(cheery piano music begins)
♪ You are the best you the world will see ♪
♪ Come along now and share you with me ♪
♪ Let's learn something new and share feelings too ♪
♪ Cause these are the things to do to be the best you ♪
(cheery piano music continues)
(magical chiming)
- Hi Auntie Lena!
- Oh hello Possum! And hello friends.
(Auntie Lena sniffs)
- Hey, Possum.
Is that slug stew I smell again?
- Yes.
Mama Possum and I are making another batch
for me to bring to school tomorrow.
- What's the occasion?
- It's World Heritage Day.
Everyone has to bring a snack
from their culture for the whole class to try.
- That sounds like fun!
- Mm-hmm.
It's like the time we talked about celebrations
around the world with our friends, and now
I get to see how the other kids
in my class celebrate.
- I'm sure that you are going to get to try lots
of yummy new food.
- Mm-hmm!
I'm so excited, but well, I'm a little worried
that the class might not wanna try my slug stew.
- Really? Well, why do you think that, Possum?
- Well, remember when Turtle showed us her scales
during show and tell, and some of the kids said "eww"?
- Oh yeah.
- Well, what if they say "eww" about my slug stew?
- Oh, it is a possibility.
Some kids may be surprised
because they've never had food like that before.
But that does not make your stew any less special.
- Oh, I guess so.
- Even if there's only one kid that loves your stew
you'd still want them to try it, right?
- I would.
So you think I should still bring it, Auntie Lena?
- Absolutely.
You know there's a story called 'Purple Ube'
by Hannah Arp.
It's about a girl named Nori who was worried
about the same thing you are.
- Really?
- Yes.
Nori is from the Philippines and wanted to
make her favorite purple Filipino snack for her class.
But she was afraid that the other kids
would think it was too weird.
- And did she end up making it?
- She sure did!
- Did the other kids like it?
- Well, let's go to the Filipino Community Village
in Seattle with our friends and find out.
(magical chiming)
- Hi friends. - Hi friends.
My name is Miss Marie, and this is my friend,
- Carmela.
- And today we're here at the Filipino Community Village
and we're going to read you a special book called,
- [Carmela] Purple Ube
- [Miss Marie] Written and illustrated by Hannah Arp.
Look at all those dots. Matches your-
- Dress
- That's right.
Well, "This is Nori.
Nori's favorite color is-
- Purple.
- [Miss Marie] Her favorite food is Ube
which just happens
to be purple too." - [Carmela] Purple.
"Ube is a purple yam
that comes from the Philippines
which also happens to be where Nori is from.
But now she lives in America.
Nori loves Ube in everything.
Ube sticky rice, Ube ice cream, Ube pancakes.
But her most favorite is Ube Pandesal.
A Filipino bread.
Tomorrow she starts her first day at her new school.
Her mom packed her own very special lunch.
Chicken adobo, garlic rice, colorful veggies
and her favorite," what's that?
- "Ube Pandesal."
- That's right! Yum.
Okay.
"The next day, Nori went to school.
Everything was new.
New classmates, new classroom, new playground.
There was a new teacher named Mrs. Lisa.
She had big curly hair and green glasses.
Nori could not wait until lunchtime
to have something that was not new to her.
It was finally lunchtime
and Nori was excited to eat her favorite food.
She opened up her lunchbox and picked up
her soft Ube bread.
Just as she was about to take a bite...
'What is that?' a girl asked.
'It's bread,' Nora said quietly.
'Ew. Why is that purple?
Food is not supposed to be purple.'
A boy said scrunching his face at it.
'It's ube.'
Nori said even more quietly.
'OooOobeey!? Gross!
That's weird.'
A girl with a pink scrunchie in her hair
stuck her finger at it.
Everyone was looking at Nori and her Ube bread.
Nori felt alone in a room full of new faces."
She looks so sad. Yeah.
"One day, Nori's class was assigned a project
for World Cultures Day.
All of the children had to bring food
from a different country.
Nori chose the Philippines.
Nori went home and told her parents
about the project.
'We could make Ube Pandesal, your favorite!'
Her mom said. 'I don't like it anymore.
All of my classmates make fun of me,' she said.
Both of her parents were shocked.
'Have they tasted it?' Her Dad asked.
'I don't think so.' Nori scratched her head.
'Maybe if they try it, they might like it too.'
Her mom said.
'Maybe they will.'
Nori thought about how much she loved Ube.
The night before World Cultures Day,
Nori and her parents stayed up to bake.
It was World Cultures Day,
and Nori had her basket full of Ube Pandesal.
