Teen Summer Programs: Tastier Than You Think!

[rockinlibrarian]

I haven't posted much about my Tween-and-Teen Programming this summer. See, our library's Big Thing is our SRC camp-type weeks-- week-long programs for elementary kids culminating in a big field trip-- or large in-house event (we're having a Multicultural Fair tomorrow)-- on Friday. I did my best to be there and involved every day last summer, but with two small children it was NOT HAPPENING. Properly. So this year I'm keeping to my I-get-babysitting-on-Wednesdays-and-Fridays schedule, so I'm there to help chaperone the Friday events, and I pitch in with book-and-storytime activities on Wednesdays.

But in the spaces on Wednesday I've started some weekly activities for older kids. There's a book discussion group that meets for pizza over lunch-- I have a couple regulars for that, but neither were there this week, which is kind of awkward. But the COOL-- and more popular-- program is in the afternoon, Wild World Wednesdays. The Summer Reading Club theme this year is "One World, Many Stories" (TECHINICALLY for teens it's "You Are Here," but sticking with the 'Round the World theme is the interesting part), so this program is basically Making Things From Around the World. Every other week is a craft, every OTHER other week is FOOD!

I did not hold back. I wanted these to be Genuinely Cool activities, not wussy elementary-school cut-and-paste stuff. The first week we did marbling. Week two, we made crepes. Week 3, batik. Yesterday, we had a Pita Party, which basically meant we made a lot of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern dips and spreads and such and served them with pita bread and pita chips.

IT WAS AWESOME. I went a little overboard-- surely a sensible library program would focus on, like, ONE recipe, which is for goodness sakes cheaper; but I've paid for a lot of this out of my own pocket JUST BECAUSE I WANTED THE EXCUSE TO MAKE ALL THIS FOOD. We made hummus of course (not one of my favorite foods, but kind of inevitable), and tzatziki (which IS. One of my favorite foods I mean), and baba ghanouj (which is just fun to say), and a feta spread, and tabbouleh. The tabbouleh turned out PARTICULARLY awesome-- so very fresh, and it SMELLED so good, and all the teens were as enthusiastic about it as all the adults they shared it with at the front desk.

It is so perfect for summer, with all the ingredients in season, so here, for your pleasure, is the recipe we used:

Tabbouleh

--2 cups cracked wheat (bulgur)
--1 onion, peeled and chopped
--4 large tomatoes, chopped
--2 small or one large cucumber! (thanks, Emily!)
--about 1 cup chopped scallions
--1/2 cup olive oil
--juice of 2 lemons
--1 tsp salt
--1/4 tsp pepper
--6 T chopped fresh parsley
--3 T chopped fresh mint
--romaine lettuce and pita bread for serving

Rinse and drain cracked wheat according to package directions. Combine with remaining ingredients, and serve on top/with lettuce and/or pita.

You'll thank me later.

Anyway, next week is Huichol Yarn Painting, followed by pasta sauces (probably pesto and an asian peanut sauce at this point, but I haven't made up my mind yet), then papermaking, then stir-fry. Every Wednesday-- when I'm currently working from 10-4:30 with a break until six and then back on children's reference desk until 8-- I wake up in a state of mild panic-- but by the time Wild World Wednesday has gotten underway I (and everyone else) am having so much fun that I wonder what I was afraid of.

Oh yeah. The whole Teenagers-brandishing-knives thing. It is frightening as a general concept.

But doesn't work out all that bad in the end.

Comments

[riki-kiki-taco.livejournal.com]

Wow, awesome! My kind of programming :-) Just be careful if you do the peanut sauce, some people can't even breathe it in the air! I keep looking for more foodie things to try, I might have to steal these! I've done chocolate and sculpting with food. I also found a buttermint recipe but didn't think of the dangers of raw egg (d'oh!) and so need to try it with a substitute for next time.

~kiki

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

So far everyone who's shown for the program has been food-allergy free, though this week we did have a diabetic girl who decided she just wanted to cook stuff and then took stuff home for her family.

[sal_amanda]

That sounds like a fun program. Go you!

[elouise82.livejournal.com]

So fun! I admit to being a big hummus aficionado (there is actually a large tub sitting in my fridge right now, or it WOULD be a large tub if my littles and I didn't keep scarfing it down), but it took me years to appreciate it, so I fully comprehend other people having an "eh, whatever" feeling toward it. I've never even HEARD of tzatziki, so now I'm going to have to look that up! See, libraries help everyone learn something, even unintentionally.

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

Tzatziki is otherwise known as "cucumber sauce," but since we have a very large Greek-American population in our town (including the late benefactor/guy-with-his-name-on-the-building of our library!), I felt I had to use proper terminology.

[punterschlagen.livejournal.com]

We just had tabbouleh for dinner here the other night - first time I had it, and it was great (ours had cucumber in it, too). My mom-in-law made it from a recipe on the bulgar wheat box (my in-laws eat it as a breakfast cereal). Your program sounds so much FUN!!

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

Wait, this recipe is supposed to have cucumber, too! Going back to edit...

[punterschlagen.livejournal.com]

Oh, by the way - just finished "The FitzOsbornes in Exile" - I like it even better than the first book! Have you read it yet?

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

No! We're supposed to be getting it in our library-- it was due in last month's Junior Library Guild delivery-- but it hasn't made it out of the tech/processing room yet apparently. I've tried snooping around for it there, but that room is a complete mess. EVENTUALLY....