Sarah's Work in Progress

Friday, January 1, 2021

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom has such a long and complicated history that spans the entire globe, not to mention the fact that it is comprised of four member countries, fourteen British Overseas Territories, and three Crown dependencies. There is a lot to dive into and learn about, but we tried to keep it contained so we can get to more countries in a shorter amount of time - we still have so many to go!

Unfortunately, our favorite geography resource - YouTube's Geography Now! channel - has not made it to United Kingdom yet in their videos, as they are working on them alphabetically. Luckily, we had the next best thing - CGP Grey! While not strictly a geography channel, CGP Grey tackles lot of interesting questions in a very engaging way, and he has done a number of explanatory videos on political aspects of the UK. We watched two of them as part of our study, as well as a brief history video we found elsewhere:

The Difference Between the United Kingdom, Great Britain, and England Explained - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNu8XDBSn10&ab_channel=CGPGrey
History of the Union Jack - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVZQapdkwLo&ab_channel=CGPGrey
History of Britain in 20 Minutes - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcnSsEVsrf0&ab_channel=VC3Productions

We also found these videos interesting in learning about the foods, sites, and culture of the UK:

Top 10 British Foods that Confuse the Rest of the World - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUCdohOULaA&ab_channel=WatchMojoUK
5 Dishes You Have to Try in England - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVYjLXP9AO8&ab_channel=TheEndlessAdventure
Pros and Cons of Living in the UK - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=resEdx9k3rc&ab_channel=MonikaCiochPerfumes
Top 10 Places to Visit in the UK - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kXCPo7c63I&ab_channel=RyanShirley
The Don'ts of Visiting England - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v714NqaK_Fw&ab_channel=WoltersWorld
Top 10 Amazing Facts about the UK - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1k0t3j2s6Y&ab_channel=JosephTrimmer - some of these facts are covered in the previous videos, but it has enough additional information that was interesting that made it worth watching

We also tried to do a bit of a dive into a couple of the four countries that comprise the larger United Kingdom:

Scotland

Geography for Kids: Scotland - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpMP7BnMing&ab_channel=Let%27sGoGeography
Beautiful Scotland (Highlands / Isle of Sky) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sb6WlQiaJeM&ab_channel=ChonoLightRelaxationFilms - this one was beautiful, but is just landscape shots of gorgeous areas in Scotland. We sped the film up to about 1.25 speed to help it hold our kids' attention.

Wales

The Heritage of Wales - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nZeLp_ckok&ab_channel=Capture

I feel like we only scratched the surface of learning about the United Kingdom, but it solidified our family's desire to travel there!

We have a restaurant nearby - The Lion and Rose - that advertises itself as a traditional British pub. So we had to try it out! We tried to pick out the types of dishes we had been learning about: scotch eggs, the Tour of Britain (fish & chips, shepherd's pie, Irish banger sausages, and broiled tomatoes), bangers and mash (with English pork banger sausages), bubble & squeak (mashed potatoes with cabbage), and the king's bread pudding and English trifle for dessert.

Scotch eggs - hard-boiled eggs, coated in sausage and bread crumbs and then fried

bubble and squeak, front and center, with breaded and fried mushrooms

(shepherd's pie is in the styrofoam cups, with fish & chips on the left and bangers & mash on the right)

Maybe it was just our kids' moods that night, but they actually complained more about this meal than they have for any of our past meals. Maybe it was that it was so close to being familiar that they didn't care for the change in textures or flavors? I have to admit that the items aren't quite as ... savory as we are used to in American cooking. Fewer spices are used. But Dave & I enjoyed it, and the desserts were both a hit (of course). And we tried to turn it into a good lesson on having an open mind and good attitude when we travel or experience new places and foods.

Twelve countries down, only 184+ more to go!

Sunday, October 25, 2020

El Salvador

Bouncing back from the other side of the world after our previous country Chad, we returned to the Western Hemisphere to learn about El Salvador! El Salvador is the only Central American country without any coastline on the Atlantic side (Gulf of Mexico or Caribbean Sea). Bordered by Guatemala and Honduras, El Salvador is known for its communities living right alongside its many active volcanoes.