All of her classmates were trying food
from all around the world.
Tacos from Mexico,
macarons from France,
pasta from Italy.
Nori was scared that no one would try her Ube Pandesal.
Nori saw a boy across from her food stand.
No one was trying his food.
She walked over to him.
The food smelled delicious.
'Hi, what is this?' Nori asked.
'It's Nigerian Moi Moi.
Nobody wants to eat it.
They said it looks like alien eyeballs.'"
Does it look like eyeballs to you?
- No. - It looks delicious actually,
doesn't it?
"Idara said with a shrug.
'What do you have?'
He pointed at the purple bread in her hand.
'It's Filipino ube pandesal.
Nobody wants to eat it.
They said it's purple people food,' she sighed."
What do you think about that?
They're missing out, huh?
Have you ever tried ube pandesal before?
No?
It's very delicious, actually.
And super yummy.
"'I'll trade you.' Idara suggested."
That's a good idea.
"They both took a giant bite
out of the new discovery of food.
All of their classmates were watching.
- [Carmela] 'Yum!
I have never had anything like this before.'
- [Miss Marie] Nori exclaimed.
- [Carmela] 'This is delicious.
The color is so cool.'
- [Miss Marie] Idara said, taking another bite.
The other children became very curious.
Suddenly everyone wanted to try Nori and Idara's food."
Sometimes you just have to try it, right?
And then it was so good.
Look- - [Carmela] "'Yummm!'
The crowd of children loved the new food.
Nori and Idara were so happy
that they shared the Philippines
and Nigeria with all their classmates."
- Wow.
- So do you have a favorite food from your country?
- I like pig ears.
- You like pig ears?
You know, I tried that too.
It kind of tastes like, have you ever had jellyfish before?
It has the same bite. - No.
You know, sometime you should try it.
You might like it too.
Well, let's say bye to our friends.
- Bye. - Bye.
(magical chiming)
- I'm glad that Nori and Idara tried each
other's foods even though no one else
wanted to at first.
- We miss out if we only judge food
by the way that it looks.
- Well, I thought Nori's snack looked awesome!
I've never seen purple food before.
- Do you remember the ingredient that made it purple?
- Mm-hmm, Ube!
- Correct.
Or purple yam.
- I'm gonna tell Mama Possum about ube so we can
make something with it.
Mmm, I wonder what it tastes like.
- Should we find out? (Possum gasps)
- Oh yes! (Auntie Lena laughs)
Let's go to Musang Restaurant in Seattle.
Chef Domingo can show us how to make
something delicious with ube.
(magical chiming)
- Hi friends. - Hi friends.
My name's Chef Domingo.
- And I'm Andersyn.
- And we're here at Musang.
And today we're gonna be making ice candies.
Ice candies has been something that is made
in the Philippines, sold on the streets.
It's basically popsicles.
They're really fun to make, really easy to make.
And today we're actually gonna be making it
with ube.
Um, ube is in this ube halaya.
Is a purple jam.
It's made with boiled yams and sugar.
It's really sweet and it's used
in a lot of dishes and desserts in the Philippines
but it's basically just jam, super easy to make.
The measurements we have here are just a can
of coconut milk.
We're gonna use about a half a cup of
ube jam and then we have some ube flavoring.
And we're just gonna put probably about a
tablespoon of that in there too.
So if you want to go ahead and start making 'em
we can start off with pouring in some of the coconut milk
into the bowl. - [Andersyn] Okay.
All of it?
- [Chef Domingo] Yep. You can pour it all in.
- It looks like yogurt, or glue.
- Yeah. Or glue?
Have you ever had ube before?
- I've had ube ice cream, but not alone.
- No?
Ube is actually purple yam.
Usually not commonly sweet, but it's a staple
that is in the Philippines.
It's one of the crops that are grown out there.
We're gonna mix this in here.
Okay.
You're gonna mix that up in here.
It gets a little hard.
We can probably smash it down with that.
There we go.
So we're just basically making like an ice cream...
- Popsicle thing?
- Popsicle, yeah.
And then I'm gonna add, just for color,
this is ube flavoring, just a tiny little bit.
And you can mix that in there.
- [Andersyn] Does it change the taste?
- [Chef Domingo] Yes, it does change the taste.
It's like an extract.
So it's cooked down ube. See how dark it is.
- [Andersyn] It smells good.
- [Chef Domingo] Yeah.
So kids in the Philippines basically what they do
is they take fresh fruit or they've done
like chocolate chip
or cookie mint, they make all kinds
of different flavor ice candies
and they sell 'em on the streets.
They're really easy to make.
