Cook with your kids

Word on the street is that we San Franciscans are eating out less and, it is thus assumed, cooking at home more. Fellow rugrat-care providers, it is in this vein that I wrote a review of books for cooking with kids in my monthly guest appearance in Tablehopper (a lively weekly e-column about all things food in SF). Below is an excerpt; you can read the slightly longer piece (with two more books) next week in Tablehopper.

First up and new from Williams-Sonoma is Family Meals: Creating Traditions in the Kitchen by Maria Helm Sinskey. Now I have to admit that as an occasionally snooty bookseller, I usually steer away from “packaged” or “branded” books like this one, where the Williams-Sonoma brand is what’s supposed to sell you on the book. But this one’s an exception: the content is good, even if the layout is more magaziney than is my style.

Organized by ingredient, this thick book is full of relatively simple and wholesome recipes, many of which you already know how to make (roasted cauliflower, tabbouleh, etc.). While there are more advanced projects, like making your own sourdough starter, or curing your own salmon, think of Family Meals more as a resource and motivation to get you and your kids into the kitchen. Start a tradition. Every Sunday night you cook together?

Bon appetite and thanks for reading.