Family Meal Plan: English Eton Mess Fruit Salad + Silken Lemon Meringue Pie Pudding + Fresh Lemon-Berry Sip

English Eton Mess Fruit Salad

Happy & Healthy Cooking,

Fun-Da-Mentals Kitchen Skills

• blend :

  to stir together two or more ingredients until just combined; blending is a gentler process than mixing.

• chop :

  to cut something into small, rough pieces using a blade.

• juice :

  to extract or squeeze out the juice of a fruit or vegetable, like a lemon, orange, or carrot, often cutting open or peeling the fruit or veggie first to access its flesh.

• knife skills :

  Bear Claw (growl), Pinch, Plank, and Bridge (look out for trolls). 

• measure :

  to calculate the specific amount of an ingredient required using a measuring tool (like measuring cups or spoons).

• pour :

  to cause liquid, granules, or powder to stream from one container into another.

• sprinkle :

  to scatter small drops or particles of an ingredient evenly or randomly over food. 

• stir :

  to mix together two or more ingredients with a spoon or spatula, usually in a circle pattern, or figure eight, or in whatever direction you like!

• zest :

  to scrape off the outer colored part of a citrus fruit's rind (skin or peel) using a metal tool with small sharp blades, such as a zester, microplane, or the small holes of a grater (avoid the "pith," the white, spongy lining of the rind that can be bitter).

What is Eton Mess?

• Eton mess is a dessert served at an annual cricket match at Eton College in England when they play their rival, Harlow School. It consists of berries, cream, and crushed baked meringue. It looks like a messed-up pavlova (a dessert made with a baked meringue base or shell filled with whipped cream and fruit).
• The recipe name, Eton Mess, was first recorded in 1893, although there are stories that the dessert got its name in the 1920s or 30s from an accident involving a dog and a strawberry pavlova on the cricket field at Eton College. Supposedly, the broken-up pavlova was scooped up and plopped into glasses, and the mess was enjoyed by everyone there!

Let's learn about England!

• England is ruled by a Monarch, a Prime Minister, and a Parliament. Windsor Castle is the oldest royal castle in the world that is still being used by the royal family.
• England is on the island of Great Britain, along with Wales and Scotland. It is also part of the United Kingdom, which consists of those three countries and Northern Ireland. 
• Did you know that there's no place in the UK that is more than 70 miles from the sea?! 
• Stonehenge is a construction of immense stones that the early inhabitants of what's now Wiltshire, England, began building around 3100 BCE. The final sections were completed around 1600 BCE. Scientists are still not sure how or why they built it. One theory for its purpose is an astronomical observatory. It is very popular with tourists.
• Other popular tourist spots in England include the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and Parliament (Palace of Westminster), the Roman Baths and the city of Bath, and the Lake District.  
• London, the capital city, wasn't always called that. In the past, its name was Londonium.
• England took part in the briefest war in history. They fought Zanzibar in 1896, and Zanzibar surrendered after just 38 minutes!
• There have been several influential English authors, but perhaps the most well-known is William Shakespeare, who wrote classics such as Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and Hamlet.
• English computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee is credited with inventing the World Wide Web.
• The British really like their sandwiches—they eat almost 11.5 billion a year!

What's It Like to Be a Kid in England?

• Most schools in England require students to wear a school uniform. 
• Sports kids play include football (soccer), cricket, rugby, tennis, netball (similar to basketball), and rounders (similar to baseball). They also play video games, watch the telly, and ride bikes or skateboards.
• Boxing Day is a unique holiday kids celebrate in England the day after Christmas, December 26. The official public holiday is the first weekday after Christmas if Boxing Day falls on a weekend. When the English created the holiday, it was the day to share the contents of alms boxes with the poor. Today, it is mostly a day off from school and work, although some small gifts may be given out to family and employees, or collected to give to the poor.
• English kids may have different names for everyday items also found in the United States. For example, a kid will call his mom "mum." Their backyard is a "garden." A big truck is called a "lorry," and the trunk of a car is a "boot." Biscuits in the US are closest to the British "scones," and cookies in England are "biscuits." A TV is usually called a "telly." Bags of chips are referred to as bags of "crisps." French fries, like those from a fast-food hamburger place, might be called "fries," but if they are thicker, like the ones typically served with batter-fried fish, they're called "chips" (fish and chips). Finally, kids call the fish sticks they might have for lunch "fish fingers.