Exploring Iran with Food

Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me a copy of these cookbooks free of charge for this review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. They also sent me a copy to giveaway! As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation. 

Last month we explored Lebanon and shared one of the great cookbooks that Tuttle Publishing sent us. This month as part of our exploration of Iran we tried a couple of the Iranian recipes in The Complete Middle East Cookbook by Tess Mallos (this is one of the prizes in the Middle Eastern and North African Heritage Month Giveaway). We also made Havij Polou or Rice with Carrots. Hazel loved the carrots and Steve and I liked the chicken.

Back to School Lunch Ideas and Clothes: Everyday Bento Book Review & More!

Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me a copy of this book free of charge for this review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. They also sent me a copy to giveaway! As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation. I am a Little Passport and a Gymboree Affiliate. If you purchase from the Gymboree or Little Passports links provided I will earn a small commission.  

Are your kids back to school yet? Here in Massachusetts we have between one to two weeks more to go in general, but there is a lot of buzz about the start of school. I also know my Facebook news feed is full of those first day picture from friends across the country. Well I know as a mother there are two things on our minds besides those school supply lists we all get from the teachers--school lunch ideas and new school clothes. I remember as a child going back to school shopping. I always looked forward to it. Since Hazel wears a uniform to school we do not worry so much about back to school clothes as we do just new fall clothes. This summer she definitely grew in fact many people have commented on how much taller she seems as the summer winds down, so she has changed sizes again. This meant a few trips to Gymboree for new fall clothes. But first lets talk about those lunches. 

Lebanese Music and Food

Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me a copy of this cookbook free of charge for this review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. They also sent me a copy to giveaway! As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation. 

Since July is ending, it seems only fitting to finish our exploration of Lebanon with you. Besides the books and DVD we found at the library we also found some CDs with a few songs from Lebanon. Putumaya Presents Sahara Lounge has four Lebanese songs and the other two CDs each have one. 

The Cafe Spice Cookbook -- Book Review -- Exploring India

Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me a copy of this book free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

We have been continuing our exploration of India, this month's country for Global Learning for Kids. We explored recipes from India in The Cafe Spice Cookbook by Hari Nayak and photography by Jack Turkel. 

This cookbook is inspired by the Cafe Spice grab 'n go Indian meals found at Costco and Whole Foods. I am excited to review this book and have Hazel try some Indian food. Steve has never liked Indian food, so I was interested in seeing if he would like it. The only times he ever ate it was when other people had ordered it. Since we are not a family who loves things too spicy, I was hoping to keep the spice factor down, however I did not really succeed. We tried three recipes from the book so far. We started with a lassi. Hazel wanted to try a lassi after seeing it on one of the Indian DVDs we watched and hearing about it in a few of the books we have read. 

Sharing Saturday 15-24

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!!As summer approaches and schools end, the posts seem to dwindle in number, but we had some great posts shared last week. Our features include educational features, art and more features and a couple of various ones. Remember this is just a sampling of what was shared last week, so go back and check out the other great ones!!

Asian Book Reviews -- Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month Blog Series and Giveaway

Have you entered my current giveaway yet?

Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me a copy of these books free of charge for this review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. They also sent me a copy to giveaway! As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

This post is part of the Multicultural Kid Blogs Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month Blog Series and Giveaway. More details about all of this below including the giveaway!!

Since May is Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month, I contacted my friends at Tuttle Publishing. It was a logical choice since this is their specialty. They publish books on Asian cultures, languages, and history. They have books for children and adults. It is a wonderful publishing company that puts out high quality and beautiful books. They also have provided five of the books for the giveaway below! The first book we will review is one of the prizes.

Exploring Switzerland with books, music, and food

Have you entered my current giveaway? This is one you do not want to miss!!

 For the month of April, we explored Switzerland. We have enjoyed learning about many things about Switzerland and from Switzerland. Switzerland is officially the Swiss Confederation and is a small landlocked country in Europe. It is a very mountainous country with the Alps and Jura as some boundaries of the country.

"LocationSwitzerland" by User:Rei-artur - Original by User:Vardion, Image:A large blank world map with oceans marked in blue.svg. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Sharing Saturday 15-18

Have you entered my current giveaway? This is one you do not want to miss!!

Thank  you to everyone who shared last week!! I am blown away by the creativity and amazing posts shared. These features are just a sampling of the posts shared. I hope you will go and check them all out! This week our features consist of  May Features, Educational Features and Food and Play Dough Features. 

