Bento Cookbooks!

As clearly outline by My Bookshelf, I love books. I rely on books. I need them heaping over their assigned shelves, introducing me to their friends and keeping me up at night. I am an equal-opportunity book owner who does not discriminate based on binding, page texture, age or origin. I even own a few books written in languages I don't speak just because they're purty. So clearly, it was time to buy some books on making bento boxes.

I started with The Just Bento Cookbook: Everyday Lunches To Go by Makiko Itoh and Yum-Yum Bento Box: Fresh Recipes for Adorable Lunches by Crystal Watanabe and Maki Ogawa. (Note: this is how the book cover credits the authors, but Barnes & Noble has the authors listed as Quirk Books Staff, Makiko Ogawa, Pikko Pots, Crystal Watanabe)

 

I chose these two for their combined practicality and creativity. The Just Bento website has been my main source for recipes and practical tips as I've begun learning about the world of bento making, so getting the cookbook was a definite yes. It's chock full of recipes I can't wait to try and a few different versions of ones I already love.

Yum-Yum Bento Box takes the prize for creativity though. I can pack a practical bento, no problem, but not being an especially "cutesy" girl by nature I need ideas for things like penguins made of rice and hot dog octopuses! But really, I love the first few pages that are dedicated to the tools and tricks of the trade. Very well done!

If you're looking for a place to start, I recommend both of these together. Now I wonder what my mom would do if I showed up tomorrow with artistic creamed corn for Thanksgiving...?

I Think Human Beings Were Meant To Be Farmers

So the post title may be an exaggeration... or is it? I never mentioned this, but I just started a new job in the past month. (yay!!) It's office work, something I've never done full time before, and I've caught myself thinking very grand-scheme-of-life type thoughts as I make copies. I never really saw that coming, but its true. And it all started with a paper cut.

There I was, learning how the fancy copier works, and suddenly, slice. I yelped like I'd just sawed into my finger with a steak knife and immediately felt foolish when I saw the tiny little paper cut on my finger. Why are they always so disproportionately painful anyway? Wow, I thought, my work hazards include paper cuts. What if I was chopping wood as part of my day? I'd probably take off my foot. My brain sort of took off from there.

Remember Little House on the Prairie? HALT. You aren't allowed to think of Michael Landon Jr. or anything related to the TV show. NOTHING! I'm talking about Little House in the Big Woods, On the Shores of Silver Lake and These Happy Golden Years. The books. Remember in Little House in the Big Woods how they basically spent all their time growing food, hunting, preserving their produce, smoking their meat, storing up for the winter, keeping the house snug, making bullets by the fire and chasing away the wolves? I've started thinking about how awesome it would be to work for my living, not for money. As in, in order to live. To eat. To have a roof over my head.

I love Pa's crazy hair! :)

We work to make money so we can buy our food and pay someone else to put/keep a roof over us. I would love to have a go at growing my own food, even raising my own animals to eat them. (gulp...i understand this involves killing them myself...) Living in a house you built has always been enticing for me too. Living in a society where everybody works like that and they trade for what they need amongst themselves sounds pretty great to me. It sounds hard and dead-tiring and messy, but it just seems so much more REAL than getting paper cuts at a copier. (poor copier, I'm not trying to diss you, but you just don't measure up)

Most people will admit they are happiest when they are doing something meaningful. I guess my statement of "human beings were meant to be farmers" is just to say that I think we were all meant to labor in a way that is worthwhile and tests our endurance, character and creativity.

Femininity

Femininity is so complicated. Or perhaps its not, its just extremely challenging. True femininity has really gotten lost in the last couple decades... I'm not going to pin it to any one event or movement. But I will say this modern woman who alternately dons her business suit and her clubbing outfits kind of terrifies me. I've always jokingly said I naturally get along with men better than I do with other women but I'm realizing this is because many women are adopting this mutated modern idea of femininity. Take charge, lead, establish your personal walls, use your knowledge and wit to assert dominance and always keep control of every situation and relationship... this is a snapshot of the women we are encouraged to become. And lets be honest ladies, we are all successful at being this woman from time to time.

So what about the old-fashioned woman? The one who is accomplished and creative in achieving her goals, but doesn't have to have dominance everywhere in order to feel complete? She's strong in her vulnerability and irreplaceable to the people in her life because of her willingness to serve and support. This is the woman who doesn't feel threatened by a man who offers to carry a heavy box. She's modest in her dress because she knows the immeasurable value of her body and she only offers her body to the one man with whom she has exchanged vows. I picture her as the pioneer wife - plowing a field in a dress, shooting a rifle and raising children. She's awesome.

She's also out of fashion.

Ladies, its time to be trend setters. I believe that modern women often confuse service with servitude and vulnerability with weakness, but this is just not the truth. I haven't put this in perspective of Christianity yet, but I will now. If we want to know what it means to be truly feminine, we have to understand Christ. Many modern women who reject ideas of service and vulnerability are right in the middle of the mystery of Christianity - you must die in order to live. We as women get to live this out in a way completely different from men... how tragic would it be to throw away our unique gift in order to offer a cheap copy?

If you are slightly overwhelmed by this challenge to discover and live Christian femininity, join the club. Its a massive uphill battle to bring an old-fashioned idea into a modern world. But here's my second mind-bomb for you... this may be an old-fashioned idea, but its not a new struggle! At a friend's recommendation a few years ago, I read Perpetua: A Bride, a Martyr, a Passion, a historical fiction novel that really started tumbling this topic around in my head. Its about a young first-century Roman aristocrat who struggles through the Carthaginian party scene and finds herself at the feet of Christ. Her conversion breaks her social life, love life and family life into tiny pieces and re-forms all of it into the most amazing love story I've read in a long time. If you're looking for an example of a powerful, courageous and genuinely feminine Christian woman, get to know Perpetua!!

This post officially takes the record for longest post ever. I'd love to hear your thoughts!