Metropolitan Rural

As I type this, the wife is at home with a small group of kids teaching them how to make ice cream.  We tried it out last night to make sure everything worked and so she would be more familiar with the process to help.  It was really quite simple.  They are making small amounts to cut down on the time and just make some samples.  I think they are getting together next month or something to try and make strawberry flavors as well.

So, for a simple, family fun time why not try to make some on your own.

• 1/2 Cup - Half and Half
• 1 T - Sugar
• 1 t - Vanilla Extract (although the boy suggested you use a bit less)

We mixed those together and put them in a small zipper bag.  We then placed that in a larger zipper bag and filled the larger bag with 2 Cups of ice and 1/4 Cup of Rock Salt.  A lot of shaking and in only 10 minutes we had a nice little bit of vanilla ice cream.

The wife found this on the PBS site for the show Fetch.  Check it out, there are lots of cool things to do with the kids there.

So, after my round of Golf on Sunday morning, we got our chance to head over to the International Institutes Festival of Nations in Tower Grove Park. This is the second year we have been and had a ball both times. My biggest problem is that we never have enough time there to try food from EVERY vendor!

We took our stroll through the nations to scope things out and then came back for our selections.

First Stop - Ethiopia. We love this food. My wife’s best friend growing up was part Ethiopian and her mother helps out with the booth. She was there so we stopped to say hello. She was also recently featured in the Post-Dispatch for being involved in a local test kitchen business incubator. She started a company that is making and selling Afeeza (a sort of spicy lentil dish). According to her she is making twice weekly deliveries to the new grocery store on Morganford (Local Harvest, which I really need to stop by sometime soon) and will soon start selling it to the local Whole Foods as well. Her Afeeza was excellent, though a little spicy for the 8 year old. He preferred the potatoes and carrots dish.

Next Stop - Brazil. Cafe Brasil had a tent set up and we’d heard lots of good things about their food. It is on our list to go visit as well. We had the Vatapa (a chicken and sauce with rice). The flavor was excellent, my 8 year old took one bite, waited for us to try it and then started begging to have the rest of it… no way! you’ve got to share!

Lastly - Norway. We swung by the Norwegian food for the sausage. It was good, as to be expected, but I LOVED the kraut. It was a sweet and sour kraut. My wife said it was caraway seeds, I’ll take her word for it. Would love to find some more of that some place.

Anyway, after that we did some shopping with the vendors and met a nice man from Minnesota selling Bulgarian products. He said this was their first festival here and they would definitely come back. He had high praise for St. Louis and said he was really enjoying both the festival and the city.

Next, it was off to our first CYC soccer game of the fall. What a busy day!