SEATTLE - It's not often that eggs get applause. But that's not uncommon at the Blue Ribbon Cooking School in Eastlake where the pans are often bigger than the chefs.
"I had no idea how to cook an omelette until today", said Colton Mason, who came all the way from Montana to go to his first cooking camp.
He's in the 14-18 year old camp, making omelettes, bread pudding and crepes. It's breakfast day.
Chef Mark leads the kids through the kitchen during the four day camp that teaches techniques, safety and Mason's favorite, knife skills.
Vanessa Volkman is Blue Ribbon's Director and says it's okay for kids to play with knives.
"We truly believe in teaching proper safety and the correct way of doing things," Volkman said.
So instead of using kid-friendly knives, they teach kids how to get friendly with knives using proper techniques, unless they're in the Mom and Me camp, where kids as young as two cook with mom.
"We don't, we have lettuce knives for them," Volkman said.
The big kids do it all, and not recipes meant for kids. They'll create dishes this week fit for a traditional French restaurant, right next to their peers.
"Just shows that I'm not alone, not the only kid that wants to cook," Mason said.
Milestones happen every hour here.
"I love hearing this is the first time I've tried this or I never would've eaten this before. It's amazing what we can get kids to eat when they're participating in the preparation of it. They're so much more excited to give it a try, " Volkman said.
The camp costs $400 plus a $250 supply fee that includes their own chef jacket, a cookbook, a chef's knife and the best part, lunch...that they made themselves.
