Eva Perry Day of the Dead Event 2012

Nine teens gathered at Eva Perry Library yesterday to learn about Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).  After sharing our previous knowledge about the event, we participated in authentic activities by making tissue paper flowers and sugar skulls.

Winter Months and Tasty Soup

When winter weather arrives, it is a perfect time to eat nice warm soup, even though I would not use “winter weather” to describe the temperature this year. Nevertheless, I set out on a mission to find a good soup recipe and according to my dad’s three servings, I think this one definitely at least deserves the title “good,” if not great. I searched on Google for hardly any time until I found this recipe decided to try this it out, although I would have to wait until the weekend when I had time to cook it for three hours. I originally got the recipe from The Food Network (
http://tiny.cc/psbh6
) but down below I included my adapted recipe.

Tis the Season to Eat FOOD.

I’ve brought it upon myself to cook dinner every night during winter break if we’re not eating out (and also to learn how to whistle, become a Chinese yoyo master, and a juggling prodigy, but first things first). I just thought I’d share some of my favorite recipes for this holiday season. Enjoy!

Last night I decided to make eggplant soup, which I found a recipe for on AllRecipes, since we had a bit of eggplant left. It turned out delicious, but it wasn’t such a good idea after I realized that I didn’t have a blender. But I’ll share it here, in case any of you do, or want to be like me and have to mash everything up in batches with a wooden roller. Here is my slightly modified version, depending on what I had at hand.
EGGPLANT SOUP (serves two people and one very hungry sister)
Ingredients
-1 eggplant, cut in half lengthwise
-1 tomato, cut in half
-1/2 large onion, cut in half
-3 pieces of garlic
-Salt
-Pepper
-Goat cheese
-Vegetable oil
-1 chicken bouillon cube
Directions
1) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2) Place your tomato, eggplant, garlic, and onion onto baking sheet. Drizzle and spread vegetable oil over the tops and bake in the oven for about half an hour, or until they have some brown spots on them.
3) Take four cups of water and put on high on the stove. Add a chicken bouillon cube. Peel the skin off of the eggplant and place the eggplant, tomato, garlic, and onion into the pot. Stir around for a while (and mash a bit with your spoon) until soft. Once the water starts bubbling (when it’s boiling), you can turn it down to medium heat.

Argentinian Exchange Trip!

Hey everyone! A month ago, I had the pleasure of attending an exchange trip to Argentina. While I was there, I was able to truly experience a new culture - from everything such as the language to the food and architecture. Some of the really interesting things I learned were –

Candy Sushi at West Regional Library

Yesterday was a teen event at West Regional…candy sushi! It was fun, yummy, and overall very entertaining. Basically, we used Twinkies, Rice Krispie treats, Twizzlers, Nerds, gummy worms, Swedish fish, and Fruit Rollups to make them. We first looked at examples, like the pictures below:

And then we started. Here are the sushi that my friend and I made:

Want to make your own candy sushi? Well here’s how.

Scrumptious Springtime Recipes!

Ah, the season of flowers, fresh greens, baby bunnies, and bright colors! Most teenagers (including me) typically think of spring as the season of allergies and the time of year right before summer (huzzah!)

Spring welcomes in many great vegetables and fruits that anyone can use in their dishes. Even teens! Lemon, parsley, spinach, and strawberries are extraordinary at this time of year. With these fresh ingredients and a few others, any teenager can make a delicious light pasta dish and yummy springtime smoothie.

I was inspired to create this dish and dessert after reading  The Pasta Bible by Jeni Wright. I recommend this cookbook to any pasta aficionado out there!

Oh Yum. Asian snacks.

So you want to try something new. Why not ditch your Cheetos and try some of these Asian snacks?

1) White Rabbit candy

This candy never lasts long at my house. It’s milky, chewy…but the weird thing is that my favorite part is the edible rice paper that the candy is wrapped with (not the actual wrapper — the clear wrap inside). They have several different flavors, but the one I recommend is the vanilla kind, which is the original. White Rabbit has had a looonnnggg history in China — my parents ate it when they were kids! White Rabbit originated in China.

Gum… You like to chew it, We like to make art with it!

This past month there was a gum art program for teens at Eva Perry. Each person received two sheets of white card stock, one of which was for “Gum Holding” and the other was our “Canvas”. Lindsey told us that we should chew the gum for 15 minutes before it was pliable enough to be spread on our canvases. Most of us chewed until we were ready for the next piece, everything went faster that way, and chewing multiple pieces of different colors made for some interesting flavors!

We also learned about the Italian artist Maurizio Savini. He makes gum art and some sell for over 55,000 dollars. Here is one of his sculptures-

Now I’m not saying that some of our gum pictures weren’t GREAT, but if any of us made anything this amazing I would be VERY surprised. Here is a gum picture of flowers that I thought was amazing:    

Gum. Nomnom.

Guess what? What if I told you you could still have dessert but have it be sugarfree and fat-free?

Well here you go. Extra’s Dessert Delights gum offers you chewable dessert in three flavors: Key Lime Pie, Strawberry Shortcake, and Mint Chocolate Chip. Yum yum~

Happy Lunar New Year!

The year of the rabbit will be ushered in with many festivities on February 3rd this year. Because the Chinese calendar is different from the traditional calendar, the Lunar New Year’s Day is always on a different day (much like how Easter falls on a different day every year). Every year is symbolized by an animal, which rotates every 12 years. You’ve probably seen the calendar on a paper place mat in a Chinese restaurant.

Restaurant Review: The Mellow Mushroom

http://www.mellowmushroom.com/index.php#/store/index/durham

The Mellow Mushroom!

So a couple of Fridays ago, 3 of my friends and I hung out in Durham, and we went to this awesome pizza place called “The Mellow Mushroom”!

I entered the place, thinking it would be just another ordinary pizza joint, but I was proven wrong. It’s a really cute and quirky place, all colorfully decorated inside, and there are these huge mushroom statues things outside.

And the food was AWESOME. Well, I was also supremely hungry that day, having just come from an intense dance practice. But I fell in love with their pizza called “The Caesar”.

Gou Bu Li Bao Zi

While I was in Beijing, we stopped at (literally translated) the Front Door (in Chinese it’s 前门). It’s located right behind the Tian’an Men Square, behind the building where you can see Mao Zidong’s body. Anyways, we were looking for a place to eat lunch. Suddenly, my mom stops. “Look, it’s Gou Bu Li Bao Zi (狗不理包子),” she says to me, pointing to the shop.