Archive for December, 2007

Obento song

Every day at Japanese immersion preschool, my son’s class sings this song before they eat their bento lunches. It encourages the children to wash their hands, eat anything they’re given, and be polite. In Japanese there are a couple of standard phrases everyone says just before and after eating. “Itadakimasu” (I’m receiving…) is said right before you eat, and “Gochiso sama” (Thank you for the meal) is said right after. The song teaches the children these two important mealtime phrases, and is often sung in Japanese preschools before lunch. There are different variations on the spoken part at the end, depending upon the school.

The Obento song is less involved than the Bento Box Song I wrote about previously. I found a video on YouTube of a child (not mine) singing the Obento song at Japanese preschool — pretty amusing. There’s also a clear audio version here — enjoy!

Obento no Uta (Bento Song)

(Japanese version here)

Obento obento, ureshii na
Otete mo kirei ni narimashita
Minna sorotte goaisatsu (Itadakimasu!)

Obento obento, ureshii na
Nan demo tabemasho, yoku kande
Minna sundara goaisatsu (Gochiso sama!)

(Spoken) Te o awasete
Minnasama go issho ni
Itadakimasu
Dozo meshiagare

Translation:

Obento obento
So happy (hooray!)
My hands are clean too
Now that we’re all together,
Let’s say “Let’s eat”

Obento obento
So happy (hooray!)
Let’s eat anything & chew it well
Now that we’re all finished,
Let’s say “Thank you for the meal”

(Spoken) Let’s put our hands together
Everyone together
Itadakimasu (”Let’s eat”)
Please start eating

Published by Biggie on December 28th, 2007 tagged admin, for kids | 19 Comments »

Fried rice & penne bentos

The beauty of having been behind on writing up our lunches before I went on vacation is that now I have a few extra to post while Bug is out of preschool for the holidays! These are a couple of quickies from before we left, using dinner leftovers and minimal morning prep. If I didn’t have leftover fried rice from dinner, I could have made a quick low-fat mixed rice using frozen rice and two or three add-ins (master recipe for microwave mixed rice here, fake “fried” rice tutorial here).

Contents of preschooler lunch: Fried rice with bacon, spinach, onion and mushrooms. The left hand side holds Korean bean sprout namul (Korean seasoned vegetables served as a side dish at a meal), salami curls, cherry tomatoes and grapes. The fried rice incorporates leftover seasoned spinach and grilled bell peppers from an earlier Korean dinner (bento version here).

Morning prep time: 4 minutes, using leftover fried rice and prepared bean sprouts. In the morning I briefly nuked the fried rice to restore texture, and quickly packed the rest.

Packing: I had a brain fart and packed a fork with this lunch instead of a spoon. D’oh! When packing loose rice for preschoolers who aren’t yet expert with utensils, it’s better to send along a spoon for easy eating. I blotted the bean sprouts dry on paper towels before packing them in the reusable plastic food cup to remove excess moisture, and packed the lunch in a 360ml Disney Cars bento box with one sub-divider removed to make room for the little food cup. The salami curls filled the gaps to stabilize the lunch for transport.

Verdict: Thumbs up over time. At preschool Bug ate most of the fried rice and all of the salami, but ran out of time for the rest as going was slow with a fork instead of a spoon. He finished the remainder after school, although I pinched one of the tomatoes. Yum!

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Contents of preschooler lunch: Penne all’arrabiatta, sauteed enoki mushrooms with butter and soy sauce (loose recipe here), orange wedges and grapes. This turned into a vegetarian lunch somehow, which is nice for a change.

Morning prep time: 8 minutes, using leftover penne. In the morning I microwaved the pasta to restore texture, quickly sauteed the enoki mushrooms in a mini frying pan, cooled them in a little bowl and strainer for best packed lunch food safety, and cut the orange.

Packing: I used an optional paper food cup to keep the enoki away from the pasta; the enoki were well drained, so it was more of an aesthetic (and picky child) issue than a taste thing. There’s a punny joke in Japanese on the joke paper cup — eat everything in the cup and you see the answer printed on the bottom. I cut most of the orange fruit away from the peel to make eating easier for little hands. Lunch packed in two tiers (280ml and 100ml) of a 4-tier Thomas the Tank Engine nesting and stacking bento box set. (Click on any photo for a larger view.)

Verdict: Big thumbs up. Bug ate everything at preschool except a few of the grapes — success!

FURTHER READING:

Published by Biggie on December 26th, 2007 tagged bento, for kids, glutenfree, lactose free, meat, pasta or noodles, rice, vegetarian | 15 Comments »

Lunch in a Box wins Food Blog Award

FBA 2007 Winner Badge big

The results of the 2007 Food Blog Awards voting are in, and I’m floored to announce that Lunch in a Box has won in the Family/Kids category! It was an honor to be among such distinguished family/kids food blog finalists as Dine and Dish, Food on the Food, The Great Big Vegetable Challenge, and The Daily Tiffin (where I’m also a contributor). Fat-Free Vegan won the Best Theme category, where Lunch in a Box was also a finalist along with Candy Blog, Eat Local Challenge, and Meathenge. Congratulations to SusanV over at Fat-Free Vegan on a job well done!

