Sunday, December 23, 2012

God Bless Kenya!

From Germany, we travelled to Africa, spending two weeks in the beautiful Kenya, culminating in, what else but a feast. I did not have high hopes for African food, but it was, to my surprise, delicious, Butterfly's favorite so far.

We decorated the table with country cards from a geography card game;the flag of Kenya; a book; a photo of one of our adored Compassion kids, Roy, who is Kenyan; and a couple of African animal figurines.

As God blessed us with each of our children, we "adopted" a Compassion child. With Historian, we adopted Roy from Kenya; Lizard's counterpart is Elyssa from India; and Butterfly's partner is Shirley from Ecuador. We are blessed to have them in our lives.

New to our feasts were my mother-in-law and nephew. They were in town (along with my nephew's parents who were on a date) to celebrate an early Christmas with us. In meal planning for their visit, it occurred to me that this would be a perfect time for Historian to cook one his feasts. Even my nephew enjoyed most of his food, but he went simply crazy for the tapioca with pineapple.

Ethiopian curry chicken had just the right amount of spice. Historian accompanied it with other African-inspired dishes: mashed potatoes, tapioca with pineapple and cornbread.


By mixing peas and corn into mashed potatoes, you create irio, a dish originating with the Kikuyu people of Kenya. Irio has many variations, but this is a popular one.
North America, South America, Europe and Africa: we've visited four of the seven continents in our first semester geography study. The itinerary for our next continent will allow us to spend the most time there, perhaps because of the vastness in size as well as the diversity and beauty of the peoples who live there: here we come Asia!

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

God Bless Germany!

Studying Germany was especially fun for our family, as all three of our kids have been involved in Bavarian schuhplattler for several years. Schuhplattler translates as shoe slapping. We got involved, not because we are certain we have German ancestry, although we might, but because I was looking for a physical fitness opportunity for Lizard.

Butterfly in her dirndl for a schuhplattler performance during Oktoberfest.

Historian, especially, loves all things German. Perhaps part of the reason is that one of his best pals in Pittsburgh has a German-born mother. He is interested in the culture, the language, the history and the food. We felt this was his best "feast" yet, not just because it was absolutely delicious, but also because he showed more confidence than ever in the kitchen.

Historian showed excellent knife skills in preparing the pork to become schnitzel.

The table was decorated with the colors of the German flag, a doll in a dirndl, an Oktoberfest stein, a puzzle and game from Germany as well as German-made Schleich figures.

Historian and his perfectly cooked pork shnitzel and spaetzel (homemade German noodles).

The applesauce represents the more than 130 quarts made and canned by my friend K and me in October. I was taught how to make bulk applesauce by my German-born friend Vera.

Historian also prepared a scrumptious Black Forest cake that had us all raving.


After dinner, we played Labyrinth Der Meister, a German-language game given to us by our German-born friend Heidi.
Fortunately, we never completely left Germany. Because of schuhplattler, Historian's status as a Germanophile and our love for the German friends God has put in our lives, Germany will always be close to our hearts.

Next stop, Kenya!

Sunday, November 11, 2012

God Bless France!

For a number of reasons, I have a special place in my heart for France and its people. I minored in French in college. I spent a year studying in Luxembourg which allowed for several trips to France during which I fell in love with the country's dynamic, beautiful cities; picturesque villages that seemed to be lifted from the pages of a storybook; and its verdant and charming countryside. Near the end of my year abroad, and just about a week before my 20th birthday, I was in Paris with my mom, who had come to spend a month travelling with me before I was to return to the States with her. Exactly 20 years, later, just shy of my 40th birthday, my mom and I were in Paris again, this time with my 10-year-old son, my uncle and aunt. In all of my many travels to France, I have, without exception, found the French people to be warm, friendly and helpful. 

It goes without saying then, that Historian and I were especially glad to spend several days focusing our geography studies on France. The girls caught our enthusiasm, especially for the food!

We decorated the table with a French flag, books and, of course, food.

Orangina, a lightly carbonated pulpy orange drink in an adorably shaped bottle, became a favorite drink of mine when I travelled around France as a young adult. Historian, in turn, fell in love with it when he visited Paris. Naturally, when we found it in stores at home, we introduced it to the girls and, well, they couldn't get enough of it. Now it is met with squeals of delight when it is offered as a treat for special occasions. Clearly, it was a necessary choice for our French fete.

This grilled sandwich is called a croque monsieur, which translates as "Mr. Crunchy." It is a popular street food in the cities of France. It's quite simple to make: place ham and gruyere cheese between two slices of French bread. Dip both sides of the sandwich in beaten egg and grill in a hot buttered pan. It's basically a grilled ham and cheese sandwich with the addition of the egg coating. Historian, as usual, was our chef. He also made a creamy gruyere cheese sauce to pour over our sandwiches, taking it from street food to gourmet fare. If you place a fried egg on top of this sandwich, it becomes a croque madame or "Mrs. Crunchy." I never questioned the naming of the feminized version of the sandwich, but when I told Butterfly this piece of information, she immediately surmised, "It's because the egg is like her bonnet."

Our meal was really unbalanced: too much bread, but it seems the French do bread better than anyone and we just couldn't limit ourselves to one kind. Here, you see the flaky, buttery, quintessentially French croissant.

