Kung Pao Chicken

To finish our Chinese themed day we used Emeril Lagasse's book, "There's a Chef in My World: Recipes That Take You Places" to cook Kung Pao Chicken for dinner. B did an amazing job chopping and stir frying. It was so YUMMY!!!!

green onions, bamboo, red peppers
cashews, thickening broth, 'secret' sauce
B stir fries
done
Let's eat!

You've got to check Emeril's book out of your local library. Your kids will love it. Each page tells a little about the recipe, like in Kung Pao chicken was Emeril speculating how the dish was named. And the recipes are perfect for kid cooks!!!! Enjoy and bon appetite!

We Saw Some Dragons Today!

Can you believe we saw dragons in Ann Arbor today? We went to the Dragon Boat Festival at Gallup Park. This celebration goes right along with our World Cultures studies. Our day began by watching the heat races of the Dragon Boats. (http://www.fwcc.org/dragonboat.html)Unfortunately due to parking and walking (choosing not to use the shuttle), we missed the opening ceremony and the Lion Dance. This festival was sponsored by the Center for Chinese Studies at U of M. http://www.lsa.umich.edu/chinanow/dragon.asp. Check this out for events of the day.

Into the docks. (I have video of them racing, but I can't get it posted for some reason. I'll keep trying).

There was plenty of entertainment happening through out the day. B's favorite was U-M Groove. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBHYETxbMxY) This percussion group is based on the type of music that STOMP! has made famous. Since STOMP is B's all time favorite show (Blue Men being second). We couldn't leave without watching these students perform. It's amazing that they can make music by banging on normal items and NOT traditional drums! Here they started making music with trash cans and drum sticks.

Come take a listen to what rocked our world this morning! Trash can music part 1.

Trash can music, part 2.

Music from buckets.

Yes they can even make music on ladders?!

What does music played on a ladder sound like? Listen and see what you think.

Found Object Art

On our way to our dinner picnic, we stopped at the River Gallery in Chelsea. We had been told about a wonderful exhibit of sculptures, made from discarded objects. These discarded objects have been formed into wonderful sculptures. The exhibit is called Mechanical Natures. Please check out the website http://www.chelsearivergallery.com/, and then click on Exhibitions, and then Current Exhibitions. Bs favorite was Rocky the Moose (below). My favorite was Tribal Medusa. What is your favorite??? ENJOY!!!!!
Then compare what you see at the River Gallery, to what B entered at the 4H fair this year under the recycled craft category. Do we have a budding artist among us???? B's giraffe is made from electronic gadgets that have been torn apart and then reassembled to assemble a giraffe. His ears are parts of cordless phones, is horns from drills, his legs from a dvd player, etc. At fair B won a blue ribbon for his project! This next week the giraffe is going to be hung in the local elementary school library as an 'on loan' piece of art work for the kids to enjoy.

Moon Cakes, not Moon Pies

To go along with our World Cultures studies (and follow our families journey in Asia), we have moved from Mongolia to China. Today we learned about and celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival, or Moon Festival. (Yes, we are a few days off, but that happens in homeschooling households. Better late than never). The Moon festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month. This year that date was September 25th, so we are only 4 days behind.
To celebrate we made our own mooncakes. There was a little confusion when we started to cook. B had confused Moon Pies with Moon Cakes. He thought we were making those chocolate covered treats. But in the end, he did try the moon cakes. And although they were not what he expected, I was proud of him for trying something new. And then shared those moon cakes with Aunt Sissy and her family. Here is our moon cake experience:
Recipe we used:
Water Dough
2 c. flour
5 T butter
10 T water
1/4 tsp salt
Flake Dough
1 c. flour
5 T butter

Filling: Sweet Red Bean Pasta (Jam)

Make each dough and divide into 20 balls (20 balls of each dough). Wrap one ball of flake dough inside a ball of water dough. Roll, fold into 3rds, roll, fold into 3rds, roll in to 3 inch circle. Put bean paste in center and fold shut (different shapes are fine). Bake 20 minutes in a 350 degree oven.
Sweet Bean Paste
Our wrapped moon cakes
Store bought moon cakes (lotus filled) - we preferred the ones we made.
Extra moon cakes to share. We shared both our home made and store bought cakes.

