French Cuisine

The French teacher contacted all the parents and asked if we could help her on a "cooking day" with the kids. Another lady and I responded that we could.

She told us to come at the beginning of the day and just wait for the morning lessons to be over, and then we would all walk to the cafeteria to "cook."  

I don't speak French, but the other mother does.

The teacher wrote the recipe on the board in French and all the students had to copy it down and recite it a few times.

Next she started writing something, and I saw the words "Keira" and "maman," and I got a little nervous.

The next thing I know, the kids are grinning, looking at us, and then they start working.

And then they start showing the teacher what they have drawn.

I couldn't type the words into google translate at the time because I was trying to be engaged, but later at home, I was able to use my app to translate what it said:

Keira's mom and Aryana's mom are in the class.  They are seated on small chairs. They eat a cake.  They cat is under the table.



It wasn't quite like sitting for a portrait painting, but it was a little intimidating to have 23 second graders drawing pictures of you :)

The teacher paired up the students and gave each table of four a bowl and a wooden spoon.

Everything was in French, but at one point the teacher told me in broken English, "These kids have never been in the kitchen before.  They don't know how to mix, get their hands dirty, cut, or cook.  This is a shame!"

I'd say they picked it up rather quickly.

I would go to each table to help them finish rolling out the dough or add more flour or whatever they needed.

Most of the time, I spent peeling apples for the kids, so they could cut them into small pieces. They really liked the cutting part, but there were only a couple of knives per table, so the cutting took a long time. Plus, some of these kids really had never used a knife before, so it went really slowly.

November 13, 2019

I'm really not sure what they ended up making :)

They filled the dough pan with apples, and that was it.  No topping, no sugar, no cinnamon.  They just went out to recess while I cleaned up.

Later, Keira said the teacher baked them in the school ovens, but before cooking, she added a coin to each one.  

All I know is that Keira didn't like it, so I guess we won't be recreating it at home ;)

Hedgehog Café and Coming Home

My friend Hayley introduced me to the concept of a Cat Café when I was in Dubai.  She told me about it, and I laughed because I thought she was kidding.  I couldn't get my head around going to a café for the sole purpose of having a cat to pet and sit in my lap while I ate a meal.

I like cats, but I don't like their hair getting everywhere (plus cats have been known to cause my eyes to water, my skin to break out, and my airways to close off - no big deal).  The amount of hair flying around our house from me and the girls is enough, why would I want more? 

In my mind I just knew I would never go to a cat café (because I might have an asthma attack), and that was pretty much the last thought I gave to it.

Enter Thailand.  

We had the opportunity to go to a Hedgehog Café, and I seriously couldn't believe my kids were excited about it, but they were, so we went.

You purchase a certain number of drinks and a dessert, and then you get some hedgehogs brought to your table.

They set us up with bowls of mealworms with tweezers and a few hedgehogs to annoy feed and love on.

The waitress told us the names of each hedgehog, and my children quickly became attached naming their favorites.

The fun didn't stop there.  Soon it was feeding time for the guinea pigs.

A lady beat some grass against the wood, and out they came, crossed over a bridge, and entered into a "feeding area," where many small children abused fed them.

Keira was gentle and patient - even as other kids came and stole grass out of her hands!

We stayed for quite awhile, and it was one of my kids' favorite things, so I'm so glad we did its. 

And yes, I did hold one hedgehog for a very short amount of time.  I thought he was going to skydive off my hands, so I quickly passed him off to Caleb as all the kids laughed at me.

Too quickly, our time came to an end, and we left the lush green of Thailand's hills to return to the vast desert in the Middle East.

 

Summer was officially over.  Time for school to start.

Seventeen! In Thailand!

We were in Thailand for Kylie's 17th birthday.

We had a low-key breakfast at an outdoor café, where it actually rained on us a little while we were there.

Kylie and Doug rode on a rented scooter to breakfast,

while the rest of us climbed in the back of the island's version of a taxi.

After breakfast, we went swimming and then we walked to get some sandwiches and coffee for a late lunch, early dinner. 

After sundown, we walked to a restaurant on the water that looked worthy of a 17th birthday dessert.

We all tried smoothies, and most of them were pretty good, but the view was definitely the best part.

When the restaurant heard us singing "Happy Birthday" to Kylie, they brought her something special, but it wasn't a cake.

Bet you never saw this coming...

Crackers with chocolate dipping sauce (H.B.D.)

Yep.  You heard me correctly.



I think this was one of the sure signs that it was "off-season" on the island.

We ate a few, but mostly we just played with the letters.

Kylie is a pretty fantastic human being.  Being the firstborn, she is the guinea pig for a lot of things, and she bravely takes them on.  She pitches in around the house, helps fix her sister's hair, cooks, and works hard at all she does.  She has a creative streak that I only dream about, and she gets excited about planning events and following through with all the details.

She is strong, protective, honest, loyal, self-confident, stylish, and fun.  She is a lot of things I had always hoped to be, and I'm so proud of her.



She's looking ahead at all that is to come, but...



I'm looking back, remembering all that was :)

Happy 17th, Kylie!

Opening Day

Why don't things like this scare children?

They scare me a little.

This was registration day back in the fall for the dance/gymnastics/hip hop/yoga/pilates/karate/guitar/piano/singing/art classes for the year.  Since my two older girls are teachers, they had to be available all day, so I hung out a little while with them.

I'm guessing the studio rented any suit they could find in-country, because there is no correlation between any of these characters and what was going on inside, but Keira still wanted her picture made with the "pretty cat."

The treats inside were pretty amazing though.

The sticks above, that the notes are on, are the reason we left the studio with a loose tooth.

There are no complaints here.  Keira was pretty excited.

And it was a successful registration day, so now every Saturday, the girls get to see these cuties.

Date Cookie

I think one of the favorite desserts around here is a special cookie made with mashed dates rolled inside.

An American friend of mine was learning how to make them from her neighbor, and she invited me to come.  I was a little late because I had language class, but I got in on most of it.

My friend mashed the dates flat on the plastic with oil on her fingers so that they wouldn't stick to her.

Her neighbor rolled the dough out on a tri-legged wooden table.  

Most ladies use this small table for either rolling dough or cutting veggies or meat since most of ladies cook on the floor.  It's quite handy.

After rolling the dates in the dough, she would cut little slits in the top for the classic look that you can see in the pan above.

When the pan was full (and this was just pan one of two and a half), the neighbor brushed them with raw egg before we baked them.

Making them was quite time-consuming, and I will certainly appreciate them more when I am offered them next time.

We ran out of dates before the dough ran out, so on our third batch, we made half a pan of just "cookies."

To be honest, these were never my favorite thing to eat when I visited homes, but after making them, I'm endeared to them a little more.























































I kind of look forward to the next time I get to try them, and guess what?

Newroz is right around the corner.  Remember that?