And kids love 'em during the summertime.
- Is it cold?
- It's cold, yeah.
So once the fruit or sugar, or in this case we're
using coconut milk and ube,
once we kind of get everything mixed together,
we're gonna pour 'em into these tiny bags
and you freeze 'em overnight.
And, um, yeah,
then they sell 'em on the streets.
How's that looking?
Let's see.
It's all broken up in there.
So, um, you said you are quarter Filipino?
- Yeah.
- So what kind of culture do you have in your family?
Like dishes and stuff like that, do you have?
- Chicken adobo?
- [Chef Domingo] Chicken adobo.
That's something that is-
- It's my favorite Filipino dish.
- That's your favorite Filipino dish?
- Yeah.
- Have you made it yourself?
- No. - [Chef Domingo] No.
- Well, I think my mom has made it
and my grandma, but I have never made it.
- Yeah.
My grandma used to make it like a stew,
and my dad used to make it kind of a little bit dryer.
Kind of like a sticky sauce.
So I think everybody has a different style of making adobo
and I think everybody thinks their grandma
or their mother's are the best.
(Chef Domingo chuckles)
That's what they usually say.
Um, okay, so now we're all done mixing.
We're gonna pour this mixture into here,
so it's a little bit easy for us to pour into the bags.
You can pour straight right into there, yeah.
It's okay if you spill.
You pour, and then-
Or here you go- You hold that for me.
There you go.
Perfect.
And then I'll pull the funnel out.
You hold onto the bag.
Okay.
Twist it .
And then we'll tie the knot.
So do you want to try one?
- [Andersyn] Sure.
- [Chef Domingo] These ones aren't done.
We have to actually freeze these overnight.
And so with a little bit of TV magic,
they're done.
So we can actually try one of these.
And like I said, they're kind of
like ice cream if you want to try that one.
Yeah, they're creamy, they're like ice cream
and they're really sweet.
- It's cold, but it's also good.
- Mm-hmm. Really good.
- How long do they have to freeze before you can eat them?
- Usually about 24 hours.
They'll have to freeze. And then,
if you want 'em to be a little bit softer
like these ones, we did these ones for only a couple hours.
But it depends on the texture you want.
If you want them really, really hard, like popsicles
then 24 hours is pretty good.
- Thank you for teaching me how to make these ice candies.
- Absolutely.
And thank you friends for joining us.
- Bye. - Bye.
- [Possum] It's time for Movement Minute.
(spring bouncing)
(Mr. Doug exhaling)
- Oh, hey friends.
It's Mr. Doug here.
Fancy meeting you.
I know this is the movement minute, but I wanna do
things a little bit differently.
Surprise, surprise.
So instead of moving our bodies today,
let's move our lungs.
So next time you feel anxious or mad
like my little daughter, I want you to stop.
Take a deep breath,
(Mr. Doug inhales)
Hold it for three seconds.
Let it go.
(Mr. Doug exhales)
And wiggle it out.
Doesn't that feel good?
Okay. We're gonna do that one more time.
So take a deep breath
(Mr. Doug inhaling)
Hold it for three seconds
And let it out
(Mr. Doug exhaling)
And wiggle.
Okay. Do it one more time.
Take a deep breath,
(Mr. Doug inhaling)
hold it for three seconds
and let it go.
(Mr. Doug exhaling)
And wiggle.
Feels good, huh?
Okay.
So the next time you feel anxious or mad,
I want you to stop.
Take that deep breath, hold it
for three seconds and then wiggle it out.
All right, have a great day.
Bye friends.
(magical chiming) - [Possum] Auntie Lena,
what should I tell kids
if they say my stew looks gross
like they did to Nori?
- You can politely tell them,
please don't yuck my yum.
- Oh, I remember when Ms. Leeka taught us that.
- That's right.
And it's an easy way to remind others
that even if they don't like something that's yummy
or important to you,
they can still be kind and respectful.
- Please don't yuck my yum.
(Possum giggles)
It's fun to say.
- It is.
- Has anyone ever said yuck about your food,
Auntie Lena?
- Well, not about my food, but a friend
of mine once said that the music
I like to sing is weird.
- But you have such a pretty voice.
- Well, thank you Possum.
- Were you still friends afterwards?
- Yes.
I told her that she hurt my feelings
and then she apologized.
- Oh, I'm glad she said sorry.
Well, I love listening to new music and new sounds.
- Well, would you like to listen
to some new sounds now with our friends?
- Yes!
- Okay.
Let's see what instrument Mestre Silvio
is playing at Union Cultural Center.
(magical chiming)
- [Unison] Hi friends.
