Dinner and Menus

Tonight, for dinner, I had planned something light.  I knew we would be out and about for most of the day between church, lunch, and a going away party.  I had seen a friend posting many new recipes on her Facebook page and one in particular jumped out at me.  A Vegetable Frittata.  Now, anyone who knows how I cook, knows that I'm not one for following any recipe exactly, and I almost never measure anything....so, here goes...tonight's dinner!

I grated up 3 potatoes for 6 people.  I then mixed in 4 eggs and added a clove of garlic, some onion, tomato, green pepper, grated carrots, and about 4 slices of bacon all chopped up (I had pre-cooked those last night with dinner, we did Aussie Chicken from "The Outback Steakhouse")

I poured some olive oil in the pan to heat it up, then scooped the mixture into the pan and flattened it out evenly.  I let it cook on the one side for about a minute or so, then flipped it for a couple of minutes.  Then I flipped it back again, put some freshly grated cheddar cheese on top, and let it melt.  It was excellent.

We also had our fresh strawberries tonight.  The container had 12, so we each had about 2 strawberries; but, they were an excellent end to the meal!

Here's my menu for this past week and the next couple...  Hope it gives you some ideas, too.  Be free to change and add as you like.  I can't tell you the number of times that something that someone has said, or posted, has given me an idea and I just go with it...be creative, have fun!  That's what our cooking journey is all about!

Monday - Red Snapper Fish with mango/tomato salsa, side of Asian salad and bread rolls

Tuesday - Fish Tacos with leftover fish from Monday (Tuesdays are one of our busiest days.  We are helping with the Sala Sala Ministry team until about 5:30/6pm and so by the time we get home, we just want to eat.  I have Mama Rose, our house help, make tortillas this day, some rice, and beans.  We leave them on the stove top so that when we come home, we can just reheat the fish from the previous day, put in all the fixins, toss some cheese, tomatoes, and avocado on top and we're good to go in the dinner department)

Wednesday - Pesto Canneloni with garlic bread

Thursday - Corn and Chicken Chowder with bread rolls

Friday - Chicken Pot Pie with a salad

Saturday - Aussie Chicken (recipe from www.allrecipes.com) with steamed broccoli, salad, and bread rolls.

Sunday - Veggie and Bacon Frittata with strawberries

Monday - Red Snapper with Coconut and Veggie Sauce, roasted potatoes and steamed broccoli

Tuesday - Fish Tacos with leftover fish from Monday and mchicha (the local spinach here in Tanzania, super good!)

Wednesday - Lasagna with boerwors (a South African sausage) and mince (the word here for ground beef), side salad, and bruschetta

Thursday - Potato, Boerwors, and Cheddar soup with salad and bread rolls

Friday - Mexican Night at Verna's!

Saturday - ???  Up in the air, because we want to take Carol somewhere

Sunday - Pizza night, Buffalo Chicken on half, Pepperoni on the other half

Monday - Garlic and Veggie Shrimp over pasta, with salad and bread rolls

Tuesday - Chili with rice and bread rolls (we can make this before hand and eat it when we get home from Sala Sala)

Wednesday - Asian Pork with Asian salad and fried rice

Thursday - Bacon, Chicken, and Dumpling Soup with salad and bread rolls

Friday - Chicken Pesto Pasta for the kids and Carol (Jeff and I will be at the HOPAC Staff Appreciation Dinner)

Saturday - Taking Carol to the airport, Jeff will take the kids and get burgers?

....Make a new menu, lol!

One of the things that I love...

I was reminded today about one of the things I just love about being in Tanzania....fresh produce, at a great price!

We have company that just got here on Friday, Carol, and as we did our weekly produce shop today, and we were talking just the other day about the price of buying organic in the States, I was reminded about one of the many blessings we've already come to take for granted here...

This is my produce purchase that will cover us for most of the week.  You have to soak it in a mixture of water and vinegar, or some people do it with bleach, to be sure that all the bugs and stuff are gone.

What I purchased...

Bananas, a clove of garlic, an avocado, 6 apples, 6 carrots, 4 lemons, 4 heads of broccoli, 1 head of lettuce, 1 head of spinach, 1 set of green onions, 3 onions, 3 tomatoes, 6 potatoes, and a container of strawberries.  YES, thank the Lord, I was able to get 1 of the last 2 containers of strawberries at the Green Grocer!

My total bill for all this produce was 16,500 tsh (Tanzanian Shillings)...that equates to about $10 or so.  Want to know how much the strawberries cost?

They were 4,500 tsh...so these little guys were about a 1/4 of the bill!

Yes, produce here is prolific and cheap.  Unless it's berries...they are all imported!  We do miss our berries :).  Canned goods and prepackaged food of any kind are very expensive, so we tend to only get those kinds of things in small amounts.  Thank you Lord that I can feed my family and not have to spend a fortune, that is not always the case and I would do well to remember how He has blessed us in this season of our lives!

Van Gogh and other fun!

This week we finished covering a few countries in Asia and our artist was Van Gogh.  We also read through several more chapters of "Treasure Island."  Enjoy the pictures!

