Mummy says: "I think Toby said it all on this one :) "
Toby says: "I really enjoyed The Little Prince. It was all about a person who could draw boa constrictors, and he went on a plane, and he crashed in the Sahara desert. He saw a little prince there. He told him the story of how he got to planet Earth. It's about if you see an ugly person, but you know he's really nice, then in your heart you'll see a beautiful person, so what your heart sees is more important than what your eyes see. But this didn't happen in the story, but there were lots of examples about what's really important in life, like people and friends and living and love and being happy."
Mummy says: "I think Toby said it all on this one :) "
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Toby received a very special response today. Blue Peter is a children's programme, and Blue Peter badges are "badges of honour" given to children to contribute to the show, or who do something worthy of special recognition. About 50 letters into Toby's project, friends and family were starting to say things like "you ought to get a Blue Peter badge for this". Toby didn't want to ask for a badge until he had completed the full challenge and written to every country in the world...but he did write the letter to Blue Peter immediately after the one that completed his project. That was in October, and today, the postman brought a response - and a Blue Peter Badge, in recognition of his project and his fundraising! Toby is feeling very honoured, and is so happy! The badge arrived the day before his 6th birthday - normally, badges are only given to children 6 years or older, so he's especially happy to have got his badge while he is still five. A badge is not *just* for the honour, it actually comes with a "Blue Peter Card", and gives Toby free entry to lots of attractions, such as zoos, aquariums, castles, theme parks, etc. - so it will help us do more exploring, too. Thank you to Blue Peter, and to the world, for helping him achieve his goal, and helping us explore the world! We didn't stray too far from home for today's recipe, but we had never made Welsh Cakes before, and boy, are they yummy! Thank you so much, Azrael, for sharing the recipe! Ingredients 225g/8oz self-raising flour 110g/4oz butter 1 egg handful of raisins milk, if needed 85g/3oz caster sugar extra butter, for greasing Preparation 1. Rub the fat into the sieved flour to make breadcrumbs. Add the sugar, dried fruit and then the egg. Mix to combine, then form a ball of dough, using a splash of milk if needed. 2. Roll out the pastry until it is a 5mm/¼in thick and cut into rounds with a 7.5-10cm/3-4in fluted cutter. 3. Take a heavy pan or griddle. Rub it with butter and wipe the excess away. Put it on to a direct heat and wait until it heats up, place the Welsh cakes on the griddle, turning once. They need about 2-3 minutes each side. Each side needs to be caramel brown before turning although some people like them almost burnt. 4. Remove from the pan and dust with caster sugar while still warm. Ronia the Robber's Daughter was written by Astrid Lindgren from Sweden. Toby says: It was really good! Ronia lives in Matt's Fort, Matt is Ronia's Dad, and he is a robber chieftain. Birk Borkason is the son of Borka, and Matt and Borka are enemies. But Birk and Ronia are friends. Their Dads don't like that Ronia and Birk are friends, so Ronia and Birk secretly run away and live in a bear's cave. I liked it when Ronia and Birk made friends. I don't like that there are no more Ronia books, only one. Mummy says: Ronia the Robber's Daughter was one of my favourite books as a child, and re-reading it with Toby has reminded me why I love it so much! Ronia is such a strong girl, and really, there are no "baddies" in this book (apart from wild harpies and other creatures of the forest) - it's full of essentially "good" people who just have to see each other's point of view a bit more. Claudia posted a link to a whole page of Maltese recipes - we had a look, and although we are a few days late, we wanted to try Torta 'ta San Martin, in honour of Saint Martin's Day, which is on the 11th of November. We adapted the recipe, so here's what we did: Ingredients:
1. Pre-heat the oven to Gas Mk 4 /180c 2. With an electric whisk beat the egg-whites until they are fluffy 3. Add the yolks, sugar, flour and milk 4. Combine them well and then fold in the dates, figs, nuts, and apricots 5. Pour the mixture into the greased tin and bake for 30 minutes. 6. Bring it out, leave it in the tin for ten minutes until it has steamed off and then turn it onto a wire rack to cool. ...this is definitely the most fruit and nuts we have ever put in a bread, and it tastes absolutely delicious! Hot on the heels of the Guy Fawkes' Night post (see below), here a recipe for parking, a traditional ginger cake from the region we live in (Yorkshire): Ingredients 250g self-raising flour 115g muscovado sugar 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda a pinch of salt 115g golden syrup 55g butter 200 ml milk 1 free-range egg Directions: 1. Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas Mark 2. Grease and/or line a square 20cm/8in cake tin. 2. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. 3. Add butter and golden syrup to a small saucepan and heat until the butter has melted. 4. Pour the butter and syrup into the flour and mix, then add milk and egg and mix until smooth. Pour into the greased and lined tin. 5. Bake in the oven for approximately one hour - check with a skewer to see if it is ready. Remember, remember, the 5th of November...now we have had a go at embracing Halloween and the Dia de los Muertos, we promised we would tell you about a very British "celebration" - Guy Fawkes' Night...also known as Bonfire Night. What a lot of people can probably tell you is that a lot-a-lot of years ago, somebody called Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the Parliament in London. He got caught, and on Guy Fawkes' Night, people celebrate by lighting bonfires, having fireworks and making "a guy" to burn ceremoniously (think a scarecrow). Children learn the rhyme: Remember, remember the fifth of November Gunpowder, treason and plot. I see no reason, why gunpowder treason Should ever be forgot. As is usual, over time, certain details get forgotten, and others get amended. For full details of Guy Fawkes' Day, have a look at good old Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes_Night For a children's version (or for grown-ups who don't want to plough through lots of information), have a look here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/15351828 Sheffield (where we live) has a fireworks display every year on the 5th of November, called "After Dark" - you can see the 2011 one here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcbnP09TGk0 - Toby hasn't been yet, because it starts quite late...maybe next year. Bonfire night is also the time of warming autumn recipes, treacle, toffee, and a special type of gingerbread from our region, called parkin. There are lots of recipes for bonfire night here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/occasions/bonfire_night - we'll definitely try a parkin one this year! I've been sharing some of our experiences with friends and family since the project has started, but as the project grows, more and more people we have never met are taking an interest, and so I thought I would start a blog to tell you a bit more about the project as it happens. I won't promise to blog every day, but let's see what happens. A side effect of the project is that Toby is becoming far more interested in food from different cultures, this became apparent big time when we made pierogi last week, prior to writing to our letter to Poland. Since then, we have also found an Asian supermarket in York, where we explored jackfruit chips from Vietnam, and "umbrella cookies" from Taiwan. Yesterday, we wrote to Eritrea, and our country research introduced us to "injera", which is made from "teff" - I have to admit that I had heard of neither, so I'm the first to admit that I have a lot to learn about the world, too! We'll be sharing pictures of our own creation once the teff flour has arrived (yes, we did order some!), until then, here's a picture from "antanukai" (shared via Flickr under Creative Commons License: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21723018@N07/) |
AuthorThis blog is mainly a way to keep track of our recipes - for day to day updates, please check out Toby's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/writingtotheworld Archives
May 2018
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