It was 1973, and we hadn't yet learned that a serial "nice guy" murderer named Ted Bundy was in our midst. So my parents didn't blink an eye when I announced that I wanted — needed — to go door to door in our suburban Seattle neighborhood with a case of canned YMCA Butter Toffee Peanuts clutched in my 11-year-old hands.

My goal: to sell enough of the vacuum-packed treats to subsidize a trip to Camp Orkila, the YMCA summer camp on Orcas Island in the Pacific Northwest. With visions of dragonflies, archery practice, cheesy campfire sing-alongs and friendship bracelets dancing in my head, I knocked on one door after another and somehow managed to sell more peanuts than I ate.

I so loved Camp Orkila — and the parent-free but chaperoned ferry ride to get there — that I talked two friends into going with me the next year, when you couldn't escape hearing Ray Stevens' "The Streak" on the radio. Nor could you avoid witnessing the song's effect on impressionable young minds: One morning, we looked up from our pancakes in time to see a fellow camper running naked through the knotty pine-paneled dining hall.

Nearly 35 years later, I have a hard time imagining that any of the above could ever happen again. Not only are kids no longer allowed to wander unsupervised through the neighborhood, but the whole concept of "going away" to summer camp now seems quaint. Fading from our collective memory are the overnight places that stirred feelings of homesickness and joy; in their stead are daytime sessions presented just a cell-phone call away from mom and dad.

But what kids may have lost in freedom from a seemingly more innocent time they appear to be making up for with better camp food and the amassing of mad culinary skills. Instead of wrangling molten marshmallows and chowing down on licorice whips from the commissary, they're happily enrolling in summer cooking "camps."

While such camps clearly are inspired by the rise of the Food Network, the cynic in me wonders if they also aren't a form of payback for the slashing of home economics classes from school budgets all those years ago. That said, my eighth-grade cooking course was never like this: After opening with a quick "basics" session Monday, the teen camp at Let's Get Cookin' in Westlake Village will continue July 21-26 with a string of sessions devoted to the cuisines of China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and Thailand ($350; 818-99940).

The Magical Kitchen in Simi Valley has a teen cooking camp schedule of its own, starting July 21-25 with sessions focused on pizzas, pastas and snacks. Fondue and dishes from Mexico, Hawaii and — gulp! — England will star July 28-Aug. 1, followed by classes keyed to Food Network personalities Alton Brown, Paula Deen and Rachael Ray from Aug. 4-8. Cost is $250 per series or $60 per class. A teen baking camp ($200, or $50 per class) also will be offered Aug. 4-8. Call 527-3000.

Mediterraneo restaurant at Westlake Village Inn is offering each of its kids' cooking classes twice: at 11 a.m. for ages 5 to 8 and again at 2 p.m. for ages 9 to 12. An Easy Pizza Party-themed session takes place Saturday, followed by Wrap It Up on July 17 and Mama Mia Pasta Mia on Aug. 2. Cost is $45: 818-889-9105.

At Ojai Culinary Studio, upcoming Kids Cooking classes will focus on sushi (10 a.m. Thursday), pate a choux (10 a.m. Tuesday), and chocolates and petits fours (10 a.m. July 17). Cost is $25 per class, or $125 for six: 646-1124.

Don't count on finding chocolate cake at the Cooking for Kids class slated for 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Aug. 5 at the Four Seasons Hotel Westlake Village. Devoted to "healthy cuisine," the session for young chefs and their parents will be led by registered dietitians at the facility's Wellness Kitchen. Reservations, $125: 818-575-1111.

A final note: Until I Googled it last week, I was sure that time and development had conspired to make Camp Orkila disappear as surely as Bundy did when he was executed in 1989. Happily, the camp marked its 100th anniversary in 2006 and remains very much in business — but kids no longer sell butter toffee peanuts to get there.

THAT CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON: Made in Camarillo using grapes grown in Lodi, Cantara Cellars' 2006 petite sirah last month earned a four-star gold medal at the Orange County Fair Commercial Wine Competition. Winemaker Mike Brown notes that "we were one of only 22 wines to win the award out of 3,287 entered."

You can sip the vaunted varietal for yourself during regular tasting room hours from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays at 126 Wood Road, Suite 104, Camarillo. Call 484-9600 or click on http://www.cantaracellars.com.

On the heels of its gold-medal win at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in March, Ventura Limoncello Co. last month earned a bronze at the International Wine & Spirit Competition in Surrey, England. Made in Ventura from the peels of local lemons, the liqueur is on menus at restaurants ranging from La Cachette in Los Angeles to Opal Restaurant and Bar in Santa Barbara. Visit the Web site at http://www.venturalimoncello.com.

DINNER AND A SHOW: After opening in June at the Camarillo address that once was Spumoni, D'Amore's Pizza (300 N. Lantana St.) is adding dinner theater to its existing menu of pies made using water from Boston and flour from Buffalo. Look for an interactive murder mystery to unfold from 6:30 p.m. July 18, when reservations are $54.50. Call 445-6534.

VIVA LA FRANCE!: Two Ventura County restaurateurs will honor their native lands with Bastille Day menus Monday, the 219th anniversary of the storming of the infamous prison.

At 71 Palm in downtown Ventura, chef Didier Poirier is planning a three-course meal that starts with diners' choice of French onion soup or homemade country paté, followed by a choice of steak au poivre, grilled salmon bernaise or wild mushroom ravioli nicoise. Dessert features a strawberry Napoleon with fresh local berries. Reservations, $35, include a glass of house wine.

Poirier also has expanded his lunch hours (previously limited to 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays through Fridays) to include 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturdays. Call 653-7222.

At Cafe Provenal in Thousand Oaks, owner Serge Bonnet is adding live music to a four-course Bastille Day dinner that will feature, among other things, pear salad, stuffed chicken breasts and fish in a truffle-grapefruit sauce. Reservations, $45: 496-7121.

FOR A GOOD CAUSE: Wood Ranch BBQ & Grill will make a donation of $4,000 to the USA Water Polo Men's National Team during a luncheon at 1 p.m. today at the restaurant's Moorpark location. Next on the Wood Ranch to-do list: turning the former Fresh Choice site at the Pacific View Mall into its third Ventura County location — and the first in Ventura proper — in time for an opening in early 2009.

IN REVIEW: For Rita Moran's thoughts on Herb & Spice Thai Cuisine in Simi Valley, see Time Out in Thursday's Star.

— E-mail Lisa McKinnon at lmckinnon@VenturaCountyStar.com.