It's been a while!!!

The last few months have been full of surprises. Some good, some bad and some just plain horrible. Let's go back in time will you. Back in March I started my first day of march break with the horrible news of the Earthquake-Tsunami in Japan. Took me a good 16 hours to reach my friends in the affected area. Everyone is safe, although some have lost their home. I was glued for the week, to my computer, watching the Live Fuji-terebi broadcast. During that week, my sister and I were quick coming up with a fundraiser idea! At her college in Sudbury, she sold origami paper cranes. She raised 500$ for the red cross. At my school, with the help of the grade 5 students, we made onigiri (4 different flavors) and sold them to the rest of the school. The student built a festival like food-stand, got dress in yukata and played japanese music to set the mood. Although no-one had ever heard of onigiri, the students (from kindergarden to grade 6) were pleasantly surprise!! The sake furikake flavor was a hit! In all, we raise 460$ for the red cross. But more importantly, the students had the opportunity to discover japanese culture! The double disaster also motivated the grade 2 class in finishing their 1000 paper cranes. In June, they will be mailing them to Hiroshima.

Although we are a small community in rural Ontario, I was so happy to see how willing to help people of the community were. At my husband's school, kids raised over 1000$ for the relief effort and again last week had a *wear red and white* day to remind people that Japan is still struggling.

In other news, at the end of the month of March I finished my contract. I was sad to leave the kids behind, but glad to have more free time to finishing writing my thesis which I am suppose to defend in August. I just need my intro and conclusion and then it's editing time. 160 pages in all. Wish me luck! And for those who wonder, the subject is (this is a rough English translation since my thesis is in french) cultural and aesthetic hybridity in Ook Chung's novels and short stories : the influence of Japanese and Korean culture.

Then came April. Oh boy! Did it rain. Outside and inside. I ran into some health issues... Then there was the emotional roller coaster of getting to my pregnancy due date (I miscarried back in October). We were on the road a lot, for basketball tournaments. (My husband is an assistant coach). My sister moved back in with us for a few weeks. Overall April felt like a stop and go type of month with endless car ride and lot's of waiting. Did I have the time to cook? Not one chance! We were barely ever home.

Now May and June should be fairly exciting! My sister is moving into her new apartment this weekend. Then in two weeks, my sister in law is coming from Vancouver to visit. And if everything goes according to plan, in June I will be welcoming my Japanese friend and her parents. They decided to take a holiday from all the after shocks. This is very exciting since my friend's mom is the best cook I have ever met! I am hoping to learn a few recipes from her!

As for me, I will take this month to finish writing my thesis, to finish transferring my old blog to this blog. And also finish posting about last year's trip to Japan. In the main while, check out this fabulous rice-cooker give away!!! For those who know me, I always brag about my Zojirushi rice-cooker!! Yes the one that cooked over 50 cups of rice for the onigiri fundraiser ;-) Here is your chance to win your own!!! Even better, this is the new model with the Umami setting! Check it out right here. The contest is open until May 12, 2011.               

Not so challenging bento challenge

216!

That is the official number of bentos we made for the Valentine's day school fundraiser.

In the end, we raised close to 500$.

As we were not expecting such high demand, we had to overcome some major thecnical difficulty such as, how to fit 216 bentos in a fridge, but in the end, with the help of family and friends, we made it!

The healthy lunch consisted in a turkey and cheese whole grain sandwich, a tomato and cheese kabob, veggys and dip, a tofu-brownie kabob and a fresh fruit. It also came with a juice box. Each box was individually labelled with the student's name.

For the bento, we used a 100% biogradable recycled paper box. 

Bento Challenge is a hit!

88!!!! One week left to order and we have already reached 88 bento sold! Our ambitous goal was 100. Our realistic goal was 50. (We are a small school.) We also have a second school on board with us! We are still fixing the details but I am very optimistic!

On a side note, here are the pictures from the 2 bentos I made this weekend. They are not fancy looking but they were delicious. Rice balls (salmon furikake, umemoboshi), tamago, sweet and sour daikon, dinosaure shaped eggs sandwich. In all it was a really easy-tasty bento.



Not so challenging bento

Here we are, back from our grocery trip. We managed to price our bento below 2.50$ a unit. Which means we can expect a profit of 2-3$. Since this is a fundraiser for the school, we might bump up the price a bit. We haven't decided yet. But here is a sample picture of what we are going to offer.

