Springbok Wastusi is the name of the African stew that Grandad insisted we make a few years ago. He tells us it is traditionally made in a hollowed out pumpkin that is buried with hot coals and left to cook slowly for a day or so. When he brought the ingredients to our old house for M to make, he added other...ingredients not native to Africa. Like cactus. The stew was so funny that we secretly video taped the whole dinner. Someday when we have super duper technology I will post that video!
Grandad oversees the cooking to make sure M doesn't make a mistake, and that he uses only the highest quality of slimy sea flora and fauna.
So last night we had our Korean Feast. M said he hasn't had so much fun making dinner since the night of the Springbok Watusi. Here are some super funny pictures of the kids, going from denial to cleaning their plates! The menu included a stir fry of carrots, celery, seaweed, octopus, periwinkle snails, green mussels, and little tiny fish. This was served over a bed of sweet black rice.
Octopus on my fork, with a tiny fish underneath
S was the first to accept his dinner, as is. He delights in being the "good kid" when his siblings are acting up.
S with a green mussel.
E, in denial
E's favorite part of her dinner was the tiny fish. She...fished through her stir fry eating the tiny fish and asking for her brothers' fish in exchange for bits of snail and octopus. And then she chose going to bed over finishing her dinner, which she ate 20 minutes later when she got bored.
F and her tiny fish
F ate some seaweed and tiny fish, but she preferred the appetizer plate over her dinner: pickled okra and palm hearts. Yeah, I know those aren't Korean, but you never know what Grandad is going to put on the table at dinner time.
IJ and a green mussel
IJ's favorite part was the octopus. He picked through his stir fry, much like E, finding the octopus pieces and pulling the tentacles off one by one. Kids are so weird sometimes.
This morning the Early Bird Club (Grandad, M, and S) ate fish cakes with ginger paste and hard-boiled quail's eggs. I'll stick to coffee and oatmeal... although I did eat some quail egg. Tastes like chicken egg! The great thing about this Korean feast was the price. This seafood at a grocery store would have cost three or fours times as much as it cost us. And a plate of seafood at a fancy restaurant...ugh. But if one is brave enough to take Grandad to the Korean market, the price plummets. The dinner cost about... $20. Not bad for a fancy dinner for seven people!
