Final Days Of Summer

It's fall already, and it's felt like fall for awhile, given the lack of oppressive heat that summer usually brings us and all the back to school business. But these last few days of summer have brought out the inner squirrel in me. Last weekend, I decided I needed to do something to mark the end of the season so Mom and I put up a bunch of pints of Jason's mom's pepper sauce. This may or may not be the fabled sauce of Miss Dixie, Jason's childhood neighbor, I suspect it is, since it has more of her hallmarks than Kathy's, in any case, it is a delicious sauce. This isn't something I do every year, but I really love the taste of it on beans (black eyed peas, pintos, butter beans, and the like), and the recipe is easy (well, I have to use gloves for the hot peppers, but other than that it's easy) and putting up a dozen pints really doesn't take that much time, especially when Mom is is there to lead my through it.

I had plenty of tomatoes left over (since I lost my battle with the evil squirrels, I had to buy a peck at the farmer's market and we only used half for the pepper sauce). And I was desperately in need of another can of olive oil, so the logical thing was to pick some at Viviano's along with some buffalo mozzarella and make a big sloppy caprice salad. I love so many things about Viviano's. The price of olive oil is astronomical (I can remember when it was about $12-$15 for a 3L can not that long ago), I was
dithering between a new can that they had predominately displayed for about 5$ less than my normal Celio brand. In the checkout I point to the new brand and ask "Am I going to be happy with this?" The two people behind the counter (one has been working there for more years than I've been coming to the store) say without hesitation, in unison and with a tone that is definitive: "no", I scoot out and exchange it for the Celio and the long standing employee looks at me with approval and tells me that's what she always uses. I exit Viviano's looking forward to my salad and the hunk of Marconi's bakery bread. We are not a white bread family. I mean that literally. We don't eat white bread usually - lots of rye and whole wheat and I'm constantly guilt tripping myself over the fact that we eat too much of the processed sandwich bread that has all that corn syrup in it. But, occasionally, I like a crusty Italian style loaf and Marconi's is always perfect. We scarfed it down with the salad and then the next morning I ate it with the last of the gooseberry preserves from Sunflower Savannah a vendor at the Tower Grove Farmer's Market. I had bought this earlier this summer and I'm completely enthralled with it. We had gooseberry bushes when I was a kid and while I remember there being lots of gooseberry pie (I wasn't fond of it, but my grandparent's generation was), I have no memories of jam that tasted like this! And the color is really pretty too. Here's a picture:
I'm sorry I haven't done as much canning as I would have liked this year. It's hard to do with Nora in the house, unless there's a team looking after her, and really I always think it's going to be more labor intensive than it is.

This weekend I also got around to testing the alternative to rice crispy treats in Vegan Lunchbox. While Nora has no problems eating marshmallows and I can make them with Earth Balance instead of butter, there are a couple of people in our orbit who don't eat them due to the gelatin in marshmallows, including Jason. So I thought I'd give these a try since they use corn syrup & peanut butter (I subbed soynut butter) instead. I make the jumped up version with chocolate chips. Once I got over that these were not rice crispy treats, I actually liked them and Jason and Nora gave them two thumbs up too. Nora has taken to calling these "Snack". They are way sweet (they are after all listed in the dessert section) and they tasted quite a bit like store bought quaker granola bars as well as a treat Mom made for us when we were kids - Special K bars. The soynut butter/chocolate combo is a real winner and I like the crispiness of the rice crispies. I think I will make them again and add oats as well and try to find the brown puffed rice that the recipe originally suggested.

Finally here are the lunchboxes from this week so far:This is my lunch from Monday, Jason had a similar one, but I didn't get a photo: blackeyed peas with tomatoes and spinach (Sunday's leftovers), turkey sausage (Jason had the last of the cornbread muffins instead), a pluot, and we both had a side of Snack. I also sampled one of Nora's Vanilla Silk pouches and it was actually good (I'm not a huge fan of the regular Silk, but I find the Chocolate quite tolerable as well). Here's Nora's lunch from today:
Macaroni and meat sauce, carrot sticks and zuchini stars and hearts with hummus dip, a pack of raisins, and Vanilla Silk pouch. I'm suffering from some guilt because I forgot to include my usually notes in her lunch.

That's all for today, but I did want to remind folks about the Strange Folk Festival this weekend. Go check it out!

Friday Lunch Roundup

I actually made most of our lunches the night before for the first time. This enabled us to get out the door on time! I love going to Nora's pre-school. Today I met one of her classmates, Luke. Nora wasn't thrilled about him, but he seemed like a nice boy. They are doing cooking experiments today, so I wonder if she'll be willing to do some at home this weekend. I've been meaning to test-drive Vegan Lunch Box's recipe for vegan rice crispy treats. Since this will make a very small dent in the 3 bottles of Karo syrup I've somehow amassed, it's high on the priority list. Let's hope its a favorite.

