Rising early for swim team practices, Elspeth Ripley, 9, and her family devised a quick breakfast that could be eaten on the go. In March, Elspeth entered that recipe — titled "Morning S’mores" — into the Kitch’N Kids Recipe Contest. Although she encountered a few challenges on contest day, her Morning S’mores took home a grand prize of a $10,000 savings bond. The Burke resident enjoys science and the outdoors, and is this week’s People Profile.
How long have you lived in the Burke area? Eight years.
Family: My mom has had her mom come over here a lot. Mostly, she doesn’t act like a guest, she acts like a maid. She cleans house a lot. My brother’s name is Tristan. I have a hamster and I have a cat named Allie. He doesn’t live outside, but he goes outside a lot. Nevada is an indoor cat and she’s skinny.
School: Kings Glen.
Favorite school subject: I like science because instead of my teacher just explaining things, he really lets us try it. His name is Mr. Huber and he’s funny and a lot of fun.
Activities: Usually I like to ride bikes and I like going to my friend’s house down the street. My brother goes to his friend Kyle’s house. That’s what I usually do, I spend most of my time outdoors.
When did you begin cooking? When I was little, I used to cook pancakes with my mom.
How did you come up with your recipe for the contest? Last summer, I did swim team, and I still do, and we sometimes didn’t have time for breakfast so we would make this recipe and it was quick and I ate it and it filled me up until lunchtime. It was a good breakfast. My dad used to do it with Grape Nuts, berries. My brother used to do strawberries and my mom did bananas.
What do you like most about your recipe? I like that it was quick and that it didn’t take putting it in the oven or anything, you just put it together and you have it.
How did you feel about winning the grand prize in the contest? I felt amazed because everything didn’t go right. They bought the wrong yogurt and so we make this really drippy kind of strawberry yogurt and so when we made it, it was dripping and you couldn’t see how beautiful it was. So they tried that one, and I made another one with vanilla yogurt. They liked how it tasted and they liked how I didn’t fuss about it, so that’s why I won.
Favorite food: I like Cheerios. I’m a big fan of strawberries.
What is your favorite restaurant or place to hang out in the community? A new restaurant that we went to is called San Vito’s.
What is the last book you read or the last movie you watched? The last book I read was "Happy Go Lucky" [by Kristin Earhart]. It’s a chapter book and it’s about a horse that got moved away from his family because he wasn’t trained. The last movie I watched was on Animal Planet, I don’t remember what it was.
If you were a superhero, what would your name be? Heroic Elspeth, I guess.
Where do you see yourself in five years? I can see myself in middle school, having a lot of fun, doing different science experiments.
— Lea Mae Rice