Omie boxes

Here are my initial thoughts on the Omie box.  We are loving our Omie boxes (thanks Sis H for this lovely Christmas gift)!  We ordered 2 boxes from readisetgo.ca.  It's the only Canadian site currently selling this lunch box at the moment.  It retails for $50 USD... and with the current exchange rate and weak dollar, the Canadian price $69.95 is expensive but fair.  We just finished off our first week back to school and the Omie box got used 4 out of 5 days.  The kids like having "hot lunch" and I like not packing extra containers with separate thermo containers.  The compartments are deeper than a Yumbox.  The food isn't hot at lunch time, but does stay warm.  The things I don't like about the Omie boxes are that they are heavy and the divider slides around and doesn't always keep food separated (in the section that uses the divider).  My grade 1 boy doesn't have any issues opening or closing the box and thermos.  My 2 yr old needs help with opening and closing the Omie box.  She can open the thermos if it's not closed tightly.  So in comparison to a Yumbox, this is trickier for a preschooler to use.

The only other big name lunchbox we don't have in our collection but may get one day are stainless steel lunchbox kits: Planetbox (they come in three sizes: launch, rover and shuttle).  I'm not in a rush to pick one up because I don't mind the plastic ones we have.  I've heard that the Planetboxes do leak... so it might not be good for directly packing things like yogurt.  Looks like they are moving in the direction of bento style accessories with silicone food cups... They have recently introduced some silicone "pods" but I don't know if it seals closed in the container when the lid is closed.

I've been sick and haven't had energy to make themed lunches.  I picked up some new supplies over the holidays that I'd love to try out soon.  I hope to recover and get back into making fun snacks and lunches.

Sushi lunch day

We're having sushi for lunch today.  I had a timer set for the rice cooker to finish the sushi rice for 7am this morning.  I mixed in a bit of sushi rice vinegar seasoning, and sprinkled in some salmon rice seasoning.  We buy frozen sliced smoked salmon from Costco and thaw it in the fridge overnight.

Our rice rolls include: smoked salmon, cucumber, fake crab meat, masago and mayo.  I just spread out the rice onto some Saran-wrap over our sushi rolling mat, add on the toppings in the middle, roll into a long log, add on pieces of seaweed, re-roll the seaweed on, then cut the log into pieces with scissors.

Their lunches were packed in cute Kokeshi (Kotobuki) bento box sets.  The girl has the Hanako Girl Bento Box  and the boy has a Ninja Boy Bento Box.

I pack it with an ice pack and include a bit of soy sauce for dipping.  The boy also got a bag of grapes for his recess snack.  The girl ate her lunch after preschool then came home and is currently napping. Now I'm enjoying my lunch (also sushi rolls).  After we go pick up the boy from school and drop him off to an outdoor after school activity.

Into the garden - bento lunch

Today I decided to go with a garden theme.   The boy's lunch includes: fried rice, scrambled eggs, snap/sugar peas, ham, grapes, a cup of milk, and a small dipping container with ketchup.  I used the lunch bot thermal container so hopefully the food with keep warm.  I decorated it with a cute bunny food pick, flower and leaf food picks, a flower silicone cup and a couple of baran (food divider) silicone leaves.

I prepared 2-3 cups of rice the night before (because day-old rice is easier to fry and less mushy).  I also diced the following: 2 stalks of celery, a handful of snap peas (maybe 7-10?), 3 slices of ham, 1-2 chinese sausage,  2 green onion.  I fry the celery and snap peas for a few minutes over medium heat.  I add in the chinese sausage and stir fry for 2-3 minutes.  Then I toss in a handful of frozen peas.  I stir in ham and green onions and fry for another minute.  Next I scramble a couple of eggs and mix it with the rice.  Finally, I add in the rice to the frying pan and mix well.  I cover it and let it heat through (maybe another 5 minutes or so), stirring occasionally.  This is one of those dishes that you can just toss in whatever you have on hand - chicken, bbq pork, beef, shrimp, lettuce, carrots, other vegetables, fish egg roe, etc.

In case anyone is curious lunch and bento supplies.  I picked up the Lunch Bot Thermal container from Steveston Village Maternity.  The bunny food pick, flower food picks and leaf baran are from Daiso.  The Wilton flower cup is from Amazon.  The Colibri snack bag.  We're trying out the myColdCup for the milk today to see if it keeps cool.  The Monbento temple sauce cup and leaf pics are from Bento & co.  I use the Rume bag for cutlery from Fenigo.  The Laptop Lunches cutlery I picked up from a local group buy.  And his rubbermaid container for water was from Superstore.

Homemade Strawberry Fruit Roll Ups

It's been over 5 years since I last attempted to make strawberry fruit roll ups.  In my last go, I had a hand blender and used parchment paper to line a baking sheet.  This time, I've got upgraded kitchen gadgets and a kitchen helper (the boy).

3 cups of strawberries - washed and roughly chopped
3-4 tbsp sugar

I preheated the oven to my lowest temperature (170F).  We pureed the strawberries and sugar in the blender.  Next we poured the mixture onto a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat.  I evened out/spread out the mixture over the baking sheet.  Then I placed it into the oven.  Now we wait... 6-8 hours.

They turned out pretty good - just a bit crispy around the edges.  Four rolls were eaten before I got a chance to take a picture.  I loved how easy it was to peel off the silicone mat!  Now I want to get a second mat so that we can make two batches at a time.

I want to experiment with some different fruits to see what my fruit-picky kid will eat.

Making Rock Candy

Rock Candy Results:

Rock Candy Day 4 Update:

 

Day 4

After waiting for more than a week... here's the rock candy we made.

I forgot to update yesterday, but the crystallization process is a slow one. So you didn't miss too much.