El Salvador Links

Geography Now!: El Salvador - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t5uzY77zwA&ab_channel=GeographyNow
Geography Now! Flag Friday: El Salvador - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NIFbbRyOfM&ab_channel=GeographyNow
A Super Quick History of El Salvador - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3__uoyaU1g&ab_channel=MrHistory
Top 45 Tourist Places - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXbld8fV9pY&ab_channel=TopTouristPlaces (a little boring, and I wish they would show the relative locations of these places on a map, but still pretty to see the various sights)
16 Traditional Salvadoran Foods - https://flavorverse.com/traditional-salvadoran-foods/

We were lucky enough to discover that we had an authentic Salvadoran restaurant close by - Casa Amaya! We decided to go all out and buy a bunch of different dishes so we could try lots of different things.

On the left, there is plato tipico, a typical breakfast dish with pan-fried plantains, beans, cream, scrambled eggs, and tortillas. The soda is Kolashanpan flavored and from El Salvador (La Cascada brand). From what we can tell, it means a champagne-flavored soda that comes across like a medicinal cream soda. Bottom left are some pork (carnitas) street tacos, and top middle are beef (carne asada) street tacos. The plate on the bottom right has pupusas: cheese & loroco (an edible Salvadoran flower that tastes like slightly stringy broccoli), cheese & jalapeño, beef revueltas (with beans and cheese), and pork revueltas. The pupusas are meant to be topped with the curtido (the pickled cabbage, carrots, and jalapeños in the baggies on the right), and they are fantastic together. I also couldn't resist the Zambos bag of fried plantain chips even though they were from Honduras.

All of the food was so fun and very tasty. While I was waiting for my order to come out, I chatted with the owner of the restaurant and was surprised to find out that he had sold it and was planning to retire at the end of the month. I was so bummed! But he also mentioned that he was thinking he was going to miss it and was already looking around for a larger location so he could reopen and have a Latin market as well. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for that!

Sunday, October 4, 2020

Chad

Super excited to learn about Chad! This north-central African country is one of the top 25 largest countries in the world, and fifth largest in Africa. Named for Lake Chad on its western edge, Chad is also known as the 'Dead Heart of Africa' because a significant portion of the country covers some of the harshest areas of the Sahara Desert. Fun facts: the word Chad means 'lake' in a local language, and the word Sahara is from the Arabic word for 'desert', so Lake Chad is 'Lake Lake' and the Sahara Desert is 'Desert Desert'.

Other Videos We Watched

Exploring Chad - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doui0mlxmJQ&ab_channel=OtherSideoftheTruth (interesting, positive footage of visiting Chad)
Chilling in Chad - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A_ROKP4EdM&ab_channel=DHLAfrica (brief introductions to various artists and business owners in Chad)

Chadian Food

Taste of Chad - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXL8kjd0sFo&ab_channel=WashingtonInformerTV (a description of Chadian food from a caterer in the US that specializes in making Chadian food)
Cooking Adventure: Chad - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_hKZQZ5rKM&ab_channel=Cliffieland%3AAGlobalCookingAdventure (making daraba, or okra stew, and millet balls - we didn't make this recipe, but it seems like a tasty option)
Top 4 Most Popular Chadian Foods - https://www.tasteatlas.com/most-popular-food-in-chad (not a video, but lovely pictures and descriptions)
Karkanji - https://www.food.com/recipe/karkanji-hibiscus-tea-africa-455446 (recipe for a chilled hibiscus herbal tea popular in Chad

What with helping four kids with their e-learning, I wasn't quite up to the task of preparing a complete dinner of Chadian food, but I figured it wouldn't be too hard to try the Karkanji, which also looked really refreshing. I ended up going with a recipe at http://morselsandmusings.blogspot.com/2008/11/karkanji-hibiscus-drink.html with a few modifications.

I couldn't readily find hibiscus flowers, so I found hibiscus herbal tea bags at our local grocery store that used only the flowers. I used 8 bags for the 2.5L of water the recipe called for, but I think I could easily get away with only 6. I also used ground cinnamon (1 tsp substituted for the 1 cinnamon stick in the recipe) and ground cloves. I used 3/4 tsp of ground cloves as a substitute for 10 whole cloves, but the flavor came through too strongly, so I would recommend at most 1/2 tsp of ground cloves, maybe less. And I took the website advice and halved the sugar (using only 100g), and that seemed just right.