the little travelers * travel blog

eating bunnies

Vegetarians don't read this post!  Yup, we ate rabbit.  Rabbit is in every grocery store here right next to the chicken and the pigs.  At first the girls were kind of grossed out by it- well, because:

But we've also had a pet chicken and regularly eat chicken.  We are an omnivorous family.  I've spend years as a vegetarian and most of college as a vegan, but I must say I definitely feel better, don't have anemia and feel more emotionally balanced when I eat meat, so I do.

This was my first time to cook rabbit and it was unusual getting used to seeing such different shapes of animal in the pot.  We used this recipe going for a french style rabbit.

We dredged and browned the rabbit, which did have an unusual order.

But once the onions, mushrooms, bacon and garlic were in all was well.

We had it with roast potatoes and lots of roast garlic.  I don't know about your kids, but mine absolutely cannot get enough garlic in their lives so I always tuck in a few extra heads around the side of the pan.

It came out of the oven looking like this and smelled incredible.  

Seven out of eight people in this house could subside entirely on this concoction- roasted garlic smeared on a fresh out of the oven loaf of 'farmer's bread.'  It went exceptionally well with the rabbit

and was heavenly dipped in the sauce.  This sauce was so good we saved it and used it over pan fried turkey fillets two days later.

Comments from the peanut gallery:

"Tastes kind of like chicken but a little different."

"Mmmm, I love it."

"When can we have it again?"

"It tastes like frog legs but at least it didn't come with blood pudding."  (memories of travels past!)

"It's ok, but I like chicken better."

In all, a successful meal.  Everyone ate it and most loved it.  I try not to get too wrapped up with ethics of food while traveling and really try to expose my girls to local ways of eating so they can make decisions and their own choices when the time comes.  

I often get asked how I 'get my kids to try new foods.'  I don't really have a good answer to this other than I have always offered different foods to them and am always trying new things myself.  I never used baby food or 'kid food' like boxes of frozen chicken nuggets for my kids.  I feed them foods I like to eat and since I have never craved a frozen, breaded reconstituted piece of chicken before it was not something that I was drawn to feed my kids.  I've never cooked separate foods for my kids and serve one dinner for everyone.  If there is something they do not like I do not make them eat it.  There will always be something that they can eat and if they only eat an apple while sitting at the table with us that's fine with me.  I do not mind if they go to the fridge and get a bowl of applesauce or yogurt if they're really hungry and something is particularly distasteful to them.  I've eaten rattle snack, beef penis, duck webs, pig uterus, bird saliva - but I can't stand peas.  They are actually pickier than I'd like but when compared to most American children I suppose I shouldn't complain because they do usually at least try new things.  

The flip side is that they are kind of food snobs at this point.  When we lived in Cali we lived directly behind a Wendy's.  One night when I was particularly pooped I said as we passed, "Let's just go through the drive-thru."  Oh, the protest that I heard, "No, that's disgusting!"  "I am not eating fast food."  "I'll totally get a stomach ache like last time (when a friend took her.)"  Then the 8 yr old said, "There's salmon in the freezer and it is not hard to put a little garlic and olive oil on a piece of fish and stick it in the oven."  So I was put right into place and fast food was not eaten for dinner!

Our current blessing that I'm really enjoying:

The silver rain,

The golden sun,

The fields where golden poppies run.

And all the ripples of the wheat

are in the bread (they've been substituting whatever wheat is in - pancakes, biscuits, tortillas) we love to eat.

So when we sit for every meal

and give our thanks we always feel

That we are eating rain and sun and fields where golden poppies run.

It took the older girls about 10 minutes to learn it and the 2 and  4 yr old about a week before they knew it completely.

Kaffee

Like the English with their tea, the Germans have their Kaffee.  Not a time to necessarily drink coffee but to have tea or coffee or juice for the kids and pastry in the afternoon.  My mom tells stories of when she first arrived to the States and would invite Americans over for Kaffee and they would say, "That's weird to have dessert before dinner."  The concept is often missing entirely from American culture.  Yet when we look around the world at so many different cultures we find this afternoon time of refreshment.  Even the Japanese with their reputation for overworking still have tea in the afternoon.  All public schools and work offices have a 'tea woman' on staff just for serving tea to the employees.  In Japan they will often have tea mid-morning as well.  The Japanese don't usually stop working for this time and it is served right at the desk but it is permissible to take about a minute to pause and say, "Oh, this tea is delicious."  Monday mornings were always the best because if anyone has traveled anywhere over the weekend it is customary to bring 'omiyage' (or the little local confection of where you went) back to the office.  So tea is served with a small confection on most days.

