Archive for December, 2008

Poll: Why do you pack bento lunches?

Why do you pack bento-style lunches, or why do you want to?

I gradually got into bento lunches through a series of coincidences that I wrote about in my profile. I lived in Japan for almost a decade, but didn’t pack bentos often until my husband was misdiagnosed with celiac disease, a food intolerance that all but ruled out restaurant meals. Bento-style packing appealed to me as a way to help my husband eat well despite health restrictions.

After the doctors figured out that my husband didn’t actually have celiac disease, I drifted back into the bento habit because of my toddler son: one small bento box took up a lot less room in my diaper bag than four or five Tupperware containers. How about you?

Why do you pack bento lunches? (check all that apply)

Eating healthier (73%, 783 Votes)
Fun and playful (62%, 665 Votes)
Save money (57%, 616 Votes)
Portion control or dieting (52%, 559 Votes)
Interest in Japan (44%, 471 Votes)
Compact size (42%, 455 Votes)
Cooking experimentation (40%, 431 Votes)
More variety (38%, 412 Votes)
Artistic expression (29%, 314 Votes)
Get picky eaters to eat (12%, 132 Votes)
Food allergies (8%, 81 Votes)
Other (describe in comments) (6%, 63 Votes)

Total Voters: 1,078

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Poll voting closes at midnight Pacific on Sunday, January 11, 2009.

FURTHER READING:

Poll: When do you pack lunch? (poll closed)
Poll: Who do you pack lunch for? (poll closed)
All polls on Lunch in a Box
How to cut your food bills
Bento FAQ and Biggie’s list of top speed tips, tutorials and reviews

Published by Biggie on December 31st, 2008 tagged poll | 47 Comments »

Holiday injury bento lunch

Over the holidays, we moved our huge cat perch into my four-year-old’s playroom to make room for the Christmas tree. Our cats Moose and Squirrel love it, but moving it out from the wall led to a mysterious mishap when Bug reported that Moose “pushed it over with his head” when I was in the next room.

Sounds like Bugs Bunny physics to me, but Moose isn’t talking. The cat perch wound up hitting Bug on the cheek on the way down and caused a cut on the inside of his mouth. The pediatrician recommended giving him soft foods that weren’t too salty, cut small enough so that he didn’t have to open his mouth wide to eat (no hamburgers). So I packed him a soft lunch with a deconstructed sandwich to eat while things healed.

Contents of preschooler bento lunch: Whole wheat bread, chicken salad, simmered kabocha squash (kabocha nimono, recipe here), and cherry tomatoes. When I served this same kabocha at dinner the night before, Bug said he didn’t like the kabocha he tried before at a monthly school lunch and didn’t want any. But after I asked him to try a bite of mine and tell me if it was the same or different from what he’d had at school, he changed his mind and asked for a portion of his own.

We didn’t manage to isolate what was different about the kabocha at dinner that made it okay for him. I wonder if it was the temperature — maybe he prefers it warm. He does respond well to approaching food tastings as an experiment, though. You know, “I’m not going to make you eat it, but can you figure out what aspect you don’t like? Is it the taste, smell, texture or appearance?” Kids are funny, but at least he’s not a very picky eater!

Morning prep time: 5 minutes using chicken salad from Costco and leftover kabocha (my recipe here). In the morning I trimmed the crusts off the bread and filled the box. Done! Super speedy. (Read on for packing details and the verdict.) Read the rest of this entry »

Published by Biggie on December 30th, 2008 tagged bento, for kids, potatoes, sandwich or wrap | 22 Comments »

Host a doable kids’ cookie party

The weekend before Christmas we had one of Bug’s little friends over to the house for a holiday cookie party. No, not the kind of cookie party where each guest brings several dozen homemade cookies and you swap. The kind where the kids get messy baking and decorating their own cookies — aesthetics be damned.

Bug’s friend brought him a present of a kid’s robot apron from Old Navy that matched her own. I haven’t been into Old Navy recently, but these aren’t on their website now. I have seen a few of these robot aprons on Ebay, and a number of other fun kids’ aprons on Amazon.

