Sunday, April 01, 2007

Bento lala

My sister is living in Japan now, and sent me a hilarious list of things she has to sew for her son's creche.

Here are her words:

2 bags for pyjamas (2 because in summer you have to take his pyjamas home to wash EVERYDAY)
2 bags for his cup (which must be washed EVERYDAY by 'the mother')
2 bags for taking dirty clothes home
1 bag for taking home info sheets, art work etc
A large bib made of a towel folded in half with elastic band (how many - 60?)
8 small towels to use before and after mealtimes
2 - 4 other small towels with a cord attached so they can be hung up on a peg
2 futon covers
2 duvet covers


That is to SEW. Evidently the Japanese housewife is a sewing machine (heh).

My sister is a full time working woman, and I suspect has better things to do with her time. I'm not allowed to direct you to her blog, but if you look carefully at the sidebar, you'll find it.

In a roundabout way it lead to me becoming obsessed with bento boxes, the lovely Japanese lunchbox. This was helped by gazing at Annette's beautiful lunches. Finn starts school in 101 days, and we'll have to get off our arses and send him to school EVERYDAY with some food. Cripes.

So, in a fit of some kind of crazy, today I made:

Mini blueberry muffins
Mini cornbreads
Mini quiches
Big quiches
Fried onigiri

The freezer is pleasingly full. I realise they won't be there in 101 days, but it feels good to have some practice in. Plus I have a suspician that the kids will require food at some stage soon (like tomorrow and the next day).

I went and bought lots of great little containers for sauce and small things, and some toothpicks, and lots of yummy asian food.

And I made sushi for tea, which we ate on the floor and followed with some Pocky.

It has been a very Japanese sort of a day.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Somehow, I think that half of the joy in a bento box is having it lovingly crafted by someone else.htt

Mrs Smith said...

My god. If I was a mother in Japan, my child would die of starvation and hypothermia within a week. There is no way I could ever do all that.
P.S. Is this stuff meant to be hand-sewn, or do they all have machines?

Martha Craig said...

My sister managed to buy the things she needed, but will probably be regarded as a dodgy foreigner!