But here in Germany it is all about the pastry.  Here are a few snippets from our Kaffee yesterday.

We received a call the day before asking if we had time to come for Kaffee the next day.  That's it.  There's no need to an excuse for a party or fuss about it.  I find the most refreshing part of all of this is in the lack of stress about the refined sugar and flour.  None of the people here this day were fat and none were stressing about having this during the afternoon.  No comments about, "Oh, I really shouldn't, but it does look good."  No, "Oh, I'm not doing sugar right now."  No, "Oh, we're glutton free." and all the other stuff that I hear oh, so regularly at kiddy functions at home.  I mean I get all those issues and have a major allergy child myself but it is sooo lovely to have a break from all of that and just enjoy life, the garden and the delicousness of sugar, flour and butter!  yum.

The table is set for all the kids with real plates and glasses even outside.  This is all very "Waldorf" yes, but really most things that are "Waldorf" aren't specifically "Waldorf" they're just German.  This is not a Waldorf family and they have plenty of plastic toys inside and the children go to a Jewish school.  Yet, if we saw this setting in the States it would very likely be a family that was into Waldorf because it is a very rare American family that uses dishes and glasses with children- particularly outdoors!  All the children would likely have water bottles or sippy cups and they probably would not be sitting down or even using a plate.

These two are so fun to watch- the one of the left a 4 yr old English speaker and the one on the right a 5 year old German speaker.  They are very similar in temperament and get along fabulously- each always telling the other what to do and neither understanding the other.  That could be the key to their getting along!  They can't even fight.

I love how this photo is flanked by pregnant women!

Babies and big kids all together.  This little one was sooo cute.  Also, the warmth thing is definitely German as well.  Temps yesterday were mid 70's and this little one has on tights under her jeans, a long sleeved onsie, a shirt and a sweater, socks and a hat.  That's normal and you'd find it pretty much on any young child here.  I know this is one area where Waldorf teachers struggle immensely with Americans.  On a whole we do not dress our children anywhere near as warmly as they do here.  I really think it makes for a much more settled baby though.  I am a huge advocate of bundling the babes.  In preschool I would often have this talk with parents that would bring their toddlers in the morning in sun dresses and sandals when it was in the lower 60's in the am.  I would have sweaters on hand and put a sweater on them but still bare feet and bare legs typically makes for whiney children prone to causing upset when playing with others.  I have found through years of experience that warm children really do tend to be more settled and calmer.

That being said, here is mine in a tank! haha.  She started the day with a turtleneck underneath and a sweater on top though.  Then the peeling began.

These days in the States we have this concept of a 'play date' that revolves around the children and I actually find that quite unhealthy.  I think it's out of whack- not balanced.  I believe it is out of our own yearning for social connection so bringing the kids together to play is a lovely idea- but wouldn't it feel better if it were just a time to get together as a family (whatever form that takes) that is meant for everyone, wouldn't it?  In many play dates I find the parents hovering over the children, even watching them play.  I know I've been invited to many that I didn't particularly enjoy.  Usually each mother brings their own snacks that often are not even shared due to dietary restrictions, but rarely is there a lovely tea served where everyone sits down to enjoy it and then the kids just get up and go play when they're finished, the adults stick around the table talking.  I wonder how we got so far away from a more relaxed atmosphere of enjoying life.  This is one of the many oxymorons I see about us Americans.  We appear so relaxed in so many ways- our dress, attitude and all of that- yet, we seem to have a rather difficult time actually relaxing.  I was more relaxed at this Kaffee yesterday, with this group of Germans- who typically appear a bit more regimented and rigid than most Americans- than I do in the company of many Americans at home.  The children all seemed so contently relaxed knowing their parents are close by but not needing them.  There was no micromanaging by the parents and everyone actually enjoyed themselves.  I have definitely left play dates far more exhausted than when I arrived.  But this was actually like a vacation.  We all left feeling refreshed and relaxed.  It could of course be the setting!  Gorgeous as all get out, right???  All this yard and totally fenced in.  But I think it had far more to do with the attitude of the parents and attention off of the children than the setting.  I know at home when I go to a large park with a good friend that has a similar parenting style than me (hands off) I feel the same way.  But when we've been invited by someone from a dance class or from school and it is initiated by the kids, I am often so beat at the end of 2 hours I feel like I need to lock myself in a closet for an hour just to recover. This was essentially one of those meetings.  We met due to the kids at the park and were invited over.  So this is not a case of the parents being friends and wanting to hang out.  It was pretty much a 'play date.'  But better in every way. 