A Seder Dinner: Exploring Passover

Have you entered my current giveaway yet?

As a Christian I have only been to a Seder Dinner twice in my life. The first was as a child and the second was as an adult. Both were held at churches. I have always been fascinated by it. Perhaps it is because of the Last Supper being a Seder Dinner. Our exploration has brought with it many questions from Hazel with things like why don't we do this if Jesus did, but that is another story. My goal for this year was to look at what is involved with a Seder Dinner. We of course first looked at books like we always do.

Exploring Italy

By Map of Italy-it.svg: F l a n k e r 
(File:Map of Italy-it-2.svg) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons

This month we have chosen to explore Italy. Hazel really enjoys exploring a country each month. We explore by reading books about the country and stories from the country, listening to music from the country, cooking and trying food from the country and making crafts. I chose Italy this month since we are going on our own and Steve is Italian. I figured it would be fun for Hazel to learn more about where half her ancestors come from plus Steve and his mother tell her a bit about Italy and Italian all the time. We started with some books from the library about Italy.

Sharing Saturday 15-13

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! There were so many incredible ideas shared. I had a very hard time choosing features this week. There were just too many I wanted to feature! I decided on some favorites (including Women's History Month and spring posts), Easter Features and Painting Features (it seemed like many people had different ideas on painting this past week). These are just a sampling, so please go back and check out the other amazing ideas. I know I found many I want to try.

Around the World in 12 Dishes: South Africa -- Sosaties

Today we are doing our last post for Around the World in 12 Dishes. The group seems to be a bit defunct right now. There have been no plans for the next season and South Africa is the last country chosen. But I promised Hazel we would continue to explore the world one country a month, so we are going to continue on our own schedule and our link parties. This season I have been writing the introduction posts on Around the World in 12 Dishes website, but as I was about to write the introduction to South Africa I discovered the link code problems which still has not been resolved, so I didn't bother to write it there since there would not be a place to link up. (If I do not get the codes switched to my account by next week I will do my own link codes as a blog hop, so come back and check Bolivia, Senegal and here.) I also added a new picture to my Bolivia post. The arroz con leche looks much better cold!

Johannesburg at Night By Hillbrow_Tower.jpg:Kemptonreporterderivative work: 
Heitor C. Jorge (Hillbrow_Tower.jpg) [GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0 or CC BY 2.5], via Wikimedia Commons

Around the World in 12 Dishes: Senegal -- Poulet Yassa

Today we are catching up with January's Around the World in 12 Dishes. We visited Senegal. We read many books about Senegal and some stories from Senegal, but did not find any recipes of things my family would eat in the books, so I found one on-line. Be sure to check out the introduction post I wrote about Senegal. 

Pointe des Almadies, the westernmost point of the African continent (mainland),
located in the area of Dakar, Senegal By Jeff Attaway [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Around the World in 12 Dishes -- Bolivia: Arroz con Leche

 Between Hazel being sick, me being sick, holidays and snow, we have fallen very behind in Around the World in 12 Dishes. However we are going to catch up this week. The group itself seems to be having issues and may be ending, however Hazel LOVES studying a country each month so we are going to keep doing it here and will have link parties in case anyone wants to join in. (I'm in the process of seeing if I can have the codes used in my account instead so the past link parties will be available again.)

La Paz, Bolivia
By Teomancimit (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Frozen Themed Birthday Party with free printables and product review

Disclosure: I was sent these items to review free of charge from Oriental Trading. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease but receive no compensation.

This weekend we had Hazel's Frozen themed birthday party. Ever since Hazel saw the movie (her first movie at the theater), I have been collecting Frozen ideas on Pinterest. I got to use several of the ideas I pinned and products I pinned for this fun party. All of the girls had a great time and loved it. Today I am going to share the details with you including the products Oriental Trading sent me for the party to review. First I have to share Hazel's Elsa dress. Elsa is Hazel's favorite character in the movie and she really wanted an Elsa dress. With all the sheer fabric on them I knew her delicate skin would not be able to handle just any Elsa dress, so I made one for her. I used the Simplicity Pattern 1233, however I lined the bodice and cannot imagine using any of the sequined fabrics without lining.

Around the World in 12 Dishes: Exploring Cuba

Have you entered my giveaway for 4 Christmas DVDs yet? It is ending soon!!

