I won! I won!

I remember when I was a little girl and I beat my older brother at checkers for the first time.  He was so frustrated to have lost to his little sister that he punched me in the eye and I fell backwards and hit my head on the brass lion’s claw that was on the foot of the dining room table.  I pulled myself up covered my eye with one hand and pointed at him with the other and chanted “I won!  I won!”  It was one of my first memories of pride, determination and triumph. 

Fast forward to today.  After more than 800 images, 200 music clips, and nearly 8 months of planning and development, the Wander our World app was finally released in January 2012.  The child-narrated iPad/Android tablet app includes real world photos and music from different countries. The app currently enjoys a 5-star review on iTunes and has been downloaded by families in more than 28 countries including the U.S., Norway, South Africa, Indonesia, Lebanon, Brazil, and New Zealand.

Throwing caution to the wind, I decided to enter Wander our World into the mobile app competition through the Parents’ Choice Foundation. 

"The Parents’ Choice Awards committees look for products that entertain and teach with flair, stimulate imagination and inspire creativity. Judges are interested in how a product helps a child grow: socially, intellectually, emotionally, ethically, physically. Products must be free of bias. Above all, products must not extol violence.  Adhering to rigorous standards, Parents’ Choice honors material that respects a child’s age, interests and abilities, and adheres to universal human values.” -www.parents-choice.org

I am excited to report that the Wander our World app won a coveted Parents’ Choice Foundation Spring 2012 Mobile App Award!  When I first heard the news I was jumping up and down shouting “I won! I won!”   Before long however, I was (and still am) completely humbled and honored to have received this award.  It was my determination to make global awareness and geography education attainable for little kids that made this geography app possible, and that determination is what continues to drive the mission of Footprints of the Mind.  For more information visit www.wanderourworld.com.

Travel on Tuesday to Thailand

Last night we “traveled” to Thailand.  It was by far the easiest Travel on Tuesday in the history of Travel on Tuesday’s in our house.  I came home from work and printed the Travel KIT for Thailand and we picked up Thai food from our local favorite Thai restaurant. 
 

Here’s what made it so simple:  The Travel KIT for Thailand included a flag, a flag that you can color, maps (world map, continent map, and country map), a fast fact sheet, a craft idea with a template, images, boarding passes and passport stamps to enhance the feeling of actually leaving our kitchen. 

Keep in touch with us for the exciting launch of www.travelontuesday.com! 

Check out Thailand on the Wander Our World app!  We recently won a Parents' Choice Approved Award from the Parents' Choice Foundation.  Read about it!

Venetian Memories

When I was a student at the University of Barcelona I took a trip to Italy with a friend.  In Venice, we sat at a restaurant and decided to be gastronomically adventurous.  We pointed to an entree on the all-Italian menu not having any clue what we were going to be served.  I don’t remember what I ended up with, but the look on my friend’s face when they served her left a lasting impression on my mind.  She ordered a linguini that was cooked in black ink (I assume squid), and the black pasta was intertwined among the legs of an octopus. 
 

It didn't look like anything either of us had ever seen before.  She couldn’t eat it so we exchanged dishes.  Having grown up with octopus, I did not find it as much of a challenge to eat.  Without a doubt, it is one of the most memorable meals I’ve ever had. 

Upon searching, I am not alone:

http://fxcuisine.com/default.asp?Display=116

Join our Travels!  Each week we pick a different country to travel to.  We color flags, make crafts that pertain to the country, find it on the map, and enjoy a traditional meal.  It's the perfect way to teach geography and global awareness to our children, and they love an exciting and different approach to dinner.    

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Travel on Tuesday to Australia

G'day mates!  Our family's global adventure, Travel on Tuesday, took us to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia where we talked about the blue-ringed octopus, coral reef, and other creatures that live in the Pacific ocean's ecosystem. On the menu were meat pies, carrot and apple slaw, and Anzac biscuits.

Meat pies prior to baking

I encountered one major glitch in my preparation and that is that I did not realize I would not find Vegemite (an Aussie favorite) and Golden Syrup (required for Anzac Biscuits) at Fresh Farms - the International food store that seems to have everything.  So I improvised.  A combination of Karo syrup and molasses to replace the Golden Syrup and a picture of Vegemite spread on toast.  Instead of making one 9 inch meat pie, I decided on individual meat pies shaped in a cupcake tin.  In the end, our adventure to the Land Down Under was less about flavors, and more about tradition. 

On a side note, the manager at Fresh Farms said he would speak with his products manager and see if he could order the Vegemite for me.  He seemed pretty sincere in his interest on why I would want to try it.  It is a favorite spread among people that live on the other side of the planet.  My curiosity is killing me!  If you haven't had Vegemite, wouldn't you want to try it?