I see this phenomenon of parents having adult conversations and children playing happily nearby in nearly every other culture but American.  It is a rare event that I can have a conversation with a parent without the kids constantly interrupting, the parents micromanaging the children, directing the play, getting involved with the conflicts, etc. etc.  I rarely can have a phone call home for more than a minute with the person on the other line not talking to their children for more of the time than with me.  It is so lovely to step into whole other cultures where parents are not run by their children in a frantic way.  I don't see how we can expect to raise respectful children when we allow them to interrupt constantly.  I do not interrupt my children or demand that they clean up in the middle of their games and do something for me and I expect them to be courteous to me as well.  So often I see parents who attempt at being 'respectful' to their children allow themselves to be treated quite awfully in return.  I don't get that at all.  You know since we teach by example.  I see so many parents understanding half of this equation.  "Ok, they'll learn from me how to treat others because they see me treating others with respect." they think.  But they forget that they are also teaching the child how to be treated.  If we allow our children to boss us around, interrupt us and make demands on us while we're in the middle of something else- we are also teaching them that it is ok for them to be treated like that by others.  Common courtesy is not an American norm, where it is in many other cultures.

dandy lions

Oh dandelion all yellow and gold, oh what do you do all day? 

I wait and I wait in the tall green grass till the children come to play. 

Oh, dandelion all yellow and gold, oh what do you do all night? I wait and I wait in the tall green grass till my hair turns long and white. 

And what do you do when your hair's all white and the children come to play? 
They take me up in their dimpled hands and they blow my hair away!

I love Maria Sangiolo's version of this song on this album.  This was one of the girls all time favorite cds when they were little.  They still love the songs and were singing the dandelion song as we picked.  All the songs on here are fantastic and we used True Friends on our Japan DVD.  Really love these!

Our fritters.  We used the recipe from the Wildcraft website.  We started with gathering our flowers, or herbs I should say.  They grow here like I've never seen before!  In virtual fields.  Our center divider of the street we live on is full.

I have a theory about why this little patch of 'weeds' does so well and it has to do with dogs!  But I didn't mention it to the girls and we did wash them when we got home.

Washed and drying.

We added some fresh thyme to our batter for a bit of extra flavor.

The bottom of the flower really retains it's leafiness.

The recipe said they taste like fried zucchini so we thought it'd be good in ranch dressing.  

They were a hit and a success!  They tasted to me  a lot like the heart of an artichoke.  They had a slightly bitter aftertaste but all kids agree they'd like to make them again.  I think they'd be a great first day of spring or May Day treat.  All girls agree they'd like to add just the petal to pancake batter the next time we make pancakes.

nettle soup

So here's the thing about foraging with kids.  They pull up a lot more than just the tender top leaves of the little nettle plants.  And since we did most of our foraging in the forest, much of the forest floor ended up in our gatherings.  

I didn't have any rubber gloves here that had not been in toilets so I just used tongs to swish the leaves and then boiled the whole mass together with the idea to pick off the leaves when they would no longer sting.  It wasn't a very successful process and I will definitely get gloves to work with these again in the future.  Picking off the leaves ahead and then sauteing them with the leeks would have been better.

Ooops!

A small sampling of what was not nettles that was also boiled.

Then I picked off the leaves and left the stems behind.

The recipe from Festivals, Family and Food had an error in it, which is the first I've found.  I do love this book and have used it often for those that were asking.  I used it often when teaching preschool but there's plenty in it still for my girls now at 7 and 9 since they can now do many of the things in it themselves.  It has a lot of recipes, plus little crafty projects that are really adorable as well as songs  (mostly for under 7) and stories (that mine still like.)  But this particular recipe said to 'boil the nettles in no more water than was used to wash them.'  Huh?  If I'm not mistaken- that's steaming at best, right?  Then it said to saute that with onion.  Well, clearly that was not going to work for me since I had whole bushes with roots- so I just boiled the nettles and went with a basic veggie soup and just added the nettles chopped as finely as I could with a knife.  Most recipes call for a blended soup and we don't have one of those here.  I will definitely try this one again when at home where I do have my lovely immersion blender.  Boiling the nettles and throwing out the water truly pained me since all the green washed down the sink.  It still had dirt and leaves and such in it so I didn't want to keep it for tea, but will make the tea in the future.  Its all in having the right tools- gloves!  next time...  Check out this recipe of nettle soup and the color!  I will definitely be making this again.   