Baguette and camembert. This photo represents what an entire meal often consisted of for me and my travelling companions as college students, and that was, by no means, a bad thing!

Historian's chocolate mousse failed to reach a silky smooth consistency. However, you really can't go wrong when you combine melted chocolate and homemade whipped cream. Needless to say, there is not a drop of it left. We had to stop ourselves from licking the bowls.

Historian and I at the Eiffel Tower. He was 10 at the time.

Standing in front of Notre Dame Cathedral.

Historian's selected souvenir from the gift shop bookstore at The Louvre. Notice that Waldo has become Charlie!

My mom, Historian and I at Sacre Couer Basilica at Montmartre, France.
I have to admit, I was a bit reluctant to leave our study of France; it brought back many wonderful memories. I could stay here a while. I even sometimes dream that Steady Man and I will some day move to a little village in France and become a part of the fiber of that community (Steady Man does not share that dream). However, my kids are itching to move on, and so we must, this time to Historian's current obsession when it comes to countries: Germany.

Auf wiedersehen!

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

God Bless Brazil and Norway!

To conclude our trip to Brazil, Historian cooked the country's national dish , feijoada, for us. It consists of black beans and three kinds of meat. Four of the five of us loved it (one of us never likes anything with beans). Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos of that meal. I did, however, capture the kids making an anaconda out of coat hangers, an old bed sheet, twine, paint, googly eyes and red felt. The anaconda can be found in the Amazon Rain Forest of Brazil.





Our anaconda has been found slithering in bushes, climbing in trees, hiding in MY bed sheets, lurking on porch steps and hovering over sleeping teenagers. Who knows where he will turn up next?

Today, we finished up our trip to Norway.

For lunch, Historian made smoked sausage and Norwegian pancakes (pannekaken) which are similar to crepes, served with butter, strawberries and powdered sugar. This meal was a huge hit. The brightly colored table decorations, made by the girls, were inspired by the traditional blue, yellow and red clothing (called "gakti") worn by the Lapps (Sami) people of northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia.

The kids added the Norwegian flag to the table as well as a "dragon," because the kids say Norway is famous for its dragon legends.  In the back, you might spy a rosemaled box.

Rosemaling is a traditional art of Norway. I thought that the word "rosemaling" had something to do with the rose flower, but it translates as "decorative painting." That explains why the flowers used in rosemaling aren't very good representations of roses. You can see another rosemaled box here.

For dinner, Historian made lefse, a Norwegian cross between potato bread and potato pancakes. All three kids liked these and Historian was requested to make them on a monthly basis.

After boiling the potatoes, Historian riced the potatoes. I think he enjoyed this.

We loved the spaghettified look of riced potatoes.
Tomorrow, we head to France! Au revoir!

Monday, October 8, 2012

God Bless Canada!

While it was a whirlwind trip to Canada, it was an enjoyable one. Here are the photos of our celebration of Canada.

Historian made pancakes for our luncheon celebration.

Once again, Nana joined us for our party. The table is decorated with a Canadian flag, a bear and a wolf, three library books about Canada, a fishing motif table runner, and a pair of cut-out maple leaves.

Historian decided that making pancakes is fun!

Historian's "Canadian Blueberry Baked Dessert" was actually made with Michigan blueberries. Regardless, it was as delicious as it looks.

Given that Canada is our friendly neighbor to the north, we felt it would be fitting to serve Canadian bacon (Historian says that Canadians call it "peameal" bacon) alongside American bacon.

Nana took this rare photo of all five of the Smiths.


Historian kindly delayed digging in while I took this photo of his plate.
As the temperatures drop, we are thankful to be headed to warmer parts of the world tomorrow, if only in our studies. Look out Brazil! Here we come!

Friday, September 28, 2012

God Bless Mexico!

Today, we finished up our visit to Mexico in our home school geography curriculum. Historian and his assistant cocinera (me) made tortillas with seasoned ground beef, tomatoes, lettuce, shredded queso fresco, salsa, and sour cream.  To complete the meal, he also served tortilla chips, Mexican rice, and refried beans. The table was decorated with colorful dishes, a Mexican flag, tissue paper flowers, and a map of Mexico on the wall behind us.









These yarn paintings, created by Lizard and Butterfly, were inspired by the beautiful yarn creations of the Huichol Indians of the Pacific coast of Mexico.
Click here to find out more about this art.
We finished our fiesta by watching our favorite dancing dog video, a dog dancing the merengue.

Next week, we head north, crossing the border as we enter Canada! Au revoir!

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

God Bless the U.S.A.

In celebration of completing our study of the U.S.A., using a home school geography curriculum, we feasted on an all-American lunch today.

We decorated the table with flag bandannas, a flag stuck in an apple, a country-themed lemonade pitcher and, of course, a baseball!

While I gave him spelling words this morning, Historian baked this apple pie.
One of our goals for Historian this year is to have him do all the cooking for
our country feasts. He has great promise as a cook.

No celebration would be complete without a guest. Nana kindly agreed to fill that need.
The menu consisted of cheeseburgers, potato chips, a medley of strawberries and blueberries, lemonade, and homemade apple pie.


Historian's full cheek and smile should let you know just how good the apple pie tasted.


Last week, the girls made apple dolls as part of our study of the U.S.A.

Tomorrow, we travel to Mexico. Adios amigos!