Happy Cinco de Mayo!

To celebrate Cinco de Mayo all of us here at Serenity decided to have a fiesta! But before we continue, let’s have another lesson.

Many people think that Cinco de Mayo is Mexico’s Independence Day, but it really commemorates the anniversary of the Battle of Puebla. After the Mexican-American war, Mexico was in major debt to France but had no money to repay the debts when France wanted them. Despite the Mexican president’s compromise to pay the debts back two years later, France invaded.

At this time France had one of the greatest armies in the world and wasn’t worried about being defeated in the least; the nearest country was the United States which was involved in its own civil war. France hoped to invade and rule Mexico with the main objective to halt the growth of the United States.

When the French decided to attack at Puebla, the French army numbered nearly 6,000 whereas the Mexican army only had approximately 4,000 makeshift soldiers (many were simple farmers who were not prepared with the proper equipment for such a battle). Due to the French general’s arrogance, the French army was ordered to attack at the Mexican army’s strongest point. The Mexican army used guerilla warfare tactics and defeated the French army in a major victory.

This story is what is celebrated on May 5th! And our fiesta today was a ton of fun. It was a blast to eat all the different Mexican style food that was prepared for the festive occasion. Take a look at these photos to get a glimpse of the tasty food we enjoyed today – pictured above is Texas Caviar and to the right is a Mexican flag dessert!

Jamaican Passport Meal

Yah, Mon! We’re in Jamaica! This afternoon we got a taste of Jamaican culture with our Jamaican Passport Meal; but we’ve been getting ready for the festivities this whole week. On Monday we had a blast tie-dying t-shirts that we all wore for the first time today. These were all so colorful and it was fun to finally see how all of our shirts had turned out! And we even had more fun with Jamaican themed crafts yesterday when we made Jamaican Bracelets. Making these taught us that patience really is a virtue; but it was a ton of fun putting them together. Today was the perfect time to show off all our Jamaican creations, both the t-shirts and bracelets; and it was really exciting!

To begin the party this afternoon we all held silly props in front of our faces and took funny pictures. All of these photos of our funny faces are now taped on our doors so that all our visitors can see the fun we had. It was a blast to see how funny we all looked, and now we can remember it every time we go out our doors!

After our photo shoot we started eating our summer-themed Jamaican Passport Meal. We began with a traditional appetizer called Jamaican Shrimp and continued the meal with white rice cooked with coconut milk and Jamaican Red Stripe Chicken as the main course. For dessert we all tried Fried Ripe Plantains which were very interesting. By the time we were done eating we discovered that Jamaicans eat quite well!

Above is a picture of Genevieve Sunde and Mary Joan Grubb with their silly facial props. To the left is a photo of Henrietta Van Dyke modeling her Jamaican Bracelet and to the right is a picture of Alfred Baumgartner sporting his huge sunglasses!

"Guten Appetit!"

The Black Forest is one of the most beautiful parts of Germany, with its rolling mountains, beautiful wildlife and breathtaking views. And just to get a taste of what the Black Forest has to offer, we planned a Passport Meal in southern Germany.

We kicked off the celebration by designing German Edelweiss Hats. We had a blast making all the hats with our favorite colors and even furnished them with feathers like the traditional Tyrolean Hats some Germans wear. It was fun for us to remember the old German sayings we had learned so long ago and to talk about Germany’s unique culture as well!

On Thursday, June 18th we enjoyed a German specialty called Zwiebelfleisch, which literally translates to onion meat. As you could probably guess, this dish is steak roasted with onions, therefore receiving its name. This main course was served over traditional German noodles as a side dish, and the famous Schwarzwaelder Kirschtorte, or Black Forest Cherry Cake, was served for dessert. All these foods are deep-rooted in the Black Forest region in southern Germany and made for an especially delicious meal for all of us here at Serenity!

Pictured here is Florence who just finished her Zwiebelfleisch!

Passport Meals

Encountering different cultures can be a lot of fun, and here at Serenity we love to celebrate our differences! Every month we embark on a new journey with our friends to other places around the world through food, music and different cultures. The Passport Meal is a fun way for us to travel the world from our dining room and provides us the opportunity to try new, foreign cuisines. There are always fun photos, facts and other various trinkets to look at so we all learn a little about the new cultures we visit – and it’s always a lot of fun! With Passport Meals we cook up traditional meals from various parts of the world and celebrate the unique cultures with our taste buds!