Today is a holiday in the United States, Thanksgiving day!
Besides spending the day with my daughter and relaxing, I won’t be doing too much.
Zojirushi hot lunch jar; silicone cupcake liners work great
Towards the end of last week, I ordered silicone cupcake liners to add to my bento tool collection. I purchased them because I thought they’d be a colorful and creative way to keep dry and moist foods separate in my daughters Zojirushi hot lunch jar.
Silicone cupcake liner features
- BPA Free and FDA approved non-stick silicone.
- Great for muffins, cupcakes, cheesecakes, ice cream cakes, chocolate shell lined desserts and gelatin.
- Standard size 2.5/8 inch diameter x 1.1/4 inch tall baking cups.
- Temperature safe from -40 to +446 degrees Fahrenheit
- Microwave, oven, freezer, and dishwasher safe
- Lifetime Guarantee!
As you can see from the above picture, the liners make the perfect divider/compartment for a variety of food. My daughter was thrilled that everything remained in it’s cupcake liner. Thanks to the liners, her crackers didn’t become soggy from the moist produce. Perfect!
Cost savings and Eco-friendly
I didn’t pay too much for the silicone cupcake liners. They only cost me $8.95 for a pack of twelve. For something that is reusable and can be used to bake items, that’s a great deal. If I wanted bland colors I could have purchased the liners at a cheaper price, but my daughter and I both love vibrant color and so I was willing to pay a few dollars more for these cupcake liners.
The practical mom in me loves that using reusable items (which is very eco-friendly) such as the Zojirushi lunch jar, means I’m not constantly purchasing disposable bags to store her snacks. The four containers included within the jar take care of that quite nicely. My daughter does regret not being able to use the embroidered sandwich bags, that I sewed for her, but I told her we’d find other uses for them.
Tools used
- Zojirushi SL-XCE20HG Stainless Steel Vacuum Insulated Tiffin Box
- Baking Buddies Reusable Silicone Baking Cups
- Food Picks & Forks / Bento Decoration (Animals) 10Pcs
What the…Black Eyed pea burgers?
Some of my earliest memories of black eyed peas involves my mother cooking them. They were highly seasoned and usually accompanied with pieces of some type of meat. I remember my mother favored seasoning the beans with ham hocks or neck bones. Thinking back, the addition of the ham did add flavor to the beans. My mother is an amazing cook and her black eyed peas, along with many of her other dishes rarely lasted.
Switching to a Vegan diet did not mean I give up on the “down home cooking” I experienced from my youth. I call it, down home cooking with a twist. 😉 I always knew that plant based foods could taste great if prepared correctly. My mother started letting me help prepare meals when I was four years old, and so I took on this “new way of cooking” with a lot of enthusiasm. Although I had always eaten healthy as a non-veggie I really had not explored all the amazing things you could prepare with plant based foods until I made that transition.
It wasn’t long before I started preparing the standard vegetables like dark leafy greens, carrots, potatoes, peas, and beans in a variety of new ways. Surprisingly enough I experienced unique tastes from vegetables that I’d originally written off as “bland” and unappetizing. I learned quickly, that preparation is everything. Vegetables and fruit now had the starring role in the dishes I prepared and I had a lot of fun creating recipes in my kitchen. Naturally in those early days, they weren’t all winners but over time I perfected them, and learned how to prepare the numerous vegetables and fruits that graced our table.
However, somewhere in the process I forgot about black eyed peas. I abandoned them for years. While they were pushed to the side, numerous other beans made their way into my kitchen, and I enjoyed whipping up tantalizing vegan creations that satisfied my desire of creating good home cooked meals and in the process I impressed some of my non-veggie friends that happened to stop by my home.
About ten years ago, I started using black eyed peas again, and I was instantly transported back to my mothers kitchen, preparing food, sitting around the table, and spending time with family. The last dish I made with black eyed peas was in September 2013. It was spicy black eyed peas with veggies and herbs. Recently, I’ve been craving them so this time around, so I do believe I’ll make some Black eyed pea burgers.
I say tok tok, he says pok pok…
A few days ago I stumbled upon a Thai based cookbook.
I can’t remember how I found the book, but I can say that I was drawn to it because a mortar and pestle graced the cover. I love my mortar and pestle, it gets plenty of weekly action in our home. Guess what? Andy Ricker’s cookbook, and his restaurant, are both named ‘Pok Pok’. Andy says, pok pok is the sound that the pestle makes when you grind the ingredients into the mortar. I say it sounds like tok tok. 😉
That aside, I was intrigued by the reviews I read about in on Amazon. While I don’t follow cookbooks for any of the meals I prepare at home, I do become inspired by observing others. Amazon has an amazing option available to authors that lets potential buyers take a peek at some of the books contents. It’s something I enjoy seeing, since that usually determines if I’ll purchase the book.
