Twice a month, or every other Wednesday rather, all the Catholic school's throughout Japan have a thing called onigiri Wednesday's. They do this so the kids will have an extremely simple meal and this will give them time to reflect and realize that many kids in the world do not have enough to eat. The school and church hopes the kids will appreciate what they have. Yada yada yada! I can understand the school's thinking. And I totally can understand this. However as an American mom, I'd wish I could just send Branden to school with a bologna sandwich and nothing else or even just a cheese sandwich would be great and much easier for me. Sigh, but this onigiri making stuff, has been a thorn in my side since he first started this school. I've written about this onigiri stuff before. And even now, I've still not gotten it down yet!I'm not a bad cook. In fact on a whole, I'd say I'm a pretty good cook! And on any given day, I pack Branden's lunch with some American/Japanese type fusion lunch, ha ha ha! And it usually works out pretty darned good! But making straight Japanese stuff, like onigiri and I'm horrible....completely horrible! Branden doesn't eat fish, he doesn't really like seafood too much. and in fact he's not crazy about seaweed too much either. Branden may look more like my husband, but he definitely inherited western tastebuds. Noah on the other hand, may look like me, but he eats and prefers Japanese food and loves anything fishy or seafoody. And he loves onigiri... simple triangle shaped and wrapped in seaweed onigiri. So, knowing each of my sons. I try to make a onigiri that Branden will actually eat! Versus not eat at all. I have been making these onigiri's and he's been eating them since April.I got the plastic wrap laid down on the bottom of the obento/lunch box. I know you need that when making onigiri. So the onigiri can come out easier and won't stick to the bottom. And see the little decorated milk carton? Well, we are supposed to donate money to the school on onigiri Wednesday's. Why? Because they say, by us being lucky enough to send our kids with a simple (ha!) onigiri, the school has just saved us tons of money by not having to send a real/proper lunch. Hmmm! Again, I can understand this. But as a western mom. Actually me having to go through the trouble of making onigiri's to begin with. Buying the onigiri molds to begin with. Having to buy seaweed and whatnot when we usually don't have it in the house to begin with. Actually in my case, I have to spend *more* money just to send him to school with the darned tootin' onigiri. So, they should be giving me money actually, ha ha ha! I told my husband about this and while he totally agrees and laughs about it being true. He knows that would not fly. I agree. And our regular obento's are usually what we had from the night before, so it's easy for me. Like if we had roasted chicken for example, I'll send him to school with a roasted chicken sandwich with swiss cheese, some mayo and whatnot. Easy. Ohhh darn this onigiri Wednesday stuff! : )
Since the donations are being given to the poor as the school says. I wondered if the donations were being sent to a different country? And if so, could I give some of my US coins instead? The reason I even thought this, was because I didn't have much Japanese change. I figured I better not though because I wouldn't want any of the sisters angry at us. So, I dug out 170 yen from my coin purse and put it in the donation milk carton. (1) 100 yen coin and (7) 10 yen coins. His milk carton jingled all the way to the bus stop this morning! Ha ha ha!
Rice on the front side. And I hid 2 small pieces of karaage inside and covered the other side with rice as well. When it was done, you couldn't even see the little chicken pieces inside. Most mom's fill theirs with tuna and whatnot. I'll probably give Noah the tuna and whatnot when he starts this school many years from now. But this is perfect for Branden.
The fish and elephant shaped ones came out gorgeous! Granted, very simple no doubt, but still great! Now the bear is a totally different story! I thought I had measured the size of his whiskers properly. I cut them with my kitchen scissors in the kitchen. But the left whiskers were longer then the right ones. I'm in this kitchen at this point, still feeling pretty good. I managed to trim them down without disturbing the delicate onigiri. Phew! Now this is really were everything turns to hell. So, I'm putting on the teddy's eyes. The damned left eye. I placed it and I don't know if I breathed too hard? But I blew the eyeball to the teddy's forehead! BAM! The eyeball got stuck on his forehead for sure! At this point, I glance at the clock. I don't have much time left! I have to motor or we will certainly be late! I tried removing it with my finger and it didn't budge! Okay, a mild panic set in! A few deep breaths over this eyeball on the forehead thing! And I think, grab out my chopsticks. I grab them and say not to worry, it's going to be a piece of cake! I try gently picking up the eyeball from the forehead and not sure why or how it happened, but I managed to rip the teddy-bears whole frontal lobe completely off! Okay, now I am really in a panic! Teddy is now missing half his freakin' forehead! I place my hands over my head and my eyes. And I sit there for a minute. I think, if I send Branden to school with half the bears head missing, the sensei's will surely shake their heads. And say, "poor kid, he has an American mommy and she can't even make him a proper onigiri" It's times like these when I think, "if I was Japanese, I woulda known how to do this stuff". If only I were a Japanese mom.....sigh, but I'm not and no matter how many years, I live in Japan, I'll NEVER be one! I accept that, totally no doubt, but it's just days like today! I compose myself and I get a bit of rice from the rice cooker and pick up the teddy and put him back in the mold. I sorta Frankensteined teddy's head back on! All the while, I worried if the sensei's and nun's would notice! Oh god, I hope nobody notices his head, I worried! Now teddy has only one eye. I very carefully put a left eye on teddy.By the way, and let me remind you guys. The school actually wants me to donate money on onigiri Wednesdays because it saves me so much *time* and money. Errrr ugh huh! Yeah, like today?
Here's Branden at the bus stop waiting for the school bus. I sit and wait until I see him get on the bus and they drive away. What a crazy morning today! Ha ha ha!He has a summer uniform and a winter one. And this outfit he's wearing isn't either. They have to go to school wearing their gym outfit everyday until undokai/sport's day/field day. And our field day isn't until October 1st. Undokai's in Japan are usually held in September and go all the way until the second week of October, I have one friend whose kid has theirs the second week of October this year.
Just another typical day of what it's really like being an American/western mommy in Japan! Most days it's easy. And sometimes, it's not! But as long as I keep my sense of humor about things, I figure I'll be okay! : )
Posts
