Our last birthday of the "season:" Garrett turns 11

This spring has simply been a whirlwind of places to go and things to do.

We've celebrated 6 birthdays within our immediate family,

and this guy always patiently parties with his siblings

and lets them have their day without jealousy.

But as his day begins to draw closer, he always starts planning

out what he wants that day to look like.

He especially wanted a day off from school so we could go to the 

Dallas Zoo as a family.

Then he wanted to go swimming (as we have done nearly every 

other year for the last 5 or 6 years), and finally cap off the day

with cheeseburgers.

We had to accommodate a full day of rain and several siblings
who had to take finals in their English class that day,
but we were able to stick pretty close to his plan.

Advanced Foods: Final Project: Mini-International Foods Festival!!

"All good things must come to an end,"

and so it is with my delightful Advanced Foods class.

We have just had an absolute blast tasting our way around the world.

I decided our final project for this class needed to be a way of showcasing

all of the different elements of what my students have learned over the last semester.

What better way to do that than hosting a mini "International Food Festival."

I assigned the girls the task of choosing which country 

they would like to represent,

writing a paper about that country and its foods,

 then choosing 3 dishes from that country to prepare.

I also asked them to prepare a simple table presentation

 that displayed all of these elements.

We prepared enough for each student and teacher in our co-op to sample,

and what a wonderful morning we had together!!!

Ashlyn fell in love with the continent of Asia and chose 3 different dishes from

3 different countries.

Spicy Shirataki Miso Stir-Fried Noodles {Japan}

 and Stir-fried Beef with Snowpeas {China}

Korean Sweet Pancakes

{Hotteok}

Grace chose the country of England and prepared 3 delicious dishes.

Banoffe Pie and Blueberry Scones

Coronation Chicken Sandwiches

Rachel chose Jewish cuisine.

Delicious Pan-Roasted Cherry Tomato Soup!

Citrus Roasted Chicken and Kurabiye Wedding Butter Cookies

A "knock-your-socks-off Sparkling Limonana
which combined the flavors of lemon and fresh mint!!

Brea thrilled us all with her choice of Italy!

Her lasagna was incredible.....

.......as was this tasty Italian Cream Soda!

Everyone loved this!!!

What fun browsing around the children as they were sampling their

plates full of food and hearing their thoughts on what they were tasting!

Nearly each of the children chose their siblings food as their favorite!

Hilarious!

I'm not sure I've had more fun teaching than I have this year.  

This class "took the cake" and my students were so diligent and eager!

When God opened the door for our family to be a part of this homeschool co-op

I wasn't sure I would enjoy teaching high-schoolers.

What an amazing surprise it was for me to learn something new about myself!!

If I hadn't taken that step of faith, look at all the blessings I would have missed out on!!

God is so good!!!

Advanced Foods: Guest Teacher for Central and South America

Our very last guest teacher of the year for my Advanced Foods class

came to us representing Central and South America.

This lovely gentleman was born and raised deep in the heart of Mexico,

but has traveled extensively into both Central and South America

on different mission trips reaching people for Christ.

He shared many wonderful facts about the history of these cultures

and the influences on the foods enjoyed in these cultures.

We learned that the economy, agriculture, and geography of each country

heavily dictates the food available to them.

He gave us recipes for his world famous Mexican rice as well as

for migas (this is a scrambled egg dish with fried corn tortillas in it.)

His wife demonstrated how to prepare corn tortillas by warming/frying them

 quickly before serving. 

Finally, we tasted some lovely treats from his home country to round 

out our class!!

Thank you, Dr. Paco and Mrs. Lesa Guerrero for being such 

a blessing to my class!!!

We loved everything you prepared for us!!!