Interwebs

// December 10th, 2009 // Comments // Twitterkids

After we explained offline status and @ replies we stayed outside to talk about the internet.  The goal of this activity was to explain to the kids who have never been on the internet how the internet can be used to connect people all over the world.

This activity was created by my husband AJ to explain the internet and how it effects communication.  Each student had an index card and wrote a country on it that they wanted to represent.  One student had an index card that said ‘internet’ he was commissioned to go to anyone that needed the internet to transmit messages from one country to another country.  The idea of this activity was to show the kids how easy and quick it is to communicate with people all over the world using the internet.

I’m trying to think of  other cool ways to explain to children who have never used the internet how it works.

What are your ideas? Add them in the comments below.

Twitter Kids – Explaining the Internet from AJ Leon on Vimeo.

Offline @ Replies

// November 30th, 2009 // Comments // Twitterkids

The second day of our time teaching class 5 at Shepherds Jr. was on a Saturday.  We worked with the kids for 3 hours.  This was the first day we got internet and the kids we really excited! However, before the kids went online I did an activity with them to explain offline replies work in a very real way.  So we went outside and this is what it looked like.

Twitterkids – a brief look back

// November 12th, 2009 // Comments // Twitterkids

So we have returned from Tanzania and have been back for a week and a half and I’ve had some time to reflect on the trip and everything that it meant to me.  It was extremely fun and inspiring to work with the students at Shepherds Jr School.  However, it was more than just a fun time.  I have been working on twitterkids in New York City with middle school ESL students in Spanish Harlem for the past two years.  It was a long two years where no one recognized or appreciated the twitterkids curriculum.  The NYS school system is archaic and doesn’t understand the need or uses of the social web and could not appreciate the academic and social gains that the students achieved.   So for me to go across the world and bring this same curriculum to kids in Arusha and to work with a school that was open and accepting of this new type of teaching/learning was refreshing to say the least.

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for their support and encouragement while we were in Tanzania.  A lot of people have been asking about the curriculum, I will be posting it on this blog.  I am still sorting through all the wonderful video that AJ took and will but I will be posting the curriculum here bit by bit.  I am also going post a comprehensive edition of the curriculum as well.

Here is a video of the first day of teaching.  We talked about offline twitter status updates.  I felt it was important for the students to be familiar with the look and feel of twitter before they logged in.  I did not tell them this activity was for twitter we just did it as a stand alone activity.  Later when they logged into twitter for the first time they were able to make sense of the twitter stream they were seeing because it looked the the twitter stream we created in the classroom.

Twitter Kids Offline Updating from AJ Leon on Vimeo.

Curriculum for Epic Change

// October 1st, 2009 // Comments // Twitterkids

So I have been friends with Stacey Monk and Sanjay Patel co-founders of Epic Change for a while now.  A few months ago Epic Change won 10k from idea blob to build a tech lab at Mama Lucy’s school in Tanzania.  After talking a few times I volunteered to write the curriculum for the 2 week introduction into social media for the school.  I used to teach ESL in Spanish Harlem and social media was a large component in my classes.  My students used twitter, tumblr, goodreads,flickr, tweetworks, and the list goes on and on.  It was incredible how much social media I was able to infuse into my lessons.  The reason social media worked so well was because it was another way for my students to express themselves in English and communicate with other people around the world.  SO I am using that curriculum that I used with my students in NYC and I am adapting it for the students in Tanzania.

So when Stacey asked me about writing the curriculum for the kids in Tanzania I was thrilled.  Below is the first draft of the curriculum map.  I always like to start out with a visual map and write down what is teh teaching focus and what the social media integration.  Its a little rough but should give a good look at where I am so far in my planning process.  Will update soon with a more detailed look at the curriculum.

Grand Marnier Crepe Cake

// September 18th, 2009 // Comments // amatuer chef

I found this recipe on epicurious and have made this cake two times it is delicious and very easy to make! The crepe are light and the creme has nice subtle orange flavor.  No crepe pan necessary,  just a simple frying pan and some patience.

