Bentos and work rambles...

Aside from getting het up about Japan`s stupidity, I have had a busy couple of days! On Monday the weather was horrendous but I still had to go and teach my new students. (I always find it really hard to leave the house on rainy days!!!) I can`t remember if I have mentioned the specifics but every monday and friday I teach 3 year old (they will be 4 at the end of the month) twin girls. They have a 2 year old sister and 8 month old brother so I take Joey with me and it is like playgroup for him. The girls are alot of fun but they can be a bit of a handful. However, the parents seem to like my current way of teaching/ dealing with them because the father asked me the other day if I would be willing to teach his older sons from his first marriage when they move to kagoshima city at the beginning of April. I am not sure I will have the time because I am thinking about applying for a part-time job at a junior high in the city but we shall see. My private classes can be a pain in the butt at times but when I sat down and thought about it, I realised how lucky I am with my students and although I have been thinking about applying for a full-time job lately, I realised that I don`t really want to give up my private classes so I guess I am going to have to go with part-time. Another reason for liking the idea of going for part-time rather than full-time is that I am not sure I am ready to leave Joey 5 days a week but I am definitely ready to leave him with some trained professionals for a couple of days a week! (Not that I don`t adore my son but the lack of time I have for myself is ridiculous right now..) Yesterday morning I spent the day doing house stuff, I cleaned the kitchen and baked some cookies (a new obsession of mine based largely on the fact the box of cookie mix I bought from costco about 2 years ago is about to expire!!) then I folded all the laundry and put it away ( another rare occurence), hoovered the whole apartment, re-arranged the rug under the dining room table which is always moving and looking out of place and dealt with cranky baby at the same time. I actually tried carrying Joey around on my back for a little while which he liked for a bit but he soon became frustrated with the fact that he couldn`t follow the hoover around (his favourite past-time!!) I felt like I had achieved alot in a short space of time and gave myself a big pat on the back!!! :-) This morning I continued my spate of being a domestic goddess and made a very pretty bento for my husband!! I have been making lunches for him at least 4 days a week since the beginning of January. It is a pain in the butt but if I am organised enough the night before, it only takes about ten minutes in the morning to pull it all together. For those of you who are thinking "it is a lunchbox, why is she getting so worked up about a sandwich and an apple??" I have to point out that Japanese lunchboxes are considered a work of art and a sign of your love for your husband/ kids (depending on who the bento (lunchbox) is for) Before any of you think I have gone all romantic and am making lunches for my husband as a sign of love I have to point out that the real reason I am being so dedicated with this is to save money for our trip to the UK in the summer!!! :-) Every time I don`t feel like getting up, I remind myself that by waking up and making his breakfast and lunch, I am saving 500 yen ($5) which will enable me to buy more chocolate while I am home!!! :-) Anyway, I digress. This morning I was so proud of how cute my bento was that I took pictures!! LOL!

Here is a shot with the rice balls. I bought a couple of shaping thingies that allow me to make heart-shaped and flower-shaped rice balls rather than the usual triangular ones! I thought they were cute but D was less impressed!!!

Contents (from L-R) Tamago-yaki (rolled egg omelette), mini-sausages with cheese, spinach sauted with corn and some other stuff (this was a frozen ready-made thing), cherry tomato (every bento-makers godsend for filling up a little bit of space) and asparagus rolled in bacon.

I know that those of you who cook regularly and actually enjoy it are thinking " what on earth is she making such a big fuss about, i have been making far superior bentos for years?!" But if I am honest I HATE cooking. It is a major chore and a burden of my daily life. Actually, it is less the actual cooking and more the deciding what to cook day in, day out that drives me mad. If someone could come up with a menu of yummy nutritious food that was fairly simple to make on a daily basis for me, I would be very happy!!! I spend hours poring over "ohayo okusan" (good morning wifey!) which is the Japanese version fo Good Housekeeping trying to keep variety in our diet. I am hoping that one day I will start to enjoy it!

Anyway, back to the bento thing. As I said earlier, there is an art to making bentos. You have to create the right balance of colour to make it attractive so your husband/ child will feel loved and happy to eat it. (I must point out that this is the bento-making philosophy, I personally think it is a load of bollocks but I get a kick out of trying to make my bentos attractive as D`s colleagues assume that as a foreign wife, I can`t do it the Japanese way..)

This is a cute bento made for a kid:

The perfect bento should contain the right balance of red, yellow and green. Books and websites on the subject are often split into recipes according to the colour! I know I have been in Japan too long because I often look at the lunch I have created and think "too little red" or "I need more yellow".. which then results in a frantic search of the kitchen for something to add!!! This is when cherry tomatoes or corn come in handy! LOL!

This is an example of the kind of bento I aspire to have the energy to make some day!!!

If you go to this site and scroll through the pictures (ignoring the Japanese, I did) you will see that some people take their bentos VERY seriously!!! This person totally has WAY too much time on their hands!!

I think it is time I stopped rambling and started getting ready for my day!!