Written by Karla
Bookworm summer camp has already started, offering cooking classes for children during the first week. This is a great opportunity for kids to learn about different cultures, including their own, while stimulating their senses.
Yesterday, children had the opportunity to learn about MEXICO: a distant country that, besides being so different in many aspects, shares some similarities with the Goan culture.
After a quick introduction about Mexico, the cooking class started by preparing some Mexican salsa, which is also known as “PICO DE GALLO”. Anyone can make this salsa by only mixing diced tomatoes, finely chopped onion and coriander, and finally adding lemon juice and salt to taste. This fresh and delicious salsa, is one of the basics in Mexican cuisine and can be used as a nice accompaniment or topping for any other dish.
Once the salsa was ready, it was time to learn how to make some nice and warm MOLLETES. Children used a pao cut in half and spread some refried-beans and cheese on top; once the breads were placed in the oven and the cheese was melted, they enjoyed decorating their molletes with small vegetable cuttings, making funny faces on them.
This dish is really easy to prepare and all the ingredients are easily available in Goa; the best thing is that the Goan pao has pretty much the same taste than the Mexican “bolillo” bread that is traditionally used for this dish.
To finalize with a sweet taste in the mouth, children made MAZAPANES. This traditional Latin-American sweet is prepared in Mexico by simply mixing peanuts and sugar powder until forming a paste or dough that is usually shaped into circles. However, yesterday kids made very creative mazapanes, with heart, snake and other shapes, that were tasty and fun to eat!
Never the less, a day at Bookworm cannot be completed without a reading aloud session and games; reason why, after enjoying the food, children listened the charming Mexican story “Antonio’s lucky day”, and finally, played the traditional LOTERIA game before getting ready to go back home and share their experiences with their family.
There is no doubt children have been learning trough new experiences and tastes at Bookworm this week!
Hope everyone enjoys as much as they can while they are in here!
Thank you to all the ones who have been supporting Bookworm activities.
