Month: November 2013

Modem went kaput

Aynaria 5 Comments

Yesterday, my daughter and I were running around in the virtual environment of World of Warcraft, when we lost our internet connection.

wow-battle-chestThis past Friday, I converted her trial account to a regular WoW subscription. Over the weekend, we spent a total of three hours running around in the gaming world.  Because of a Recruit a Friend, it does not take long to level. We’re currently level 15.  We could have gone a lot farther, leveling wise, if we online long. But as I told her, everything in moderation. More on that in another post.

But back to my internet connection, Initially, I thought thaWestell modemt the DSL service might be down in our area. It does not happen much. It’s only been out twice in the past six years and that was only a few hours? After chatting with one of the Verizon technicians it looks like it might be our modem. I’ve had the modem for at least ten years. I guess it’s high time I upgrade, right?

The good news is Verizon will upgrade the modem for free. We should receive it tomorrow. And what an upgrade it is. The technician told me that the modem can be connected or wireless.

 

When you’re strange…

Aynaria 4 Comments

Perhaps one of the reasons I like this songs so much is because I’ve been called strange a lot. I don’t take being called ‘strange’ an insult.

 

When You’re Strange is one of my favorite songs by The Doors. Jim Morrision (lead singer) died in 1971 from drug complications, the year after I was born.

Zojirushi lunch jar: First school lunch – food stays hot!

Aynaria 7 Comments

My daughter’s first hot lunch in her Zojirushi SL-XCE20HG Stainless Steel Vacuum Insulated Tiffin Box was a success!  Her fifth grade class eats lunch about 4.5 hours after school has started. She told me the food was hot, not warm but hot! She said it was like it had just come off our stove. The girl was all smiles when she told me this.

My daughter will be posting her review soon (most likely over the weekend.) She loves to write!

Zojirushi lunch jar.food_2

What did I pack into the Zojirushi lunch jar?

Leftovers from dinner of course. In one of her soup bowl containers, she had black beans with rice and vegetables. The other container I added three (homemade) large chicken strips. I made them from boneless chicken breasts. I tucked in a small stainless steel bowl filled with homemade barbecue sauce for dipping her chicken strips. I would have made her another type, but the girl loves barbecue sauce. In the bread container I slipped in some grapes. Once I packed her utensils  and a bottled water, she was armed with a healthy lunch.

 

My Experiment

In the third soup bowl container I added (cold) soft homemade chocolate chip cookies, put that container on top of the chicken breast container and added the insulator on top of the cookie container. Guess what? She said the cookies were warm by the time she ate lunch! She said they tasted like they’d been out of the oven cooling for a bit.

 

Loving the Zojirushi Lunch Jar

I’m so glad I choose this particular Zojirushi lunch jar! The three included soup bowls are spill proof so there were no spills, yeah!

I guess you could say the proof lies in what she brought home from school. The containers were empty! Often times, when I’d pack her homemade cold lunches something would be left in her bag, sometimes everything was left. This girl prefers hot lunches. I still have a huge smile on my face and am thrilled that she can now have hot meals from home. My options aren’t as limited now since I now can send her to school with hot lunches.

Sending her to school daily with homemade hot lunches is much more delicious (and healthier) than anything she could purchase in the cafeteria. Even better, is that she does not have to rely on eating homemade lukewarm food when she’s away from home.

 

Zojirushi SL-XCE20HG Stainless Steel Vacuum Insulated Tiffin Box – Initial Review

Aynaria 6 Comments

Since I’m an Amazon Prime member, I only had to wait two days to receive the Zojirushi SL-XCE20HG Stainless Steel Vacuum Insulated Tiffin Box.

Of course, I tested it shortly after it arrived. I realized that I didn’t need to wait for my daughter to give me a report. My daughter  still wants to give a review (I’m thrilled) and she most likely will post it on this site. Besides, I honestly wanted to make sure it did an effective job of keeping her food warm. I didn’t want her to be disappointed if it did not work, but based on the reviews and the fact that I followed the suggestions I honestly didn’t think I’d be disappointed.

