The Letter A

Here's a rundown on what we did this last month for countries starting with the letter A. I discovered that the main Crayola site has a coloring page with the flag of each country, so I've been printing them off for the kids and they love coloring them.

Afghanistan: We looked at a book from the library about the country and I printed off a few coloring pages from here. The kids especially liked the rug one. We ate kabobs with rice, naan, and some vegetables. The kids thought the kabobs were 'spicy' but Mr. Fob and I both liked them a lot; next time I would bake them in the oven or grill them because frying on the stove was messy and made them shrink a lot.

Armenia: We also looked through a book from the library (they only had one), colored the flag, and found it on the globe. Mr. Fob and I really liked the food and would make it again: yogurt chicken, pilaf, Greek salad, and stewed apricots (dried apricots cooked in water with a cinnamon stick until plump).

Australia: We did a bit more for this country because I could find quite a lot more resources. I got books about festivals and holidays, general overview of the country, and animals. We also read a picture book about a wombat and we colored the flag. For our family movie night I found a kids' movie from Australia called Dot and the Kangaroo at our library. I honestly thought it was kind of lame and it put me to sleep, but the kids really liked it and they keep talking about it. There are quite a few directors from Australia and a lot of good movies out there; older kids would probably like The Man from Snowy River or Strictly Ballroom. Mr. Fob and I watched Gallipoli for our personal movie night; I'd also recommend Rabbit-Proof Fence or Breaker Morant as good movies about Australian history (and the recent Australia is pretty good too). For our meal we ate meat pies with a tropical fruit salad, and I made some lamingtons using this recipe. I thought the lamingtons were pretty awesome.

Austria: We also read an informational book about the country as well as a picture book about Mozart. For dinner I made schnitzel, noodles (spaetzle), and sauteed red cabbage with apple. We all liked the schnitzel and noodles but no one liked the cabbage except for me. We watched The Sound of Music with the kids and I made some Sachertorte (recipe). Mr. Fob and I also watched a movie about sister missionaries in Vienna.

Argentina: We looked at a few books about the country, including one about festivals and one that is a picture book about living on a rancho. For dinner I made some chicken empanadas; they took quite a bit of work but were really tasty. Mr. Fob and I decided that the recipe is a definite keeper; Little Dude helped me make them and had a lot of fun doing them. We're busy this weekend and probably won't watch an Argentine movie, but I'd recommend any of these ones: Family Law, The Official Story, or A Place in the World.