One thing about cooking with toddlers-- flour will spill everywhere. Sweeping and wiping it up can be good fun if you can conjure up the right mindset.

I should say that I adore powders. I have made many drawings/installations in flour, sand, dust, and dry pigments-- sifted, scraped, poured and swept. I haven't made drawings like that in awhile, and looking at these photos of J and I cooking reminds me of how satisfying it is to work with powders. I love making chocolate cake. Mixing one white powder into another, trying to achieve invisible even-ness, then stirring in the cocoa until its evenly distributed--what could be better? Possibly, pools of oil and water and vinegar settling into the depressions. It reminds me of the "real" pretend cooking that my parents would let me do when I was in late elementary school, using the stove and everything. I would mix herbs and flour and water, sometimes oil and leftovers from the fridge. Some interesting (and not always pleasant smelling) concoctions came about this way.

Now that J is 2 years old, she is absorbing some of the significance of birthdays...