The first word Sachan learned in Japanese was “hashi,” (ha-she) which means chopsticks. When we met the Maeda’s for our “Welcome to Japan” party, you know, the one at the Chinese restaurant, Sachan was very excited to see that she had her own set of hashi.  She was quickly informed that a polite three-year old lady should say, “ohashi” (oh-ha-she). A three-year old saying “ohashi” may be polite, but a three-year old eating with ohashi is not. Sachan is fascinated with the idea that she can use two sticks to pick up food.  Alas, the reality (actually getting said food to her mouth) is an entirely different thing.

It turns out by sticking an “oh” on the front of many words you can make the word more polite. I am unsure what you do when you run into a word that already begins with an “o.”  For example onigiri.  What is onigiri, you ask?  Onigiri (Oh-knee-giddy) is a common food in Japan.  It is made by shaping hot sticky rice with your hands into a three-inch triangle about an inch thick.  It can be plain but usually is wrapped in seaweed and has something inside.  (My first experience with onigiri was during the summer Pam and I met.  That onigiri had an umeboshi in the middle; still my absolute favorite.  Umeboshi – oo-may-bow-she – are pickled plums.) Since Pam doesn’t cook and I don’t have asbestos-protected hands, I can’t make onigiri.  So for years I have settled for sprinkling shredded dried pickled plum on bowls of rice.

Onigiri can have other things in it as well:  salmon, shrimp, dried little fishes, fish flakes, fish eggs, cucumber, mayo and tuna…well, just about anything.  You can get them everywhere.    The 7-11s in Japan are famous for their always fresh onigiri.  (Once again, NOT making this up.)  You can also find them in the grocery stores and any number of little mom and pop store fronts that sell freshly made onigiri.

I love onigiri.  Sachan loves onigiri, (Wouldn’t you like to love an onigiri too?  Be an Onigiri. Eat an onigiri).  Sachan especially likes the ones with salmon in them.  These are called shah-kay-no-onigiri.  (The onigiri in the picture is a sake-no-onigiri from sushi lady; they are wrapped in a leaf to keep them moist.)  Sachan is growing increasingly fond of the seaweed part.

In an earlier tale (Sending my three-year old to college) I talked about all the things we needed to purchase for Sachan for her school.  Included in that was a lunch box.  This is not your Scooby-Doo, Speed Racer, or Charlie’s Angels themed school lunch box with matching thermos.  (another short paragraph with a pointless tangent :  Japanese TV.  It truly defies description.  It has long frightened me in my travels to see which American programs are exported and popular in other countries.  Charlie’s Angles is still popular here.  Along with Bewitched, Dallas, Columbo and Murder She Wrote.  All of these are dubbed into Japanese.  It strikes me as very, very wrong that when dubbed, Farrah Fawcett and Angela Lansbury have the same girlishly high-pitched cutesy voice. I mean, anything works with Farrah’s 80’s hair … but I digress.)

A Japanese style lunch box is called an obento (oh-bent-toe.) This is Sachan’s obento.  Twice a week I fix Sachan’s obento for school. Twice a week, her lunch is provided.  It is quite common for mom’s to make their children onigiri for their obento.  Some moms apparently have way too much time on their hands and take this a bit too seriously.  There are cookbooks, monthly magazines and websites devoted to creating edible works of art in the obento.  To see what a real Japanese obento for a child’s school lunch should look like, please visit these sites:
http://www.e-obento.com/main-Frame-set.htm (just click on a month at the top to view monthly themed obentos)
http://jakeben.blog111.fc2.com/ (in case you think obentos are just for kids check out this one!  This dude makes his obentos look like album covers! — and yes, he should probably get a real job.)

The first site was sent to me by Omura the Protector when Sachan started school.  She didn’t want Sachan to be embarrassed by not having artistic creations to eat for lunch.
In this picture, you may notice a certain theme with Sachan’s choice of eating/dining accoutrement.  In this picture you see her Princesses’ cup that she uses for milk; her Princesses’ obento; her Princesses’ utensil set – complete with her own ohashi; a Princesses’ cloth napkin – we have three styles; her Princesses’ bag for all this stuff; and her pink thermos – we are apparently failures as parents because we have not yet been able to find a matching Princesses’ thermos. (Oh, and the big 14 x 11 inch piece of paper is one of the Yochien Life papers – the papers that come home in Sachan’s blue leather bag (not shown) on a near daily basis that require long painful translation sessions for Pam.)

There are two reasons why I do not conform and just put an onigiri in Samantha’s obento.
The first is Henry David Thoreau:

He who is a man must be a nonconformist.

I am a man.  I am a nonconformist.

The second is Bill Cosby:

The great thing about being an American
is that you give them two pieces of bread
and they will eat anything.

This brings us to the real problem with an obento.  It does not properly hold the most important lunch-time meal item:  A peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

You remember the old Far Side cartoon with the guy trying to ram the square peg into the round hole…  I mean, you can make it fit…but, uh, well… you know, it just doesn’t look very good.  Ever spent time thinking about how to make a PB & J look good?  Not to worry, I have time to think about such things.

Let’s see:  bread is a grain; peanut butter has fat and protein; jelly has sugar and fruit.  What’s missing?   A veggie.  Fortunately, Sachan loves olives.  Black olives.    Not to worry, we have olives.  Olives and PB & J; it’s nutritious, and most importantly, it has artistic potential.

This is how Sachan eats olives.

This picture of Sachan has nothing to do with anything, it just makes me laugh.

This is how I arrange olives on Sachan’s PB & J:

This is how I get Sachan’s PB & J into her tiny obento:

And then…

“OH NOooo! Mr. Bill!”

Obento ready!

And to think Omura was worried….

Written and then rewritten and rewritten and then Sent 10012004