The little bits of floaty green stuff at the top are the nettles and they definitely imparted a particular flavor to the soup that was new for all of us.  Everyone like it though- all 5 kids and myself.  My sis in law is still first trimester preggers so wasn't thrilled with it.  

We paired it with a rustic potato bread that was excellent.

The soup was a success.

We will definitely be using nettles again in many forms.  I really enjoyed the taste of it and am eager to try the nettle risotto, which sounds fabulous.  I am all over these recipes for the future!  Can't wait to try nettle pesto, nettle lasagna, ravioli...  I really preferred the taste of nettles to spinach and am thrilled to have found a new green I love.  I O.D.-ed on swiss chard during my pregnancies when I tried to eat it at least every other day and I don't think have eaten it since.  And then it seems I just get into that spinach rut since other green are often quite bitter and the kids aren't into them.  Since nettle is an herb it has a fresh taste to it but not as pungent as basil.  Can't wait to try it sauted rather than boiled.

The part I found most enjoyable about this experience was having the kids participate in this transformational process of picking something so unpleasant and having it transformed into something that becomes nourishing and wholesome to our own bodies.  I love the metaphor of taking something that cannot even be touched, is harmful and hurtful into something delicious, warm and nourishing.  There are so many things in this world that that can pertain to.  I think of personal relationships that when we keep them at a distance they can appear very hurtful, yet when we pull that person closer and take them into our inner worlds and love them, that relationship can be transformed into something very nourishing for the soul.  I love the quote form A Course in Miracles that says, "The holiest place on earth is where an ancient hatred has turned into a present love."  This process of picking nettles, cooking them and then eating them was a perfect symbol of that transformation to me.  And I thought a lovely seasonal activity around Easter when transformation is a theme I like having around in tangible form.

etiquette

What cracks me up about mostly unschooling with a tad of homeschooling is when others hear this they imagine basically raising wild animals.  The assumption is that children would never want to learn anything and grow up to be wild and unkempt.  I find quite the contrary around these parts.  The three big girls in the house right now are really into Felicity, one of the American Girls. 

Well, Felicity has to go to etiquette lessons to learn to be a lady- something she resents, as she'd rather be riding her horse rather than learning to pour tea, sit upright and make fine little stitches in her sampler.  The opposite is true for the girls around these parts. 

 They all thought those lessons sounded really fun and requested we have afternoon tea time to learn etiquette.  My sis in law and I thought we might have to fire out for this job since we're often the ones with elbows on the table at meal time, but a little help from Emily Post and we picked up some lovely little pointers ourselves- like pushing in our chair before we pick up our dishes to head for the kitchen.  

Lot's of room for improvement on this front!

happy valentine's day

The girls thought baking was in order for the day.  They have this little cookie book that was a gift and are constantly oogling over it.  Let's just say that every single recipe requires white flower, white sugar and many things like vegetable shortening and food coloring.  I don't really say things to them about it- like, "Well, we don't really eat those things."  I just say, "Oh, those would be fun to make on a holiday."  I really believe in moderation where food is concerned and have seen many kids become obsessed with junk food when it is forbidden.  At the same time we do not generally have white flour or sugar in our pantry as a regular staple.  

So here was their chance to bake these sugar cookies that have been earmarked in this book since last August- specially for Valentine's.  The book came with a tiny heart cutter and boy were they eager to put it to use!

The big sister is sporting a new apron I got for Christmas this year that I'm completely in love with.

By the time the last batch went in the oven it seems we'd all lost track of cookies...  Um... these are not chocolate, let's put it that way.  oops!  We wish you all a Valentine's full of love and joy and better luck in the cookie department than we had!

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And a reminder that today is the last day to enter the drawing for the Save the Whales game- (scroll down).  There have been so many great ideas generated!!  It's been really inspiring to read them all. 

happy chinese new year!

Some fun Chinese food symbolism:

A whole chicken, including head and feet (It symbolizes a proper beginning and end to the year.)

Clams or scallops (Their shape is similar to ancient Chinese coins.)

Any dish featuring lettuce (The word for lettuce, saang choy, sounds like the word for "growing good fortunes.")

Lobster (It represents life and energy.)

Rice (It symbolizes well-being and good fortune.)

Spring rolls (Their shape is reminiscent of ancient Chinese money, which would represent wealth for the coming year.)

