Awesome History: Assyria, India, China

 We started out with Assyria and the Epic of Gilgamesh.

The kids acted out the story as I read it from the book: Oob was Gilgamesh, the cruel king who learns of love and mortality; Choclo was Enkidu, the wild half-monster who becomes his friend.

I think here Zorg is the Bull of Heaven.

 Then we did sand painting (an Indian art) on the driveway.

We just mixed sand with powdered paint ad let the kids draw whatever they wanted with it.
As it happened, the sand was damp, so the effect was a little different from the last time we did this, but it came out well.

 For China, I really wanted to see if we could get silk from silkworm cocoons.  In the story, the Empress unwinds a cocoon that had fallen into her tea, and, as it turns out, soaking the cocoons in hot water is exactly how you get the silk to unspool!

I should probably note, if you follow the link, that she is growing her own cocoons, mine came from China and already had the pupa removed.

For our snack, we went Indian (Surprise!) with pappadam and chai.

We buy the pappadam at an Indian grocery and fry it in a little oil.  Mmmmm.  Crispy and ethereal deliciousness.

For chai, I simmered some whole spices for half an hour, then took steeped some tea bags in the pot (heat off).  Then I strained it and added milk and sugar (and maybe a touch of vanilla).

The house smelled terrific!  I like to use cinnamon sticks, cloves, star anise (or fennel seeds), peppercorns (or sliced fresh ginger) and green cardamom pods.  I happened to have fenugreek and whole mace (nutmeg arils), so I used them this time.

Story of the World chapters 8-10.