Ideal School Lunch

Update [2010 March 08]: This lunch menu won! Check out all five winners at GOOD magazine’s post here.

GOOD magazine asked readers to submit a healthy, delicious school lunch. Having just put together a grown-ups playground lunch for my sister-in-law’s baby shower, I took inspiration from a recipe my mother-in-law found.

My rendition of the ideal school lunch plays on the classic favorite – PB&J.

The sandwich is made of: whole grain bread, crunchy peanut butter, honey, jumbo raisin medley, sunflower seeds, shredded carrots and broccoli sprouts. The raisins and broccoli sprouts could be replaced with dried blueberries or cranberries and alfalfa sprouts or microgreens, respectively.

This is a great way to “hide” vegetables into a school lunch because the sprouts and shredded carrots easily get lost in the flavors of the peanut butter and honey. The honey and raisin medley together give a “jelly” flavor without all of the artificial sugars. I like the sunflower seeds for the bit of extra crunch.

To follow, is a parfait made of Fage greek yogurt, sliced local strawberries, and cranberry maple nut gluten-free granola. I like to think that if a meal looks visually appealing, it tastes that much better… so, I combined the dairy, fruit and grains into the parfait.

I chose an organic 100% grape juice to finish off the lunch. I think it would be nice for kids to have a choice of drinks including various fruit juices and a variety of milks (chocolate, soy, etc.).

Bon appetit!

I’ll be sure to share the contest’s winning lunch menu here.

Weekly Specials – 01.17, 01.24

The last couple of weeks either work has been hectic for us.  The entire week of 01.17 we were on our own.

Week of 01.24

Sunday – Chanko nabe @ Shinsengumi (for @PadrePablo‘s birthday).

Monday – Lobster quesadilla; mesclun salad w/ dates, green onions, lemon tarragon vinaigrette

Tuesday – Lobster fettucine w/ wild mushrooms; arugula salad w/ blueberries, walnuts, gorgonzola pear dressing

Wednesday – Friday – On your own

Saturday – TBD (PadrePablo’s birthday dinner)

We haven’t turned lobster-tarian.  We just landed containers full of lobster meat from a catered event, so we’re getting through it slowly.

Weekly Specials – 01.10

It’s been nearly three years since I’ve put together a weekly specials list.  Now that I’m done with school and @PadrePablo is back home, I’m slowly gaining my cooking mojo back.

I started these over at ladykeli.com as a way to be more budget and health conscious.  We realized the busier we got, the easier it was to grab take-out or dine out for dinner.  The last few years have been a prime example of that.

So here we go…

Sunday – Jambalaya

Monday – Yellowtail and brie cheese spring roll; Matsutake rice; warm egg custard (chawanmushi)

Tuesday – Pork medallion; steamed broccoli; whipped chive potatoes

Wednesday – On your own

Thursday – Blue cheese soufflé; spinach salad w/ blueberries and pecans

Friday – Chicken quesadilla; chips and salsa

Saturday – Dinner @ Le Pain Quitodien in Claremont

Retired: Lady Keli (dot com)

I’ve officially retired my first attempt at a blog, ladykeli.com.  You can read my final entry here or below.

That’s not to say that I’m done blogging about food, recipes, restaurants, photographs, etc.  Everything has been migrated to this site (now renamed to Lost in Mastication), under the same categories.  In fact there are three restaurant reviews that are still in draft mode that I’ll publish officially here (The Brentwood, Café R&D, and Roscoe’s).  POW’s have migrated here too!

I’m officially retiring ladykeli.com.  Albeit I enjoy food, dining, entertaining and the likes still, I’ve decided that this iteration of Intrigue (v5) is done.  Part of it is because I’m done with being “ladykeli” – a nickname that came from being a part of “krews” and the import showoff scene in the 90s.

Lost in Mastication began after my travels to Italy with @Padrepablo and our friends, the Mucciaros.  I realized I had so much to say that I couldn’t quickly communicate to friends and family alike via Facebook, MySpace or Flickr back then.  In fact, the title was @Padrepablo’s idea, inspired of course from one of our favorite movies, Lost in Translation.

Through this effort I’ve learned a lot about new media, how to write for the Web, and even made some connections with old and new friends alike.

This isn’t to say I’m leaving the blogosphere!  If anything, I’m still here in full force at sherrymain.com (aka Intrigue v6.0), and blog about all things food, photo, social media, policy, and whatever else tickles my fancy.   In fact, I’ve imported all of my posts from here to over to the new blog.  And I can be followed regularly on Twitter @sherrymain.

Adieu.

Bonne Année

Happy 2009! Perhaps the title is wishful thinking for a trip abroad in 2009.

Everything’s been a constant blur since about mid-2006, so I’m hoping that 2009 will be more defined than the past couple of years.

Some of what I hope to accomplish this year (in no particular order):

• Tweet and blog more (yes, that is possible)… and not just in quantity, but also in quality.  In the first 101 days for 2009, I hope to tackle @chrisbrogan‘s 100 blog topics to write about.
• Harness the power of social networking and social media.  Become more engaged so that I can learn, stay in the loop, and do more good.
• Start a business venture, and get it live and kicking.  Whether it be Dilettante Hostess or something else.  I’ve made a lot of good friends over the last few years that share similar interests, and I’d like to share such an experience with others.
• Pleasure reading.  With classes done, I hope to have time to read the long list of books that have accumulated over the last three years on my Amazon Wishlist.
• Accomplish an athletic feat.  Either a sprint triathlon or skiing blue runs.  And also find ways to engage my dog, Chibi, more in outdoor activities.
• Compile my recipes into a CC-licensed book.
• And much more that I am not thinking of at the moment….

In one sense, I would like 2009 to take it’s time so that I may accomplish all these things.  On the other hand, I can’t wait for 2010 to come because that means @Padrepablo will be done with school and we can pick up with our lives together again.