The Unintentional Vegetable

Celery is the unsung hero of modern day cooking and mealtimes. ... It is the stalwart vegetable in the kitchen pantry, the one vegetable we rarely think about, intentionally. ... Celery occupies an exalted position in everyone’s mind as the go to ‘diet’ food. ...  (So does its cousin, carrot). ... It fills an important spot in many side and main dishes. ...  It has a rugged taste like no other and is most often included with many other vegetables, raw or cooked, and is missed, when forgotten, in many dishes.  It is the vegetable we take for granted.

Celery has no equal.... It holds its shape in mealtime dishes and provides that much needed ‘ lift’  to any stir-fry, salad or rice accompaniment. ... Its crunchy texture creates interest in most salads while adding flavour to a any soup or stew. ... A little goes a long way. ....  It is an inexpensive addition to any buffet, a part of the salad team. ... Like lettuce, it can deflect attention  away from a meal that is short on volume and substance, yet provide that much needed boost in flavour when required. ... This plain vegetable, aligned in the produce aisle alongside the grand array of lettuces, fresh herbs, romaine and green onions, is easily ignored for the many roles it plays in our dietary lives. ... It is not necessarily the go to vegetable for many of us when we go grocery shopping.  It is the unintentional vegetable.   Recipes abound for many vegetables - but not for celery.  Should there be one?

I was making soup, the other day, a mainstay in our family’s diet, especially during the winter months.  Having made an earlier version of this soup that morning, I was dismayed to learn that there was no more celery available to make more soup.  ... (Usually, I make more than enough in an over sized pot but not that day) ...  Upon tasting the second batch of soup, I was surprised to discover the change in its flavour. .... Something was missing.... Everything included in the original recipe was present in this new batch of soup, except the celery.... What a difference!. ...  Then I started thinking.  Could the celery have actually made such an impact on flavour? ...  I believe it did. ...

Celery is included in many cold dishes from potato salad, vegetable salads to chicken, tuna, turkey and egg salad fillings, in many tomato based dips, and stuffing, the hot side dish to poultry.  Sometimes, celery can be simply an accessory on a vegetable platter next to the fancy sandwiches. Then, with a few strategic cuts, celery can become a fan, curl or stick providing yet another decorative accessory  to our meal time ritual. ... Celery is rarely the side dish on a restaurant menu. Yet, at home, it is usually the vegetable we smother  with  peanut butter or cream cheese for an instant pick me up. ...  It is the vegetable paired with wings in so many restaurants. ...  Celery is never the main attraction, like sweet potato fries but is sometimes present in a supporting role for the ‘real food’ that will soon arrive to be devoured with great anticipation.

Celery has many qualities that have, unwittingly, been under appreciated. .... It wasn’t until last week while making soup twice that I realized how misunderstood this incredible vegetable had become in my culinary life. ... Never again! 

"Who Are We Food To?"

He had just finished his lunch....Soon, it would be nap time, an important ritual in this kindergartner’s  life..... As he entered the small kitchen, he asked me the question that seemed to come out of nowhere.  ...“Who are we food to?”

Our youngest had been looking at me as I put some chicken into the freezer.  ...  I explained what I was doing and why. ... (That simple act could have, possibly, triggered the insightful question) ... It was another moment, like so many, that was rife with provocative and profound questions of an inquiring four year old mind. ... As always, I was caught off guard. ... He and I together again, in these introspective moments, Monday to Friday, while his two older brothers were in school. (in grades two and three).

I began my answer with the usual bears, lions and dinosaurs . ... “Those animals would probably eat us, if they found us alone in the forest”, I responded. ...  Answering a child's question is simple.  The correct answer is not important. ...  Being validated and acknowledged is what matters most to them, to us, to anyone......A child's self worth is tied to any interaction with a caring adult...  In a few minutes, the child will forget your answer and his question and be thinking about the next one. He will remember, however, how he was treated and felt when he last spoke. His words mattered. That is what counts, each and every time.

Engaging in conversation with a child is the gold standard for learning for him and you. ... Children will rise to the level expected of them, in behaviour and in speech. ....   The adult  will always set the tone. ....  Putting words into their mouths, also, helps to challenge the young brain in ways that might not happen otherwise. Giving them new words to pronounce gives them a mental and physical workout while leaving an indelible mark on the brain for next time. 'Picture' books can also aid immeasurably in helping a child hone his speaking, vocabulary, reading and thinking skills. ... Each time the book is ‘read’, it becomes a different story for the child and you. Then the questions begin and the probing continues. ... The child begins to form another picture in his mind about the cast of characters in the book without words. ... Curiosity runs rampant. ... The asking of questions has no end. They are limitless and have no boundaries.

