Little Chefs

Today we chose Greek food for our themed meal. This is food we enjoy and I make it fairly regularly, but today the children made the meal. Part of the enjoyment for me is all the help I get in the kitchen and the fact that the children are learning the valuable skill of cooking.

Z sliced the bringals and for me and steamed them in the microwave instead of frying them. This cuts down on the fat content of the meal and is a much quicker method too.

Our delicious Moussaka complete with a Greek Salad....the lettuce was freshly picked in the garden too!

A day of preparation

Much of today was spent preparing for our festivities tomorrow. We are getting together with friends to enjoy the opening match of the World Cup and each child is preparing something deliceous from a chosen country. They will also be presenting some information on the country they chose.

Z prepared a Japanese treat: Chocolate oat crackles....(sushi would just not do it for him!)

K spent part of the morning with her Dutch Oma who taught her to make Satay Sauce. We just love this spicy peanut sauce with chicken kebabs! Once home, she made the marinade for the chicken.

J chose Mexico and we have been making the pinata all week. It was time to paint it and add the finishing touches today.

He chose to paint the pinata in the Bafana Bafana colours, giving it a South African flavour. We filled it with all sorts of yummy treats and added an SA flag for decoration.

Another great day...

Today was officially the last day of the school term as the World Cup starts in just two days. We however will not be taking a five week holiday. BUT our school has taken on a more relaxed tone as we are enjoying finishing up books we are reading and exploring the foods of the nations from the World Cup.

Our day began today with a wonderful Bible study lead by a fellow home school mom. She and her family are working as missionaries and very kindly taught us how to "discover" what Gods Word is saying to us as we read it.

We all first had to tell the group what are thankful for and then tell about any "need" each of us may have, whether it be a problem with a friend or anything else bothering us.

We went on to read from the Bible. We read from Proverbs and the scriptures revolved around honesty and how God expects that from us. We went through the reading verse by verse and summarised what was being said by each verse. Then it was time to reflect on what we had read and then we each told the others how we would put into practice what we had read or how it will make a difference in our own lives. The children really enjoyed the time spent together and found it meaning full. We have decided that we will use this format when we read the Bible together in the mornings.

We came home after a lovely shared lunch and then spent some time reading the story we are busy with. Soon it was time to get K ready for her play. We have so enjoyed our drives to the other side of the mountain together. A lovely time of catch up and chatting together.

She enjoyed the final night of her play and was happy that her grandpa and uncle and aunt were there to support her tonight.

On Friday we are planning all sorts of fun for the opening of the World Cup. In preparation, we have been making a pinata. The weather has been rather cold so it has been taking a long time to dry. I have been moving it around the house to find the sunny spots and have even been trying to speed up the drying process with a hairdryer!

Tonight, I was thrilled to see that hubby had a fire going when I came home...the pinata needed that! It has dried beautifully this evening

K relaxed next to the fire and dutifully turned the pinata so that it could dry all over. We even managed to get it dry enough to add another layer. The fire was a gas fire but hubby pulled out the gas pipes and we have made it into a wood burning fire. The gas just did not do the trick! Now we can look forward to picking up pine cones in the forest for our fire.

The Book Matrix

K has been attending drama lessons since the beginning of the year and just loving it. The cast of 20 children have been working long and hard on a play called "The Book Matrix".

Rehearsals have taken up much of her time. On Friday evening they had their first dress rehearsal which went on well into the evening. Monday night saw another rehearsal and finally tonight the first show.

K played the part of a genie called "The Doxologist" or Doxo for short. The story is about four children, two of whom are reluctant readers, who are transported to different times and places by way of books.

K and the other genie basically pull the parts of the play together by taking the children to see Medusa and Athena, Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Frances Drake, Tom Sawyer and Queen Elizabeth.It was very well done and all the children appeared to be enjoying themselves on stage.

Below are the four "children" and the two genies.

More Fan Food

Today it has been very cold and wet so it was fitting to eat some soup. My little "chefette" prepared Locro, a soup from Paraguay....it was delicious!

She prepared the soup on her own. It is basically a butternut soup base with bacon, tomato, beans, chili, garlic and other yummy spices. It is something we will make again!

The little guy has had fun building various soccer stadiums over the last couple of days. I love the "mad guy in the corner with a vuvuzela"!

He too prepared a delicious treat for us today. He made Slovenian almond bars....they are yummy!

He wants to make his birthday cake out of these so they must be good! I enjoyed the fact that they are not too sweet.

Here is the recipe of you want to give it a try:

1cup flour

180ml ground almonds

125ml whole almonds chopped

180ml icing sugar

125g butter

4 egg whites, lightly beaten

1 egg lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 180 C

Grease and line a 20cm baking tray

Mix flour, ground almonds, icing sugar, butter and egg whites

Spread into baking tray and brush top with beaten egg

Scatter chopped almonds over top

Bake for about 35min

When cool, cut into squares and enjoy!

Mmmm, wonder what we will be eating next?

Eating our way around the world

The children have spent time making beautiful, bright note booking pages for their world cup studies. They know those flags off pat and I enjoyed walking through the mall with Z as he called out all the flags he saw.

Z bought himself some fun "arm warmers" with his pocket money. I didn't even know such a thing existed until yesterday. He chose to buy Netherlands arm warmers as his daddy is from the Netherlands. ( I really liked the South African ones as they are so colourful.) They are fun to wear as one can wear a T shirt with the arm warmers. They look cute and he has worn them at every opportunity!

When I planned my grocery shopping, I thought it would be fun to eat foods from the different countries represented in the World Cup....

Today my little chefs prepared a German meal.

They made a German potato salad, some red cabbage salad and sausage........

complete with a German Flag!

They had a great time preparing the food and eating it too!

Another Silver Medal

J competed in the Karate Association of the Western Cape Tri-angular Championships on Saturday. He was not greatly impressed at coming second place. Apparently the judges did not penalise his opponent for strikes to the face which were not allowed. He did however bring home a lovely silver medal and should qualify to compete in the Champ of Champs later in the year.