The first year I made holiday cookies with Bug, I wore myself out. I made too many different kinds of cookies and tried to decorate every cookie just so. That level of baking frenzy was fine when it was just me in the kitchen, but now it’s just a recipe for frustration with a four-year-old who wants in on the action. Learn from my mistakes and don’t bite off more than you can chew when you have little helpers! (Read on for my tips on how to host a manageable Kids’ Holiday Cookie Party.) Read the rest of this entry »

Published by Biggie on December 30th, 2008 tagged decorative, for kids, parenthacks, tips | 11 Comments »

Bento Blog Search & design contest

After playing with the cool Food Blog Search and Veg Blog Search engines to search thousands of food blogs, I got to thinking. Why don’t the bento and packed lunch blogs have a similar search engine that brings up results only from our lunch blogs? So I’ve started to pull one together, including about 100 bento blogs on my Lunch Links page (still adding blogs in multiple languages).

It’s still a work in progress and I’m putting together a standalone web page for it in addition to the basic Google custom search page, If you’ve personalized your Google homepage, you can add a Bento Blog Search gadget to your homepage. All you have to do is click on this button:

I do have a favor to ask in the meantime. I’m not the most artistic person around, but will need graphics for the header and search widget logos (see the Food Blog Search widgets and Veg Blog Search widget for examples). Are you graphics-minded? Here’s your chance to leave a lasting impression on the bento blogging community!

If this is up your alley, design a header and search widget logo and e-mail them to me at bentoblogsearch (AT} gmail {DOT) com by Friday, January 16, 2009. If I wind up choosing your design for the bento blog search tool, I’ll send you a bento box gift bag with Skater bento box gear like those I’m offering for the Menu for Hope hunger charity and credit you on the Bento Blog Search website.

By the way, there are two days left on this year’s Menu for Hope raffle, which ends on December 24, 2008. Odds of winning the Pokemon bento box set are currently about three times better than winning the Hello Kitty bento set, so it’s something to keep in mind. All proceeds go to the United Nations World Food Programme, the world’s largest food aid agency. Specifically, this year’s donations will benefit the school lunch program in Lesotho, Africa.

FURTHER READING:

Shopping guide for bento gear in the San Francisco Bay Area
Online store list for bento gear, and the international Bento Store Locator with Google Maps
Bento recipes on Lunch in a Box
Bento FAQ and Biggie’s list of top speed tips, tutorials and reviews

Published by Biggie on December 23rd, 2008 tagged admin, giveaway | 14 Comments »

Holiday bento lunches

A little while ago I had a moms’ night out dinner at Aziza in San Francisco and brought back some Moroccan food for Bug’s lunch. The next morning I was off on yet another early-morning kindergarten school tour and in my rush forgot to take a photo or explain to Bug what strange things I’d packed for him. When I picked him up from preschool, Bug was quick to ask me what it was that I’d packed in his bento. I told him that it was couscous with lamb and vegetable stew, and asked if he liked it. Surprise! He loved it and said he wanted couscous for dinner and future bento lunches. So why didn’t he eat any of the couscous in the lunch below? A packing error on my part…

Contents of preschooler bento lunch: Italian meatballs, broccoli with vinaigrette, roasted garlic couscous, persimmons, cherry tomatoes, Asian pear, and mini cookies (ginger pennies). Bug’s preschool discourages the parents from sending sweets in the children’s lunches, but I couldn’t resist these tiny holiday cookies for a treat (ooh, bad mom!). I made them from a recipe from Rose’s Christmas Cookies, Rose Levy Beranbaum’s definitive cookie book with notes on which will hold up for sending through mail, how long each will last fresh vs. frozen, etc. The crisp little cookies were a hit at a holiday party I brought them to recently, and parents allowed their children to grab a whole handful of the little rounds.

Morning prep time: 10 minutes, using leftover couscous and frozen meatballs. In the morning I microwaved the meatballs and broccoli, and cut up the fruit. Read the rest of this entry »