International Adventures in Cooking

We've been studying "Story of the World, Vol 4" and have found that cooking food from the countries we are learning about make it more interesting. We learned that Ethiopia was one of two countries that remained under it's own rule after the "Scramble for Africa" . So we made Ground Nut Sauce with eggplant. B. thought it was OK, J. didn't like it and I thought it was great. BK said I could make it again. It is also good with squash instead of eggplant.

Basically it is one onion sauteed, two tomatoes diced (or one small can of diced tomatoes) sauteed with the onions. Cut the eggplant into bite sized portions and saute them with the onions and tomato. Take 1/2 cup of peanut butter (preferably one without sugar - the first time I made it I used the blender and made my own with lightly salted peanuts with oil) and 1/4 cup of water. When the eggplant is cooked (about 10 minutes) add the peanut sauce.
Serve over rice. Ours need more salt. I also tried it later over sweet potatoes. It was really yummy of sweet potatoes.

Next we read about the next-to-last czar of Russia, Alexander III, how his father was working to improve the life of serfs and improve the country. He saw his father assassinated so when he came to power he took away some of the liberties his father had granted. We also read a book "Russian Girl:Life in an Old Russian Town " that had an easy recipe for Pirog - It was basically a pile of cut up, cored apples. On the side you mix up milk, flour and eggs, then pour it over the apples and bake until the cake is cooked - sort of an apple cake. It was yummy but salt would have helped. It seemed a little like the bisquick "Impossible Pie" idea.

Next adventure was Korean cooking. We learned about the Sino-Japanese war which was fought mostly on Korean soil. King Kojong and Queen Min were ruling Korea and trying to bring the country to modern-ness in the late 1800's. Queen Min tried to get Russia to help against the Japanese and was assassinated. Above is a squash pancake. The pancake part is flour, milk and egg. The squash part was summer squash (normally it is zucchini) onions and green peppers. By itself it is pretty boring.

But add some dipping sauce (1/2 cup soy sauce and 1 tsp of cider vinegar) and it becomes quite delicious.

The page from the "Cooking the Korean Way" for kids.

Field Trip (Part 4) Moses Ezekiel

One of the interesting survivors of the New Market battle was Moses Ezekiel. He was the first Jewish cadet at VMI and he nursed a friend of his until his friend died. He himself had been wounded.

Moses Ezekiel went on to pursue his interest in art and became known as a sculptor. He did the monument that honors the VMI cadets who died at New Market as well as a statue of Thomas Jefferson that stands at the University of Virginia. (Thomas G. Jefferson - a grandnephew of T. Jefferson also died at New Market).

He was knighted for his art work by Victor Emmanuel III (we read about his father Victor Emmanuel II previously - when he became king of Italy) and received various other awards and honors from other European rulers.

Home School - Day 7 - - Pizza!

Today we learned about how Italy became a nation. In the 1600s, in the time of the Renaissance Italian states had been free. In the 1800's Italy was a bunch of City-States on the Italian Peninsula governed by Austria. Secret societies formed to rebel against Austria. They hoped to form an Italian republic. The first rebellion, lead by Giuseppe Mazzini and the Carbonaria failed. Mazzini escaped to London. Another group, Young Italy formed and rebelled again, lead by Giuseppe Garibaldi. It also failed due to the French aiding the Pope and the Austrians. Garibaldi escaped to the USA.

They shifted gears and decided that maybe a monarchy under an Italian King might be sustainable. So in 1860 Garibaldi returned and united Sicilians and other Italians, including the soldiers of Piedmont-Sardinia and worked their way north to the Volturno River where they fought the soldiers of Austria and Naples. The king of Piedmont-Sardinia, Victor Emmanuel II became King of the nation of Italy.

To celebrate Italy we made pizza. Above one pizza the crust is making a bubble. This one has olives pepperoni and cheese.

The other pizza has pepperoni, tomatoes and cheese. (We ran out of olives.)

The finished product.

Janet, Beryl and Cailin finishing the product.

I have memories of eating pizza in Italy. I seem to remember they did not always put tomato sauce on the pizzas. I may try making another pizza with just tomato slices and a little oil, along with the pepperoni and olives - or other toppings.