South American Night

In school this year, I'm making Campers learn all of the countries of the world so that *I* can learn them as well.

Of course, his brain matter is not 873 years old, retaining water, AND trying to keep up with three loose cannons and a husband all at the same time. So, he usually memorizes a list of countries before *I* do.

Show Off.

So.

In the category, "101 Ways To Irractitate* My Family," I've been cooking up an international meal each time we study a continent.

We did something for Central America a couple of months ago, but because I have no pictures of the event, it might as well not have happened. No pictures = no memory.

So.

On to South America.

I believe the kids were saying "Ole!" in this picture:

Let's get a close-up of that food:


I sauteed a batch of kale, and salted it enough to preserve us all until 3014.

The white rice recipe included some sauteed onions which WERE NOTICED RIGHT AWAY BY and QUICKLY PICKED OUT BY a certain four-year-old who shall remain nameless.

[Mother, now is about the time you tell us how you blindfolded me as a young lass, made me eat a bite of chili to see if I could taste the onions in the soup, and--I know this will come as a shock--OF COURSE I COULD.]

See? You just never know what kinds of things you'll learn about on these here blawg.

Kale and rice! Moving along!

I made the empanadas (holy cow! it's a food blog!) by mixing some cooked chicken with a carton of cream cheese with chives, sticking a little of the meat mixture in a wonton wrapper and then baking it in the oven. So easy! (All of these recipes are in the South American book listed on my brain dump blog.)

But the high point of the meal was definitely the flan. Nothing takes me back to High School Spanish Class as fast as the thought of flan. Isn't that what everyone brought in for "Spanish Cultural Day?"

Before we get all carried away with my own attempt at flan, let's get a glimpse of what's it's supposed to look like (note: image is not my own):


Now. MY flan smelled a whole lot like scrambled eggs while it was being cooked to death baking in the oven. But, just take a look at this beauty displayed on the plate:

It sorta tasted like scrambled eggs, too. Only with a whoooooooole lot of sugar added in.

Hmm, I might have to start using the blindfold. "Yes, but can you TASTE THE EGGS, KIDS?"

Keepin' it real, one disaster blog post at a time.

*That's a word one of the contestants on American Idol used a few weeks back. It's become a household word. Sorry, kids. Your Pa and I have gone off the deep end. We apologize for all of the re-training that will have to be done once you've flown the coop.