Looking for ideas to keep the kids busy on these hot summer afternoons? Chef Julie Olsen-Smith of the Cooking Castle conducts cooking and baking classes for children of all ages. Her classes are held in Ms. Sue’s Art Studio on Old Fredericksburg Road. Camps are held throughout the summer and after school. Check the website https://www.thecookingcastle.com/ for schedules and fees.
When I visited a session in June the kids had just mixed together the ingredients for homemade vanilla ice cream and were starting to gather the items to make snickerdoodle cookies. The day before the class made Asian fare of eggrolls and rice. Each day the kids make something different. Chef Julie explains the process, the importance of certain ingredients and how to carefully mix the creations. She and her helpers, of course, handle the actual cooking appliances.
The camps help teach children sharing, interpersonal skills and problem solving. The children are grouped by age into six tables of five or six each. There is a teen-age helper at each table to assist. Chef Julie also provides cooking and baking activities for birthday parties.
Chef Julie will be a coach and teacher at Boerne Middle School North in the new school year. She has always had a passion for cooking and baking as a child and as she became older added nutrition to her pursuits. After completing a Dietetics degree from Florida State University in 2004, she decided to become a Family and Consumer Sciences Teacher shortly after. For the past 17 years Julie has taught Culinary Arts and Nutrition to students of all ages. She also has spent most of her summers and holidays teaching cooking camps and classes. Julie recently moved to Boerne with her husband Jeff, and her two daughters Grace (10) and Ruby (6).