Recipe Suggestions:
Meat pies:  http://bradfordschmidt.com/recipes/australian-meat-pie-recipe/
Anzac Biscuits: http://www.exclusivelyfood.com.au/2006/07/anzac-biscuits-recipe.html
Carrot and Apple Slaw: http://greenfieldnutrition.blogspot.com/2012/01/carrot-and-apple-salad-with-caraway.html 

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Travel on Tuesday to Egypt

This week's Travel on Tuesday to Egypt is a lesson in perseverance.  We had a rough week and preparations for the day were not falling into place like a well-oiled machine.  Actually, they were hardly falling into place like any kind of machine.

I was preoccupied.

I hosted a party at my house for 40+ people on Sunday, then the middle-schooler and the Diva were sick and missed school on Monday.  Let's just say it was a perfect excuse to not have to do Travel on Tuesday to Egypt.

However, on Tuesday Little A walked up to the map in the kitchen and asked "Mom, wez Afika?" And that was when Mommy Guilt struck.

During my lunch break, I ran over to the international foods store.  It took 6 employees to tell me where the Molokhia was located.  While we were all standing in the frozen foods section one of them asks me what I was going to make with it.

So I started to describe MidEats recipe for Molokhia.  They asked if I was Egyptian.  I'm not.  They asked if I was Middle Eastern.  I'm not.  Then they asked how I decided to make this recipe.

So there I found myself, in the middle of the frozen section of Fresh Farms surrounded by 6 employees as I was talking about Travel on Tuesday and all the new foods and cultures we discover by never even leaving our house.

That evening, I ended up modifying the recipe because I didn't have time to make my own chicken stock and just bought a rotisserie chicken instead of roasting the bird used to make the stock.  Sometimes you just have to improvise!

I have to admit that I kind of patted myself on the back for what I felt was pulling off the impossible, but it really wasn't a big deal at all.  The molokhia cooked up in less than 20 minutes, and the rotisserie was of course, ready-to-eat.

But truth be told...  The kids did not like the Molokhia soup.  So they feasted on chicken, brown rice and cucumbers.  I thought it was delicious, and very different from anything I have ever tried.

As far as the craft: Two boxes of sugar cubes, glue, 3 kids and 30 minutes later, the Pyramids of Giza stood before us during dinner.  

Check out more pictures of Travel on Tuesday to Egypt on Facebook!
 

Travel on Tuesday to Japan

The magic of Travel on Tuesday strikes again!  This week we pretended to travel to Japan for our family geography project.  We visited Kinkakuji, the Golden Temple of Kyoto, made origami paper cats, talked about the 40+ volcanoes that make up Honshu island and ate vegetarian sushi and sushi rice.  But the most interesting thing that happened that night was when the kids showed me in their own way that they are becoming globally aware, and it isn't a figment of my imagination!

As I was carefully cutting the sushi rolls the kids didn't miss a beat.  They pulled out their chopsticks and dug right into the sushi rice like little pros.  Little A still has not appreciated the sticky texture of the rice yet, but I give him tons of credit for giving it another try, even after his unsatisfactory reaction during Travel on Tuesday to China. 

The middle-schooler and the Diva both tried the vegetarian sushi rolls which thrilled me, and they took turns making a mini zen garden by raking sand (we used a toy rake, but a fork works just as well) in a paper plate and adding rocks. 

Then, the Diva chimes in with the statement that made me cock my head to one side and take a pause.

“Mom, you know what I noticed?  China and Japan have the same kind of rice.  And I bet it’s because they’re close to the same place on the map which must mean they grow the same foods.”

I was speechless which worked out just fine because I don’t think I could’ve said it better myself!

Read about Kinkakuji Temple.
Learn how to make an origami cat.
Check out Wander our World to Japan.
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The Golden Temple

I will never forget my trip to Kyoto and visiting all the gorgeous Japanese temples, but it was my visit to Kinkakuji, The Golden Temple, that really stands out in my mind.  Surrounded by a lake with beautiful gardens in an incredibly peaceful environment stood this temple that has two floors of gold leaf inside and out. 

It was built by Shogun Yoshimitsu Ashikaga in 1393 as a retirement home.  He lived in this kind of luxury when the people of Kyoto were suffering from plagues and earthquakes.  When he died, his son converted it into a Zen temple.  It burned down several times and was rebuilt.  The current structure was built in 1955 and has 5 times the gold leaf as the previous structure.

Today it is considered one of the most valued landmarks of Japan not only because of its beauty and history, but because it also houses relics of the Buddha.   We will be sure to "visit" this temple when we Travel on Tuesday to Japan!

Kinkakuji "The Golden Temple" Photo by: Dirk Sveistrup