Hello. How are you guys doing?
My name is Silvio Dos Reis
and here I'm with my friend-
- Leila.
- Yeah. How are you doing Leila?
- I'm good.
- Good. Today we're here to share
a little bit about music.
I have here, a very interesting instrument.
Oh, that's the Berimbau.
It's a musical bowl from Brazil.
And it is an instrument that you play
for the martial art capoeria, Capoeria Angola.
And today I'm here to share
with Leila that berimbau instrument
from Africa that I play in my country in Brazil.
Okay, let's try Leila.
Okay, let's have a here instrument with you.
And here we go.
It's a percussion instrument that I use my hand here
and I have this stick to produce some sound.
(berimbau playing)
Let's try a new rhythm, Leila.
(berimbaus playing) Good.
(berimbaus playing)
Hey!
Hey Leila, you know,
we can do all the stuff, all the things with the instrument.
We can have that coin, and put here.
And produce different sounds, okay?
Let's try the same rhythm again and
I'm gonna do something different with you.
Sounds good?
1, 2, 3.
(berimbaus playing)
Good
(berimbaus playing)
Yay!
One more thing you can have, Leila, is a nice shaker.
(shaker materials rustling)
And if you put it here in my hands and I'm gonna play
the instrument with the berimbau and produce
a different sound too.
Look.
(instruments playing)
Hey.
Let's try it.
Next rhythm.
(instruments playing)
Yay!
How do you like the berimbau?
- I like it.
- You like it?
It's fun to play the berimbau.
Do you like music?
- Mm-hmm. - Oh, I love music.
When I play the berimbau
I feel like goosebumps like that.
I wanna play more, more, and more.
Invite all my friends to play with me.
Do you like to do that one day?
- I like playing it.
- Yes.
Leila, do you have any questions
for me about the berimbau?
About how I play?
How I figure out how to play this instrument?
- I was wondering how old were you when you started playing?
- Oh, I was 16 years old.
I was in Brazil, and I have some very
very good friends that show me about the berimbau,
how to make it, and how to play it, and make those rhythms.
- So did your friends learn how to play it before you did?
- They did. They had to do it in this way.
They could taught me.
They have been played this instrument for a long time
and they showed me how to hold the berimbau
and even how to make it.
It's all made by hand.
This is from a big tree called biriba
from Northeast of Brazil.
Also that instrument here that I play
with the berimbau is made by hand,
hand-made instrument.
The gourd is a kind of dried pumpkin
that we use to make instruments in Brazil
and to decorations in the house.
It's all handmade instrument.
- That's really cool.
- Let's say goodbye to our friends.
- Hey!
(instruments playing)
(magical chiming)
- Have you ever heard of
the berimbau before, Possum?
- No, but I like the way it sounds.
Oh, I wish Mestre Silvio could play
for my class at World Heritage Day tomorrow.
- Well, maybe next time. But tell me Possum,
how do you feel now about sharing your slug stew?
- Oh, I feel less worried.
If Nori can share her favorite snack,
then I can do it too.
- That's a great attitude to have.
And what if someone says, yuck!
- Then I'll tell them.
(throat clearing)
Please don't yuck my yum.
- Exactly.
- Oh, thank you Auntie Lena.
- Oh, I should go help Mama Possum
finish the stew.
- Oh, well you are welcome Possum,
and let me know how it goes.
And friends, thank you for taking the time
to look, listen, and learn with us today.
Remember, you are the best you that the world will ever see.
- Bye for now.
- Bye!
(cheerful music)
- Please stay tuned after the credits
for Auntie Lena's parent tip.
(uplifting music continues)
(gentle music)
- What food represents your family's culture?
For Possum, it's the slug stew recipe that he
learned to make with his mama.
For Nori, the girl in today's story,
it's ube, a purple yam
from the Philippines where her family is from.
Teaching our little ones to embrace
and celebrate their culture is essential
to the development of their identity.
But with this also comes the reality
that other kids may not be familiar
with their culture and can say
hurtful things such as gross,
or weird or yuck
like they did to Nori.
As a caring adult, it's important to prepare
your child for when this may happen.
First, by helping them build a strong sense
of belonging to their culture and all the wonderful things
that make their culture unique.
Include them in planning celebrations.
Cook a favorite recipe together,
or share traditional stories and music.
Then, like Auntie Lena, model positive ways to
respond when someone else yucks their yum.
Remind your child to always treat others
with kindness and respect, and
that it's okay to ask others to do the same.
Once they learn this critical skill,
they're on their way to being their best selves
that the world will ever see.