Moorish Feast

We got this idea from our Social Studies book, Story of the World.  For those who lament their lack of creativity, this book really helps get over that hurdle.  You just have to be willing to try the activities.  I am definitely partial to the cooking activities, as I've been teaching Funny how to cook this year.  This one was super fun, and the whole family participated.

In the 700s, Spain was inhabited by Visigoths (and Romans, too) and their king died.  Power struggle!  The sons of the dead king thought they were so clever, and they asked Tariq bin Ziyad, a famous Islamic military leader, to come help them defeat Rodrigo, who had been appointed king.  Now Tariq and his troops had worked to spread Islam all the way to what is now Morocco.  And Spain was conveniently right there, just across the sea.  How nice of Spain to just invite him to come!  He, of course, accepted, and invaded Spain.  Muslim Spaniards became known as Moors.  The Muslims introduced all kinds of things to Spain, such as apples, cherries, cooking utensils and lawyers.  Too bad about the lawyers.  The point where Tariq landed is named after him, and is now called "the rock of Gibraltar."

For dinner, we ate arroz con pollo, grapes, and naan.  I doubt there would've been naan there, but surely there would've been some kind of flatbread.  We ate by candlelight, and sat on pillows.  The closest music I could find was SAHARA LOUNGE.  (Sorry that's all caps; blame Amazon.)  We all really, really liked the music.

Funny browning the rice and onion.

Funny working her knife skills.

Silly is dancin' on the table.

Funny decided to dress like a hippie (she lamented her lack of admiral costumes) and
build a telescope so she can see Spain and where she would land the boats.

My super lazy, fake version of arroz con pollo.  It was tasty.

Dinner time!

Goofy is mesmerized by the fire.

Silly looking contemplative.

Grapes and candle.

Scrappy takes a break from hogging all the grapes.