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!