One of the recipes he shares, Kai Kapharao Khai Dao (stir-fried chicken with hot basil) is similar to two dishes I prepare at home; meat and a vegan version. However while I do use basil, I don’t use ‘hot basil.’ Andy’s description has me intrigued and so I’ll be checking to see if I can purchase the seeds to plant in my garden next year.
Based on Andy Rickers writing style, along with some of the delicious recipes presented by him within this book, It’s safe to say that this book will be gracing one of my book shelves soon.
Satisfying cravings: Chicken & vegetable egg rolls
Last week, my daughter asked me if I would make Chicken vegetable egg rolls for dinner.
I’d made vegan eggless eggrolls towards the end of October, but have not made any since that time. Since I knew I didn’t have any chicken breasts, I stopped by the grocery store (on my way home from work) and purchased a few pounds.
Once I arrived home, I cooked the chicken breasts in my 8 qt. Presto pressure cooker. While the breasts were cooking I started grinding my herbs, spices, garlic and ginger into my mortar and pestle. Into my wok, I added a variety of vegetables and sauteed them for about two minutes. By that time the chicken breasts were finished and so I added a small amount of the breasts to the wok.
Once everything was cooked, I set aside in stainless steel bowl. I then prepared the filling for vegan egg rolls, once that was cooked, I set aside and started adding the chicken filling to the non-veggie egg rolls. I first pan fried the vegan vegetable ‘eggrolls’ into the skillet, followed by the chicken and vegetable egg rolls.
My daughter loved both varieties! Of course the next day, a few ended up in her Zojirushi lunch jar.
Jointed doll for Christmas; Charing Cross Road Fashion Luxury J-doll
The past several months, my daughter has been raving about ball jointed dolls. Besides the obvious poseable appeal because they’re jointed, she likes the exquisite detail that goes into creating many of them. She also likes the anime vibe that several of these dolls have.
Currently my daughters favorite jointed dolls are Dollfie dolls which are made by Volks, a Japanese company. Checking out the pictures she’s shown me I must agree with her that the craftsmanship is amazing.
Just look at the above (collectible) Super Dollfie doll, it’s miles ahead of the department store dolls and for the price you have to pay to acquire one, they better be! Many of the Dollfie dolls, cost over $1,000, with the cheapest starting around $500+, but I’m not about to pay that as a beginning collectible doll for my daughter regardless of how awesome we both think they are. In my (childless) doll collecting days, I most likely would have purchased a few of these dolls.
Although I won’t be getting her a Dollfie doll, after a lot of research, I’ve found a jointed doll collection that she will enjoy; J-Dolls. I know what my daughter finds appealing. When it comes to dolls, we like the same things. She’ll be thrilled to receive one of the J-Dolls as a Christmas present.
Charing Cross Road Fashion Luxury J-doll product description
Designer style combines with an ultra hip street edge in the luxury J-Dolls by Jun Planning. These luxury style fashion dolls are inspired by contemporary street fashions, and include edgy, trendy and special designer details. 11 inch vinyl fully articulated fashion doll with sparkling real glass eyes. Doll stand is included. Recommended age is 15+. Charing Cross Road sports a great coat, frayed grey pants, and lace up boots. She has green glass eyes and honey brown hair.
Take a look at the above J-Doll. She’s the Charing Cross Road Fashion Luxury J-doll By Jun Planning. Last week, I purchased it for about $80. Of course, I could have kicked myself when, a few hours later, I saw the same doll on Ebay for $60. I do like that the cost of many of the J-Dolls are between $35 – $70. That’s much better than paying several hundred dollars for my budding doll collector, right?
J-Dolls receive their names from locations throughout the world
According to the Toy Box Philosopher, the J Dolls receive their names from stylish places located throughout the world, that symbolize high fashion.
The J-Dolls are named after streets throughout the world that symbolize high fashion. Each doll’s outfit reflects the character of the particular street she’s named after. For example, Sunset Boulevard is near the ocean in Los Angeles and the doll with that name kind-of looks like a mermaid. Some of the associations are lost on me, though. The stunning Via Appia doll is named after an ancient Roman road, but she looks more like a cross between a World War 2 nurse and a pirate.
Oh by the way, Charing Cross is an actual place, and it’s located in London. Interesting indeed…
The above video was taken during London Fashion Week Fashion International which was held at the Charing Cross Hotel.