This month we are exploring Cuba with Around the World in 12 Dishes. I was rather excited to learn more about Cuba since it is such a mysterious country to me. With all the trade and travel restrictions it seems like an unknown place. We have explored Cuba with books, stories, music, crafts and food from home. To learn more about Cuba and see more resources check out my introduction post at the Around the World in 12 Dishes blog. We had also learned a bit about Cuba during the Hispanic Heritage Month when we read about Celia Cruz, a Cuban-American salsa singer. 

Celia Cruz By Lionel Decoster (Own work) 
[GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Multicultural Monday: All About China -- Book Review

 Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me a copy of this book free of charge for this review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation. 

Today I am going to share our exploration of China. The fourth book in Tuttle's All About series has recently been published. It is All About China by Allison "Aixin" Branscombe. Like the other books: Indonesia, Japan and Korea, All About China gives a wonderful overview of what it is like to live in China. The book is full of information, stories, crafts and recipes. In the beginning the reader is introduced to two Chinese children who share their lives throughout the book. 

Around the World in 12 Dishes--Mongolia Buuz

We have had so much fun learning about Mongolia this month!! It has been so interesting to learn about a culture that is so different from ours. I have such respect for the strong and hard working Mongolian people. To learn a bit more about Mongolia and their lifestyle check out my post over at Around the World in 12 Dishes blog on Season 3 - Mongolia.

Multicultural Monday: Korean Language Product Reviews

 Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me a copy of these products free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. They also sent me a copy to giveaway! As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

Today I am going to share with you two products to introduce children to the Korean Language and a little to the culture itself. The first item is a wonderful book called My First Book of Korean Words: An ABC Rhyming Book by Henry J. Amen IV and Kyubyong Park. I love this book (and the others similar to it from other countries like Japanese and Chinese which I have previously reviewed) because it is a wonderful introduction for young children to the language as well as to the country. For example we learn that Koreans often eat vegetables and rice for breakfast, and that they believe there is a rabbit in the moon like we say there is a man in the moon. This book has beautiful illustrations and have the word in Korean letters with the pronunciation and then the English. The words go along with the English alphabet and the book mentions which letters are not in the Korean language.

Around the World In 12 Dishes: Vietnam Part 2: Grilled Lemon Grass Beef

We made one more Vietnamese dish last week. This one needed to marinate for at least four hours, so we did it on a different day. I found the recipe in Cooking the Vietnamese Way by Chi Nguyen and Judy Monroe.

Hazel helped me make the marinade and soak the skewers. First we had fun with the lemon grass sticks though. We played air drums with them.

We pretended they were rhythm sticks.

And we gave ourselves bunny ears.

Then it was on to cutting, measuring and mixing. The recipe called for two lemon grass sticks. I don't know if mine were too big or what, but it was definitely too much. The marinade was overtaken by the lemon grass. I put the lemon grass and garlic into the food processor to get them small enough.

Grilled Lemon Grass Beef or Bo Nuong Xa adapted from Cooking the Vietnamese Way

1 1/2 lb. sirloin tip, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon pepper
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 teaspoons sesame seeds
2 stems lemon grass, finely chopped (I would only use one next time)
Bamboo Skewers
Optional: 2 teaspoons chopped scallions or fresh mint for garnish

1) Mix the sirloin, sugar, soy sauce, pepper, garlic, sesame seeds, and lemon grass together. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

2) Soak the bamboo skewers in water while the meat marinates.

3) Preheat oven to broil or start grill. 

4) Thread beef slices onto skewers accordion-style. Broil or grill for 6 to 8 minutes, turning often so they are cooked evenly.

5) Serve hot and garnish with mint and/or scallions.

Steve and I liked it. Steve really seemed to like it. Hazel thought it was all right, but I think she would have liked it with less lemon grass.

Around the World in 12 Dishes is hosted by these lovely blogs:

Adventures In Mommydom, Afterschool for Smarty Pants, All Done Monkey, Crafty Moms Share, Glittering Muffins, Kid World Citizen, Mermaids' Makings, The Mommy Talks and The Usual Mayhem

I hope you will take the time to check them all out and check out everyone's great explorations of Vietnam. If you have a Vietnamese dish or craft or lesson, please share it here as well!! The Vietnamese placemat and passport pages are coming soon for help with extra learning about the country.

For more posts about Vietnam check out:

Lunar New Year and The Golden Slipper: A Vietnamese Cinderella, and Beef Pho and Banana Coconut Che