The lunch box fairy delivers again - the Planet Box is here!

As you know I have fantasized about a number of stainless steel lunch containers on this website and have added a good number of them to my repertoire with mixed reviews.  You'll remember I swooned over the much ballyhooed Planet Box lunch box only to turn on it later because of it's price, low rating on the "cute" scale, and seeming inflexibility.  Well, as the proud new owner of a Planet Box, I have to say, I was wrong, it's pretty incredible, and Juju and I are in love.

First I have to explain how it came to be that I own a Planet Box lunchbox in the first place.  You'll recall I had vowed to stop purchasing lunch box accessories and focus on making the most of my current stash.  But, I have no control over the Lunch Fairy (who, it turns out, is alive and well and living in New York - after a brief sojourn in Los Angeles when she brought me these).

One of my oldest and dearest friends Erin told me she was coming to LA to visit her family and friends with her husband and ADORABLE 3 month old son, Freddy.  Erin has done so much for me over the years; she consistently goes above and beyond what normal good friends do for one another and I hope I she knows how much I appreciate all she has ever done for me.  Naturally I offered to loan Erin a bunch of Juju's old baby stuff to spare her the hassle of lugging a car seat or stroller across the country or wonder where her little guy would be able to nap comfortably.   Considering how many times Erin has helped me pack up and move dorm rooms and apartments, lug odd-sized things around Manhattan, fend off unwanted advances from cab drivers, and just been there for me as one of the most positive influences in my life for the last 15 or so years, it was the least I could do.  And since her sister lives so close by, I didn't really think I had done very much by dropping the stuff off before her her arrival.

Well, according to Erin, I had done her such a big favor that she deemed Juju and I (but let's be honest, it was mostly for me!) worthy of a visit from the Lunch Fairy.  I could hardly believe my eyes when I opened up a box left on my doorstep last week containing the Planet Box, a beautiful purple carrying case, and groovy magnet/stickers to go on top.  It was so unexpected and unnecessary yet absolutely the perfect gift.  Thank you Erin.  If only you knew getting to hang out with you and Scott and Freddy was gift enough!  You're amazing.

Juju played with the box (without food) all night long and I was so excited to pack her lunch in it the next day.  It has so far exceeded my expectations.  The box is really well designed and I love that the lunch is packed flat (it looks like a mini lap top in a case when packed) so it's easy to store in my crowded refrigerator.  My only problem is that I end up serving more food than I normally would because I try to fill each space with food for aesthetic reasons.  I either need to get over that or figure out ways to make less food look like more.

Here are the three lunches I have served so far with the Planet Box.  The first is shells and cheese with peas, cucumber, avocado, strawberries, and a few chocolate covered raisins.

Today I served cottage cheese, brown rice, tomatoes and cucumbers, strawberries and raspberries, and a mini brownie bite.  I am not sure how I feel about sending a dessert every day.  It was easy last year knowing that we couldn't send any dessert; I didn't have to decide.  I hadn't been sending dessert this year until I learned that on Mondays, the hot lunch served at school comes with a dessert.  I didn't want Juju to feel left out when sitting next to her hot lunch-eating friends so I sent a sweet with her lunch too.  Today's lunch experience also revealed that Juju is probably the first luncher to bring a Planet Box to school. . .nobody noticed that she didn't put the lid back on the cottage cheese container when she was packing up her lunch today and it leaked all over the beautiful new purple carrying case.  Fortunately, it washed pretty easily.  But it was really gross and I'm not sure how to prevent it from happening in the future.

And tomorrow I am serving homemade turkey meatballs, brown rice, green beans, a cut up plum, and ok, yes, another brownie bite.  We have a few small brownies in the freezer leftover from an event this weekend and I might just have to include them until they run out.  My lunch packing-induced OCD is kicking in and I'm just not content to leave any compartments empty.  The first step in healing is admitting you have a problem, right?

I still love Juju's new for school blue lunchbox and I am sure I will go back to it at some point when I decide to switch things up but for now the Planet Box is just too much fun!

