My 35th Birthday!

Last Thursday was my 35th birthday and I thought it would be fun to go downtown and have lunch at Todai in Pioneer Place.

Here I am practicing my chopstick skills!

This is the REAL reason why I love Todai. Don't get me wrong, the other food is great, but these tiny desserts are a real treat. They even had green tea icecream!

I was also served a mini birthay cake which I shared with everyone. It was just the right size considering how full we were already.

Me and my family on my birthday.

Crazy girls trying to immitate the sea creatures in the window display.

On Friday I had an 80's themed party. My pictures are posted on my Paper Caper's blog if you are interested. Here is the direct link to the 80's party post.

Fabulous Food Friday

Wow! It has been ages since I have done a Fabulous Food Friday feature. This one has been in the works for a while. I have been super excited to show you the new bento lunch boxes Andy brought back from Japan...I haven't had much luck finding them locally (except online) and I am so glad I asked him to look for some, cause he (and Taly) found some great ones.

He also brought back some rice molds, dividers and picks to add to my growing bento collection:

Rice molds, sandwich cutters (found at Target and Uwajimaya) and lots of fun containers

Sauce containers and fun food picks

Since Natalie is really the only one who currently takes a lunch to school, she was treated to some fun lunches lately. She wanted me to leave all the labels and stickers on the boxes so all her friends could see that they came from Japan!

Here are my first attempts at bento lunch making:

Carrots and cheese and mini peanut butter and honey sandwiches cut like little flowers, rice with soy sauce.

This bento contains a hard-boiled egg, whole wheat tortillas, humus, carrots and strawberries

Here we have a rice bunny with a carrot nose, edamamme, apple slices and cottage cheese with a cherry on top
This one has a sticky rice ball with nori face and carrot nose and strawberry hat with edamamme, whole wheat Ritz crackers, cheese and pepperoni slices.

Although I am having tons of fun with these lunch ideas, I am really feeling good about the food she is eating. Not just pb&j all day every day...no convenience/processed food either...it's all healthy food.

One of my favorite things about this type of lunch is the fact that I am not using one single disposable lunch bag. I hate the thought of all that plastic wasted every day. I also have stopped putting juice boxes in their lunches. If you think about it, that is not only more expensive to purchase, but it really adds up to more garbage. It really hit me this year as I have been around the school more and seen how much really gets thrown out. Fortunately, Natalie's school has an amazing recycling program, but I feel better knowing I am not contributing to all the garbage...just wash and use over again!

Fabulous Food Friday

What's for Lunch?

Part III

...BENTO!!!

What is a bento lunch? It's my latest obsession!!! This past year, I have discovered the art of bento lunch making...I have not yet attempted one, but they really intrigue me and as soon as I am over my cold I plan to make a trip to Uwajimaya.

According to Wikipedia...

Bentō (弁当 or べんとう, Bentō) is a single-portion takeout or home-packed meal common in Japanese cuisine. A traditional bento consists of rice, fish or meat and one or more pickled or cooked vegetables as a side dish. Containers range from disposable mass produced to hand crafted lacquerware. While bento are readily available at convenience stores and bento shops (弁当屋, bentō-ya) throughout Japan, it is still considered an essential skill of a Japanese housewife to be able to prepare an appealing boxed lunch.

Bento can be very elaborate, aesthetically pleasing cuisine arrangements. Often the food is arranged in such a way as to resemble other objects: dolls, flowers, leaves, and so forth.

There are many reasons to like bento (enviro-friendly reusable containers, healthy homemade meals, creative culinary outlet), but when I saw these Hello Kitty bento lunches, I was amazed. Funny thing is I actually own a Hello Kitty rice mold. I bought it when Natalie was little for using as a jello mold. I had NO idea...now where did I put that?




Here are some of the most elaborate Bento lunches I have ever seen. While I can appreciate the art form that is "molded" rice, I'm not sure I will ever go this far! But is sure is neat...




Are you thinking to yourself..."Now that is rediculous...who would spend the time making such elaborate meals for a school child?"

Not me, but in Japan it is a great honor to make such a carefully crafted meal for your child. I think I am more likely to create some of the bentos shown at the top of this post, but these other lunches sure would earn you the "Mother of the Year Award" at our school!

Okay now let's talk about all the fun stuff...Bento accessories: I found all these items on ebay...haven't bought any yet. I'll have to see what I can come up with from my trip to Uwajimaya.

Sauce Containers: Too sinkin' cute!

The monkey container is for peanut butter or any other thick sauce, dip or spread. It comes with a banana handled spoon for spreading...the others are used for soy sauce or salad dressing. Isn't that cherry one so cute!

