back to basics

It's gonna be a week of simple lunches, utilizing basic techniques anyone could use to spiff up a bento with little effort. First a lunch including some of Ryan's favourites...

Ryan's lunch: wrap pinwheels w/Tofutti cream cheese, smoked Tofurky, Vegan Gourmet monterey jack cheese, baby spinach on flax lavash; cucumber slices; apple slices; roasted almonds; gherkin pickle.

Half a piece
of wrap bread
is usually
sufficient.
First I spread
on the cream
cheese. Other
good options
are Veganaise,
mustard, a
creamy salad
dressing, or
some hummus.
Next come two
pieces of the
Tofurky, fol-
lowed by a few
strips of soy
cheese. Finally
I lay on some greens. Here I've got the first row done, to show you all the layers. Then I added a second row of greens. Always remember to leave enough space at the top to allow for shifting of ingredients when rolling. Fold up a short bit at the bottom and roll slowly and tightly.

The skins of apples, cucumbers & other fruits can easily be turned into a cheerful garnish with a paring knife or vegetable peeler. Try carving the letter of your child's name, or use a tiny cookie cutter to outline a shape before you carve. Don't forget to bathe apples in a mixture of citrus & water for a few minutes to minimize browning.

Food markers can be an even easier tool for creating familiar shapes, text or characters in a lunch. Betty Crocker makes an easy to use set of 4 basic colours, perfect for drawing on cheese or other solid materials. When you don't have time to cut nori or other garnishes, a quick picture with food markers is sure to bring a smile.

Now a brief summary of my raw food from yesterday...stay tuned for a restaurant review in a few days!
8am- smoothie: 1 banana, 1/4 cup frozen blueberries, 1/2 cup frozen mango, liquid DHA, water.
10am- 6 flax crackers.
12pm- zucchini ribbons with tomato puree (tomato, garlic, salt, olive oil).
3pm- 1 banana.
6pm- dinner at Prana Cafe!

AGGGH!!!! A BOY!

AGGGH!!!! A BOY! The costumed kid reminds me of something from It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, which has always been one of my favourite Halloween book and movies.
Ryan's lunch: Tofutti cream cheese & strawberry jelly ghost sandwich w/raisin eyes; steamed broccoli; peanuts; slice of asparagus bacun tofu quiche topped with a soy/rice cheese ghost trick-or-treater w/nori eyes.

I thought it would be
interesting to show a
typical morning's
spread of tools I use
to create a bento
embellishment. Here
you can see the ghost
cookie cutter I used
for the sandwich, scraps
of leftovers, the costumed
boy in progress, and
various knives, tweezers
(for placing tiny nori
pieces) and scissors. I do
sometimes use shape
punches, but more often
I just use some small
scissors and cut shapes
freehand. On the right
you can see a box full of
nori scraps, which reduces
waste and is handy for
tiny facial features.

Finally, the finished
product. Notice the size
of the bento in comparison to a typical small cocktail napkin. It took less than one raisin to create the eyes of the ghost!













And here's Maia at school
waiting to pick up AJ. The
fall leaves on some of the
trees were really impress-
ive. All of the fall colour
has been late this year,
but there have been some
very vibrant red trees.