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Hernando Today

The Heat Is On

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By LINNEA BROWN

Published: June 28, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - This was no ordinary field trip to Cici's Pizza Buffet.

After all, these campers were culinary connoisseurs.

After a week of creating their own dishes from spices and flavors, 22 campers arrived at the Brooksville restaurant on Friday bursting with unique requests: spinach and broccoli-topped pizza, for instance, or adding ham or pepperoni to Cici's signature "macaroni and cheese"-topped pizza.

"It's really good, just like I thought, but it could use some salt and pepper," said Courtney Bennett, 9, sampling a bite of ham-and-macaroni-and-cheese pizza.

The lunch trip followed a week of kitchen-themed camp known as "Iron Chef: The Heat Is On," part of the Hernando County Family YMCA's Quest teen summer camp program.

Held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day, the camp consisted of five fun-filled days of cooking experiments and competitions. Daily lessons included seasoning, garnishing and presentation.

"We know all about (adding flavor) with onions, fajita seasoning, garlic power, seasoning salt and salt and pepper," said Kasey Garry, 12, a seventh-grader at West Hernando Middle School.

Much like the popular TV show that airs on the Food Network, the children were divided into teams, given specific ingredients and spices and told they had 10 minutes to create a dish of their choice.

"We had to decide what to do on the spot," said Ashley Singleton, 12, a seventh-grader at Powell Middle School.

Most of the camp's 22 campers, who ranged in age from 9 to 17, said they signed up because they enjoy cooking.

"I like to cook waffles and pancakes, but I wanted to learn how to cook other foods," said Vasu Malhotra, 10, a fifth-grader at Chocachatti Elementary.

Their prepared dishes included chicken salad, beef fajitas and egg omelets, with all meals prepared on a large fryer at the YMCA in Spring Hill.

The facility's director was given the job of judging the campers' presentation of their dishes, while counselors sampled and awarded prizes for each dish.

And their spur-of-the-moment concoctions turned out surprisingly tasty, the kids said.

"They were all really good," Ashley said. "The biggest (complaint) was that a dish was too dry or needed more spices."

Camp coordinator Toni Bennett said the week also included cooking safety, with counselors emphasizing points such as hand-washing and kitchen cleanliness. Also — while the children were given the task of chopping vegetables and mixing ingredients — all of the meat was actually precooked and simply needed to be heated up.

Other weeks of themed programming for the teen camp include "Mission Impossible: Fear Factor Week," and "Team Survivor Week," in which campers spend the week completing activities that require teamwork, such as an obstacle course, mazes, competitions and immunity challenges. Weekly camps, which run through Aug. 14, cost $110 for members and $125 for others.

For more information, call the YMCA at 352-688-9622.

Reporter Linnea Brown can be reached at 352-544-5289 or lbrown@hernandotoday.com.

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