Food Dividers

These are used to prevent food from touching/leaking on to the rest of the meal. Paper cupcake containers can be used, but part of the idea behind bento lunches is to eliminate disposable waste (see footnote below)**, so I may try our silicon cupcake liners.

Punches and rice molds

Paper punches are used to cut the nori (dried seaweed) which can be used to "decorate" your food. The other photo shows some examples of rice molds.


**Much of the trash we generate comes from the packaging on the food we buy, and lunch foods are no exception. In fact, it has been estimated that on average a school-age child using a disposable lunch generates 67 pounds of waste per school year. That equates to 18,760 pounds of lunch waste for just one average-size elementary school.


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Here are some resources that may be helpful if you are interested in creating your own bento lunch.

Bento lunches, Lunch in a Box, Bento boxes and accessories, Laptop Lunches, Cooking Cute
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Fabulous Food Friday

What's for lunch?

Part II

Here are some parfaits I made this week for the kids to enjoy. Just layer yogurt and cottage cheese, then sprinkle with granola and top with a cherry!

Here is the lunch I prepared for Zander's play date on Wednesday. Ham and cream cheese roll-ups, ants on a log, juice, yogurt parfait and a hot wheels chocolate for good measure. The food was a hit, but the Lighting McQueen toothpicks were best part for the boys...oh, and the chocolate.
Check out this blog, just for lunches!
Now, I thought I was fairly creative in the kitchen, but I just found someone who inspires me to no end. If you have young children, you must check out her blog: Vegan Lunch Box. I am not a vegan, but I will be trying out these ideas real soon! She has more fun packing lunches than I do!



If you think these are fun, wait until you see what I have to show you for next Fabulous Food Friday...

Fabulous Food Friday

What's for Lunch?

Part I

Ah, yes...the all important school lunch. I remember the days of bringing my lunch box to school, or working in the cafeteria so we could earn our hot lunches for free! It was a break from the academic day, a chance to hang out with friends...and to trade food whenever possible.

From what I remember, my mom seemed to pack one of the more healthier lunches. I was the one with the wheat bread sandwich in a sea of white bread. I don't remember what kind of snacks we had, but I do remember trading some of them to another girl for her Doritos (the prized chip of the day). I also remember I was still bringing a lunch box even long after it was "cool." When my other classmates brought their lunch in a nice brown paper lunch bag, I was still toting around my Garfield lunch box. Oh, well...what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?

Supplies:

In preschool, Natalie had a vinyl princess lunch tote that I quickly discarded after finding out it was made with toxic materials. There was a big scare a few years ago, so paranoid mom that I am, I packed the rest of her lunches that year in paper bags (that I decorated with my rubber stamps!).

Last year in Kindergarten, she only had lunch at school every other Wednesday, so I just let her buy lunch at school. This year she is a full-time student in need of a lunch every day, so I tried to find the lunch box that would be the best fit for Natalie. I came across this princess lunchbox and it reminded me of mine growing up, so I just had to get it. Earlier in the summer, Target had these cute princess printed sandwich/snack bags (pkg of 30) in their dollar spot. Couldn't pass those up, then I found the other sandwich box at the Disney Store to use when the sandwich bags run out.

If paper bags are more your speed, here are a few cute ideas...(yea, yea, I know they are over the top, but sometimes going the extra mile is fun!)


Basic Lunch Ideas
Here are a few things I came up with for this weeks lunches.

(obviously she doesn't get all of this at once)
PB&J cut with heart-shaped sandwich cutter, apple, juice, carrots with dip, PB and honey tortilla roll up with granola to dip it in and a muffin.

Here are some more ideas:
Sandwiches:
lunch meat & cheese, ham and cheese wrap, chicken salad sandwich, pita pockets, bagel sandwich, egg salad sandwich

Sides:
fresh cut veggies & dip, fresh whole fruit, applesauce, pretzels, frozen yogurt, string cheese, box raisins, fruit salad, ants on a log (celery w/PB and raisins), crackers with cheese, pumpkin seeds, almonds, dried fruit, fruit leather, trail mix, cucumber slices, juice, fruit bowl, rice chips, baby carrots, grapes, rice krispies square, hard-boiled eggs, yogurt, granola bars, homemade cookies!!!

Thanks to Google, I found a great link with many more ideas:

More lunch ideas

And let's not forget to pack a note for your kids. It's a great way to encourage early reading. Check out some lunchbox notes I made for Natalie. That's all for now...more to come!