• Cheese, turkey, salad, sandwich
• Veggy and dip
• Pretzel
• Fruit
• Brownie trio
• Tomato-cheese trio

The quantity will be adjusted to fit the size of the box as to not leave any holes. The meal also comes with a juice box.

We are really excited about this and hope the kids will be too!!!

Challenging Bento Challenge

I am so excited about this, I can't wait any longer! My coworker and I had the ok, from the school we work at, to organize a fundraiser. We will be selling bento lunches on St-Valentine's day! For the last 2 weeks, we have been discussing different options and tomorrow we are finally ready to present the project to the rest of the school staff! 

We decided on heart shape sandwiches, with pink dip and veggy. Heart shape rice crispies square and pretzel. Tomorrow morning, before work, we are going to price all the material and food. Then we will sketch the bento. We might make one or two to showcase to the staff.

All this is part of a much bigger project we have been discussing in the last month. We would love to perhaps turn this into a side business. Although we believe in the product, there are still many great hurdle to overcome. 

Next month, we intend on having a few kids at school (with the parents permission off course) to help us out in a food tasting survey. We are curious to find out if kids from this very Caucasian rural community would be willing to eat rice balls and furikake!!! With the fundraiser we are staying within known territory and we have a goal of selling 100 bento!

Stay tune to find out more about this project!!!   

Bento Challenge

Good Morning!! I am glad to finally report on my Work Place Bento Challenge! On Friday the 17th of December, as to mark our last day of work before the Christmas Holidays, my coworker Lynn and I decided to have a friendly kawaii bento competition. For the both of us it was the first time attempting such thing (I had previously made some bento but not with a cute factor. As for my coworker, it was her very first bento EVER!!)

We had agreed on free choice of theme, even thought we both ended up making a winter-Christmas theme bento. I spend most of the night before preparing the bento following scale drawings I had made in the previous week. So did my coworker. And here are the results!!

Her bento featured a Santa Sleight made out of kani, a sliding penguin made of Devil egg and tortillas and a Christmas tree made of stuff beans. She added a gingerbread man, in a crêpe to mimic Santa's Toy Bag!  In total, she had 12 votes from the staff members. The penguin was a hit!

 My bento featured an inari reindeer, a tomato-sausage santa as well as a umeboshi star shape onigiri. I also made a Vietnamese rice roll that I decorated with Hungarian salami. I added, tamago, cheese cube and squash to complete the meal. In all, my bento received 13 votes. 

In all, we had a great time, trying each others food. We also shared with our school principal and our friends. We are now looking forward to our next challenge which  will be just in time for Valentine's day!!

OHHHH-Bento

My first bento: Kimchi, rice, spinach roll, umeboshi et tamago

If you know me, you know I love bentos! I can spend hours looking at them. Through all my trip to Japan, I have built myself a small bento box collection with all the necessary tools to make them as Kawaii as possible.

This is the definition given on Wikipedia for bento:

Bento (弁当, bentō^?)^[1] 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, usually in a box-shaped container. Containers range from disposable mass produced to hand crafted lacquerware. Although bento are readily available in many places throughout Japan, including convenience stores, bento shops (弁当屋, bentō-ya^?), train stations, and department stores, it is still common for Japanese homemakers to spend time and energy for their spouse, child, or themselves producing a carefully prepared lunch box.

Recently, I have spent countless hours looking at the web site, youtube videos and pictures of those mini-boxe lunch. Here is my favorite:

 

Off course, bentos are not always this elabore. In Japan, they are a commodity in any Combini (corner store) and sell for a few dollars.

My favorite bento place in Japan is Original bento! For just under 4$, you get a full delicious meal (fish with rice and tempura). They are easy to find since they have a bright pink sign.

A few weeks ago, I made bento's for 3 of my coworkers. I rolled some sushi, made some inari and tamago and a few sake-onigiri. It was a hit.That is when Lynn (one of my coworker) and I decided to challenge ourself in a friendly bento competition.

On december 17, we are to bring 2 identical bento each to be judge for taste and looks by the rest of the staff. I have started designing my bento and choose a "cute" theme. Tune in for some pictures of the process and the result!!!