by Charles Leffler, Midlothian Exchange.com
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Picking out the perfect birthday gift for a 9-year-old girl can be a frustrating and mind-boggling experience for most grandparents. However, for Delora Stites coming up with the perfect gift was an act of inspiration and love. “In birthday gifts, it’s kind of hard to shop and buy,” she said. “I wanted to do something different. It’s just the way I think, I think.”

Instead of buying a gift for her granddaughter Peyton, Stites decided to form a very special cooking class for Peyton and her friends. “I was raised on a farm in western Kansas with eight siblings and, of course, we did a lot of cooking,” she said. “We didn’t have the convenience of fast food, so it was something I always enjoyed with my sisters and it’s something I wanted to do with Peyton.”

The cooking class was actually Stites second stint as a kitchen instructor for her granddaughter. Two years ago she did the same thing for Peyton and her friends for the first time.

Peyton said the reaction of her friends then led to her request for the same birthday present this year. “After everything was over, they all said they wanted to come again because they loved cooking and they loved her teaching us,” she said.

Teaching children is second nature to Stites who taught first, second, and third grade at Clover Hill Elementary School before retiring six years ago. Therefore, she was looking forward to the class as much as her granddaughter. “I still love teaching,” she said.

Peyton’s admitted favorites to cook are pastas and Mickey Mouse® pancakes, but the menu that Stites devised for the birthday meal was much more elaborate with corn salad, a pasta dish, grilled ginger chicken, chocolate meringue, chocolate-dipped strawberries and an orange sparkler.

Naturally, the teacher in Stites added one other item to the menu as a learning experience – zucchini muffins. “I thought it might be fun to learn that muffins made out of vegetables can be good and tasty.”

Peyton along with her friends, Kee Kee Watkins, Madison Hansen and Caroline Coggins began the class by getting dressed up in the cooking attire that Stites made for them as party gifts. Each girl was given an apron with their name, oven mitt and chef’s hat that were all sewn by Stites.

“She’s really good a sewing stuff,” said Peyton of her grandmother. “Anytime something’s broken or something needs sewed she would always fix it.”

In addition, each girl was also given her own cookbook, written and printed by Stites.

Before beginning, Stites had the girls take turns reading about kitchen protocol, safety and cleanliness from the cookbook. With the basic instructions out of the way, they then washed up and dove into the preparation – taking turns opening cans and chopping vegetables – as Stites oversaw the work and gave helpful tips.

Because she was working with 9-years-old cooks, Stites scheduled five hours to complete the meal from start to finish. The young chefs moved about the kitchen marinating the chicken, seasoning with fresh herbs from Stites’ garden, making the side dishes and regularly cleaning up after themselves.

After all of the food was prepared, the group moved to the dinning room that had been set up with china and silverware just for the occasion. The group then sat down to a dinner that will be long remembered.

“It was a great day, and the girls and I enjoyed it,” said Stites. “They worked hard, did a great job, and the meal was well received.  Hopefully I’ve inspired at least one of them to do some meals at