Here's the lunches for today:


Nora has leftovers from dinner the other night - 1/2 a bean and chicken burrito cut into pinwheels (this alligns with the other kids lunch menu - bean and cheese burritos), a pear cup, carrot sticks and a dip made from soy sour cream and salsa. I froze some o.j. in a reusable juice box to keep it all cold.

I've got a turkey and cheese sandwich, grapes, and a salad made from edaname, corn, & dried cranberries with a walnut oil/basalmic vinegar/apple cidar dressing.
Jason has cheese and rye crackers, tomato soup, grapes and some of the edaname salad. Here is his all tied up. I didn't get an elastic strap for his bento (it's on the way, along with a neutral looking lunch bag) so I tie his up using a rather girly napkin a'la the japanese furoshiki. The government of Japan has put out a handy guide on how to tie these wraps, but I haven't studied it in detail, so mine are a bit more free form:
I am quite happy on how I managed to get that spoon tied in there too.

Bento Box

I got a bento box! So now you get to see one of my lunches. Jason got one too, but his is plain green (he didn't get a matching bag and chopsticks - poor Jason).

I didn't have time to take pictures of his, but what we're having for lunch is: veggie sushi leftovers (these are spinach, carrot and avocado), a rice ball molded into a shape (mine is a star, Jason got a mouse shape) with additional avocado pieces, some pickled ginger and wasabi, and I got grapes and Jason got a fruit bar.

Jason also got a little sauce container of soy sauce, but I had some at work so I didn't bother with mine. If I had been more together on this, I would have molded the avocado into the rice so that it wouldn't brown so much. I love my new bento set! Unfortunately, I can't get a good shot of the top, but on the top of the container and on the chop stick container is the following saying - "Happy fruits is very delicious. I will eat this and will become fortunate all together!" This is the "putifresh" line and the manufacturer is "Lube Sheep" which Jason thinks is hysterical. Okay, I do too. Anyway, they come in cherries, pears and oranges and I got them here. The cupcake cups are from Target's dollar spot this week - they have sets of 10 silicone cupcake liners for $1 - I got one in each color - red, blue and yellow. They are great for lunchboxes. And thanks to Suzy-Q who wrote me to let me know that juice boxes are freezable and that she likes my lunches.

Nora is eating at my parents today, but yesterday's lunch was leftover veggie dumplings, a rice mold (she got a heart) with avocado, some fruit gellies and some bunny grahms. I've got a picture somewhere of hers that I'll try to add later.

****UPDATE***

Here's Nora's lunch:

Lunches

Here are Nora's lunches from Friday and today. Friday's was veggie soup that my mom had made with mini corn muffins (with Jam and soybutter), a soy dream box, and mandarin oranges. Unfortuantely, Nora slept through lunch so she didn't get to eat this, the only upside being that I forgot her little notes, so she didn't know that. I just got back the empty containers, so I'm really hoping that they didn't toss the oranges and soy dream since they are in fine until opened & don't need to be refigerated.

Here's today's, it was unexciting and I was in a hurry, so here it is packed: A salami and cream cheese sandwich cut into little squares, apples tossed on oj to keep from browning, and two pumpkin mini muffins which Nora helped me make Saturday night along with a juice box and ice pack. Does anyone know if I can freeze the juice box? It would be so much easier than sending an ice pack every day, but I'm worried about them exploding in the freezer. I guess I could give it a try, but I'd rather not clean up the mess if there is going to be one.

Weekend Update

This past weekend, Matt came to visit. He and Nora hit it off. And Karl picked up his Matt-worship right where he left off when Matt moved back to DC several years ago. This caused some jealousy on Nora AND Karl's part when Matt gave some attention to the other (as far as I can tell, Matt was not jealous of Nora's adoration of Karl, but maybe I was wrong). You can see, sitting next to Matt is a much valued position.
Often Nora would attempt to get up between Karl and Matt, but climbing on top of Matt was even better:

Matt's visit got us out of the house, much to Nora's delight. We went to the Farmers Market where I bought a cute purse from the St. Louis Craft Mafia booth.
I admit that I initially thought Nora needed this purse, but then I decided to appropriate it. It's a little too big for her, but just right for my wallet, keys, and sunglasses. I wish it had a little pocket inside though. There's an apple on the back as well. I feel very "first day of school" when carrying it. We also picked up one of Companion Bread's Mystery Boxes. These are a big box of pastry goods for $15. It was delicious, but really we needed more people than the three of us to get it eaten. Inside we had a chocolate croissant, several plain croissants, several danishes, muffins and scones. About 8-10 items all together. Very, very yummy.

After the Farmers Market we headed to O'Connell's, a favorite haunt of Matt's (and ours). We feasted on roast beef, burgers and fried yummy things and a pitcher of beer - O'Fallon Weach (possibly one of the best deals at O'Connell's).
Nora was very good throughout the long wait, and we kept the tiger nearby to remind her that next we were going to the ZOO!!!!!

