Tikki Tikki Tembo

Does anyone else remember this book?

I LOVED it as a child. I picked it to do the preschool lesson around. The kids loved it and even Aleeya got into it (There are 5 kids in the preschool including my 2 boys).

I taught on China as well and had the BEST time going over all my pictures from when I studied abroad there. I do NOT remember eating eel, pigeon, dog, squid and crab but I have pictures to prove it (I know, my friends here would be SHOCKED since they think I'm such a picky eater....especially with seafood. Maybe this is where it all started........)

We did Tai Chi for exercise, wrote their names in Chinese and a bunch of other things, but I wanted to find a snack to give them and that we could make together.

I didn't have the stuff for rice cakes and other authentic snacks, but I DID have the ingredients for Chinese Firework snacks (which ARE NOT even Chinese, but whatever)

I had never made them before, so this was a major experiment but the fact that it required 3 ingredients:

Chow Mein noodles

White chocolate chips

Pop Rocks candy

I was a fan. And GO FIGURE I actually had those things on hand (seriously WHO has Pop Rocks on hand?!?!?)

I don't like white chocolate chips, but these actually turned out tasty and the kids loved how the popped in their mouths. I threw in red pop rocks, but this would be fun to make around July 4th and throw in red AND blue. Anyway, here's the recipe I found online:

-Get a small microwave safe dish, and using short periods of time, melt the white 'chocolate' (confectioners) chips. (I used 3/4 of the bag)

-When totally melted and almost runny,

Pour in enough of the "Chinese' noodles to make clusters. Don't add too many or the melted coating won't cover them all, but you also do not want too few noodles. You can tell when it's about right when the noodles are coated but not globbed with the coating. (I used 1/2 of those big bags)

-Add the 2 packages of the pop-rock candies, and stir gently. You will hear them popping a little, but don't worry, there will be plenty of fizzies left to enjoy!

-Drop clusters of the mixture onto plastic wrap or waxed paper. Allow them to harden for awhile, (I threw them in the fridge and they were ready in 20 minutes) then eat 'em and give your mouth a buzzing little surprise!