“Who are we food to”? became one of the many questions our youngest would ask during the revelatory period in his life. ... Asking me to read was also another favourite leisure time activity for all our boys. During this time, our youngest had fallen in love with the book and movie hit from the 1950’s, entitled, “The Creature From the Black Lagoon”. It soon became such a family favourite that reading it eight or nine times, in one sitting, using many different voices to an excited audience of three, was becoming a family tradition. Now, that creature could have very easily eaten all of us, if given the chance.   

  

The Puzzle and The Poem

It was time to reformat the dough session, to introduce it in a more formal, ‘academic’ way..... The crossword puzzle was created. ... The students became fascinated with this newest literary tool and its structure: squares, carefully placed, on the blackboard where chalk had been used, previously, to illustrate letters, numbers, words and phrases for the day’s lessons. ... The class looked and wondered at what those squares meant. ... What was their significance? ... Soon the students realized these simple little boxes might contain letters that together would form words, words they knew. ... Their interest grew in this latest thinking game.

After the morning announcements, the word retrieval game began. ... With each clue- Across or Down- a new word was added. ... Momentum was building. ... What were these words?...  The students were having fun. ... Filling in the blanks was easy. ...  Yeast dough was nowhere to be found, yet the class’s attention was as if the object of their affection had been present all along. ... Each new word helped to form another one or two, up or down, no one knew. The letters of one word linked the student’s thinking into the next one. ... The excitement grew as the ‘squares’ came to life.

Occasionally, the class attempted to figure out what the puzzle meant without help from the ‘Across and Down’ clues... At the outset, the maze of words seemed daunting until the seeming 'random' letters, in their respective squares, began to "light up the board."... A picture was now forming, in the students' minds, of what some words ‘looked like’ ... As one student walked by the puzzle, he looked at the longest ‘series’ of squares, along the bottom, and began mouthing the words, ”It’s the car------bo---------di--- word”, he muttered to the assembled crowd. ... No clue had been read...The rather large number of squares hinted that it might be “carbon dioxide”. ... He was certain of it. ... And so it was.

Then came the poem.  The story of the making of cinnamon buns in Mary’s class was now  poetry.  “Cinnamon Buns” grabbed the attention of the class... What they had been learning was now in print, in something formally called a poem.  The Primary Intensive Language class now had a ‘story’ written about them and Mary to honour their efforts in making the famous and favourite classic, cinnamon buns. ... “Cinnamon Buns” used words, familiar to the students, in creating a print illustration of the class’s efforts in making the famous treat. .... The poem was light and informal. ... It could be called literature. ... The word at the end of each line rhymed with the word above it, line by line, everything in harmony, like the melody in a song. ... Mary’s name was included, making the poem special and personal for the each of the students in her class.

As we introduce novel ways to engage at-risk students, we begin to show them the vast universe that awaits their participation. ...  It is endless. ... The point of novelty is to engage the child in  conversation, reading, writing and thinking in a continuum that is forever expanding. ... And at the center of this gigantic experiment is the brain and its capacity to change in an instant and forever. What we, as parents and educators, must be mindful of the trajectory of our children's lives, in a week, month, or year. Our direction is simply that, a plan to take them to that happy thinking place where their dreams and learning can begin to take hold, unfolding in extraordinary ways!  

"Why Didn't You Use That Gluten Word?"

“Why didn’t you use that ‘gluten’ word, today”?, the six-year-old remarked.  ...  I was caught off guard.  As the young boy played on the floor with a few of his classmates, all eyes downward, he admonished me for not using ‘that word’ that morning. I had no answer but promised to use it again - next week. ...   

The student remembered a word never mentioned in day to day conversation. It had been used 7 days ago while discussing a new area of study: yeasted dough. It was a most profound word recovery from his past. The teacher and I were at a loss for words!

A strange two-syllable word, part of the vocabulary used when working with yeast dough, was now at the center of the student’s thoughts - out of context - as he played with his action figures on the classroom floor.... As a subscriber to Scientific American and its cousin, The Mind, I was reminded, yet again, of the wonders of the human brain and its plasticity, of the ‘use it or lose it’ doctrine that keeps the brain vital as it prunes itself of useless / unused cells during its ongoing development. ... Only those brain cells that are used regularly for the functioning of the human body, overall learning and other survival directives are kept, to be retrieved when the action is repeated over and over again, as mastery of a skill is achieved.

The more startling, innovative or novel an activity, the more we remember everything connected to it, its configuration, its application or use in everyday life.... With children who have difficulty with learning- (maintaining attention, remembering direction in both content and action) -  this 'hands-on' learning is experiential learning and is a critical first step in the learning journey for these at-risk children, commonly referred to as slow or slower learners. Personally, I think of them as super learners!