Dumplings (Also shaped like ancient Chinese coins. Some families choose to cook dumplings late at night, through the midnight hour to symbolize bringing prosperity and luck into the new year. )

Fish with its head and tail intact ('Fish' in Chinese is yu, which sounds like the word for wish. Also fish swim in pairs, so it represents marital bliss. The fish is served as the last course, and not all of it is eaten so there are leftovers to eat on New Year's Day. By doing this, families bring prosperity of the previous year into the new year.) 

This gives us some good ideas for dinner this week!

52 meals from 52 countries

So the girls and I were talking today and we thought we would really love it if some of you joined us in our food adventure this year.  I think it's a great way for kids to encourage each other to try new foods and experiment a bit in the kitchen.  If you go over to the kids' blog you'll see a flickr pool over there where you can add photos of your meals and countries.  Tell us what you tried and most importantly if it was any good!    

Santa brought some fun gifts this year and one favorite has been 10 Days in Asia.

It's a great way to learn geography and great for me to learn all the countries that were not countries back when I was in college.  All the new ...stans are in this.  The first player to get all their cards lined up in a plausible trip is the winner.  You need to figure out if it would take a plane, train or boat to get from country to country and line up a 10 day trip.

The big sister really likes this game.  To me, it lacks a bit of imagination and is very linear- but that suits her personality perfectly and she's been begging me to play with her everyday since Christmas and can't get enough.  She definitely gives it a thumbs up.  The little sister has no interest in it.  I would feel good about giving this as a birthday gift for the 7 to 12 age range.  I'd give it a 7 or 8 out of 10.  

Moroccan stew

One of our new year's tasks this year is to choose one country each week to cook a meal from while we're home and if we have access to a kitchen when we're away.  I've printed out a blank map of the world and each week the girls pick a country and then we find a recipe online.  No repeats allowed for this whole year.  This is new for us this year as we've done different versions of this before- but they have clear favorites like Indian and Chinese that show up all the time.  So this year we've got to try out 52 new recipes from 52 different countries.

So last night we tried Tyler Florence's Morrocan  stew.  We watch very little TV around here but when we do it's usually the food network or the travel channel.  My girls know the food network chefs like other kids their age know Hannah Montana or the High School musical kids, whom they do not know.  They often pretend to be Giada when cooking or tell me, "That's not how Paula would do it." 

My lovely sis-in-law gave me this great Moroccan spice box for Christmas so we set it to good use.

I hate to say it, but the dish was not a success.  The girls did not like the dish on account of mushiness.  They did not like the texture. It was quite gritty from the squash and the lentils, which ended up not holding their form and and did get mushy- I'd have to agree.  I should mention that the girls do eat stews and ate stew everyday while in Iran- but this was a no go.

Although, I did not mind the dish and happily ate it.  They ate a bite and traded it for...

the classic stand-by-  Trader Joe's hummus and pita.  At least it was still somewhat regional!  So now I have 8 frozen portions waiting in the freezer for easy lunches for myself.  I would not choose to make this again- well, particularly after eating it for 8 more meals!  but it was not bad.

I do not consider nights like this failures.  We all cooked together.  It smelled great and no one went to bed hungry.  Yes, I have a ton of left overs to get through but I really liked eating warm stews at lunch in Iran and was wanting to cook more stews at lunch time anyway.  I get bummed out when parents tell me that they do not try new foods because no one eats it or because their kids are too picky.  I only cook one meal per night and if someone does not like it they do not have to eat it but I will not prepare anything else.  They are free to help themselves with anything we have in the house and clean up after themselves.  This has been so since they were each two years old- and yes, even at that age there were nights were they would go to the kitchen and get out the yogurt and some agave or honey (I only buy plain yogurt) and have that for dinner.  Or like last night- cut up some pita and hummus.  I do ask that they give a new dish a try but if they don't like it- that's that.  I find that if they are part of the cooking process and recipe selection they are quite open to trying new dishes.  Like last night, they will not always like them, but at least they know what cinnamon, curry and coriander look like, smell like and taste like mixed with apricots, squash and lentils. And they know that is typical of a northern African dish. 

organic apples

The girls decided to make an apple pie today with the apples we had on hand.

Then I heard screaming coming from the kitchen.  There's always that moment of terror thinking, "Did they just cut off one of their fingers?'  "Mom!  MomEEEEE!  HURRY!!!"

They were both cracking up when I got there.

I feel so reassured by seeing a living creature in any of our food these days...

The great escape!  He was definitely in a hurry to get out of Dodge.

and the baking resumed...