Knox chose to build the city wall with some structures inside.
We just finished our study of Ancient India, and we capped off the week with an Indian Feast. Mema and Papa came over to join in the fun. The kids were excited to share some things they had learned about India, as well as their lego replicas of the excavated ruins of Mohenjo Daro. Colin and Knox enjoyed making these replicas more than anything else we did all week.
Colin made a replice of a home, complete with inner courtyard, a granary and an outdoor public bath.
We enjoyed the fellowship and fun of sharing this feast, though on our “Fix it or Forget it?” scale, the kids thought most of it should be “forget it!” No one liked the Tandoori chicken, feeling it was too bland and that the lemon flavor was strange.
The adults all thought the curry tasted great, though it didn’t look very appetizing.
The younger kids all thought the curry was a bit too spicy. They ate the grilled Indian Naan bread, the toppings that were supposed to be for the curry (like dried fruit, nuts and coconut) and the Basmati rice. The one thing that got a rousing “Fix it!” was the Kulfi, or Indian ice cream. The kids loved it. Two of them preferred the cardamom ice cream and two preferred the mango, but they all ate two servings. The adults enjoyed the dinner, but thought the ice cream was a bit strange, as it tasted faintly of sweetened condensed milk.
We wanted to end the evening with a game of Indian Pacheesi (Parcheesi) but we couldn’t find a game board and didn’t have time to make one this week. So we decided to play Indian Rummy instead. This is played similar to Gin Rummy, with 13 cards. Playing cards were invented in India (along with Pacheesi and Chess!) so we felt an Indian card game was in keeping with our celebration, and I think it was much more fun than Pacheesi would have been, since we all love playing cards together. I found simple rules online, and this game was easy enough that even our 6 year old could play, with a little help from dad.
