Cultured

FEASTING: Today, we were in charge of hosting a multi-cultural smorgasbord at our learning center. So, we headed to the city nice and early and got busy.

We moved many a big table, set out chairs, put up signs, got audio/visual things in order, on and on ... come noon it was party time. 

Families were encouraged to bring a food that represented their culture. We brought Starbuck's Pike Place Market coffee (Seattle culture!), as well as Jarlsberg (Norwegian) cheese atop Scandinavian crackers. You can see a photo above, and can blame CJ for the fact the plating leave a LOT to be desired.

Because I had to set up for the shindig, I wanted to make our food contribution easy, so we opted for Norwegian cheese and crackers (no baking) and opted to offer a Scandinavian beverage. It ended up being a good 'go easy' option. :)

Can I just say that Glögg was wildly popular with all ages? We served about three gallons of the stuff to a crowd of about 100.

It's usually a spiced wine drink, but that was out of the question at school, so we opted for a grape juice-based one. To organic, natural juice we added cinnamon, cardamom, fresh grated orange peel, cloves, nutmeg, fresh ginger, anise, allspice, apple, raisins, currants and sugar. It's served warm (Scandinavia is cold in wintertime). It smelled delicious and tasted great, too. 

It was a huge hit, as you might infer from the photo above. Kids spilled it all over while getting cup after cup. At least it was a pretty spill. :) 

The goal of the luncheon was to have community come together and share their immigration stories. As I was making my way around the event every which way, it was really cool to hear people sharing their backgrounds with one another.

CJ prepared this video for the event. The images are from NASA, the poem is by Maya Angelou. It sums things up beautifully.

People listened to the message, and clapped when it was over.

CHARMING: Today I learned that a group of hummingbirds is called a charm.
Isn't that charming? 

Here's one of our regular visitors, Lazy.