Live Long and Prosper

Here is
a meal
suitable
for any
Starfleet
Vulcan
on an
away
misson...
(no
school
today,
"teacher
devel-
opment"
day).

MY
lunch:
Top
tier:
lentil
balls;
a pickle; blanched mixed greens (spinach, beet greens, tat soi); yellow watermelon. Bottom tier: black rice with goma shio; Star Trek insignia made of summer squash, soy cheese & nori.

I had planned for this lunch to be vegan and gluten-free (and almost soy-free except for the Star Trek insignia). But the lentil ball recipe gave me some trouble, and I ended up baking instead of frying the balls and coated half of them with whole wheat panko breadcrumbs instead of more ground hazelnuts. Whether they failed to fry properly because of the lack of egg, or the recipe's attempt to convert from metric to American measurements is unclear. I like the hazelnuts, but the ones with breadcrumbs were way better. I may start from the ground up creating a vegan lentil ball that doesn't fall apart or become dry tasting when baked as I just love the idea so much.

As for the beautiful stainless
steel tiffin, I won that last
winter here. It is mine mine
mine! Many people are con-
cerned with plastic bentos
because of the many plastics
from China and the U.S. that
contain BPAs. I had read
various opinions and rumours
that Japanese bentos do not
contain BPA, but finally I
found an article that seemed
to really know the answer. I
am happy to report that I
won't be trading in our plastic
bentos, but I do ultimately
prefer stainless steel or wood,
particularly bamboo; it's just
that for a family of six, outfitting everyone's lunches in these materials gets really pricey. If you have the money and prefer the Laptop Lunches style versus a bento box, PlanetBox is a cool alternative. If you're looking for alternatives to plastic bentos To-Go Ware, Life Without Plastic, KidsKonserve, are among some of the options.