A tremendous thanks go to all my readers, friends and voters, the judges who selected Lunch in a Box as a finalist, the award organizers at the Well Fed Network, and everyone in the lunch-packing community who’s supported me over the past year (that’s all of you in the LiveJournal Bentolunch community and Flickr groups for bento boxes, Laptop lunchboxes, and Mr. Bento thermal lunch jars). It seems like just yesterday that my little blog on LiveJournal was just a repository for my posts to the LiveJournal Bentolunch community, until I started focusing on speed bento tips in February 2007 and moved to a standalone site in June. What a year it’s been!

Here’s a full list of winners of the respected award (bask in the link love!):

Food Blog of the Year - 101 Cookbooks

Best Food Blog (Chef) - Michael Ruhlman

Best Blog Covering Drinks - Married with Dinner

Best Food Blog (City) - Becks ‘n Posh

Best Food Blog (Family/Kids) - Lunch In a Box

Best Food Blog (Group) - Serious Eats

Best Food Blog (Humor) - French Laundry at Home

Best Food Blog (Industry) - Michael Ruhlman

Best Food Blog (New) - French Laundry at Home

Best Food Blog (Photography) - La Tartine Gourmande

Best Food Blog (Post) - Gluten-Free Girl

Best Food Blog (Rural) - Farmgirl Fare

Best Food Blog (Theme) - Fat-Free Vegan

Best Food Blog (Writing) - Bittersweet Blog

I haven’t forgotten my promise (threat?) of posting a photo of myself if I won either the Best Family/Kids or Theme category! I’ve taken a baby step out of anonymity and posted a headshot here on my About page, so you can satisfy your curiosity about the face of Biggie if you’re interested. Surprised?

P.S. I’m out of town this week and mostly off Internet, so please accept my apologies in advance for not responding to each comment as quickly as I usually do.

Published by Biggie on December 17th, 2007 tagged admin | 76 Comments »

How to make apple rabbits

Making food into decorative shapes is a favorite children’s bento lunch technique in Japan, where it’s become an art form. Cutting fruit into fun shapes is one way to get your picky eaters interested in their food; I’m game as long as it doesn’t take much time or effort.

My three-year-old has recently decided that he doesn’t like apple peel, and so doesn’t like apple rabbits any more. In my farewell to apple rabbits the other day, reader Ahricat asked for some pointers on how to make them, so here’s a quick tutorial. Apple rabbits are basically just apple slices with the peel cut to resemble rabbit ears, and can be made in either full size or half-size to tuck into a bento lunch.

To make an apple bunny, first cut an apple into eight wedges and remove the core. With a sharp knife, cut a shallow V-shape into the skin about an eighth of an inch deep. If you’re making a half-size miniature apple rabbit, first cut the apple wedge in half so it’s short, then score a V-shaped incision in the skin with the tips of the ears pointing towards the squared-off, cut end. I like to start the tips of the ears about two-thirds of the way up the apple to expose a little apple ‘body’, but that’s just personal preference. Play around!

After making the V-shaped incision into the apple skin, run the knife just under the apple peel (a shallow cut), stopping at the base of the “V” halfway down the wedge. The excess peel should lift right off (you can snack on the leftover scraps if you’re inclined). If the peel doesn’t come off, run your knife along the “V” again until the peel is freed up. The remaining peel should look vaguely like rabbit ears.

The key to making the ‘ears’ curl up is to give them a short soak in ice water after cutting the peel (3-4 minutes, depending upon how thick you cut the peel). Feel free to omit this step if you’re running short on time, but you can build it into your morning lunch-packing routine pretty easily by starting the apple bunnies at the outset, and letting them soak in ice water while you pack the rest of your bento.

To prevent browning, I added lemon juice and a little Splenda to the ice water to tone down the sourness, but you could use lime juice, orange juice, cream of tartar, a ground-up vitamin C tablet, or even chili powder for the same effect. Dry the apple rabbits before packing, maybe affix a single black sesame or poppyseed ‘eye’ to the white side with a dab of honey for stability, and you’re set!

Anyway, Biggie out and happy voting! I’m actually out of town visiting my husband’s relatives in Florida right now, and will be away at my Dad’s with only occasional Internet access next week (Internet cafe in Oklahoma with a three-year-old, anyone?). My apologies in advance for being far less responsive than usual!

* * * * *

We interrupt this bento tip with a final shameless plea.

If you have a moment today, please click over to the respected 2007 Food Blog Awards and vote for Lunch in a Box in the “Best Theme“ and “Best Family/Kids“ categories (no registration required). Voting closes in less than 24 hours (11:59pm EST on Friday, Dec. 14), and I’m up against blogs like “Fatfree Vegan” that are twice my size. Help!

