Weekend Fun!!

Festivals, Festivals, Festivals!! 

I realize not everyone lives in the SF Bay area, but if you do this is a great weekend to get out there and learn about another culture or to celebrate your own!  I'm torn between which of these 3 festivals I should go to....

Pistahan Festival -  This (according to the website) is the largest Filipino Cultural Festival and Parade.  Now, I don't know if they mean in the world, or just the U.S., or even just the Bay Area, but it looks like fun!  It's a free event taking place at Yerba Buena Gardens, in SF, on Sat. 8/10 and Sun. 8/11 (2013).  There will be performances of both traditional and current music, an Adobo cook-off, traditional games and the opportunity to learn about the folklore and other aspects of the Filipino culture.  And I bet lots of YUMMY food!!!  If you can't make it to SF though, here are some links to FUN Philippines projects we did earlier this year.
    
Korean Day Festival-  Yet another fun sounding event to go to!! This is also a free event on Sat. 8/10, 2013, but at Union Square, San Francisco, starting at 10 am.  This festival is going to have lots of traditional folkdances with costumes, Tae Kwon Do demonstrations, and, this sounds fun, a Rice Cake Kneading contest!  There will be lots of traditional foods there too, like kalbi, bibimbop (how fun is that word?) and gochujang! We never really studied Korea for an entire week, so I don't know what any of that food is but I'm sure it's delicious :)  We did learn a bit about Korea during Thanksgiving time so here was the project we did.

Origami-Palooza- This event sounds like fun too, but only if you have the patience for origami (Japanese paper folding).  My kids DO NOT so we probably won't make it to this one, but it's taking place on Post St., in San Francisco's Japantown, on Sat. 8/10 from 1-5pm.  This 1st annual event will have different booths teaching different origami creations and there will also be a Paper Airplane Contest :0)  Sounds like it could be fun!  One of the projects will be making cranes to display at city hall's World Tree of Hope.  I didn't know there was a Tree of Hope!  I foresee another field trip!!
If you'd like to have your own Japanese fun at home here are some of the Japanese projects we did.

I hope you have a great weekend no matter what you do!  But just remember, there is a whole world full of interesting things to see and do-- ENJOY!!

Philippines Flag Art and Language Lesson

The Flag of the Philippines-

This flag is a symbol of the independence of the nation from the Spanish and has been used in the Philippines since 1898.  It is full of symbolism that shows the values of the Filipino people.  The white, equilateral triangle sumbolizes equality and fraternity among the people.  The blue stripe stands for peace, truth and justice while the red stripe symbolizes patriotism and valor.  In the center of the white triangle is an 8-rayed sun said to symbolize unity, freedom, democracy and sovereignty.  The number of rays (8) represent the 8 provinces that started the Philippine Revolution against Spain.  The 3 stars that are in each corner of the triangle are meant to represent the 3 main regions of the Philippines - Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.  An interesting feature - when the country is at war the flag is flown upside down with the red band on the top.    What a beautiful flag for a beautiful country!  So we made our own renditions of the Philippines Flag for our art project :)

Art Project:  Philippines Flag
For the project you will need:

• white construction paper
• blue, red and yellow paints
• brushes

1.  Fold your paper in half lengthwise to determine the center.
2.  Draw triangle on right side from each corner to meet on center line. 
3.  Draw sun with 8 rays in center of triangle (or let them do it)
and a 5 pointed star in each corner of triangle.
4.  Explain what colors should go where and let 'em at it.

My daughter too it another step further and painted the flag for her own country!  She will be a great dictator one day :)












Time for a language lesson-

The people living in the Philippines speak over 500 different dialects.  Tagalog is the most commonly used, so when the government wanted to create an official language for the land they used Tagalog as the base.  The official language is called Filipino and here are a few words.  I capitalized the syllable that is stressed so that your pronunciation will be better :)

Hello/How are you? = kumuSTA     Welcome = maBUhay
Goodbye = paALam     Thank you = saLAmat
Delicious = maSArap     I love you = maHAL kiTA

one = iSA     two= daLAwa    three= tatLO     four= Apat
five= liMA    six= Anim    seven= piTO   eight= waLO
nine= siyam  sounds like "sham"   ten= samPU

and this phrase:
Salamat sa iyo para sa pagbabasa at magkaroon ng isang mahusay na araw!  Which means "Thank you for reading and have a great day!"

On the Menu: Filipino Food

Do you Adobo?
So we are halfway through our trip around the world.  I have made food from 26 different countries and my kids have eaten the food of about 15!  Well, this week they ate the food!!  Filipino food, like the people, is a mixture of many cultures.  There are influences from China, the Pacific Polynesian Islands, Spain, the traders from the Middle East, and America.  All these influences have made for an interesting mix.  The flavors of many of the dishes mix tangy and salty and sweet with different textures but the main staple of every meal is white rice.  They also don't waste any part of the animal.  I like to try many different foods but I will admit to being very particular about my meats, and because of that I will be very cautious whenever I order food in a Filipino restaurant.  Many of the recipes had ingredients like pig ears or blood - I guess I've just been spoiled and they probably do taste good but I'm too much of a chicken!  So I made a very simple yet exotic tasting Filipino recipe- Chicken Adobo (and the kids loved it).  

