Happy Halloween!

Can you guess who this is?

After talking to Hostie I have learned that it has been only recently that western-style Halloween decorations and traditions have started to become popular in Japan. There are even a few Halloween events held now, including one at Tokyo Disneyland. A few of the neighborhoods in Tokyo with larger foreigner populations have even started having trick or treating.

If I were a dog I would have a wealth of options for a Halloween costume, including being a Panda.

Japan has many of its own holidays and traditions however. Japan does have a slightly Halloween-like holiday called O-bon (お盆, O-bon, or only Bon, 盆). O-bon is a Japanese Buddhist holiday to honor the departed spirits of one's ancestors. This festival has evolved into a time for family reunions during which people return to their home towns and visit and clean their ancestors' graves. Food and water is placed in front of photos of the dead. Bonfires and lanterns light the spirits' path back to earth. Depending on the region, festivals, food booths, and bon dances can be found in the evening, with lots of people enjoying themselves. Even those who don't observe the religious aspect participate in the festivals. Many people still dress up in a yukata, a lightweight cotton kimono for the festivals.

The most important holiday season in Japan is the Japanese New Year, which starts on January 1st and extends part way into January. Families each special seasonal food called osechi, which is prepared a few days before in December, so that no one has to spend a lot of time cooking during the holidays. Traditional decorations adorn homes and businesses and News Years cards (often postcards) are delivered (very similar to the Western tradition of sending Christmas cards).

Another holiday is rapidly approaching, Culture Day (文化の日, Bunka-no-hi), this coming Saturday, November 3rd! This is a national holiday that is held annually to promote culture, the arts, and academic endeavor. It is on this day that the ceremony to award the Order of Culture is held. The prize is awarded by the Emperor to those who have significantly advanced science, the arts or culture. This is a very prestigious honor, which can be received by any deserving individual--it is not restricted to Japanese citizens.

Bento Bonanza!

I recently received correspondance from my dear Krafty1, which read in part:

What can you tell us about bento boxes? Special K and I take our lunches to school/work each day. We'd like to get something fun to carry and be able to pack without having to use plastic bags. Do you use one? What do you find useful? (What are "must-haves" as far as the actual box goes?) And if you use one, what is/are your favortite thing/s to pack?

What excellent questions! I myself have recently been acquainted, thanks to Hostie, with the wonders of the bento, and am happy to impart my knowledge!

A bento is like a Japanese lunchbox. It is either a homepacked meal, or a meal in a box ready to eat that can be purchased at places such as a bento shop or a convenience store. Although bentos can easily be bought, mothers still labor over their childrens' bentos every morning. I do occasionally use a bento myself, packed by Hostie--thank you Hostie! I find that I like a bento that has lots of compartments to keep the various pieces of my meal separate, and I like an air-tight seal, which keeps things fresh. I also like to have some kind of bag to put my box in so that it is easy to carry around. Some of my favorite bento food staples are onigiri (rice balls), fresh cut vegetables and fruit, edamame, and tsukemono (Japanese pickles).

Some bento history:

This site explains:

The word bento is said to have originated from a 16th Century military commander called Odo Nobunaga (1584-1632) who fed the large numbers of people that inhabited his castle by handing out simple meals to each individual. The word was created to describe the small convenient meal.

However, Nobunaga did not begin the trend, he just seemed to make it more solid as a feature in Japanese culture. Bento can be traced as far back into Japanese history as the 5th Century, when people who spent all day working away from the home(hunting, farming, fishing or fighting) needed something nutritious that they could prepare quickly to take with them as they travelled.

Today schools sometimes do not provide school lunch and children must bring their own. These are usually prepared by the children's mothers. Husbands also often take bentos prepared for them by their wives to work for lunch.

A traditional bento is made in a 4:3:2:1 ratio: 4 parts of rice, 3 parts of the side dish (either meat or fish), 2 parts of vegetables, and 1 part of a serving of pickled vegetables or a dessert. The idea behind it is of a balanced healthy meal. This ratio promotes healthy eating and makes sure the meal is balanced and filling. The person who makes the bento, such as the mother of the household, often prepares the box lunches as she is cooking the side dishes for the family's regular meals. She considers which dishes would not go bad quickly and sets some aside for the following day's bento. Dinner is often planned around items that will make good leftovers to go into the next day's bento. These days anything can go into a bento, but one of the important things to note is that one of the purposes of a bento is that "the eye also eats"--apart from being nourishing, the food should also be visually appealing. Part of the fun of making a bento is creating a visually appealing arrangement that will whet the appetite.

Because bento are usually eaten some time after they have been prepared, cooked foods must be well done to prevent changes in flavor or color, items that go bad easily are not used, and excess liquid is eliminated before placing the food in a bento box.

Making your own:
You may ask, well this is all fine and dandy, but how do I go about making my own bento? Well my friend, first you need a bento box. This will influence your portions, your shapes, and even what types of food you use. Here are a whole slew of ideas and options that you might consider:



- Very traditional elegant box: http://www.asianartmall.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=bento


- Traditional Japanese school box: http://www.jbox.com/SEARCH/bento/1/


- More flexible/modern alternatives:
(1) http://www.lunchboxes.com/bento.html

(2) http://flickr.com/photos/lunchinabox/430895005/in/set-72157594150632817/

(3) http://cache.lionbrand.com/patterns/70518AD.html?noImages (scroll down to see the bento idea on this one)
** Some of these options are very nice because they come with individual removable dividers and they lock completely air tight.


