Yearly Archives: 2013

May 13-19 Children's Book Week

Everyday is a good day for aupairs to read to their children, even older ones. Make a special effort to go to our libraries in Alexandria and the children’s librarian will help you pick out good books for your kids. The website for our library system is found through a link on our blog.

May Day- May 1

May Day is a holiday similar to Labor Day in the US. It welcomes Spring, and was especially popular in medieval England. Children would celebrate by dancing around a Maypole.

Fun With Crayons

The first box of 8 crayons was introduced in 1903. Since then over 100 billion crayons have been produced and there are now 120 colors available. Here is a fun project to reuse and recycle old bits of broken crayons and make them into rainbow crayons. It is also a good day to demonstrate to your host children how recycling works:

1 kitchen knife ( only the aupair handles this)

10 used crayons (or more)

several mini baking tins

Chop the crayons into pea-size pieces; keep the colors separate

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees

Fill the baking pan with crayon pieces. Bake 15-20 minutes until the crayon bits have just melted.

Remove the shapes after they have cooled. If they stick, put the in the freezer for an hour and try to remove again. .

World Pretzel Day, April 26!

Our aupairs can make their own pretzels with their  host children. Here is how:

1 1/2 cups warm (110-115 degrees F) water

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 package active dry yeast

4 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 ounces unsalted butter, melted

Vegetable oil for the pan

10 cups water ( to boil and submerge pretzel dough)

2/3 cup baking soda

1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water

Pretzel salt

 

Combine the 1.5 cups warm water, sugar and kosehr salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour and butter, and using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the bow, about 4-5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl, and then oil it well with the vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for 50-55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

 

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Line 2 half-sheet plans with parchment paper and lightly brush with vegetable oil. Set aside.

Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling oil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.

While you wait for the water to boil, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24 inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope cross them over each  other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a traditional pretzel. Place onto the parchment lined pan.

Place the pretzels into the boiling water, one by one, for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. Return to the pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and ater mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt. Bake until golden brown in color, about 12-14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before eating.

Passover- March 26

March 26 Passover-Passover, also known as Pesach or Pesah, is a Holy Day, observed by several religions, begins today and lasts seven or eight days, depending on your beliefs.  It commemorates the exodus and freedom of the Israelites from Egypt.  It is also observed by some Christians to commemorate the deliverance from sin by the sacrifice of Jesus.

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