Halloween 2007

Halloween

Halloween 2007

GARAGE SALE

Pictures of our Garage Sale.

Guacamole day

Today, Melissa´s class had a unit about Mexico. Pierre taught the class how to make Guacamole, one of mexico traditional recipe. Along with the dip, the students fried home made corn tortilla and turned them into chips. Everyone seemed to enjoy the treat.

Recipe:

Ingredients: 1 small avocado (abacate), 1 mid size tomato thinly chopped, 1 onion chopped in small bits, 2 pieces of ground garlic, 2 teaspoons of salt, 1 chili pepper thinly chopped, 2 sprigs of coriander also called cilentro (cuentro) cut into small pieces and the juice of one medium lime.

Mash the avocado well (puree), add the lime juice and stir the chopped tomato in, add the salt, onion, garlic and cilentro mixing the ingredients well.
Leave the dip in the refrigerator and enjoy with chips (dorito type).

Guacamole
Is a sauce made primarily of avocado with various additions depending on the region of Mexico where the guacamole is made. According to Diana Kennedy the best avocado is Hass and the correct ingredients include white onion, serrano chiles, tomatoes, sea salt and cilantro. Further, although adding a bit of lime juice helps preserve the color of the avocado for a short period of time Ms. Kennedy states it "spoils the balance of the flavors".
Guacamole History
Guacamole dates back to the Aztecs - The Aztecs referred to guacamole as ahuaca-mulli which translates roughly to avocado sauce or avocado mixture. This concoction was very similar to what you might fix now in your own kitchens today. Avocados, the main ingredient in guacamole are a New World food that became quite popular with the Spaniards. It is said the Spaniards liked their avocados three ways, with salt, with sugar or both. Although actual guacamole recipes were not well preserved the Spaniards documented their likes for the avocado fruit. The Aztecs believed the avocado to be an aphrodisiac. Clearly this had something to do with the popularity of the food with the Spaniards. Another reason for the popularity of the fruit was the fact that the avocado has the highest fat content of any fruit. The Aztecs had a very low fat diet compared with today's standards. You can understand how a fruit that contained life sustaining fats and protein could become so highly regarded.
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Breads of the world

Leanne and Meagan´s visit

On Tuesday, we received two visitors at our school, one comes from Los Angeles (LA), the other from Ottawa (Canada).
On Wednesday night (October 4) Leanne and Meagan told us a bit about themselves.
They met in Botsawana Africa, a couple of years ago. Leanne was on an exchange program with her university (Pfitzer college near LA) while Meagan was on a prestigious Canadian scholarship in that country.
They have never visited each other in their respective native cities.
They recounted for us (Melissa and Pierre´s class) their experiences in Africa. Meagan did her research there for her master degree in women in sports (she completed the defense of her thesis last week) and Leanne regaled us with stories about her work and experiences with that particular African country and its people.
After graduating, Leanne obtained a very good scholarship ( Fulbright) and went on to teach English in South Korea. Meagan met her there and they traveled together for one month, visiting Asia (China, North Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia).
At 26, Meagan is proud to have visited 26 countries.
They are about to start a South American trek on Monday October 9 which will help Meagan top the 30 countries mark.
After the one hour and a half presentation, we kept on sharing stories while eating a home made GALINHADA.

Our Halloween party

Raul
Teacher Valquiria and Nicolas
Gabriel

Devil twins - Ketlyn and Karen

CHOCOLATE CHIPS COOKIES

ON THURSDAY WE MADE COOKIES!!!

CHOCOLATE CHIPS COOKIES

Ingredients:

1 ½ c. butter, softened

1 ¼ c. white sugar

1 ¼ c. brown sugar1 T. Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla

2 eggs

4 c. all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1 ¾ tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. cream of tartar

1-12 oz. pkg. semisweet chocolate chips. (2 c.)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix butter, sugars, vanilla and eggs in large bowl. Stir in flour, soda, salt, baking powder and cream of tartar. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop with a #40 scoop (looks like a metal mini ice cream scoop) or a rounded measuring tablespoonful about 2 inches apart onto an ungreased insulated baking sheet. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until light brown. Cool slightly: remove from baking sheet. Cool on wire rack. Makes about 4 dozen crackly, chewy-crispy bakery-style cookies. They are wonderful!

Pictures: Nathan and Oscar