At 10 years old, Lakewood Ranch's Emilia Costello already dreams of owning a restaurant.
During The Out-of-Door Academy's Crazy Cooks Camp held July 11-15, she had an opportunity to get a taste of what it would be like.
"It's always been my dream to cook for people," Costello said.
Costello, who would love to appear on "Top Chef Jr.," someday, then went back to making smoothies, pretzels and pumpkin spice waffles with the other campers.
One of those campers was 9-year-old Benjamin Rodriguez, who was hoping to make a pretzel that could rival the one he had during a just-completed family trip to Philadelphia. His pretzel was made in the form of an infinity sign.
"I love pretzels, and it's really fun to shape the dough," he said.
Kristi Mezick, the owner Pure Imagination Studio, led the camp.
Keira Summerlee, who is 6 years old, takes a whiff of the yeast in the bowl. "It smells like bread," Summerlee says. (Photos by Liz Ramos)
Emerson Naumann, who is 7, concentrates on kneading her dough. "This is so sticky," Naumann says.
Julia Oliveira, who is 10, Joshua Rodriguez, who is 6, Riley Patterson, who is 9, and Alessia Enciso, who is 6, have fun kneading their dough. They had to add more flour so the dough wouldn't stick to their hands as much.
Paige Royce, who is 8, shows off the pretzel she made.
Julia Oliveira, who is 10, picks up her dough to try to twist it into a pretzel shape. It took her a few tries before she was able to make the traditional pretzel shape.
Violet Reinhartz, who is 7 years old, measures sugar and puts it in her group's mixture to create pretzel dough.
Hailey Royce, who is 6, measures and adds flour to her mixture while Joshua Rodriguez, who is 6, stirs his. Each member of the group took turns adding ingredients to their pretzel dough.
Paige Royce, who is 8 years old, and Dolly Rees, who is 6, laugh while trying not to get flour on themselves.
Dolly Rees, who is 6, loves kneading her dough. "It feels so good on my hands," Rees says.
Easton Gillespie, who is 9 years old, kneads his dough out to be the length of his board.
Emilia Costello, who is 10, rolls out her dough. Costello wanted to participate in the Crazy Cooks Camp because she wants to be on "Top Chef Jr." some day.
Riley Patterson, who is 9, attempts to make a pretzel shape with her dough. She smiles after seeing it come together.
Ally Hagan, who is 10, works with Marin Summerlee, who is 10, to make a pretzel. While some campers made traditional pretzels, others opted to make pretzel bites.
Benjamin Rodriguez, who is 9, shows off his Philadelphia-inspired pretzel.
