British Isles

So I'm only a few months late posting this.  SOMEONE said they'd been checking the site every day waiting to see how we're progressing. We still need to finish up with England and Ireland, but we'll share our little bit of Scotland with you and then on to Italy!

When we "visited" Japan we found the land of carbohydrates.  With Scotland as our first British Isle destination, we left carbohydrates behind and found the land of PROTEIN! At this point I can't remember what the stew was called, but it was oyster wrapped in bacon wrapped in steak!  We got fresh oysters from  Whole Foods packed in ice. Breaking them open the next morning was a challenge though.  My middle daughter was in charge of getting them open and out (because, frankly the slimyness grossed me out!  I've delivered 2 babies and I get the willies with oysters...go figure) 

After undressing the oysters, smashing the beef, wrapping it all together and letting it simmer down to a wonderful smelling stew we got the scotch eggs going. 

Scotch eggs are simply magical! A hard boiled egg wrapped in sausage rolled in breading and DEEP FRIED!!!!  Oh my!  They were the size of soft balls, but oh so good!  They even beat out the bacon! The boys helped squeeze lemons to make the lemon mustard dipping sauce.  Unfortunately the sauce didn't go over so well, but it was fun to make :)

Finally, it did seem like we should have something on the fresh healthy side so we cleaned and sliced fresh strawberries topped with a dollop of real whipping cream and mint from our neglected (and now dead) chocolate mint plant. That along with a few shortbread cookies, made a fantastic dessert.

All in all we came up with some lovely Gentos and heard a little about our family history (related to Mary Queen of Scots...no really!).  Hopefully we'll get England and Ireland done before the year is over:)  Happy eating!

料理 - Food

My lovely Mama did some searching and was able to find an Asian market here in Fort Collins!  It was so nice not to have to go all the way to Denver :)  Dear Mama had already staked out the place the day before bringing goodies from far away lands to tempt us and give us ideas.  She brought over sticky rice, Mirin, citrus soy sauce, dried mushrooms, dried shrimp (with eyes!), red hot peppers and some spices.  We had fun sniffing and tasting (even the peppers...well...we made the boys try those.  I think the water bill went up just a bit after that taste test:).  The mirin was quite tasty too. 

The only Asian market I'd been in was many years ago in San Francisco's China Town.  I wasn't sure what to expect in Fort Collins.  To my delight, and that of the children, we found the market to be full of fascinating foods.  We placed sweet and salty rice crackers into our cart along with ramen noodles and sticky rice.  Then we spotted something we'd had at a great Asian bistro called East Moon.  Japanese soda with marbles.  YES MARBLES!  I'll explain how you open them later.  We found chopsticks to add to our collection and some spices of our own.  We couldn't resist buying the tiny speckled quail eggs either.  Dear Mama donated lychee gummy candies to try and I purchased strawberry Pocky as a treat for the way home. 

Dear Mama came over to help make our first Gento meal.  I know I have to do a much better job actually READING the philosophy behind bento instead of just looking at pictures, but I wanted to just jump right in.  We decided to make California sushi (I'm allergic to fish), inside-out sushi, Onigiri, rice paper wraps (don't know the official name. kind of like spring rolls-ish) and hard boiled eggs pressed into fish shapes (not so successful, I think we needed the larger eggs).  My attempt at sushi produced a gigantic burrito sized sushi!  It looked pretty, just large.  The boys all made onigiri by taking sticky rice, laying it in a bowl covered with plastic wrap and making a little indentation.  Meat and veggies were added to the indentation and the rice was then formed into a triangle.  Finally a piece of nori is added to the bottom of the triangle to produce a cute little rice package.

Once all the food was prepared we each took on the task of decorating our Gento box with our delectables.  Some added wasabi and pickled ginger.  Others added little cheese circles cut out with tiny cutters (the cheese got stuck in the star cutters and none of the kids wanted to use the red bell peppers).  I think everyone did an amazing job!

Our final treat was the Japanese soda.  When you remove the lid there is a little cylindrical piece in the lid you use to punch down the marble which is keeping the bottle sealed.  This makes a big exciting popping noise as the marble is thrust part way down the neck of the bottle.  The neck is narrower in one section keeping the marble from going to the bottom of the bottle.  Once this is accomplished you have one of two options.  You can either use a straw (we like the bendy kind) or take your chances trying to beat the marble to the little opening each time you want a drink.  Either way you have a lovely tinkling sound to entertain you through your meal.

Our first meal was a messy, rice-y, happ-y success (y).   I can't say how much we laughed!  We had so much rice sticking to our hands and clothes. The girls were great in the kitchen and very creative with their Gentos. The boys did an amazing job helping and even making their own sushi, which turned out pretty well, I must say. 

Things we learned:
1. Sticky rice is VERY sticky
2. We need larger eggs for the egg mold
3. The correct protein to rice ratio is very important (too much rice this time!)
4. Picky eaters are much more likely to try what they've prepared themselves!
5. Bite size sushi is a better idea than burrito sized :)

Economy Bento

We started our quest by going to the library and checking out books about Japan.  We found quite a few children's books that described the culture without being too wordy.  I loved learning about how children in Japan work together at school to clean the school...but the boys were more into Samurai Warriors...go figure.  We learned about Mt. Fuji, sticky rice, futons and community baths. There were some questions and some giggles, especially about the old fashioned potties. The boys made origami samurai hats just big enough to fit the cats. 

Okay, I am a mom on a budget with 8 people participating in this Gento project.  We looked at all the adorable bento boxes and I even started placing them in my cart online.  But 8 bentos ranging from $10-$26 each caused me to withdraw my finger from the ENTER button and try to come up with a reasonable alternative for my family.  I talked with a friend who told me about Ziploc's new sectioned containers. What a fantastic idea!  As the prospective price lowered so did my blood pressure.  Then to my delight I found these boxes on sale at the grand opening of a nearby supermarket and was able to get all 8 for $10!!!!  Now we could plan on having "Bento" boxes AND buying food to go in the boxes :)  We might be able to collect real bento boxes as we go along.  We'll see.

The Ziploc boxes were pretty cute, but very plain.  We had the idea to go online and print up the Japanese characters that made our names (or as close as we could get to our names) and characters for words like lunch, food and eat.  The kids each decorated their own Gento, making sure to leave room for the words we'll write from the different countries we "visit" throughout the year.

Next will be "food day".

The Journey ALMOST Begins

My children and I have become intrigued with the world of Bento. We've gone to countless sites selling the delightful bento boxes.  We've checked out bento cookbooks and drooled over the mouth watering recipes. But I kinda wanted more.   

This summer my children and I want to practice "bento power" but with a twist.  Our goal is to learn not only about Japan and their traditions, but about many different cultures as well. Our family has several cultures represented in it and in our 7 years as a foster family we have seen a number of different cultures come through our home.  Along with the variety of backgrounds we've also encountered picky eaters and even children with eating disorders. By making attractive tasty food we hope to help put food in its proper place.

Though we'll be putting our meals in a box, I don't want to put people in one.  Healthy and joyful eating is for every BODY so I've invited my amazingly culturally aware mother to participate with us, making this a multi-generational venture.  My mother did an amazing thing with me when I was little.  She taught me about different cultures, including my own, with a few monthly cultural nights where we listened to the music from a particular culture, ate the food and dressed, the the best of our ability, the dress.  I felt that she taught me about me, but that it wasn't all about me. 

So join us over the next twelve months as we explore 12 different countries and establish healthy eating habits.  We will be attempting to post the recipes and how to modify the recipes to be successfully used by large families like mine, small families and individuals like my mom.  The adventure should begin mid June, so stay tuned!