international night

Well, last night our family had its first International Night…the first of many to come as we learn more about the world around us through cultural crafts and food.

We started on a pinata a few days ago, and since it was FINALLY dry by yesterday morning, we got straight to work decorating it after school/work.

String for hanging the pinata.

I took a pair of scissors and poked holes on opposite sides of the opening and tied the ends of a 2′ piece of yarn through the holes. The brown bits are is the whole wheat flour.

Prepping the paper

I decided to use tissue paper instead of paint, thinking the glue would dry faster. The kiddo picked out 2 colors and he started to tear the paper along the grain into strips. The goal was to aim for strips 1-2″ wide, but then again he is 3.66 years old and accuracy is not his forte. It’s the participation that counts!

Slapping some paper onto the pinata.

I hung the pinata on the back of a chair so we could swing it around as we glued on the paper. I squeezed some glue onto the pinata and we started to wrap the strips around it.

Mom helping out with the decorating.

And I've lost him to the TV.

This is how most things work out if the TV is on. The kid can’t help it, he gets it from me. And my Dad.

Stuffing the pinata with goodies.

The husband helped fill it full of goodies and leftover strips of tissue paper. We let it hang while we enjoyed a delicious dinner of…

Mmmmm.......

Tilapia Tacos! So easy and soooo good, and totally in our International Night Mexico theme. I’ll see if I can get the recipe posted on “Will They Eat It?” in the near future. After noshing on those, the kiddo just could not wait to bust up the pinata.

Trying to crack that thing open.

Yes, that is a lightsaber he is using to break open the pinata. That’s what happens when you live in a house with Star Wars freaks.

Banging it into submission.

He ended up ripping the pinata from the yarn and it fell to the floor, where he continued to beat it with the light saber until it bled Sweet-Tarts. Victory! We enjoyed some before heading back to the dinner table for the finishing touch…

Double mmmmmmm.......

My first attempt at a Tres Leches cake, a very Mexican dessert and very, very, very yummy. How can you go wrong with a cake containing 5 eggs, 1 can each of sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk? Topped with real whipped cream and sweet strawberries? It was very well received in the Crafty casa.

Notice how all the icing is gone first? He gets that from his Dad.

After dinner and bath, we snuggled up and read a section in the Childcraft Holidays and Customs volume about pinatas and celebrations in Mexico to round out our International Night experience.

Maybe we will visit Germany next time…homemade pretzels, schnitzel, potato balls? Or Thailand with spring rolls and pad thai? Where do you think we should head next?

Have a great weekend, guys…

Leigh

Tomorrow is my husband’s birthday, so in conjunction with the big day I decided to have our International Night tomorrow to celebrate.

After reading through the Childcraft book, I decided our cultural project would be to make a pinata for the fiesta. The book said that any self-respecting fiesta would have a pinata, and we know how kids like to tear things up, so we worked on one Tuesday.

I found a great and simple video tutorial on About.com that I used for the project. The adjustments I made were using whole wheat flour for the paste (that’s all i use in the house) instead of all-purpose white, and using long 8″-ish strips of paper instead of 1-2″ pieces cause I’m lazy and I don’t have a lot of time for tiny pieces.

The Sunday Dem-a-zette, after reading of course...

Here’s my strips of paper in a bowl. Note my dining room is covered in a large thick blanket…be sure to follow this lead. And you might want to change your kids into some play clothes and cover your floor. Things will be very drippy.

The concept is easy…dip strips, squeeze off excess, layer on balloon.

Dip, sqeeze...

...lay on balloon.

He is loving the ooey gooey part of this project!

This was around 6:30 or so on Tuesday. The video suggested we use 2-3 layers for a sturdy pinata, so I decided to only do one so it would break open easily for the kiddo. She said give each layer about a day to dry.

I guess we laid ours on really thick because it’s still not dry at 10:36 p.m.  Wednesday, more than 24 hours later. Maybe it’s the whole wheat flour? Who knows.

Letting the air vent do its work.

I just put it on the floor next to an air vent hoping that might speed up the process. We’ll see in the morning…I wanted to paint it, but we’ll have to see about that one! I bought some Sweet-tarts for the inside, the husband’s favorite candy.

But I know what will work tomorrow…Tilapia Tacos! Mmmm, one of our favorites around here and created by moi. And guess what just came out of the oven? A Tres Leches cake…it smells heavenly in here right now. I remember his grandma making what we all called Eagle Brand cake, and it was my guy’s FAVORITE dessert. So it’s all about him tomorrow…and Mexico, of course!

There was an article in the August 16 edition of the Democrat Gazette’s Travel section about the new trend of “staycations.” It was a great article about how the majority of American families stayed at or close to home this summer, creating fun memories for their children while staying in their budget.

The Robinson family mentioned in the article caught my creative eye. There’s mom and dad with four kids and another one on the way, so instead of spending their time and money burning the highways they decided to go around the world from their kitchen table.

Every other Friday night this past summer, they picked a country to focus on. They made a recipe that would be native to that country, made a craft that was representational for that culture and shared stories about the country.

I LOVE THIS IDEA!! As soon as I read the story I knew it was something I wanted to introduce to our routine. Not only are you introducing your family to cultures they might not know much about but you can jazz up your dinner recipe catalog at the same time.

This month will be the first international expedition for us, and guess where we are going?

¡Buen apetito! Although I think he is probably at a soccer game.

Yes, you could consider this a cop out since we have tacos almost every week around here, but I decided to have an international night after I’d already gone to the grocery store. So I had to compromise a bit. Maybe I will make a flan too.

I went to the CALS online catalog for books on Mexican children and customs, but then I remembered I purchased a set of the Childcraft Books at a church sale last month (YEA for cheap church sales; I got almost the whole set for $7.50) and in the  Children Everywhere book there are stories about children from all over the world. So we can read the story from Mexico at night, and do a coordinating craft. The little girl’s family in the story are potters, so I thought for our craft we could paint clay pots or make things from modeling clay.

Any other ideas on what we can do that night? It will probably be this or next Friday evening, and I will be sure to post pictures of the fiesta! 

No le digo adiós, sino hasta luego (Goodbye for now…I’ll be back in touch soon)!

Leigh