Ingredients:

6 eggs

1 cup whole milk

3 cups of heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup of flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup confectioners sugar

2 tablespoons grated orange zest

2 tablespoons unsalted melted butter

1 tablespoon Grand Marnier

Preparation:

In a blender combine eggs, milk, 1/2 cup of cream, 1 cup of flour, 1/4 cup of confectioners sugar, salt and 1 teaspoon of orange zest. Blend until smooth, you don’t want any lumps in your crepes.

Heat skillet to medium-high heat and brush the pan with melted butter.  Pour into pan enough batter to cover the surface of the pan (a little less that 1/4 cup). Cook until golden brown on each side. Remove from skillet and place on a plate while you cook the rest.  Let them cool while you are making the creme.

In a large bowl beat 2 1/2 cups of creme, 3/4 cup of confectioners creme, 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla, 1 teaspoon of Grand Marnier, and 1 teaspoon of orange zest.  Beat with an electric mixer until the creme forms soft peaks.

Now comes the fun part.  On a large plate place one crepe and cover completely with cream. Place down another crepe and once again cover with cream. So you probably see where this is going keep stacking the crepes and covering with creme ending with a crepe on top.  Cover with plastic wrap and let cool in the fridge for at least 4 hours.

Enjoy:

Remove plastic wrap and cut cake into triangle pieces.  If you have creme left over put a dollop on top of each slice.  To get a little fancy with this you can add raspberries to the top or strawberries would also be delicious. This is really a base recipe that can be jazzed up.

Pomegranate-Mango Guacamole and Plantain Chips

// September 18th, 2009 // Comments // amatuer chef

This past weekend my brother in law, Tony was visiting and we of course decided to have a rooftop barbeque.  One of Tony’s favorite things to eat is guacamole so I figured I would make guacamole but with a little twist.  This guacamole has a hint of sweetness from the fruit and just enough acid from the lime juice.

Ingredients:

4 avocados

1 mango

1 pomegranate

1 cup diced red onion

2 diced serano chilies

1/4 lime juice

1 teaspoon salt

8 green plantains

1 lime

sea salt

5 cups of vegetable oil

Preparation:

Guacamole

Dice the onion, serrano chiles and mango into small cubes and remove the seeds from the pomegranate.

Halve and coarsely mash the avocados in a bowl.  Then mix in onions, lime juice, peppers and salt.  Fold in the mangos and pomgranate.  Allow guacamole to chill in refrigerator to chill for a couple hours to allow the flavors to combine.

Plantain Chips

Cut off the ends of the plantains and score them lengthwise.  Soak them in hot sink water for 5 minutes.  Peel the plantains and slice them 1/16 thin into long strips.  A potato peeler works well for this. Pour oil into a large skillet and heat it for about 4 minutes.  Fry each plantain strip for about 45 seconds turning continually with wire metal tongs.  Remove from oil top with fresh lime juice and sea salt.

Enjoy:

Spoon the guacamole into a nice serving dish.  I finally used my old school lava rock serving dish (for lack of a better word) that I bought from Mexico City in 2005.

Guinness & Black

// September 11th, 2009 // Comments // amatuer chef

My husband and really good friend Mikey LOVE Guinness.  So when I found this concoction I just knew I had to make it for them.  Guinness and Black is an Irish drink featuring blackberry brandy, vanilla ice cream and of course Guinness.  A very simple thing to do for the Guinness lovers!

Ingredients:

3 cold 12 ounces bottles of Guinness

4 tablespoons of Blackberry Brandy

1 pint of premium vanilla ice cream

Preparation:

In each mug put a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  Top with 1 tablespoons of blackberry brandy.  Then slowly pour in 8 ounces of cold Guinness.

Enjoy:

This is like the grown up version of the root beer float.  You can use a spoon or straw whatever you wish but most of all enjoy this Guinness flavored dessert.