Lunch on June 20, 2011 - It's Bavarian pasta, it doesn't need any sauce

Lunch today was thrown together (yet again) out of things I had in the fridge.  You would think keeping a lunch blog would make me more diligent about meal planning but alas, it has not.

Today I am serving leftover pasta, cottage cheese with strawberries, and avocado.  The pasta is left over (we made veggie-meat sauce over the weekend and had more pasta than sauce). 

I didn't have anything to go on top of the pasta which reminded me of a line from Woody Allen's "Everyone Says I Love You" delivered by the German maid/cook: "It's Bavarian pasta, it doesn't need any sauce.  Italian pasta needs sauce.  The Italians were weak!"  I still prefer pasta with sauce but in the effort of getting out the door quickly today, I settled for Bavarian style - I drizzled some olive oil on top and threw in some sugar plum tomatoes.

Lunch on June 16, 2011 - Shells and cheese and peas

The problem with keeping a lunch blog is that I open myself up to judgment every time I pack a lunch bag.  I'm not particularly proud of tomorrow's lunch but I think it would be disingenuous if I only blogged about the pretty or wholesome lunches I put together.  At the end of the day this is not a health food blog or a "nominate me for mom of the year award" blog so here goes.

For tomorrow's lunch I am serving mac and cheese. . .from a box (cue the audible gasp!).  Technically it's organic but who am I kidding, it is still dehydrated cheese and lots of sodium.  Our great babysitter had the idea once to mix peas in with the mac and cheese and Juju loves it so I threw in some fresh peas to make it "healthy."  The mac and cheese is in a new thermos I recently acquired.  I'm experimenting with it to see if it really will keep items particularly hot (or cold).  Tomorrow morning I will (try to remember to) transfer the mac and cheese to another bowl, heat it, and then put it back in the thermos.  This sounds like a lot of work which makes me think I won't be doing this often.  Maybe in the winter I'll send some soup like this though.

In addition to the mac and cheese I am serving cantaloupe and strawberries and leftover cous cous with cottage cheese.  Not a very appealing combination, I know, but it's what we had in the fridge and I'm too tired to make something else.

Tomorrow is the last day of school before a 3 week summer break.  I'll probably still be packing lunches though so I will try to blog about them when I do.  Happy Summer!!

Lunch on Friday, May 13 - Pressed for ideas, I made a sandwich

Friday's lunch included a sandwich.  You may remember that I don't do sandwiches largely because Juju still can't figure out what to do when one is handed to her. 

Then, I had the idea to make her a sandwich "pocket," kind of like those disgusting (though oddly appealing) Smucker's Crustable things.  I found a really cool contraption at the Japanese Tokyo Outlet to help me and I am really excited about it.  Well, as excited as one can be about a lunch accessory.  By the way, I know it sounds like I spend my days shopping and lunching at the Japanese Village Plaza downtown but sadly I don't.  One of my vendors for my business is right there so whenever I am in the area for a meeting I take a quick walk over to see what's new.  I don't think I've ever spent more than $2.49 on an item there so it's a great place to go for cheap lunch inspiration.  

 If only I read Japanese I could tell you the name of this sandwich press or where to get it (other than in downtown LA) but I am sure they exist anywhere.  In the case of this one, you place a piece of bread on the press, add your "filling" (in this case I used hummus), place another piece of bread on top, and press down.  You are left with a sealed rounded square sandwich with no crust and no place for your "filling" to spill out.  (See photo below for the resulting sandwich).

I was concerned that my whole grain sandwich bread would be too stiff for the press but it worked fine.   You can see what remains behind after removing the sandwich from the press in the photo at left.  I am not quite sure why there is a heart on the top of the sandwich press since it does not make any indentation on the sandwich.  I can only surmise it's there because the Japanese needed to find some way to make even something like this look cute.

Yes I am aware that the press is plastic and we don't tend to like a lot of plastic around here.  All I can say is that the food is in the press for less than 30 seconds and I hand wash it.

Along with the hummus sandwich today's lunch included cottage cheese and cantaloupe with grapes.

Unfortunately, despite my efforts, much of this lunch went uneaten due to far more exciting things than a sandwich, I'm sure.  She has however eaten other pressed sandwiches since then and the result has been great and mess-free!