Cooking Merit Badge

I just typed "Cookie Merit Badge."  Wouldn't THAT be a merit badge we could all get behind?  Although, knowing the way the Boy Scouts work, they would find a way to take all the joy out of a cookie, or many, many cookies as it would have to be to earn a merit badge.  You'd have to make twelve different types of cookies using three different types of flour, bake them in a solar oven, and serve them to disadvantaged Mongolian refugee yak herders.

But I digress.

Brandt has one only merit badge left to finish, Cooking.  There is a lengthy list of requirements, including cooking at home, at camp, and hiking.  Brandt has had to create menus, shopping lists, figure out how much each meal costs, and then prepare food.  He's had to do this for all three areas, and the completion of this one has taken time.  We knocked out the camp cooking portion when we went canoeing and then spent the night at Payson Lake, and I've been having him do home cooking here and there.  Hiking cooking remains to complete.

Tonight he did the cooking for his last home meal.  With very little intervention from me, Brandt made roasted veg (broccoli, cauliflower, and purple potatoes), steak, and fruit, then cleaned up afterwards.  We were to review his preparation and presentation, and he scored big points from the other three of us who ate the meal.  It was wonderful for me to watch him work, moving around the kitchen, flipping steaks, chopping fruit.  I happily set the table while he prepared food.  I've decided it needs to be a regular thing at our house.

Now, we need to get him up the canyon so he can prepare a trail meal or two.