If I win in either category I’ll take a deep breath, crawl out of my comfortable cave of anonymity, and post a photo of myself on my About page. Promise or threat? You decide. Now back to your regular bento programming! (EDIT: Voting has closed and Lunch in a Box won the award for Best Family/Kids Food Blog. Thank you!)

READ MORE:

Published by Biggie on December 13th, 2007 tagged for kids, glutenfree, lactose free, parenthacks, recipe, tips, tutorial or how to, vegetarian | 53 Comments »

Frozen waffle bento lunch

I like to change up lunch every now and then by packing breakfast foods, like I did with this frozen mini pancake lunch the other week. Over the Thanksgiving holidays I had some extra time, so I made a big batch of homemade buttermilk waffles for brunch and froze the excess for future breakfasts and bento lunches. Everyone who grew up watching those “leggo my Eggo” commercials knows that you can freeze waffles, but when packing the toasted waffles be sure to let them cool thoroughly before packing them away in the bento box. If you put them in the box warm and close it up, the waffles will get soggy with condensation and compromise your packed lunch’s food safety.

Contents of preschooler lunch: Frozen buttermilk waffle with maple syrup and Nonya kaya (a.k.a. serikaya, a Singaporean coconut egg jam), Babybel wrapped cheese, edamame skewers, fresh pineapple, and apple wedge cut like a rabbit (new tutorial here). Kaya is not as sweet as traditional jams, and is delicious spread thinly on hot toast. I dipped my toe in the water by buying a jar of kaya from Ocean View Supermarket near Daly City, but evidently you can also make your own kaya quickly, using a breadmaker! It’s a bit of a heart attack on a plate, but quite nice for a treat.

Morning prep time: 10 minutes, using frozen waffles and leftover cut pineapple. In the morning I popped a frozen waffle in the toaster, microwaved some frozen edamame and put them on skewers, and made the little apple rabbit (the key to making these is giving it a short soak in acidulated ice water after cutting the peel to prevent browning and make the ears stand up). I added lemon juice and a little Splenda to the ice water for this effect without a sour taste.

Packing: I put the edamame on little Anpanman skewers so that my three-year-old could easily get a whole mouthful. (He eats them up when they’re on skewers, whereas he just picks at them if they’re loose.) The waffle got cut into individual squares to make eating easier for little hands. I used a pre-filled sauce container with maple syrup to save time, and filled a little red pig container with thick kaya — the pig’s “feet” hold a yellow paddle for spreading. The pineapple went into a little coated paper baking cup with Japanese and English animal names on it (from Daiso Japanese dollar store with branches internationally). The lunch is packed in a two-tier 465ml “Pon de Lion” bento box from Mister Donut. (Click any photo for a larger view.)

Verdict: Oh, so too big for one meal, but just fine for a meal and an afterschool snack. Three-year-old Bug ate half of the waffle, apple and edamame, leaving the pineapple and cheese until later. I should really stop making any effort on decorative apples that leave the skin on, as Bug just eats the part of the apple that I’ve peeled, and leaves the rest. Goodbye rabbit apples!

Freezing: The key to freezing homemade waffles is to first take them out of the waffle maker while they’re a bit underdone, so they can finish browning in the toaster. Cool them thoroughly on a cooling rack, then wrap each individually in plastic wrap to reduce the chance of freezer burn. Pop the little waffle packages into a freezer bag or plastic freezer container, and freeze. Use within a month for best quality, although theoretically these will keep indefinitely if stored below 0 degrees C (not F). To eat, unwrap and heat in a toaster or toaster oven.

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Contents of preschooler lunch: Turkey roll-up sandwich, fresh pineapple and grapes. I find the turkey roll-ups from Costco a bit tasteless and in need of mustard, but Bug inhales them.

Morning prep time: 3 minutes, using roll-ups from Costco and pre-cut fresh pineapple. Lightning speed!

Packing: I used the removable divider to help stabilize the cup of pineapple even after Bug started eating the rolls (helpful as then the pineapple was still in place after school — he left it for later). The pineapple went into a reusable silicone baking cup to keep the juices away from the dry roll-up, and a little tree-shaped pick (US$1.50 at Daiso for a set of 12 funky animal picks, also available at JList) helped little hands manage the fruit. The lunch is packed in a 470ml Afternoon Tea bento box.

Verdict: Super thumbs up. Bug loves these darn roll-ups, begging for them every time I take him along with me on a Costco shopping trip. He ate both of them and the grapes during preschool, then finished up the pineapple at home as a snack.

Have you voted in the prestigious 2007 Food Blog Awards yet? Lunch in a Box is up for “Best Food Blog — Theme“ and “Best Food Blog — Family/Kids“ categories, and voting closes 11:59 pm EST on Friday, December 14th (in a couple of days). If you enjoy this blog I’d appreciate your vote (click to vote for “Best Theme“ and “Best Family/Kids“ blog, no registration required). Thank you for your support!