Quesillio is a famous desert made in South America and the Caribbean! It’s also one of my favourite deserts. This is the fist time I made it myself and I took pictures to guide you all while making yours!

What You Need:

2 cups of water
8 spoons of sugar
2 Cans of Condensed milk
10 eggs
1 Can Evaporated milk or regular milk (use can of condensed milk)
3 spoons of Vanilla

NOTE: The ingredients I used will not look the same as most of yours because I live in Holland.

Ok lets start:

Making the Caramel/Sugar:

Take 2 cups of water and add to a pan.
Add 8 spoons of sugar to the water and let it boil. Boil without stirring until sugar is gold or light brown in colour.

Remove from stove immediately to prevent burning the caramel. While the caramel is still very hot turn it around to coat the bottom and about 2/3 of the sides. Be careful not to burn yourself while doing that. Let it cool off until the sugar gets hard.

Making The Flan:

Take a bowl and add the eggs and blend it.
Then you add two cans of Condensed milk to the bowl and blend.
Add 1 can of Evaporated Milk.
Add 3 spoons of liquid Vanilla to it. Mix it all for a few minutes.

Add the mixture to the pan coated with sugar and put foil over the pan.

Now place the pan with the mixture inside a bigger pan.
Pour water in the larger pan and let it boil for about 1 to 1/5 hour, Bake the flan until just set, but still wiggly in the center. (You can put a knife in the mixture and comes out dry).

Now take a plate and hold it against the pan and turn it around so the Quesillio is on the plate.

Let it cool off and enjoy eating Quesillio.

Scholar Spotlights

Are you an honor roll student? Do you earn good grades? Maybe you don’t get the best grades, but you’ve worked really hard this quarter to bring up your math grade from a D to a C. If so, we are looking for you!

We would like to spotlight all of our young people who understand the importance of education and strive everyday to prove it! All we need for you or your parent/guardian to do is submit your first name, state, age, grade and academic accomplishment that you worked so hard to earn to us at contribute@youngblackstarz.org. In the subject line put in SCHOLAR SPOTLIGHTS! A picture of you is recommended but not required. Maybe if you got an award or a trophy you can send a picture of you holding it up! Also, your parent may submit a brief note about you.

Our goal is to motivate young people to do the best that they can in school. It’s important to us that we inspire our viewers to excel in the classroom and bring home a report card that makes their parents proud (and more importantly, themselves)! We would also like to help those who may not make the best grades, bring their grades up by knowing that we support those that try. Education is very important and it’s important to us that we stress that. Let’s show the world that it’s COOL to be SMART!

How can I be in the Spotlight?

You can be in our Scholar’s Spotlight if you…

• Made the Honor Roll
• Pulled your grade up
• Won an academic award

WHAT DO I GET?

Every month we will make a post under our education section dedicated to all the young scholars who submit, sharing with the world what you’ve accomplished! Let’s just say we will all celebrate with you! We think that getting good grades calls for a celebration, don’t you?! Eventually we may start giving out small rewards to select scholars for their achievements!

Have you ever had a Secret Santa? In school, have you and your classmates ever exchanged secret gifts for Christmas? It’s a lot of fun receiving gifts and trying to figure out who your Santa is. I bet your face lights up from the excitement. But, what if your Secret Santa wasn’t from school… what if he/she was someone you had never seen in your life and instead of a simple gift, they handed you $100. Sounds unlikely? Unlikely as it may sound, there are such Secret Santas out there that spread Christmas Cheer through charity. In Charlotte (North Carolina), Phoenix, St. Louis and Kansas City, Secret Santas go around giving $100 bills to people that seem to be in need. The only condition for those that receive the money is to do an act of kindness for another person. This 26 year old tradition was started by Larry Stewart, who passed away in 2007, and is continued by other Secret Santas.

Read how a Secret Santa is touching lives in St. Louis by clicking HERE. Also, learn more about Secret Santa World HERE.

During this years Holiday Season, be a ‘Secret Santa’ and spread acts of kindness to others!

