Arrived on Monday. The weather is perfect. Not too hot, not too cold. We have even had some cloudy skies. It's nice to be here without the exteme heat we all know is coming. Several other staff members are here as well and various projects are underway; stone, bones and pottery are all getting some attention. The grids are being prepped -- right now they are all beautiful gardens -- and should be ready for excavation shortly.
I owe a shout out to the students of Hamilton Elementary School in Chicago as well as those at Mozart Elementary. Congratulations to all the Hamilton 8th graders graduating this summer. Good luck with high school!
One of the things I'll be doing in the blog this summer is a section for students where I will focus on different topics of interest. The first one this summer is cooking pots. Take a look...
Cooking Pots
So lets talk pots. Yes, pots. My favorite pot is an orange Le Creuset hand-me-down from my mother-in-law. I use it for everything.
I cook everything from chili, both turkey and vegetarian, to stews and any type of soup you can think of in it. (Pistou is my particular favorite.)
Cooking pots have changed a great deal over time. My Le Creuset is enameled cast iron but that isn't the only material used to make pots. Needless to say, they didn't have enameled cast iron pots hundreds and thousands of years ago. Their pots were made out of different materials.
Take a look at the picture below.
How do those pots differ from the picture of my Le Creuset pot? How old do you think the pots are and what types of food do you think were cooked in them? Send me some of your ideas -- you can do that by posting a comment -- and I'll have some answers for you in a few days. Want to think a little more about it? Ask your mom or dad which is their favorite pot. What do they like to cook in it?
To recap, think about the following questions:
1. How do the three pots differ from the orange cooking pot?
2. How old are the pots?
3. What types of food did people cook in them?
4. What is your mom or dad's favorite cooking pot (Hamilton students -- see if you can find out Mrs. Lang's favorite)
5. What do your parents cook in their favorite pot?
Send me your answers and your best guesses!
My thanks to Joshua Walton for the picture of the three cooking jugs.