This was from last week actually.  Sissi using some of her pressed flowers to make a birthday card for her friend Alana.

A quick picture of the party...playing "Simon Says" with Uncle Charles.

Working on Van Gogh's "Sunflowers"

Gwangi working hard.

Krypto's attempt.  He really enjoyed the idea of brush strokes that we see in Van Gogh's work.

Learning about Thailand and copying down the information about it in his Expedition Earth notebook.

Coloring the flag of Thailand and updating our passport.

Some of the books we used this week with Expedition Earth.

The kids' versions of Van Gogh's "Sunflowers"

Krypto's "Starry Night"

Gwangi's "Starry Night"

Getting ready for "Treasure Island" read aloud

Our gardener, Happy, saw me taking pictures and asked that I take one of him, too!

Last week was Sabbath Week

This year, I stole an idea from another homeschool friend of mine, and we took every 7th week (or so) as a Sabbath Week.  We would take off from school, take a trip, spend time on home projects, and just do something other than school.

I really think it helped us to not get bogged down and stuck in a rut.  We never really got tired of school this year.  It was a great way to keep the excitement up!

Last week started off with us on the beach in Zanzibar.  It was the mid term break from HOPAC and so we took a few days to relax with some friends.  It was great, we did relax, and I didn't take any pictures.

We returned to the mainland on Tuesday and had a really rough crossing on the ferry.  My whole family was sick to some degree or another.  You know how people always say that even if you get behind in your Bible reading, that when you pick up again, you are right where you need to be...for that time....well, I had that experience on Tuesday.  At the beginning of the ride, I had my Bible out and was starting in Job Ch. 30 and my plan was to finish the book of Job so that I could move on with the Psalms when I got home.  By Job 38, we were sick.  The last few verses I read were God telling Job how He had created the sea, the waves, that He had put up their boundaries and told them when and where to stop.  Let's just say that as I was sitting on the floor of that ferry, rocking my sick little girl in my lap, I was rocking myself, back and forth, and repeating over and over again "God, you made the seas and the waves, please calm them, please put them back in their place, please calm the sea, please calm the sea Lord..."

It was so comforting to know that the Lord cares about all of our needs and He knew I would need to find those comforting words on that day!  Definitely another example for me to hide away and remember when it's been a tough day.

I also took some time this week to pull out the old sewing machine.  It's actually a NEW sewing machine; but, you know what I mean.  It took me most of the day, reading the instruction manual, to figure it all out.  I left my trusty old Viking back in storage.  I had bought some material when we were visiting in Zanzibar and wanted to make some curtains for our as yet, undecorated guest room.  We have a friend coming to stay with us for the next two weeks.  In fact, she arrives in about 3 hours....better get going!

The curtains that are behind the bed

Curtains leading out to the garden area

First Week of Summer School!

First week of Summer School and it was so much fun.  Also, got quite a few more pictures than usual because it's just more fun to take pictures of arts and crafts, as opposed to math books and phonics!

We got this super cool kit from the Hansons.  Flowers were from our garden.

Tightening it down.  Next week, we'll take them out and make some cards for the Grandmas!

Notice how Sissi's pressed flowers are now her doll's tea party table.

We learned about China, South Korea, Japan, and India this week for Expedition Earth.

In China, we would all be 1 year older, because they are considered 1 at birth.

Cutting out South Korea's flag to put in our passport.

In South Korea, the number 4 is considered unlucky...there are no '4th' floors in buildings and you don't want many 4's in your phone number either.  Krypto wondered why then they put the 4 Taoist symbols of harmony, symmetry, balance, and circulation in the 4 corners of their flag?  Anyone know?

We started our Artist series this week, too.

This week, Pablo Picasso.  Here the kids are doing "Girl Before a Mirror," you can see it on the book in the background.

Gwangi really does love art.

This is Krypto's attempt.

Working on India here, coloring our flag, and copying the facts from the board on the desk.

We translated our names into each of the languages this week, converted money so we could see how much we would get if we visited.  We also learned about how people live by reading the "Children Just Like Me" DK book, learned about the geography of the area, heard music from the different countries, etc.  Today, while learning about the Taj Mahal, we 'wandered' all over while looking at pictures of all the different Wonders of the World.

Just a bit of science, by request.  Doing experiments about the ph of liquids.

Funny comment to share...as I'm cleaning up, Krypto is reading the experiment book and says "Hey Mom, next time we get to do an experiment it will be about the destiny of water."  I'm thinking "What??"  Then I laugh, "Do you mean the DENSITY of water?"  Krypto rather sheepishly, "Oh yeah, that."

Painting Picasso's "Bather with Beach Ball"

Another serious painter here.

Lots of concentration going on from Krypto.

Krypto's final picture.

Sissi's...I had done the pencil drawing for her and she painted it all by herself.

Here is the original

Working on a puzzle to see if they can recreate the "Girl Before the Mirror" and then we did a small lapbook matching 6 of his pieces to their titles.  I think they enjoyed it; but, they all said they didn't want to be "cubist" painters.

Summer School 2012

Well, Monday is the big day...we're starting Summer School!

