Wayzata School Sisters Teach Virtual Cooking Classes
Two sisters that attend the Wayzata School District are helping children discover their inner chef by doing virtual cooking classes.
Since the governor’s stay-at-home order, Audrey Zhou, a Wayzata High School junior, and Ashley Zhou, an eighth grader, committed to teaching a cooking class every Sunday. Usually, between 20 and 35 young children participate.
A young student who took Audrey and Ashley’s virtual cooking lessons
“We wanted to incorporate Asian recipes since we have mostly Asian students and want them to learn about something they maybe tasted or haven’t been exposed to,” said Ashley Zhou. “We’ve also done American recipes, we did pizza one time.”
Audrey Zhou said sometimes kids will throw out suggestions for the next class, but most of the time the sisters come up with their own ideas. So far, participants have learned to make Focaccia bread, Chinese steam roll, pumpkin mochi cake, scones, and pearl meatball.
“We run it pass our parents first and then we cook it multiple times. We make sure the recipes good and easy to teach and we go for it,” Audrey explained.
The sisters expressed that their passion for cooking began years ago.
“It started with my sister,” Ashley said. “She liked baking ever since we were kids. I just followed along because it was really fun. I started getting into it and we started teaching kids over summer break at a Chinese camp. They really liked it, so we thought we’d teach it online.”
However the sisters say teaching over Zoom versus in-person came with some challenges.
“Now that it’s over Zoom we have to communicate with their parents when it comes to cutting and things like that,” Audrey explained. “It’s a lot harder to relay information.”
Despite the challenges, the sisters gained some life skills.
“I’d say public speaking has been helpful. Communication with younger people is a lot different than communicating with older people. You have to simplify what you’re saying so it’s been really helpful to practice that.” said Audrey.
If you’re interested in participating in Audrey and Ashley’s quarantine cooking you can email their mom at jing.li.mn@gmail.com.
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Wayzata High School