Chicken Adobo
For the recipe you will need:

• 4 lbs Chicken.  Thighs were recommended but I only had boneless breasts.
• 1/2 cup Vinegar.  I used real Filipino vinegar from Asian market (99cents!) but apple cider or regular is fine too.
• 1/2 cup Soy Sauce - I used a low sodium one.
• 4 cloves garlic - crushed
• 1 tsp whole peppercorns
• 3 bay leaves
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (this might not be very traditional but was in quite a few of the recipes I saw)

1. Combine all the ingredients in large pot.  Cover and let marinate for 1 to 3 hours.
2. Bring ingredients to a boil then lower heat and simmer for 30 minutes.  Since I was using boneless chunks of chicken I only went for 15 mins.
3. Uncover and simmer until sauce is thickened and reduced and chicken is cooked through.  Maybe another 15-20 mins.
4.  Serve with steamed rice and a veggie.  We had ours with bok choy stirfried with garlic and chili sauce.  The kids had corn.

This is yummy.  Super tangy sauce that gets soaked up in the rice and gives the chicken such a great flavor.  We liked it so much that we had Pork Adobo for lunch at a restaurant today.  I actually think I liked the pork better (or maybe they had a different recipe).  Both my kids really liked the sauce and when we were making it (before I added the raw chicken) I couldn't keep their fingers out of it.  I served them their chicken with a bowl of the cooked sauce for dipping and they were in heaven.  I will definitely make this again!!
It would probably be great in a slow cooker!

There are so many different recipes that sounded really good and I will have another food post later in the week but I have one more for tonite.  It's purple, creamy but firm, sweet, but not too sweet, and it's made from a vegetable.  It's called ....

Halayang Ube

For the recipe you will need:

• 2 cups grated ube (found in frozen section of Asian markets)
• 1/2 cup butter and a little more for greasing bowl
• 7 oz. evaporated milk
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk

1. Melt butter in large pan.  When melted add milks and combine.
2. Turn to low and add ube.  Cook for 40 mins stirring often to break up the chunks.
3.  When mixture transforms into a sticky blob (about 40 minutes) transfer to a greased 9" dish or mold or 8x8 pyrex
4.  Let cool completely and either unmold or leave in dish. 
5. Top with toasted coconut (I didn't have any) and cut into pieces

        It looked more purple in real life :)

This was fun, easy and it made PURPLE food :)  There isn't enough purple food!  Most of you are probably not familiar with ube, a.k.a the purple yam, and I wasn't sure I would be able to find it, but it was all over the Asian market.  Now if you live in rural WI and don't have an Asian market you might not be able to try this- I am sorry.  I will post another recipe Friday that has easier ingredients but I wanted to try this ube.  Ube is rich in fiber, potassium, vitamins B6 and C, and loads of antioxidents. The dessert ended up being good but "different".  We all ate it and actually thought it was pretty good but no one would probably ask me to make it again.  My brother brought a chunk to work so some Filipino co-workers could try it and they said it was exactly the way it should be.  If you are in the mood to try something exotic give it a whirl!

Week 26: The Philippines

The Beautiful Philippines

It's week 26!!  We are halfway through our 52 weeks and I can honestly tell you it feels like it's taking forever!  Don't get me wrong, I'm learning A LOT and I hope the kids and you the readers are enjoying the trip too, but it seems like this project is losing some momentum.  Anyway, enough whining!  You didn't log on to hear me complain, you want to learn about the Philippines, right?  Let's learn some fun facts -

• There are more than 7,107 islands that make up the archipelago that is the Philippines.
• Luzon is the largest island.  Batanes is the smallest.
• The capital is Manila.  The latitude and longitude is 14.58°N, 121.0°E on the map.
• The official languages are Filipino and English.  There are more than 500 different dialects - Tagalog is the most used.
• There are more than 200 volcanoes on the islands.  Most are inactive but 22 are still active - um, scary

• Karaoke was invented in the Philippines because the Filipino people love to sing!
• The smallest living primate in the world, the Tarsier, lives only in the Philippines.  Isn't it cute?

• The oldest university in Asia is the University of San Carlos, it was founded in 1595 by the Spaniards
• Speaking of Spaniards, the Philippines were a Spanish colony from 1521 - 1898 and many of the names of the people and places have Spanish influences.
• The Philippines was a U.S. Territory from 1898 until after WWII in 1946 when the country gained independence.
• The people of the Philippines are a mixture of Chinese, Spanish, Arab, and Polynesian and so is their food.  Filipino food has flavors that are unique and different than many other "Asian" foods. 

We have a lot to learn this week so we'd better get on it.  The plans are to try some interesting new dishes and foods which means a field trip to the Asian market and a Filipino restaurant!!  We'll, of course, learn some phrases and words and I found a fun game for the kids and I (and you at home) to play.  I'd love some ideas for art projects if you have any - I'm having a hard time and that's usually the easiest part for me!! I'd love to hear any comments or suggestions.  Thanks for checking us out!!!!

A few amazing pictures of a beautiful country!