Beginning Bento

Have you heard of bento?  Bento is a Japanese tradition- it is a single serving meal packed for a family member or loved one.  It is created to be served cold or room temperature.  The idea is that while you make this meal for the person you love, that you think about them and your love for them.  It has been catching on in the States, and I absolutely can't wait to see if I am talented enough to get good at it!

The girls start daycare the last week of August.  If you have talked to me about that fact this summer I have probably schlepped my emotions all over your shoulder.  We still miss our amazing nanny, and at times it's hard to breathe knowing that my girls will be cared for by women who's lives and values I know nothing about.  Lunch and snack are not provided, so parents pack those for their kidlets, but the meals have to be able to be served cold.  I can't stand the thought of packing only ham sandwiches and peanut butter/jelly, and I know that if I don't have a plan, that's what will end up happening.  For this reason I am going to be doing bento for my girls, at least as much as possible.  Hopefully, I will avoid boring food ruts (which seems to lead to my girls eating less healthy food).  Also, I LOVE the part about bento where you do it in love, and think about your loved one while you are making their meal.  I plan to use this time to pray for my girls as I make their meals in love.  I hope this will help me feel more connected to them as they start daycare, and I hope it keeps me reminded that they are in God's hands and that he loves them more than I do and will keep them safe- physically, emotionally, mentally and socially.

There is also another reason I am starting bento.

I have a lot of trouble staying emotionally engaged in any job for more than a year.  My past few jobs I have really struggled to stay interested once things get routine.  That seems to happen around the 8-12 month mark.  As I talked with Darren last night about this, and how I want to avoid this in my current job he pointed something out to me.  He asked what I want from a job and I said that there are two main things- an identity outside of motherhood/wifedom and mental/creative stimulation.  Challenges relax me once I get into them, and boredom and routine stress me out.  (I know that's sort of weird.  Also weird is that I cannot stand the feeling of silicone- and bento uses a lot of silicone containers.  Guess I'll have to get over that.  I also have a weird adoration of parenthetical phrases (which stinks cause they sometimes end up making my posts way longer than they need to be.)  OOO double parenthetical phrase!  Woot woot!  And I like puns.  And alliteration.  And now you know more about me than you ever hoped. :D)

Darren pushed me to think about whether a job really should be where I look for my mental and creative fulfillment.  I thought about that.  Outside of work, I don't give myself a whole lot of room for creativity.  I mean, I turn out a few paintings and projects a year, but I don't make creative stimulation a priority.  I decided that I need to change that.  I get bored mostly because I run out of new challenges at work- if I can change my mindset towards my job, and not require my job to fill that creative need in me, maybe I'll have better luck avoiding boredom and the need to move on.  My current job is definitely at the point now where I feel like I have the hang of everything.  (I do love that my boss is willing to give me a lot of room for creativity and gives out new challenges every once in a while.  It's helped a lot, I think.)  Every once in a while I am able to be creative, but it is occurring to me that when I am busy at my job (ie. full case load) I have a lot less opportunity and time to be creative.

So, bento is going to be my way to meet some of my creative needs so that I don't depend on my job to keep me stimulated.  I anticipate that doing these will actually help a lot with my stress level and will be relaxing, while keeping my mind on the big picture- God's love for my family!

And with me eating lunch on the go so often, and Darren starting school- maybe I'll get good enough and fast enough at it that I can pack for all 4 of us eventually!

Here are some bento links, if you are interested:
http://www.workingmother.com/food-nutrition/10-easy-breezy-bento-lunches
http://www.annathered.com/2010/08/10/20-easy-bento-for-kids/
http://pinterest.com/bgbg/simple-bento-ideas-for-kids-recipes/
http://happylittlebento.blogspot.com
http://www.laptoplunches.com