Another teacher and I were asked to come in, and when we arrived neither of us were really sure what to expect. I was thrilled to discover that our boss has gotten aprons for us, and that we would be setting up the room into two teams: Kendra's kids versus Daniel's kids. Since it was Daniel's birthday, I told him we might let his team win, but I knew my team was better from the beginning.
I was excited to see some of my kids from class show up - it was a mixed group of students, all of whom were there on a saturday to take a big placement test for middle school or high school, and they wanted to have a fun activity to make the day better for them. The kids from my class who came were very excited to see me chopping radishes and slicing strips of fired egg and tofu.
Once all of the ingredients were set out, we got down to business. To make kimbap, you take a large square of dried seaweed and lay it flat, ideally on a placemat made of sticks to roll it after. Then, you take a handful or two of rice - to your liking - and smooth it over the seaweed so it makes a layer. Next, take a seasame leaf and lay it over the rice, then fill the leaf with some ingredients - tuna, crab, and ham are favorites, but I of course opted for fried tofu. Then you wrap the meat or tofu into the leaf so it's neatly rolled. Add other ingreditents next to the wrapped meat/tofu, such as pickled radish, fried egg, carrots, cucumbers, etc. Then, take the edge of your placemat and press the seaweed as you roll, to make a beautiful cylinder. I was thrilled when I helped some of the students roll theirs when they had trouble, because they thought my rolling was fantastic. One student praised me because it was so clean and perfect. Just like me.... ; )
Near the end, we went to work creating a beautiful platter of each team's kimbap. I took a piece from each student to make ours, and one girl helped me a lot - the same one who thought I...I mean, my kimbap...was clean and perfect. She thought a flower would be nice, and that we could add leaves, and then I helped by arranging it with the leaves underneath, which she thought was very cool. There is no better ego trip than hanging out with adoring children. I was very proud of my team and our blossoming kimbap platter.
Great blog!I like the picture and commentary and slide show! Sounds like a great day! What dedication and commitment on yours and Daniel's parts, as well as the school's and the kids'.
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