As for other equipment that you might consider using:


Cupcake forms and dividers are very useful when keeping flavors from mingling. Skewers or toothpicks are useful to include for skewering small bits of vegetables, fruit, or meat. A pair of chopsticks are always included in a bento set, and depending on what you pack, a spoon and fork can be included as well. Many people keep an assortment of small cookie cutters around to cut bits of colorful food into shapes to decorate their bentos. You will also need to find some way of transporting sauces and dressings separately in your bento. In Japan you can buy little individual one serving size disposable/reusable bottles for this purpose. If you do not have access to something of this nature, consider looking at the travel size containers available at stores like your local Walmart for suitable alternatives.


For a discussion of some bento equipment: http://www.airandangels.com/bentobox/equipment.html


Now for filling that bento! There are so many options, so I am just going to throw way too much information at you!


For some bento recipes: http://hubpages.com/hub/Bento_Box_Recipes

For some Japanese pickle recipes: http://www.theblackmoon.com/Jfood/ftsuke.html and http://www.opensourcefood.com/people/yongfook/recipes/cooling-japanese-cucumbers/


For excellent speed tips, tutorials, etc., see: http://lunchinabox.net/top-tips/


For an article on bento food safety: http://lunchinabox.net/2007/05/08/food-safety-for-packed-lunches-updated/


For all kinds of great bento tips: http://community.livejournal.com/bentolunch/tag/bentotips


Check out these interesting blogs of bento pros: http://lunchinabox.net/ and http://cookingcute.com/


A video blog featuring bento recipes, bento packing tips,and demos of bento making tools: http://bentotv.com/index.html


For some more inspiration, see: http://www.flickr.com/groups/367772@N22/ and http://www.flickr.com/groups/bentoboxes/ and http://www.mydailybento.blogspot.com/ and http://www.bentolunchesforall.blogspot.com/


For an interesting look at the bento lunch of a normal Japanese high school student, see this clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BA2ZFQQkZl8


I hope that helps! If anyone out there has any more questions about anything, just give me a shout! Good luck Krafty1 and Special K!


Cheers!

For the birds.

My friend Krafty1 loves whooping cranes. I know that Hostie has a personal affinity for cranes herself, as she absolutely loves the Japanese red-crowned crane. I personally am always interested in the plight of a fellow living creature. Because of Krafty1's and Hostie's mutual interest in cranes, I thought I would tell you what I dug up on the subject! (Yes, Hostie and Krafty1, I know you love me, you can thank me anytime with a nice helping of wheatgrass.)

A short blurb on the whooping crane: The whooping crane is a large endangered crane, and is the only crane species found solely in North America. This is the seventh year of whooping cranes being "taught" their migration route to Florida (see Krafty1's 2006 post on the subject). The entire 2006 group was lost last year due to a bad winter storm in Florida. That means that a lot is riding on this year's cranes--the entire species depends on them. To check out this years batch of youngsters and follow their progress, go to the Field Journal.

In Japan, cranes ("tsuru" in Japanese) have a long history in Japanese history, traditions, and legends. The Red-crowned Crane (also called the Japanese Crane, "tancho" in Japanese) is the second rarest crane in the world (only 1,700 -- 2,000 currently in the wild). At maturity, the crane is pure white with a red crest on its head. Interestingly, this crest becomes bright red when the crane becomes angry or excited! During the spring and summer months this crane lives in Siberia, where their eggs hatch, and then migrate in the fall to various countries throughout Asia, including Japan to spend the winter. The only exception to this is a flock that stays in Hokkaidō, Japan, all year long.

Japanese legend tells that this crane lives for 1,000 years. In Japanese tradition cranes stand for fidelity, peace, and long life. Crane motifs are used in Japanese weddings, wedding kimono, and Japanese wedding decorations as a symbol of fidelity, because cranes mate for life and are devoted to their partners throughout all of the seasons. Folded origami cranes are often placed at memorial parks, such as that in Hiroshima, to symbolize peace, and are given to someone who is ill to wish them a quick recovery. It is said that if you have a wish and you fold 1,000 paper cranes, your wish will then come true.

Such was the situation with little Sadako Sasaki, born in 1943. Sadako was two years old when the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945. In 1955, at age 11, Sadako was diagnosed with Leukemia, contracted as a result of exposure to the radiation from the bomb. When she learned of the diagnosis, Sadako's best friend told her of the old Japanese legend about folding 1,000 paper cranes. Sadako immediately started folding paper cranes, and completed over 1,000 before she died on October 25, 1955 when she was twelve years old. Inspired by her example, her friends and classmates compiled a book of her letters and published it, and because of their vision and love for their friend, a statue of Sadako holding a golden crane was unveiled in Hiroshima Peace Park in 1958. Cranes are sent by the millions each year from all over the world to the Children's Monument in Hiroshima's Peace Park.

Anybody is welcome to send cranes.

You can learn to fold your own crane:

Or if you would like detailed step by step instructions with pictures, see http://monkey.org/~aidan/origami/crane/.

Last year Krafty1 mentioned that she had picked up so yarn to use to design some "crane socks". She said that once she finished the design work she would post the info for ordering and that she would donate all funds to Operation Migration. Go give Krafty1 a shout out and tell her what a great idea this is. If you have any ideas for those socks I'm sure she would love to hear them! While we're waiting for those socks, you could always make yourself a pair of wings: http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEsummer06/PATTallete.html

Me and my new whooping crane friends, Thelma and Louise