Tuesday 11/15 @ 11:00 AM Chef Pascal and Austin Tinkering School’s Kami Wilt talk about upcoming camps on KXAN!!
Hello friends,
When the pandemic began in March of 2020, Kami Wilt of Austin Tinkering School and Chef Pascal Simon of Bake Austin spent many hours together searching for solutions to keep their businesses afloat. They quickly discovered a huge need for highly engaging, hands-on enrichment activities for kids stuck at home.
These two entrepreneurs decided to collaborate on an online camp called “Tiny Kitchen.” Kami would guide kids in building a tiny kitchen out of cardboard and craft supplies. Chef Pascal then teaches the students how to bake tiny edible treats to adorn their miniature kitchens.
The class was so successful the two created Tiny Building & Baking, a fun and deeply enthralling concept for kids ages 8-16. To date, Tiny Building & Baking expanded its offerings to include holiday-themed classes where students decorated a Tiny Thanksgiving table, crafted up a Tiny Christmas, and even celebrated Tiny Valentine’s Day.
“Though it may seem non-essential, the camp really cultivates a feeling of immersive play and joy that kids need right now after a couple years of the pandemic blues,” explained Chef Pascal. “And it does provide essential learning where students develop skills and self-reliance in the kitchen—which can be carried over into full-sized dishes, as well as challenging students’ ingenuity, creativity, grit, and problem solving that tinkering and building encourages.”
This upcoming holiday season will include another round of Tiny Thanksgiving, a three day virtual camp beginning on Monday, November 21st, as well as Tiny Christmas, a two day virtual camp beginning on Thursday, December 22nd.
There will be more Tiny Building & Baking Camps next summer and the two creators have plans to write a Tiny-maker book together.
As Traditional As Apple Pie
I love apple pie! When I was growing up in Germany the type of apple pie I knew was what we refer to as strudel. While strudel is great, don’t get me wrong, a good apple pie is hard to beat. Not too sweet, just a little tart (psst… just a secret… I like to add marzipan to mine) with a nice flaky crust made with only the best ingredients!
Serve that with a dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream and that is a joy I learned about when I came to the states. Before that, I never ate apple pie, but neither did I celebrate Thanksgiving. I think the trick is to make a crust that is flaky without using shortening.
Have you ever made an apple pie at home? If you are brand new at this, or are looking for some new inspiration, we are sure to have a blast making pies next Tuesday! Come join the Thanksgiving preparation and show up to your holiday gathering prepared.
Here’s a holiday treat just for you! If you want to impress at Friendsgiving, give this a try: Key Lime Pie
Be well and have some fun this holiday break!
Chef Pascal