When we had Megan (my crafted mini me) I would bring her out and lay her in her reclining highchair. Even if she was asleep we would bring her out, sit her next to us at the table while my husband and I ate and chatted about our day. We did this from birth with all of our kiddies and our dream was to always have these family meal times. But as kiddies grow older and my husband became such an important computer fixer, they started having these social, spiritual or sport commitments and next thing I knew 7 nights of family dinners had turned into 3 or 4.
To keep the dream alive (so to speak) and to dedicate set time for family fun we created Friday Family Fun Night. A night to enjoy together, it didn't matter where we were or what we were doing, it just mattered that we were doing it together and having fun. Sometimes we would go out, sometimes we would grab a pizza and watch a movie but lately my daughter has been having a lot of fun with "Megan's Restaurant"
Here's how it works. We pick a country or cuisine that we would like to try and my daughter and I research until we find a yummy menu. Then we make our shopping list and go on the inevitable treasure hunt for obscure ingredients. This - for us - is half the fun for Family Fun Night.
On the Friday I will pick her up from school and she will come bouncing home - so excited for "Megan's Restaurant". I'll be busy cooking in the kitchen and she will be setting the table - including name tags, "fancy" glassware and plates, serving platter (if needed) organising the bread and the drinks - all the fancy tasks of a restaurant manager :-)
This Family Fun Night we will be having a Brazilian feast.
Brazilian Black Bean Stew recipe found here
Brazilian White Rice recipe found here
Päo De Queijo (Brazilian Cheese Bread) recipe found here
Brazilian Lemonade recipe found here
And for dessert, a Lime Pie recipe found here. Now looking at the recipe it does say Key Lime Pie but we can't get Key Limes here in Australia, so really it will be a Lime Pie. Key limes are quite different to our limes, when they are ripe they have a pale green to yellow skin, they are also smaller then the limes we are used to and have a stronger tartness.
Tonight I will post some photos of our Brazilian Feast.
Until then Happy Crafting
From Natalie at Crafted by Natalie.
Fantastic idea on the family fun nights, I decided there was so much happening in our family with work commitments, social outings (daughters not mine) etc that I made 1 night a week family night, the TV is turned off and we spend the evening together weather it be arguing (2 teens) or talking, me usually crafting , but it is spent together , thats whats important. Also my TV is NEVER on at mealtimes, we eat as a family at the table with no tv. well all those at home each night anyway.
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