Culture Night

 Our family has a few nights reserved each week for some fun traditions. Monday night is of course Family Home Evening, Friday is Pizza Night (homemade pizza picnic style, downstairs and the kids pick a movie) and Thursday is Culture Night!

We made our own world map and it hangs in the office. We blind fold each family member, spin them around and have them touch the map with a chopstick. Wherever the chopstick lands is where we go that week. I cook something from that country (I pick things we've never had before) and we watch a YouTube video tour or Rick Steve's Europe on Hulu. Then during dinner, I play music from that country just from YouTube. 

The Solomon Islands

 Yes, so last week my son picked the Solomon Islands. "The whata whata?" was my first thought. That's the whole reason we do this so we can learn more about other cultures, and feel like we get to do a little traveling from the kitchen.

The Solomon Islands are a third world country so trying to find recipes online was next to impossible. I read that they eat fresh produce and fish. Rice was recently introduced to their agriculture by means of the government. Most of their produce is exotic so I went to Walmart and found what I could. Not only did they make great centerpieces but they were part of our dinner!

We ended up having baked plantains (taste like potato chips), sweet potato biscuits (they eat a lot of sweet potatoes and biscuits) and then I found some forum online where a lady described eating canned chili flavored tuna on noodles when she lived in the Solomon Islands and she loved it. They don't have many spices there but they cook everything in coconut milk! So, I took chow mein noodles and cooked them in coconut cream, added tuna, chili powder, salt and garlic. It was actually very tasty! They cook a lot with tapioca pearls so I made tapioca pudding with tropical fruit.

We watched a video of the "Bamboo Band" on youtube it was really fun.

Dessert

 

Papaya

My husband breaking open the coconut

Paisley picked Sweden for this week. We have Swedish blood so that was a fun choice! Here's what we did last night!

Sweden

Just made a stop at IKEA and picked up salmon spread, dill herring, mustard herring and Lingon berries. Served it with sugared vinegar cucumbers and yummy dill mashed potatoes. Then we had Swedish pancakes for dessert with blackberry preserves. You make the batter thin like crepes and fry them in butter. So yummy!!

The kids loved the food! I have found that when they pick a country, they are very excited to try the food. So, they are the best eaters ever on Culture Night.

We watched Rick Steve's Europe Stockholm and we watched music videos from Roxette, The Cardigans, ABBA and Swedish House Mafia. It was hilarious!






DAILY QUESTION

What are some fun traditions that you do as a family?