I’m happy to say that after four hours, the food stored in the Zojirushi soup bowl was still hot! Yeah, that means the that her homemade school lunches will be heated!

beyonce-birthday-dance

Totally stealing the above .gif from Nicole , a talented fiber artist. Check out her Christmas themed stitch markers! The above .gif describes how I’m feeling now that I’ve found the answer to sending my daughter to school with hot lunches that don’t have to be microwaved!

What’s included?

  • Three Soup/Rice/Curry Containers – 9 oz. each
  • Bread Container – 10 oz.
  • Insulator
  • Carrying Case

How do I stack them?

Zojirushi SL-XCE20HG Stainless Steel Vacuum Insulated Tiffin Box Stacking chart

The box showed a diagram on how they are supposed to be stacked inside the insulated container.  I took a picture so you can see how it appears.

Recommendations on keeping food warm in your Insulated Zojirushi insulated Tiffin Box

From my research, I knew that to achieve the best results one should pour boiling water into the insulated stainless steel container and let it set for a few minutes. I let the water set in the stainless steel container for about 10 minutes. Afterwards, I dumped out the water, wiped the container dry and added heated food to the spill proof soup bowl container. I stacked the two remaining soup bowls, added the insulator and placed the bread bowl on top. I then closed everything.  The insulator acts as a divider so your hot food below stays hot, and food above the insulator won’t be affected. I’ve read that some have been able to keep cold foods in the top container. I haven’t tested out cool foods in the top container, but I will.

 

Zojirushi Soup Container_1

I decided to include photos of what the food looked like, four hours later. It’s some of the leftover vegetable and black beans. You’ll see condensation on the side of the bowl. Yes, it’s still hot! 🙂

Zojirushi Soup Container_2

Insulated Zojirushi Soup Bowl ; gasket

These Zojirushi food storage containers are made of plastic; polypropylene, but they are not microwavable. If you look closely, you’ll see why… the ‘yellow ring’ is the gasket and the yellow circle in the center is the ‘valve packing’.  They’re both made of the same material. The containers would be damaged if you put them in the microwave. As you can see in the above picture the screw top lid for the soup container has a lot of condensation build up also.

 

Zojirushi insulated Tiffin Box bag

Cute carrying case

My daughter (sort of)  likes the carrying case for her Zojirushi lunch jar. She asked me could I add embroidery to it and perhaps add some fabric to brighten the gloomy bag. I told her that I could do that, but she’d have to wait until the weekend when I have more time. The bag is roomy and it has space for a few additional items such as a small drink and eating utensils. It also has a side pocket. I really like that it zips up the side.

Hot School lunches from home

Seeing and tasting the results of the food stored into her brand new Bento Box has put a smile on my daughter’s face.  She’s thrilled that she can actually eat hot home cooked meals at school.

Insulated Zojirushi Tiffin Box; Not Microwaveable or Dishwasher Safe

If you want a product that is microwaveable or dishwasher safe you’ll have to look elsewhere since you’re not supposed to put the bowls in either of them. This does not effect us since my daughter can’t use a microwave at school. I don’t own a dishwasher because I actually like hand washing our dishes.

Initial Thoughts

My first reaction is that I’m thrilled that the Zojirushi SL-XCE20HG Stainless Steel Vacuum Insulated Tiffin Box lives up to its claims; it definitely keeps the food hot!

Upcoming Scheduled Posts

I’d originally had another post scheduled for today, but I rescheduled that for a future date so I could slip in this advanced post. I most likely will push Fridays scheduled post to a future date so I can post what was included for my daughter’s first hot meal with the Zojirushi lunch jar.

 

 

 

Missed photo opportunity; you snooze you lose

Aynaria 4 Comments

Earlier this week, I made a delightful veggie dish with black beans.

Vegetarian Black Beans n Rice_1.11.12.13

I had every intention of taking photos with my Nikon D80, but that didn’t happen. You see, the camera battery was low and so by the time my camera battery  was fully charged, my daughter had consumed most of that delightful dish. Well… she did leave some crumbs. But those pitiful scraps was hardly enough to take a decent photo.  Sobs

That just gives me a reason to recreate the dish, right?

Vegetarian Black Beans n Rice_2.11.12.13

The photos shown of my most recent black bean and veggie dish is similar to what I made earlier this week, but with a few minor updates such as the addition of the cauliflower and the tomatoes. I’m proud to say that both were picked from our garden.