Don't worry, we'll still take days off for play dates, family outings once Daddy is done teaching at HOPAC, and fun; but, my kiddos (and I) do much better with a plan and a bit of organization in our lives.  So, no judgement here if you don't do Summer School, for us, we just need to keep busy!  I know it's not for everyone, really, I do!

Here's what we're planning on doing....

After breakfast and a bit of play time, we'll start off the day (about 8:30/9ish) with the kids practicing their music, when we're all still fresh and ready for the day.  We'll continue their lessons thru the summer as well.  I'm not sure what day that will be yet, we'll still be going to HOPAC on Thursday mornings until school is over there, which is the end of June.

Next, we'll come to the table as a group and have prayer, pledges, and Bible reading time.

I'll do some pre-school type stuff with Sissi while the boys work on a math review page in their books.  Then they'll pick another book or two to do something out of while they wait for me to be done spending time with Sissi.  I brought a bunch of Kumon maze, cutting and pasting activities, drawing books, Logic books, etc...so they can choose a couple, and do something fun while I'm working with Sissi.  These are books that just don't seem to get done during the regular school year anymore...they used to, in the States; but, here, we have really gone back to the "basics."  It'll be great to do some fun activities again.

Then, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we're going to buckle down and start reviewing and learning some more Swahili.  On Tuesday and Thursday, we're going to work through a Typing program...specifically for the boys; but, we'll all watch.  Krypto, in particular, has so much to say and just can't write fast enough to get it all out. I think it will really help him to learn how to type.

To finish off our morning, we'll do the Expedition Earth program from Confessions of a Homeschooler (http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/world-geography).  She has it set up to take an entire school year...you spend 1 week on each country.  I'm planning on a whirlwind tour.  We do quite a bit of Geography with our Tapestry of Grace curriculum (http://www.tapestryofgrace.com/index.php) already, so I'm going to just spend a day on each country and hit the highlights.  If they seem more interested, we might spend a 2nd or 3rd day; but, for the most part, we'll move on and they can read or look into it on their own.

We'll then have some free play time, while I get lunch ready.  After that, we'll do art, also from Confessions of a Homeschooler (http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/blog/2011/06/worlds-greatest-artists-unit-study.html).  Now that I plan to do as she has it written, she takes 8 lessons with each artist and so we'll plan on that...8 days per artist, unless they just don't seem interested.  We'll still be done with school by 1ish in the afternoon and have some time for quiet time and then we can head out to play at the park, go swimming, see a friend, etc.

What I am trying to do here is branch out and spend time on things that I just don't normally do during the regular school year.  I am usually spending all our time on spelling, writing, reading, grammar, math, history, science, etc, etc.....  So, often times, the fun things, like trying new recipes from countries that we're learning about, or making a mess with paint and chalk, just don't happen.

We'll see how it goes.  I fully intend it to be a more fun, "hands on" experience for them.  We'll take a bunch of pictures and share with all of you.  Do you have any plans for the summer?

Last Day of "School"

Well, it's Friday, and the end of our official school year.  Yahoo!

We'll start "Summer School" on Monday and as I was describing it this morning, I was disappointed when Krypto's response was, "Uh, Mom...that sounds like regular school."

Oh man, and I was trying so hard to make it fun and interesting.  Needless to say...we're still doing it :)....and I think they'll come around.  I've got it full of all the hands-on stuff that I tend to drop when I get busy and just want to get through all the reading, writing, and arithmetic.

This week we also had Krypto's Violin, Grade 2, Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) Recital and Exam.  The recital on Tuesday went very well. Today was the exam and Krypto was a bit nervous; but, he said that the examiner was very friendly and put him at ease.  He played three songs - March by Handel, Mango Walk a Traditional Jamaican Song, and Theme from the William Tell Overture by Rossini.  He then had to play 3 scales that the examiner chose for him from 8, by memory, and then 2 arpeggios, again from 8 that he had memorized.  There was some sight reading and then a few aural exams where they have to listen to different pieces the examiner played and talk about tone, dynamic, and other things.  We won't know for a week how well he did.  Today was the first day of exams and the examiner is traveling all over Tanzania to other schools and examining the other musicians.  We will know before he leaves the country though, so hopefully by the end of next week?

Here are a few photos from this week as we've been wrapping up our other subjects.

Working on a craft showing the three branches of the US Government that were set up by the US Constitution

Brought out the old Ben Franklin "Join or Die" as a reminder of the push to get the states to ratify the Constitution.  Also, our map work, showing the first 13 States and when they ratified the Constitution.  We began our state notebook and president cards as well over the past two weeks.  We'll have fun continuing those next year as we go through each President's term and talk about which states joined the Union during their term.

Krypto's recital on Tuesday, in the music room.

Doing some history reading and writing.  He finished up the Ben Franklin book this week and was reading another chapter in his book about Napoleon on his Kindle.  The blue notebook is his writing book.

Gwangi, working through some of his "Explode the Code" phonics workbook.

Sissi, working on finishing up her Book D "Do it Carefully" from the Rod and Staff pre-school series.

Krypto and Mr. Notman, his violin instructor, after his exam.