Based on the reviews, I believe my daughter will be thrilled with this jointed doll and the quality is so much better than her Monster High dolls. Of course, this gives me an excuse to pull out my Brother Sewing machines, and make some high end clothing for this jointed doll J-Doll. 😉 I did the same thing with her Monster High dolls.
I used to collect porcelain dolls and have even passed some of my fine porcelain dolls to my daughter. I only gave them to her since she’s shown me that she can properly take care of them. I must say that I’m thrilled that my daughter is becoming more critical of the dolls available, rather than being swept up into wanting an item based on the popularity amongst her friends, she’s looking for features that in her mind make the doll stand out. Of course, the former doll collector within, has always done this with the dolls that I’ve purchased for her in the past, but I’ve kept my mouth shut. 😉
Christmas shopping is complete
The majority of this years Christmas shopping, with the exception of a few gifts,was completed by at the beginning of Spring 2013. The J-Doll is a last minute gift for my daughter and I must say I’m really looking forward to seeing her reaction on Christmas morning.
Hopefully she won’t read this post
My daughter occasionally reads my website. I must say I’m taking a big risk writing this post. In fact… my daughter is less than fifteen feet away from me while I’m writing this advanced post. Good thing, she’s doing her own story writing, right? My computer is positioned in such a way where I can see exactly what she’s doing, but she can’t see my computer screen, ha! Hopefully I’ll be safe, this post is scheduled for early Sunday morning and I’ve purposely scheduled a few posts for that day so this article won’t be the first thing that appears on Celebrate Life.
Fun with Bento lunch boxes
When it comes to creative school lunches, I always thought that the Japanese were miles ahead of many Americans.
I love the stackable lunch boxes, they remind me of the tiffins I’ve seen used in Indian cuisine.
History of Bento lunches
I really liked the above video that talked about the history of Bentos.
In the second video you can see some of the gorgeous craftmanship used in creating some of the bento boxes. Truly a work of art.
Japanese people aren’t the only ones that are into bentos. Here in the USA, I’ve seen bento lunch boxes make appearances in blog posts and other places online. The Vegan Lunch box, is I first time I learned about bento lunch boxes.
Although I found bentos fascinating I never felt the urge to purchase them. At the time, it made no sense (to me anyway) to sink money into a Bento Box (regardless of how pretty they were) if it wasn’t keeping the food hot without heating. I already had portable lunch boxes. Also I was working from home full-time and my daughter was still a toddler. The practical me knew there was no reason to purchase the bento lunch boxes.
Of course, all that has changed. My daughter is in school (and prefers hot lunches) since the Zojirushi stainless lunch jar keeps the food hot, I now think of cute ways I can enhance what she takes to school.
Although I like how some of the intricate bento lunches looked, it’s something I most likely would not do since some of those decorations take a lot of time.
Of course, while researching bento boxes I looked at the cute bento tools that people used to dress up their lunches.
Collecting Bento tools
Most of the decorations seem to originate from Japan. Over the years, I’ve ordered a few products directly from Japan. They’ve taken a while to receive, but the products I ordered were always worth the wait. Thankfully, Amazon has a ton of them, and I’ve already added a few bento tools to my collection, you can see some of them featured in my post about the Zojirushi hot lunch jars.
Throughout this post, I’ve included a few videos so you can see the creativity involved with these bento lunches. Aren’t the children adorable? I love children, which might explain why I do a lot of volunteer work with them.
Fast forward to the newly purchased Zojirushi hot lunch jar, and I’ve my views of ‘bento lunches’ has changed a lot. Adding simple bento decorations to food is something I’ve already started incorporating with my daughters lunches. I might purchase a few more bento tools, but for the most part I’m done.
I will say that, part of the enjoyment of making lunches for my daughter has always been the extras that I’d included. Often, she did not know what to expect. Occasionally, I’d slip a note into her lunch bag telling her something special and other times I’d include an unexpected treat. Those unexpected surprises always make her happy, and let’s be honest, it gives me a chance to stimulate my creative side.
Healthy lunches within minutes
Since my daughters food is now contained in tiered jars I can do a bit more within the creative department. I definitely won’t be taking hours to decorate her food, but adding a few minutes to decorate some of her hot meals, is something that I’m happy to incorporate into lunch preparation. Yesterday, my daughters hot school lunch took about 10 minutes to prepare; that included choosing the food, heating it and adding the decorative tooth picks. The few moments set aside to warm and add leftovers to her lunch, is worth the effort since she now eats everything in her lunch.