking on three different recipes for one meal, Hugh, Lily, and Jack had a lot to prepare in the kitchen today!

They didn't just make salsa, but also cooked the sweet potatoes, chicken, bacon, eggs, black beans, and corn - all ingredients that will be stuffed into the sweet potatoes for Wilder's meal.

Below is a slideshow of moments from our cooking experience today.

He loves dinosaurs. - Hugh
And he loves pirates. - Lily

The birthday committee is not only in charge of preparing the birthday child's favorite meal, but also needs to plan decor and a table setting that best represents their friend.
Knowing Wilder's favorite colors are pink and purple and that he has a love for both dinosaurs and pirates, Lily and Hugh decided putting pirate and party hats on dinosaurs would be a great addition to the meal table setup!