Bento Corner

So I complain about my kids...a lot.

Probably because they are quite demanding, noisy, bossy, full of robust attitude and the like. But, there are certain moments when I feel like my girl is going to be alright underneath all the surface drama. Tonight was one of those moments...

I was invited to a party this afternoon by another kinder mom and found out that many of the girls gave out Valentine's to certain boys on 2/14. I was surprised to hear that this phenomenon started at such an early age. And also felt a bit distressed that it is more a selective process and not really democratic -- I mean, come on. At this age, why not give out Valentine's to all the kids or at least all the boys instead of select ones? That really rubs me wrong. Anyway...

So tonight after I finished reading to the kids, I was talking with my girl about how I found out that some girls did give out Valentine's to boys and my girl said, "Yeah I know. When my friend asked me who I gave a Valentine to, I just told her I gave one to my dad."

Ouch. I felt kinda bad about that.

So I asked her if she would like to give one to someone maybe tomorrow after school since it's still February. It's a bit late, but I thought the gesture would still be appreciated. And she was totally stoked.

I thought she would give one to the popular boy or the kakoii (trans: cool) boy or the boy who kind of hangs around her quite a bit -- I think he may have a slight crush on her. But she said, "The boy I like the best in my class, his name is Yun-chan." And she went on to describe him and the boy that kept popping into my mind was the boy who is physically challenged. So I kept probing her to make sure we were talking about the same boy, and indeed we were.

My heart melted with gratitude.

Gratitude that she had the ability to see a person for who they really are. To go beyond what is presented to her on the surface and was mature enough to see the heart and goodness of one person.

My girl said, "This is great, mom! When my friend asks me about who I gave a Valentine's to, I can say, 'I gave one to Yun-chan!'"

And she said this without any pretense nor judgement. Just happy to be able to give something to a boy who she really liked because he is nice to everyone.

My girl is 6 -- a  6 year old with a lot of heart.

Bee bento -- first attempt is here.

We had yakisoba (Japanese style chow mein) the night before so I wanted to use that up for this bento. I wanted to make omu-soba-- like omu-rice except with yakisoba inside. But  wrapping the egg around the mein looked really difficult for my girl to eat, so I made egg shaped flowers loosely placed on top so it's easier to pick up. The bee was constructed the night before made of cheese and nori. Above the bee is chikuwa fish cakes stuffed with butter fried okra. And kiwi and apples cut out in heart shapes.

Kinder lets out in 3 weeks which means I won't have bentos to upload so I may start with some suggestions I've already received like creating a how to on making some of the characters, a better explanation of Japanese food items used, better navigation settings, etc. I'm open to suggestions you have, so just go ahead and leave a comment. Can't promise anything, but if I'm cleared of bento duty, I'll have more time to explain things in more detail or what would be more helpful.

Thank you, arigaotou, and yoroshiku onegai itashima~su!

Candy bento -- mini-rolled sandwiches, chikuwa (fish cakes ) stuffed with umeboshi and cucumber, and carrots sauteed with tarako (fish roe).

There are two kinds of mini-rolled sandwiches. One is filled with mayo, nori, lettuce and fish sausage. The other is rolled with banana with this spread:

A chocolate whipped cream (yay for kids!) with added calcium (yay for moms!).

But seriously, who do the marketing folk think they are fooling? The general public should not get caught up in their marketing tactics. But uh-, yes, OK. Worked on me... had to at least taste it once, yes? Just don't fool me twice, mmkay?

The cream tastes like that chocolate you find stuffed in bread pastries (like chocolate coronet),  so it's not as sweet nor dense. I particularly don't care for this type of chocolate, but I must admit the combination of this and banana rolled in sandwich bread was quite good.

The carrots were sauteed in butter and then I added tarako to it. The chikuwa with umeboshi and cucumbers was a recipe from my bento book. I know this bento is quite fishy, and if you're not into fish, you could easily use other substitutes. Like roll the cucumber in ham, use plain sausage in the rolled sandwiches, and sprinkle the sauteed carrots with white sesame seeds. Less fishy, but still tasty.

Oh,  almost forgot! Lastly, look at the above bento -- did you think the green part was actually lettuce?! Ha! Feast your eyes on this:

Now what could be more useful than lettuce foil??

Made to just look like lettuce but without the lettuce! Genius!

And looky what else you can do with this:

Use if for picnic outings! Sandwiches! Add more color to your meals!

Marketing victim? Anyone, anyone?

Bunny/billy goat onigiri, okra wrapped in tamago, tamgoyaki heart with imitation crab, and ketchup shrimp.

These were meant to be rabbits but I had a really difficult time with the ears and the husband labeled this the billy goat bento and indeed, they look more like billy goats than rabbits. Hindsight is so 20-20...

I used hanpen (fish cakes) for the ears but they weren't holding up and so I placed them in cups for support but as you can see it's not really helping. And the ears are placed so close together they look more like horns...of goats. Thanks, husband...friggin' smart mouth...

Speaking of which, my son has followed in the footsteps of one parental unit and is walking towards the evil path of smart mouth-dom. It's a bit disturbing but also quite comical.

There is a gesture in Japanese that people (mostly kids) use -- akkan beh--  which loosely translates as "nanny nanny boo-bo". This is said usually accompanied by this gesture:

My kids are not allowed to do this to each other nor to anyone in the household. Sometimes the kids will do it in protest to something I've said. My daughter is smart enough to mutter it under her breath and once in a while I will catch her and demand an immediate apology. But my son, being the up and coming smart mouth, did the following in an act of defiance toward me:

son : akkan-beh

me: Son, is it time for you to sit in the corner?

son: No........

son: *mutters* beh-da (shortened version of akkan-beh. For the record, 3 year olds don't mutter well).

me: Hey, son! I am not kidding. Do you want to goto the corner?!

son: No! I sorry mama! *quickly skirts away*

moments later...son returns now holding his miniature crocodile. Points it in my general direction and says

son:  akkan-beh-da!

me: *muffled giggle, trying to hide the smirk from my face*

son: *impatiently waiting for a reaction* MAMA!!! Crocodile said BEH- to you!

See what I mean? Sassy, yet innovative. Constantly pushing my limits. It's quite obvious to me this did not stem from my DNA...