Lunch Box Series #1

Watson's Notes: During dinner today I heard this joke told by the older child in the family. It goes like this...

Asian parents' scoring system

A - Acceptable

B - Bad

C - Crazy

D - Disgraceful

F - Find another family

I will leave it up to the parents to judge whether that's funny or not. But trust me, when it comes to the lunch box in this family, it's often quite Acceptable. One can tell by how clean the containers are when the children bring them back from school at end of the day. I guess that's a good thing overall, even though it means no leftover for me...

So let's see what goes into their lunch boxes, shall we?

Cold compartment:

• Seaweed Salad: I will soon publish our extremely simple recipe for this healthy and flavorful side dish. For a not-so-bad replacement, try a store-bought brand such as "Azuma's Seaweed Salad" from Costco.

• Roasted Octopus: see here for recipe

Hot Compartment

• Sushi Rice: cook sushi rice with a rice cooker; Optional: mix 1 cup rice with 1 tbsp seasoned rice vinegar (eg., Kikkoman)

• Teriyaki Salmon: see here for recipe

• Steamed Broccoli: steam the broccoli, and season with salt and pepper, or drizzle extra teriyaki sauce from the salmon over broccoli.