Hey Everyone! My name is Beatrice or just Bea for short. I live in Switzerland, which is a small country (a VERY small country!) on the continent of Europe. I’m 19 years young and attending college, where I major in Multilingual Communication, which means I study several languages. I really LOVE languages and I plan to become an interpreter. Interpreters are needed when there are two persons who want to communicate but don’t speak the same language. So they need someone to translate the things the other person is talking, and that’s the interpreter’s job. As you can imagine, an interpreter has to be pretty fast switching from one language into the other, because you don’t want to make those persons wait too long!

Today, I want to teach you a few words of my favorite language. It’s an African language called LINGALA. My dad, who is from Congo, taught me Lingala in order to make me understand the African culture a bit better and also to enable me to communicate with my family living in Congo.

In the following, I will try to share some of this beautiful African culture with you and at the same time, teach you some important words in Lingala:

In Africa, Food is prepared outside of the home.

 

Food:

In America, when you’re hungry, it is common to take your food out of the fridge and warm it up in the microwave or just on a stove. Even though this habit is also known in some parts of Africa, the real traditional way of cooking is to prepare your food outside, for example in front of your house. While we love to eat Mac and Cheese or Pizza, the most famous meal in Congo is Fufu with fish and plantain. Fufu is an accompaniment for different dishes and can be made of corn or Maniok, which is kind of a vegetable that only grows in African countries and in some parts of South America. So whenever you visit Africa, don’t forget to ask for Fufu and Maniok!

à Na Lingi Fufu na Maniok! = I love Fufu and Maniok!
 

School:

Not only food is very different in Africa. Also African students have a completely different life. A lot of African kids can’t afford to go to school, but those who do, really appreciate the time they spend there. For example, kids in elementary school often sing a song to greet their teachers before class starts to show respect to them. Yembela moteyi, how they call it: Singing for the teacher. Aren’t they disciplined?
 

The Jungle:

The Rain Forest

I guess this is what Africa is most famous for! In fact, the number and variety of animals, plants and environments is huge! From beach to desert (Sahara), from Forest to Savannah, Africa has it all!

But let’s stay with the most fascinating environment: The Rain Forest – or Zamba Na Mb√∫la. Millions of different animals can be found there (and ONLY THERE and not – as many people think – at home as domestic animals! Africans don’t have tigers or monkeys at home like we have cats or dogs! =] ). They live in trees, on the ground or in one of the biggest rivers in the world – the Congo River – Mongala Congo: Crocodiles, Piranhas, and so on. You really don’t want to fall off your boat while crossing this river! =]
 

Let’s talk!

So now that you learned a bit more about Africa, let’s talk! Should you ever have the chance to visit Africa, you also want to communicate with those people, right?

So here we go with a few basics:

Mbote! = Hello!
Nkombo na yo nini? = What is your name?
Nkombo na ngai eza Beatrice = My name is Beatrice
Ozali na mbula boni? = How old are you?
Navakanda na Amérique = I live in the US
Na lingi yo =] = I love you
Na lingi yo mingi! =] =] = I love u so much!
Meleci = Thank you
Likambo na yo te! = This is none of your business!
Okei wapi? = Where are you going?
Yaka awa! = Come here!
Zela! = Wait!
Tika! = Stop!
Benga ngai lobi! = Call me tomorrow! (on the phone)
Azali na mbongo mingi = He has a lot of money

Yes, I know, it might sound pretty funny hearing or reading Lingala at first, but did you know a few words come from English, too?

Such as:

Bulankti = blanket
Miliki = milk
Buku = book

So, anyone been able to remember all these words? =] Lol don’t think so, but I hope I still gave you a bit of an idea of Africa and especially Congo. And as I only gave you expressions in Lingala to READ so far, what about LISTENING to it, too?
 

Let’s Listen!:

Do you all remember the catchy line done by Raven Symone in Dr. Doolittle “What am I supposed to do without my cell phone”? Well, I may not be able to tell you what to do without it but I CAN tell you some things you can do with it! You can accessorize your cell phone using super cute cell phone charms and jewels. Cell phone charms come in all types: diamonds, flowers, hearts, mini people, initial letters, and more. Jewels also come in different colors and designs. These things are easy to apply and can be purchased at stores like Claire’s and other accessory stores. If you’re into accessorizing your celly, then try jazzing it up with charms & jewels!

Charms from Claire's and Jewels from Target

More Charms from claire's and Jewels from Target