We enjoyed our Moon Cake festival celebration! Now I just need to find a reason to celebrate with Moon Pies :)

Horses in Hillsdale

It was a great day to go to the Hillsdale County Fair. After gathering Bs workbooks (to get some seat work done in the car during the drive), we headed southwest to Hillsdale. We went specifically to see the draft horse pulling event. And see we did!!!!!

This sport has been around since the early 1920s. A special machine called a dynamometer is what the teams of horses are hooked to. This machine simulates the idea of pulling a weight out of a well. Between what distance the team pulls, the weight on the dynamometer and the time it takes the team to pull 27 1/2 feet, you can figure out horsepower. So what is horsepower and how is it calculated??? You can use this equation: HP = 1/2 (tractive pull) divided by 10 t (t being in seconds it takes to pull 27 1/2 feet). This equation is why the teams try to pull the distance of 27 1/2 feet. And if they do, it's considered a full pull!!!!

So what happens is pretty basic - the dynamometer is set at a starting weight, usually 1500 lbs. Each team has three chances to pull the full distance. If they do, they advance to the next round. Once all the teams have tried at the first weight, those who accomplished a full pull then begin to pull the next weight (which is usually increased by 300 lbs between each round). And so on ..... until the weight on the dynomometer is heavy enough that no team can complete a full pull. That last round is measured in distance that each team pulled.

Now for the visuals!!!

First the teams are brought around and 'hitched' to the dynamometer.

Then the driver (the guy on the dynamometer with the hat, he looks like he's being pulled off). See how the horses squat down their hindquarters right at the signal to transfer maximum power from their haunches forward.
Then it's easy, PULL (ha, ha).
A team waiting it's turn to hitch. 5100 pounds of draft horse
Hitch
Pull, pull, dig in, and pull

The dynamometer is built on the back of a truck, which is actually used as part of the machine that the teams pull. http://www.horsepull.com/MDA.htm

Watch the videos. It's almost like being there. Not really, but at least you can see in action everything we have explained.

After watching the pulling, we walked through the barns. At first, this as Bs pick to take home, but....
Then we found this draft mule. Now B wants a pair of draft mules. (remember what I said in a previous post - if you're going to dream, dream big!) When you are looking at this, remember that B is 5'4" at the top of his head, then look at how much more height this draft mule has. He is B - I - G!!!

Buuz - What?

For our World Cultures studies today, we visited Monogolia. And no visit would be complete without cooking and sampling the 'local' cuisine. B chose a recipe for Buuz. Which is traditionally made with mutton, but beef can be substituted (which we did). We got the recipe out of our Hungry Planet book. An alternate recipe can be found at http://www.mongolfood.info/en/recipes/buuz.html . And frankly, we should have visited that website before cooking. But we did okay. Come try it with us!

Bennett rolling out the dumpling dough. The meat mixture is in the measuring cup.

After rolling comes the filling.
After the filling comes the pinching.
Looks like B has the technique! PERFECT!
Didn't we do good?! Just kidding, this is a photo out of our Hungry Planet book.
This is our finished product, including the dipping sauce.

We also thought having a dipping sauce would be a nice accompaniment (is that even a word?). Actually, I was thinking it might be useful, in case we didn't like the taste. So we made a monoglian dipping sauce. Which we thought had too much peanut butter and not enough chili.

Mongolian Dipping Sauce Recipe

2 TB peanut butter

1 TB soy sauce

1 TB rice wine vinegar

2 tsp chili sauce

1 TB sugar

1 TB hot water

Is it turned out - we thought it was "okay." The dipping sauce needs a little modification for our tastes. The dumplings themselves were probably fine, but we need to roll the dough thinner and get better at the wrapping techinque. Ours ended up being a little doughy. All in all, it was a good experience. But we wonder what the cuisine at Mongolian BBQ might be like ?!!

