lunchtime.

i love lunch. actually it is probably my favorite meal of the day. i am guessing this stems from the fact that i positively adore sandwiches and lunch is the meal best suited to those happy creations. strangely, despite my love of lunch, i HATE making my lunches for work. even stranger is i hardly ever take sandwiches. i like cooking and i like eating, but the joy is sucked out when i get to the part where i have to condense some food into a traveling meal.

now that pringle is with us, i am trying to make a conscious effort to have healthy lunches. not that my previous lunches were unhealthy, there was simply no focus on ensuring a nice balance of fruits, veggies, and other nutritious goodies. i was thinking variations on rice, vegetables, and salad. bento boxes anyone? have you seen the creations some people come up with? it is nothing short of amazing....

this is some bento box art featured in an article on the woman's day website:

let us be honest..these are a little bit out of my league, but at least i could have an adorable container to go with my lovely lunch bag.  so my mumsy and i went to the asian dollar store and found not just a display, but an entire AISLE devoted to traveling meals. wow. containers of every shape and size to hold anything you could possibly want to include in your lunchbox. not to mention little delights like mini molds to shape your rice into animals. somehow i restrained myself from buying everything. i got a small assortment of goodies, so that whatever meal i am trying to make mobile, i will be well prepared.

the cutest little two-tier container. it even has a space for my utensils. i created the little elastic strap to hold the tiers together.

a totally divided container with flaps! its like a de lorean, only better.

could not resist the stackable boxes. condiments anyone? yes, i have containers for my vitamins, salad dressing, and toppings.

i have no intention of creating bento box art, but i am stocked up with a versatile collection of containers that will hopefully make lunch creation a bit less painful. this week i carted around my two-tiered beauty. top tier had salad and the bottom had the lentils and rice recipe from an article in the sunday new york times. so far so good!!! let's hope i can keep this up.

felines & canines.

i just saw a commercial for chef michael's canine creations, which prompted me to ponder a unique species...pets. now don't get me wrong, i have had pets. my parents indulged my brother and i with our desperate need to raise fish, cockatoos, a dog, cats, and even ducks. these creatures thrived in our care (okay fine, it was most frequently my mom's care), but they were never mistaken for homo sapiens. no no. truly, i never fully understood the phenomenon of pets being pseudo-human. i saw a lady taking her dog for a walk....but....was the dog walking? oh no. that might be too stressful. the dog was riding in a doggy stroller. i am serious.

back to my original point. what is going on with modern pet food? i think that some cats and dogs are eating more gourmet than myself and the mister. i consider myself to be a rather wonderful cook, but let's be honest..i am not a trained chef and i cannot make rotisserie chicken or porterhouse steak. actually if we are unloading the nitty gritty, i probably cannot even afford to create, let alone eat, these bits of delicacy. perhaps the mister and i should join the ultra-gourmet crowd and start eating dog food. after all, the pooches have nightly victuals that are far superior to what we send down our gullets. anyone for a visit? we are serving filet mignon flavor.