Summer Cream Crunch Salad

// September 7th, 2009 // Comments // amatuer chef

The last thing I made for our rooftop barbeque this Labor Day Weekend was a salad I like to call the Summer Cream Crunch Salad.  I had a salad similar to this once before at an all day conference at a school I used to teach at.  This salad is perfect for the summer because it uses nice ripe peaches and raspberries, creamy goat cheese and crunchy walnuts topped with balsamic vinaigrette dressing.

Ingredients:

spring mix salad

1 peach

1 box of fresh raspberries

2 ounces of goat cheese

1/4 cup of walnuts

balsamic vinaigrette

Preparation:

Lay the lettuce in a large bowl.  Slice the peaches thin and place on top of the lettuce.  Add in the raspberries and walnuts.  Drop in the creamy goats cheese in small chunks.

Enjoy:

Drizzle on top the balsamic vinaigrette dressing and enjoy!

Cranberry Granita with Orange Cream

// September 6th, 2009 // Comments // amatuer chef

We … let me just explain when I say we I am referring to the 5 of us that live together in the East Village – Me, my husband AJ, my 2 younger brothers Brian and Cheese and my good friend Mikey.  So we decided to have one of our infamous rooftop barbecues this weekend.  As usual we have a ton of food that Mikey will be grilling, one of the things I am making this weekend in the dessert.  I wanted to make something light (as we will be stuffed) and refreshing because if how hot it has been outside.  So I searched and found a recipe on epicurious for a Cranberry Granita with Orange Cream.  Sounded delicious so I though I would give it a try and … it was a HIT, everyone loved it!

Ingredients:

2 cups of Cranberry Juice Cocktail

1/2 cup of sugar

1 1/2 cups of cranberry sauce (like everyone eats for Thanksgiving)

1/2 cup of Orange Juice

2 teaspoons of orange peal

3/4 cup of chilled cream

Preparation:

Bring the cranberry juice and sugar to a boil.  Stir often so that the sugar doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.  Remove  from heat and let it sit.  Puree cranberry sauce for 1 minute.  Then add cranberry juice and sugar mixture and puree for two minutes more.  Pour into an 8×8 pan and freeze until firm or at least 4 hours.  (I used two smaller pans and it worked just fine)

Remove from freezer and scrap with a fork make the frozen cranberry mixture it a flaky goodness.  Now its time for the orange cream.  I have to admit, I ruined mine at first because the ornage syrup I put in was too hot and curdled the cream.  So make sure that the orange syrup is cooled before you put it in the cream to whip.

For the orange syrup combine orange juice and 3 tablespoons of sugar and bring it to a boil in a small saucepan.  Boil the mixture until is reduces to about 1/4 of a cup.  Remove from heat and let it cool.

Now its time for the cream.  In a bowl whisk together cream and 3 tablespoons of the cooled orange syrup.  Whisk for about 4 minutes.  You will know the cream is ready when you remove the whisk and the cream has soft peaks.

Enjoy:

Place a generous amount of cranberry granita into a glass top with a spoonful of cream drizzle a bit of orange cream on top and garnish with some shredded orange peel.

Rose Sangria on Labor Day Weekend

// September 6th, 2009 // Comments // amatuer chef

The summer is starting to sizzle down and this weekend we are having a barbecue on the roof once again.  Barbecues on the roof have become something that we do at least twice a month now.  I have made sangria several time before, but this week I have made a Sangria with Rose Wine.  This drink refreshing and very fruity.  What makes it partiuclarly delicious is the gauva juice!  I love sangria so I use 2 bottles of wine to make it last longer, but this recipe could be done with one bottle of wine.

Ingredients:

2 bottles of Rose Wine (any pink wine will do)

1 16 oz. can of pineapples in 100% pineapple juice

1 can of guava nectar

1 orange (cut into slices)

1 lime (cut into slices)

Preparation:

Slice lime and oranges and place in a large pitcher with pineapples and juice.  Pour both bottles of wine over the fruit and refrigerate for a few hours or until cold.  When mixture is nice and cold and you are ready to serve add the can of guava nectar and stir it all around.

Enjoy:

Fill your glass with ice, spoon in some fruit and cover with the delicious, tropical, fruity Rose Sangria.