I'm Biggie: avid cook, speedy lunch packer, mom & former expat fluent in Japanese. 
Archive for May, 2008
URGENT: My relative missing in SF Japantown
Sorry to interrupt the normal lunch focus of this blog, but I have a plea for San Francisco locals. I just heard that a mentally disabled relative went missing after he went to the bathroom during a group home field trip to San Francisco’s Japantown on Thursday May 8, 2008 at 1:30pm (last seen at Scott & Geary). If anyone thinks they might have seen the man in the photo below, please contact the San Bruno Police Department at 650-616-7100. He has epilepsy and needs medication to control his seizures.
Bobby Joe Lamascus is 50 years old, 6 feet tall, 150 pounds with green eyes. He has no upper teeth, and his mother believes he was wearing a brown jacket and Levi’s blue jeans. His group home is in San Bruno, so he might be trying to get back there on his own (but has likely had a seizure). Further details are at this article in the San Jose Mercury News. The police have an APB out for him and family members are canvassing the area with flyers — that’s what I’ll be doing too.
If you are able to forward this to your friends in the area, local online forums or mailing lists, I’d certainly appreciate it. We’re crossing our fingers that Bobby gets home quickly and safely. Thank you for spreading the word.
Published by Biggie on May 11th, 2008 tagged Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Ma po tofu and Sloppy Joe lunches
Not all dishes fare well cool or at room temperature. Just imagine Sloppy Joe filling eaten cold — congealed and nasty. Because there are no microwave ovens at my son’s preschool or at the park, I like to have a thermal food jar or thermal lunch jar
Amazon carries thermal bento sets with a thermal food jar and an insulated carrying case for packing cool side dishes. You can achieve the same the effect on the cheap by using a regular thermal food jar that you can find at stores like Target or Walmart, plus a small side dish container for the room temperature or cool foods. (Read more about hot vs. cold lunch packing considerations.) When I use this set for my own lunches, I also like to pack fresh rice in the thermal lunch jar, keeping it warm and soft until I’m ready to eat. (Note to San Francisco locals: Kamei has the two Zojirushi-brand sets behind the counter for $33. Store info at the SF local shopping guide.)
Later this week I’ll be traveling out to Philadelphia to visit my ailing grandmother, so I won’t be as responsive as usual on the comment front. I’ll still be updating the blog from the road, but just a quick heads up. It’ll be interesting to see how my husband fares packing our three-year-old’s lunches on his own for two days; I promised to help by planning out simple menus that require only quick assembly. Maybe he should read my Mommy’s Lunch Manifesto — Need for Speed… I hear that works for dads too. 
Contents of preschooler bento lunch: Homemade ma po tofu (with tofu, ground pork, enoki mushrooms and salted black beans), rice, edamame and apple bunnies made with miniature Red Delicious apples that Bug and I found at Safeway (see the apple rabbit tutorial). I thought apple bunnies were out of the picture because Bug doesn’t like apple skin anymore, but something about these tiny apples made him ask for apple bunnies.
Morning prep time: 10 minutes, using leftover mapo tofu. In the morning I made the apple rabbits first and got them soaking in acidulated ice water to curl the ears and prevent the fruit from browning, then moved on to warming the frozen rice and ma po tofu in the microwave and pre-warming the thermal food jar with hot tap water while the apples soaked. (Read on for packing details, Sloppy Joe lunch and recipe, and review of Bush’s Grillin’ Beans.)
Published by Biggie on May 11th, 2008 tagged beans, bento, food jar, for kids, glutenfree, lactose free, meat, recipe, rice | 5 Comments »
Children’s Day bento lunch
Don’t be alarmed! I’m not changing the focus of this site to time-consuming food art! But May 5 was Cinco de Mayo as well as Children’s Day (Kodomo no Hi, historically a boy’s day holiday celebrated in Japan), one of the few occasions I’ll actually go all out to make a themed lunch for my three-year-old son. Do you get the theme? The sandwich is decorated to look like a carp streamer, which is traditionally flown on Children’s Day. A big fish streamer on top represents the father, and smaller ones underneath stand for the mother and either the boys or all children in the household, depending on who you talk to. I’ve translated the classic Japanese Children’s Day song at the end of the post and linked to a song video if you’re interested in learning more.
Contents of preschooler bento lunch: Ham and cheese sandwich on whole wheat bread (scales: sliced ham, eye: sliced cheese and nori seaweed, fins: cucumber peel, all affixed to the bread with cream cheese to keep the design intact in transit). The side dish container holds a cherry tomato, steamed broccoli and yellow bell pepper strips flavored with Korean barbecue sauce, and a cheese cube.
Morning prep time: 30+ minutes, WAY too long for a speed bento, but fine for the occasional decorative lunch (see my page on Decorative Food). Food art lunches benefit from advanced planning, so I looked through some of my Japanese children’s bento cookbooks to find ideas the day before. I settled on a simple sandwich (instead of an elaborate fish-shaped sushi roll), and went to the store to pick up what I was missing (ham and cucumber). (Read on for equipment notes, decoration technique, and the Koinobori Song…)
Published by Biggie on May 6th, 2008 tagged bento, equipment, for kids, meat, sandwich or wrap, tips, tutorial or how to | 38 Comments »
Review: Cheap lunch containers at Target
Reader “K” gave me a heads up that Target now stocks cheap lunch containers in their seasonal section in the front of the store, so I popped by and picked up a couple to try out over the weekend.
Part of the Whim by Cynthia Rowley collection made by the Israeli Bramli Company, these plastic US$2.99 containers are definitely the right price, and come in colorful pink and blue. I picked up two versions that I thought bento-packers might be interested in: the Divided Lunch Set (in blue) and the Personal Salad Set (in pink). They do have pros and cons, though… (Read on for the full product review.)
Published by Biggie on May 5th, 2008 tagged equipment, shopping | 70 Comments »
Corn on the cob bento lunch
Kids love corn on the cob, but a whole ear is simply too big to fit inside of a bento box. One way you can include it in a bento lunch is to simply cut it into manageable segments like I did below, or even split it down the middle of the cob so that the pretty rows of corn kernels are all facing up if you have a shallow box.
My three-year-old is happy to eat corn on the cob as is, but I must confess to a little bit of bento accessory lust over flat corn holders that fit into a bento box. Maybe one of these days I’ll splurge out on cute football- or animal-shaped corn holders
Contents of preschooler bento lunch: Spinach & mozzarella ravioli in roasted garlic and tomato sauce, corn on the cob segment, steamed broccoli with vinaigrette, and homemade juice jello jiggler cup (from 100% blueberry and raspberry juice). I made these jello cups with Knox gelatin, but you can make a vegan version that stays solid at room temperature using agar agar seaweed (kanten in Japanese) as a thickener instead.
Morning prep time: 12 minutes, using leftover corn on the cob and a juice jello cup I’d made previously with my three-year-old. In the morning I multi-boiled the frozen ravioli and broccoli together in a very small pot for speed and energy efficiency. I’ve written about reading a study finding that microwave-cooked broccoli loses a lot of its antioxidants, so right or wrong, I felt a little better about boiling the broccoli rather than steaming it in the microwave as usual. (Read on for packing details and an Anpanman oshibori hand towel…)
Published by Biggie on May 2nd, 2008 tagged bento, equipment, for kids, pasta or noodles, tips | 36 Comments »
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