I wasn’t a big fan of having to transition to digital TV – specially as we had no plans of buying new, expensive, TVs – but the transition was all in all pretty painless (though we did have to spend some extra money on the conveters), and, as a bonus, I got two new TV stations I like.
Once is PBS World, which allows me to catch up on PBS and BBC news programs when it’s more convenient to me, and the other one is Qubo, a channel that shows children’s cartoons all day long. As we don’t have cable, and I do let my TV babysit my kids, that’s quite welcomed.
But what I like about Qubo is the type of programs it has. Many of the cartoons are based on books, such as Babar, Macy and Pippy Longstockings, and others are just very smart. Jane and the Dragon is about a little girl who refuses to be a maiden and tries hard to be a knight.
My favorite show, by far, is Adventures from the Book of Virtues – a show that teaches ethical/moral lessons from stories from around the world. Just a while ago, for example, they had the story of Damon and Pythias, two good friends from Syracuse. One of them stood up against the tyrant of the time, advocating democracy – he was arrested and sentenced to be killed (hey, doesn’t this sound like what’s going on in Iran as we speak?), and he asked as his last wish that he be allowed to say goodbye to his family. The other friend offered to stay on his place, to make sure his friend returned. I loved the story, not just because it teaches about the depth of loyalty and friendship, but because it reinforces the ideal I’m trying to teach my children, that you should stand up to tyranny even on the face of prison or death. I’m not sure that there are many shows around that are willing to tackle such complex ethical issues. And as if that was not enough, the show teaches my kids about important historical figures (like Plato).
The one big problem with Qubo is that all its commercials (between shows, rather than within them, which is a plus) are infomercials for stupid things. Some of them are for children, but many are for adults: furniture warehouses, adjustable beds, gold buyers, etc. They are also terribly long. But I guess that’s the price for fairly good children’s programming.
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One of the activities I have planned for Mika’s 8th Birthday Ancient Egyptian party is decorating t-shirts. For that purpose, I got a couple of booklets of Ancient Egyptian stencils at Amazon.com and some Tulip Fashion Spray Paint
The stencils are quite small, each sheet is about 5.4″ x 4″. The sheets are laminated and they cleaned up quite well (though we’ll see how many clean ups they can stand). They are, of course, too small for spray painting if used by themselves – but I cut out a rectangle the size of the stencil in the middle of a cardboard sheet, then taped the stencil there, and it worked quite well to shield the rest of the spraying surface.
I’m also happy with the paint. The kids had some difficulties making it spray rather than just blot, but I think it was a matter of applying the right pressure to the pump and having it at an adequate distance from the surface. I think the kids at the party will figure it out.
Both Mika and Camila were quite happy with the results. Mika painted a t-shirt she had with the ankhs and Camila just tried it on a piece of paper-cloth we had around. I got white t-shirts for the party, so I think it’ll work even better.
Cat Mummies
My only issue are a couple of paragraphs that implied that Egypt was conquered by the Persians because of its animal worship. I’m not sure if it was a veiled attempt to get a Biblical point of view in, or just sloppy writing.
In any case, it’s a great book to read to your little Egyptologist – and you can probably find it at the library or for very cheap online.
This post might be better suited for my Food Blog BUT I figured I’d included here for anyone who is searching for ideas of what to serve at an Ancient Egyptian party.
While we know in general what the Ancient Egyptians ate (a lot of bread and beer, complemented with the vegetables they could grow in their gardens – onions were very popular – as well as the fish they could get from the Nile and the birds they could hunt), we don’t really have much in the way of recipes, and it’s not necessarily easy (or practical) to get their staples here. For example, where would I find a tiger nut?
The following menu for my kids slumber party is as authentic as I could get it to be. I’m basing some of the ingredients on what has been available in Egypt from Coptic times on.
Snack: Baby carrots, cucumber slices, celery and pita bread with hummus and babaganoush. Grapes and watermelon, if I find it.
Dinner: Chicken kebabs, with cucumber-yogurt salad
Breakfast: Egyptian pancakes* with honey & walnuts and eggs a la carte
Lunch: Pizza (I know, I know, but that’s what Mika wanted) and same things as snacks
Cake: Homemade, with light brown frosting (to look like sand), decorated with these Ancient Egyptian figurines
I had wanted to make a pyramid cake, but my trial efforts at it were pathetic. I hope this cake will turn out (I’m planning on using mix and store-bought frosting) and won’t look too bad.
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* I don’t know if the Ancient Egyptians ate pancakes or feteer, but when I lived in Egypt there were several shops (specially one in Khan el Khalili) serving them – they were delicious. Given the simplicity of the recipes, I would imagine they are very old. I’ll give them a trial run tomorrow, to see if they come out. If not I’m not sure what I’ll do. I have a recipe for ataif, arab pancakes which date to medieval times, but it looks even harder.
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