Unbelievably, Matt never visited the zoo throughout his time here and as everyone knows it's one of our favorite places to go. It was a really hot day, which should not have been surprising for August, but we had been really spoiled with mild weather all month long. After hitting the the Rivers Edge (sorry we forgot photos) and seeing the Rhino and the Cheetas up close (all four of them where right up front) and glimpses of the Jade the baby elephant, we headed off to see if our luck would hold and if the baby tigers were out. Disappointingly, they were not, although Jason and Nora and I had gotten a great view of them on our earlier visit. We did check out sea lions, the bird house, the big cat country and then meandered back through the snake house, which I haven't seen in a while. The American alligator was giving us a wicked grin when we decided we really had had enough of the heat and that we needed to head home.

That night, Jason and Matt brought us carryout from Cherrokee Street, and it too was terriffic. Nora and I went to bed and the boys stayed up to late talking, which no doubt they regretted when they got up at the crack of dawn and took Nora to see Tottenham vs Chelsea at the Tigin. I stayed at home and read a book.

Before Matt took off back home we tried to visit some of his old haunts, but it's hard to find things open in STL on a Sunday morning. We had lunch at the Schafly Brewhouse and then took Matt to the airport. Since he left, Nora's been asking about him everyday, so we'd better not wait so long to see him again - it's hard to believe it's been nearly 6 years!

On Monday we hit the Japanese Festival and ate noodles. It was wonderful, but I'm really happy we went early, since by noon it was sweltering and very, very crowded. We forgot the camera, so no pictures of the festival but here's Nora's lunch from Tuesday: Mac and Peas, oranges, cookies and juice.


Unfortunately, Nora is reaching the stage where mixed up things are no longer acceptable. While she loves Mac and soy cheese and loves peas, they now need to be in separate dishes. I'm sad, they looked so nice together.

Lunchboxes and Tomatoes

Here's Tuesday's lunchbox. I had made something I've been wanting to try for awhile - a sort of Nora safe corn dog. They are actually mini corn bread muffins from Isa's cornbread recipe, with a hot dog slice in the middle. I have no idea if Nora actually likes these are not, since they don't send home the uneaten lunch. But given she likes corn bread a lot and hot dogs a lot, this is probably a safe bet. Also in the lunch are a broccoli and carrot melody, a 1/2 of a plum cut into pieces and two number cookies (2 & 5). Here it is packed with the ice pack, juice box and notes.
On another front, the tomatoes are coming along finally. They are suffering from some sort of leaf wilt which makes the plants look awful, but there are plenty of fruit on the branches, despite a theft last week of a clump of them. Psycho Squirrel is the prime suspect - we believe he knew that Karl was off premises. Here's Nora dutifully watering:

Today's Lunchbox

Nora's lunch today was broccoli/avocado/soy cheese wrap-ups, banana wheat germ mini muffins, carrots (check out my pin wheels), mango soy milk (frozen to act like an ice pack) and mandarin oranges.


Here it is packed:

When we got home today there was a package from the UPS man, and my bento bonanza has come in. I had ordered a bunch of smiley-happy-lunch goodness that is cuter than cute for Nora's lunches (and the little girl in me). I'm looking forward to using all this stuff in upcoming months. Here's a pic of my haul:

Some of the things pictured include rice molds, food cutters, paper cups, food separators, sauce cups and little food picks. Here's a close up of some of my favorites.
Since I'm promoting this whole lunch box thing for all of us this fall, I also got some food jars (otherwise known as short, squat thermoses) for Jason and Nora. Guess who gets which:

I am all ready for packing lunch, now I'd just better do it!

First Day

Nora's first day of preschool was yesterday. Here are the obligatory first day photos. Notice Nora's lack of smile. In fact she seems almost put out. Actually she seemed to enjoy preschool, even if she wasn't intially enthusiastic. Jason went with her for this first day and stayed for a while with her. Then he left. Then he came back, then he left, and then he came back and then he left, and then he came back again when it was time for her to go home. Jason has gotten to know the staff at WCCC very well. I get to go with her on Friday. I'm sure the staff will come to believe we are the most clingy parents ever. Jason and I think they are amazing because they actually got Nora to nap on her first day.

In her backpack is her lunch box, a change of clothes, and Meowy Boom-D-aye who got to go to preschool too.
Here's photo's of Nora's lunch. I made salami and soy cream cheese roll ups, peas, and added some fruit gummies and alphabet cookies (they spelled NORA)
Here it's packed with her juice box, ice pack and a small snack box of raisins. And I added a note to her on top from me (I was inspired by Bob and Sarah's wall of notes that have been included in Zelda's lunch forever).

While I'm sure I'll never inspire the artistic and creative bento box creations of Japanese moms, I am inspired by them and I hope that I can keep up the pace of packing lunches for Nora, me and also Jason this fall. Here's Nora's lunch box (which she informed me was "kinda too heavy"). It's actually smaller than a typical school lunch bag and it unzips into a place mat. And it's a dog, so Nora can ask her new favorite question: "Where's the Woof?"