Vegetarian Black Beans n Rice_3.11.12.13

I’m also happy to report, that my camera battery was fully charged so I didn’t have to wait to take these photos.  My daughter eagerly helped herself to this bean dish, and told me it was incredible.

Vegetarian Black Beans n Rice_5.11.12.13

 

The black beans were prepared in my Presto 8 qt. Pressure cooker. I didn’t soak the beans in advance and they cooked in about fifteen minutes, not bad at all. These beans would typically take me over an hour to prepare on our stove.

I must say, that my pressure cooker has been a blessing. Besides making nutritious meals in shorter period of time, it also saves me money since I’m not wasting as much energy to prepare the meals.

Here’s hoping there’s enough left so I can include it into her Zojirushi bento box.

 

11/12/13; once in a century date

Aynaria 2 Comments

Today is 11/12/13, weird eh?Oh no

What did we do on this once in a century date? We did nothing out of the ordinary. I know, I know, shocking right?

I went to work, came home, prepared vegetarian food for my daughter and myself. I did manage to take photos of that dish. I wrote about it, and have scheduled it as an advanced post for tomorrow.

My daughter did tell me that she would love if I made her some amigurumi for Christmas. So, that’s a bit unusual since she hasn’t requested any of them in a few months. I will say that she loves the various crocheted and knitted amigurumi items I’ve made for her over the past year; amigurumi voodoo doll, the knitted amigurumi snake, knitted amigurumi skull, knitted amigurumi owl and the two adorable crocehted amigurimi amineko’s. Judging by my posts, I’ve crocheted and knitted a lot of amigurumis and I didn’t even post them all. She still plays with them or has them displayed in prominent locations within her room.

Preparing school lunches: Zojirushi SL-XCE20HG Stainless Steel Vacuum Insulated Tiffin Box

Aynaria 6 Comments

After additional research, I decided to purchase the Zojirushi SL-XCE20HG Stainless Steel Vacuum Insulated Tiffin Box. It cost me $62.59.

Instead of one spill proof container, that is available in the Zojirushi Mr. Bento Stainless Steel Lunch Jar, it offers three! Which makes it perfect for including delicious chowder, soup, egg rolls, rice, bean dishes and a whole host of other delicious hot foods that can be included into my daughters Zojirushi bento lunch box without me having to worry about spills.

The Stainless Steel Vacuum Insulated Tiffin Box is perfect for holding hot or cold meals, especially suited for places where refrigerators and microwaves may not be available. The outer body is constructed out of durable stainless steel and has excellent heat retention. 4 Non-microwaveable inner bowls including 3 soup bowls are ideal for holding curry and other soups. All containers are BPA free. Also includes an easy to carry tote bag.

Unlike the Zojirushi Lunch Jar the containers included with the Zojirushi Tiffin Box are not microwaveable and I’m fine with that. My daughter can’t use the microwave at school and we rarely use it at home.

A few of the people that wrote negative reviews about the Zojirushi Mr. Bento Stainless Steel Lunch Jar (the one I was going to originally purchase) complained that some of the jars leaked so they weren’t spill proof. The description states only one container is spill proof, so clearly they did not read the info before packing some of those containers. As I already mentioned, that’s why I decided to upgrade to the Zojirushi Tiffin Box since it has three spill proof containers.

Zojirushi SL-XCE20HG Stainless Steel Vacuum Insulated Tiffin Box

The above pictures is the Zojirushi  Stainless Steel Vacuum Insulated Tiffin Box. I showed my daughter the above picture and the YouTube demo I’d shared in my last post and she’s really excited about receiving hot home cooked meals when she’s away at school. As she told me, it’ll make her school days a little bit more special since she receives a delicious and nutritious meal at school.

If you think about it, these are perfect for those working outside the home also. If you eat out a lot when you’re at work, something like a Zojirushi bento box will pay for itself very quickly. And it would be a much better option, for me anyway, than purchasing food when I could simply bring in delicious and healthy leftovers from home. I work out of the home, but all my meals are inside the home, so there’s no need for me to purchase this for myself.

I’ll be sure to ask my daughter what she thinks of her zojirushi bento box and perhaps she’ll write a review here on Celebrate Life. Based on the reviews that I’ve read this will last my daughter for several years.