Perhaps it is we who are slow in understanding the learning disability of the child. Each is different. The introductory question was an ‘out of the park’ hit....Gluten, a word seldom used in everyday conversation, yet at the center of a skill the student and his classmates were learning-once a week-, had piqued this student’s interest, suddenly! .... The focus on language and the art of questioning had begun again. Though  gluten is not a very nice word today, it has been associated with a host of dietary problems for many of us....Once upon a time, though, gluten was not the problem it is today. ...More about it later)

As the above introduction illustrates very boldly, language skills, the art of questioning and thinking, are learning outcomes that matter as the students in 'Mary’s' class honed their ‘baking’ skills. ... It was never about working with yeast dough, or baking. ... It was always about 5 sense brain stimulation, social and intellectual engagement, higher order thinking, with language at its core, while creating a ‘bond of learning’ within a relaxed classroom atmosphere.  Mistakes were critical in this learning world and always encouraged!

Deep learning requires real people in a ‘face to face’ meeting of the minds... It requires debate, probing, understanding and doubt...  Rates of learning vary while making mistakes is the hallmark of in depth learning experience, the result of an inquisitive mind. 

The student had stored 'gluten' in his memory bank. It was a word tool in understanding why the dough rose, time after time, in the making of rolls, pizza and cinnamon buns. What was not lost was the significance the student attached to a strange word associated with this new skill. Though the word seemed to come out of nowhere, in my mind, it was much more than that.  His ‘plastic’ brain had remembered it from his past, questioned me about it and added yet another building block to his learning scaffolding..... Thinking while playing! ...  What a revelation! What a team!

"What Do You Think of My Crueller?"

“What do you think of my crueller?”, the young boy asked. ... I had not expected the question and thought for a while about what my response should be. Mary was standing by, waiting for me to answer. I was in no hurry.

I sat down on one of the small student chairs.... (I wanted to be in his ‘physical space’ at eye level, an important communicating behaviour, I believe, when speaking to a child... He had asked a question inviting an adult’s opinion of something he had done, a courageous act on his part.)

“It’s not important what I think. ... It’s important what you think”, I responded.  I continued to add that he had two options open to him: re-make the doughnut or leave it as is.... He thought for a moment and did not hesitate to make a new one, a more defined, expertly crafted crueller, born of experience and many practice sessions.  He relaxed and continued to work. 

On previous occasions, Mary’s students had made braided bread, tiny doughnuts-(for distribution at the main office), beaver tails, and pizza, sold by the slice to staff members of the school.... Making the beaver tails, a misshapen thinly stretched piece of dough was a class favourite. ... (At Country Fairs beaver tails generally sold for $3.75 or more for only one with a topping of your choice.  A captive audience made this high price possible). ... Here in the classroom, the students learned of the cost savings and immediate satisfaction of ‘homemade’ and the possible health benefits.)

Using the thumbs to manipulate the dough while stretching and resting it gingerly on the rest of the hand was not an easy task for these small hands but it was fun, nonetheless. ... Creating these delicious masterpieces, using leftover dough, empowered the students.... Creativity = empowerment.  The talents of the class were quickly becoming evident. ... Dinner rolls were also a class favourite. Making dozens at a time of bowknots, cloverleaf, and others kept the students interested, on their game and made subjects such as division, subtraction, addition and multiplication the fun and meaningful activities they were in illustrating the equitable distribution of the “assembly- line-made” rolls. ... Which mathematical equation would we use to assign a number for each student, his lot to take home? The discussion element here was fascinating.

The making of the rolls offered another example of eye/hand co-ordination. The plastic brain, like the dough, was being manipulated as the child was being engaged in many ways and on many levels. The use of hands in the constant rolling of small amounts of dough for multiple uses, long strips for making flowers, trim and other rolls gave the students something rarely developed before the age of 9: a skill that would carry them into the future, in a multitude of ways. ....

Confidence does not manifest itself in only one way. Repetition aids the child, especially, the special needs child, to overcome poor self-esteem, a barrier to life success and learning. ... With yeast dough, the changing of one ingredient changes the end result. Yeast dough is a stepping stone into  other new experiences! The move, into the world of pasta, in all of its many types and techniques - all handmade - is a trajectory made possible because of working with yeast dough. It was an easier skill to master. With the addition of fat added into the main dough, we move into the realm of the skilled pastry master whose repertoire of danish pastries, croissants and other high end products are now doable. ... The choices were limitless as were the discussions about what we were doing. Confidence began to sour as did language fluency.

In the end, the child learns self sufficiency at an early age. The bathing of the brain in these positive chemicals changes brain structure... The sensory activation of parts of the brain that may be silent is awakened or re-awakened in a basic way as language and higher order thinking begin their ascent into the minds of these special children. The implications and applications of yeast dough had just begun!! ...