Community Harvest Festival at Tillers International

Today, instead of having a 4H meeting, B's 4H group met at the Harvest Fest for some down to earth, old fashioned rural eduacation. We met at Tillers International. The beauty of fall makes this a special celebration of a year's work. Sorghum is cooking in the evaporator and the shops are busy with smithing and woodworking tasks. Watch as wheelwrights set a tire. Try you hand at plowing a furrow. Take a hay ride, and enjoy the season with a walk along the Mill pond. Purchase sorghum, honey, pumpkins and other produce grown on the farm.

B's favorite part was the blacksmith shop. We spent LOTS of time watching the demonstators work. They men, and young men, who were demonstrating were very friendly and welcomed our questions. This was not the first time B had spent time in a black shop. We thought this was pretty modern compared to other demonstrations we've seen. Tillers offers blacksmithing classes and B might be interesting in attending?! For some history on blacksmithing, visit: http://www.appaltree.net/aba/history.htm, http://www.history.org/Almanack/life/trades/tradebla.cfm, http://www.blacksmithsjournal.com/


Fire and coke (fuel, not the soft drink). Suppliers: http://www.fholder.com/Blacksmithing/coal.htm,

Oxen yokes.

You could take a turn plowing the field with this set of oxen.
This set of oxen each weigh about 1800 pounds (which is not large - yikes). The brown one was Herschel and the white/brown one's name is Walker.
Sorghum press. Usually a team of oxen or mules is hooke to the end of the wooden timber. But today the press was set up for people to take a turn (no twist intended) at pressing the sorghum, which is being fed into the press at the right, just above the palate.

Two of our 4H friends help the farm hand turn the timber.
You can see the bucket where the sorghum juice is collected. Then it is dumped into the boiler and cooked down into a molassas type syrup. The smell was DELICIOUS!!!!
Naturally, the draft horse teams that were pulling the wagon rides interested B. His biggest dream right now is to own a team of these horses. I say, as long as you are going to dream, you should dream big!!!

This is Jeff and Jerry.
They teach chair caning.

In the woodshop, there was carving demonstrations, hand made brooms on display (wish we'd taken a picture of that), and man running a foot pump operated lathe. Video of the foot operated lathe. Now B wants to learn to use the lathe too :)

In addition to the many demonstrations, there was music, vendors, food, and lectures. We left with belly aches from eating so many tiny plum tomatoes. There were better than candy (okay, in the absence of candy they were better). We also ate organically grown popcorn. Taste tested fresh cranberry orange bread and shares an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie.

With the perfect fall weather, company of good friends, and a little learning in the air, it was a great day!

If you are unfamiliar with Tillers International, but rural education is interesting to you, I encourage you to visit their website: http://www.tillersinternational.org/. This organization offers some wonderful classes, so make sure to check out there class schedule too.

Tillers' mission is: To preserve, study, and exchange low-capital technologies that increase the sustainability and productivity of people in rural communities.

Tillers' Vision is: To create an international learning community in which we seek understanding of local conditions, encourage an attitude of experimentation, and give promise of sustainable productivity for generations to come. We strive to preserve low-cost, historical rural skills; to find contemporary refinements within low-capital constraints; and to share this information with those interested in small farms, both in America and around the globe.

Elements of Tillers' Approach 1. Our principal goal is inspiring rural innovation. 2. Low-capital rural technology is the medium through which we build attitudes of experimentation. 3. Grassroots people-to-people exchange is at the core of Tillers' approach.4. Listening before acting is critical.5. The knowledge and skill base for our work has become scarce.6. Partner organizations support our rural innovators overseas.7. Quality tools and facilities inspire world-class innovation and re-invention.