Rock Candy Day 2 Update:

 

Day 2

I'm not entirely sure that there are any more crystals on the skewers today... but here's the picture (after about 31 hours).

Rock Candy Day 1:

 

Day 1

This attempt looks more promising.  The liquid is transparent and there are sugar crystals forming on the skewers.

Now we wait.

Making Rock Candy

Attempt #1

Our attempt #1 was a dismal failure because I went overboard on the sugar and the entire glass solidified into a chunk of sugar... I had to rinse it out with hot water and scrap the sugar out with a spoon.  I decided to give this experiment another try.

This time I modified the steps slightly and stuck to a 1 cup water: 3 cup sugar ratio.  I'm hopeful we'll get some rock candy in about a week.  I've read that it can take anywhere from 2-7 days.

What we used:

4 bamboo skewers
1 kettle
2 mixing bowls
4 long narrow glasses (I used shot glasses I picked up at value village)
4 hairpins (but if you have clothespin that would probably work better)
Koolaid (optional for colour and flavour)

What we did:

I dipped the bamboo skewers in water then coated them with sugar and set them aside.
I heated water in a kettle and measured out 1 cup of boiled water.
Then I added it to a mixing bowl.
I premeasured out 3 cups of sugar.
My kids took turns adding 1/4 cup of sugar into the water and stirring in the sugar until we used up the sugar.
We added a squirt of liquid Koolaid into 3 of the glasses and left one plain.
I carefully poured the sugar water into each glass.  You can use a funnel if your mixing bowl doesn't have a spout.
Next, I placed a skewer into each glass, raised it slightly so that it didn't touch the bottom of the glass and clipped the skewer (so that the clip rested on top of the glass and held the skewer in place).
Finally, I put the glasses somewhere where it won't get disturbed.

Trying New Foods

Recently, we got Isaac to try some brussel sprouts... he disliked it and spit it out.  On the weekend, he was also willing to eat scrambled eggs dipped in ketchup.

Today Isaac was willing to try new foods.  He ate raw celery dipped in ranch dressing.  He wouldn't try the carrot, but would eat carrot if I chewed it for him, and tried a tomato but made a face about it.  He had a couple bites of banana and some bites of mango too.  Normally when we try to offer different things to him, he refuses to try them outright.

Today I got a pickup notice for a something that was supposedly attempted to be delivered on Friday.  I don't think they even tried to buzz our door.  I went to the post office to pick up my package.  It was one of my ebay orders - just some loot bag goodies and prizes.

I was waiting all day for a UPS delivery from Amazon UK.  My duplo bridges finally arrived at around 7pm.  Isaac sat in his booster chair staring at the delivery guy while Daddy paid for the duties.  Thanks Daddy!  We opened up one of the bridges and I integrated the new pieces into our existing track layout.  Now we have an oval with one end raised up.  Isaac had a little bit of fun making trains fall down the ramp.

The bridge pieces help to add more variations to our track and is fun to play with.  I wish that part of the bridge would have the tabs to connect them together instead of just the joins underneath.  It makes the bridge structurally much weaker - especially when playing on carpet.  I also wish there was a way I could reinforce raised sections of the curved track.  I just have the raised sections of track on pillars... but it all falls apart easily if I try to pick up the track to move it somewhere else.

Making Bread Monsters.

I found a recipe in the book "Baking with Tiny Tots" by Becky Johnson. We spent part of the afternoon making some bread rolls and shaping them into "monsters" that look like porcupines. Isaac helped with some stirring and kneading. He was upset when I took the dough away.

Instead of using raisins, I used chocolate chips. All the noses and some eyes fell off during the baking process! Maybe I should've sticked with some sort of dried fruit.

I put it in the oven for 15 minutes - and it came out too crispy. The bread rolls were very dense. I'm not sure if I measured out the yeast properly, or if the yeast was active or if I messed up the process where I'm supposed to allow the dough to rise.

Not so tasty but at least they looked cute. Maybe I'll try this recipe one more time or substitute it with a different bread roll recipe.

Snacks: Strawberry Leather

Strawberries are in season!  I love strawberry fruit rollups but haven't been able to find any in local grocery stores for the last few years.  I never really considered trying to make some for myself until I saw a recipe on a blog.  Then I looked up several recipes and decided to try the Strawberry Leather Recipe on Epicurious a try.

I looked online and found a local farm that produces five varieties of strawberries.  I looked up the varieties and found that the Albion is supposed to be sweeter than average.  I had my hopes set on trying this variety out, but left the fruit stand disappointed.  We picked up 2 packs of strawberries anyways.  I used up one pack to test out the recipe.

4 1/2 cups of halved strawberries

3/4 cup sugar

I blended the strawberries and sugar, then sieved out the seeds.  I brought the strawberry puree to a boil and lowered the heat (medium low) - simmering for about an hour.  The strawberry puree almost boiled over and Daddy helped me transfer it to a bigger pot.  I watched over it and stirred it frequently.  After, I lined two trays with parchment paper, added the strawberry puree as thinly and evenly as I could.  Would be better if I had a silicone baking sheet - since the parchment paper warped/wrinkled.  I preheated the oven to 200F and baked one tray for 2 hours and the other for 3 hours.  I left both trays to continue to dry and cool on a cooling rack overnight.  I cut them into strips and rolled them up.

Result: the 2 hour tray had some mushy spots that didn't dry enough - but the pieces were softer.  The 3 hour tray had dried completely, but was a bit tougher (especially around the edges).  I might have to try 2.5 hours next time.

I tried to offer some to Isaac but he didn't want to try it at all.  He did taste it after when I had him distracted (watching a dog), but he's not very interested in the strawberry leather.  Oh well, more for me.