post scriptum

we have been through a great deal since march. a twin pregnancy where we tragically lost one of the identical twins at week 19 of the pregnancy. subsequently, it became a high risk pregnancy and i had to be sent on sick leave, followed by further complications which got me committed to bed rest. a month into bed rest, i was hospitalised. two weeks following the forced hospitalisation, our jon got a little sister born premature at 28 weeks. the little sister had to remain in hospital until the approximate due date. we got back home 4 weeks ago…

life at home has changed a great deal…

on the other hand, the good news is that jon’s kindergarten will start preparing their own lunches as of january 2010 so we the parents will no longer need to pack lunch boxes on a daily basis! hurray!

i want to thank all those that have come by to check on us.

monday

box 1: potato salad with crème fraîche and fresh parsley box 2: fresh red peppers box 3: Nutana soya fillet box 4: cherry tomatoes

tuesday

box 1: chow mein with carrots, soy sprouts, peas, onions, fresh ginger, garlic served over egg noodles box 2: cherry tomatoes box 3: veggie spring rolls (filling: cabbage, carrots) box 4: roasted almonds

wednesday

box 1: ratatouille (aubergine/eggplant, onions, fresh tomatoes, garlic, olive oil) served with a Nutana veggie sausage. box 2: cherry tomatoes box 3: veggie muffin (salty muffin base with zucchini/courgette and Nutana veggie sausage box 4: roasted almonds

thursday

box 1: boiled potatoes with black eyed peas and boiled egg – drizzled with olive oil box 2 + 4: fresh grapes box 3: fresh red peppers

friday

box 1: red lentil stew with red lentils, onions, garlic, tomato, crushed cumin and lemon juice box 2: variety cherry tomato box 3: naan bread box 4: cucumber slices

catching up

it has been more a case of procrastinating in terms of posting rather than not putting lunchboxes together. after a full 14 months of “lunchboxing” (that almost sounds dangerous), papajon and i could put a lunchbox together with our eyes closed (well, almost), taking pictures is fairly straight forward… but posting is a lot more complicated… wordpress has made posting easy… but it is still a long process to routinely post once a week… some people post daily and twice daily. kudos!

monday

box 1: lentil stew: potatoes, lentils, onions, garlic, tomato concentrate, red pesto, a touch of chili and sprinkled with a bit of fresh parmesan box 2: cashew nuts  box 3: cucumber box 4: tomatoes

tuesday

box 1: a brand new adventure into mexican cooking: peppers stuffed with beans (an independance day dish – i did not serve with the traditional walnut sauce and pomegranate seeds…) – it was served with rice instead. it was delicious but time consuming… box 2: cucumber sticks box 3: skinned grapefruit box 4: caswhews

wednesday

box 1: freshly cut fresh papaya! box 2: boiled egg box 3: cozido à portuguesa (boiled potatoes, carrots, green cabbage and drizzled with pure and virgin olive oil box 4: cherry tomatoes

thursday

box 1: boiled broccoli box 2: cucumber sticks box 3: rice with spinach and salmon (rather pale picture…) box 4: cherry tomatoes

friday

box 1: cucumber sticks box 2: eggplant (aubergine) pakoras (a real hit in this house!) box 3: veg mix (red and green peppers, tomatoes, aubergines, onions, garlic and olive oil) with mashed potatoes box 4: sweet dried apricots

2 in 1

posting madness – 2 posts in 1 day or maybe i am just too keen…

monday

tuesday

wednesday

thursday

friday

the rat race continues

back from the dead winter hybernation… with the packing, the relocation, the unpacking (still a great deal of boxes to unpack, but we can function, so we are getting lazy to unpack the remaining ones…), hubby starting a new job, jon starting at a new pre-school, getting used and enjoying our new surroundings, quick trip to zimbabwe, all of these factors limited my blogging time. but we continue to put together lunchbox on a weekly basis. same procedure as last year

monday

box 1: greek yoghurt with sugar free jam from norway (thanks to SIL+BIL) box 2: physallis (some of us are addicted) box 3: walnut bread from our local bakery with slices of gouda cheese and cucumber box 4: boiled egg (you can never go wrong with boiled eggs)

tuesday

box 1: portuguese rice (i call it portuguese rice, because i grew up on this stuff) – rice boiled with peas, onions, carrots box 2: cucumber slices box 3: soya sausages (from nutana) box 4: yellow pepper slices on the side: physallis

wednesday

box 1: tri-colour fusili pasta with aubergine tomato sauce and mozzarella box 2: red pepper slices box 3: tomato wedges with gouda cheese with sprinkled oregano box 4: organic raisins

thursday

box 1: spinach omelette box 2: red pepper sticks box 3: rye bread buns with organic beef salami (free of colourings and similar nasty stuff) box 4: physallis

friday

box 1: boiled broccoli with sweetcorn (seasoned with fresh raw garlic, olive oil and lemon juice) box 2: goat cheese with sugar free apricot jam box 3: potatos sautéed with zucchini (courgettes) and carrots box 4: organic raisins

week 43: relocating

we are relocating to western denmark within 3 weeks, so the house is beginning to look like a war zone. moving is a good way to de-junk:) we are getting rid of our PC tomorrow. our fujitsu-siemens laptop from 2005 is too slow, so i will not be uploading any lunchbox pictures until 2009… need to preserve my sanity!!

want to thank all of you that stop by we will be back to welcome the new year!

meanwhile, i leave you with a challenge: think of the top 10 foods you would want to eat before you die.

monday

left box: thin crisp pizza (as it should be ) with sundried tomatoes, tomato sauce, mozzarella and drizzled with fresh pesto box 2: salad with lettuce, tomatoes, sweetcorn and cucumber box 3: cucumber

tuesday

box 1: sliced yellow peppers with cucumber slice box 2: cucumber sticks box 3: cawliflower and green peas gratin box 4: mashed potatoes

wednesday

box 1: pumpkin curry with chick peas and green peas box 2: boiled potatoes with olive oil and oregano right box: veggie samosa on the side: tangerine

thursday: jon was properly fed at kindergarten at their monthly get-together-lunch

friday: no picture available…

week 42: glorious plantain

mamajon discovered a shop that sells plantain! bliss! rapture! mamajon grew up in ivory coast, and papajon and jon have been duly introduced to the great taste of aloko.

mamajon bought a bag full of ripe plantain, a few packs of foutou and a few bags of plantain crips… couldn’t help it…

monday

box 1: fresh tagliatelle with tomato sauce and black olives + parmesan box 2: sliced cucumber box 3: apple and cinnamon struddel with almonds and raisins (entirely and completely sugarfree!) box 4: radishes mini-box: fresh tagliatelle post scriptum: jon packed his own lunchbox and he felt he needed 2 boxes with tagliatelle.

tuesday

box 1: tomato slices box 2: plantain crips box 3: fresh salmon baked with potatoes and thyme box 4: fresh spinach sautéed with onions and olive oil

wednesday

box 1: tomatoes box 2: plantain crips (fabulous snack!) box 3: pasta with fresh spinach and oven baked feta cheese box 4: sweetcorn

thursday

box 1: spanish tortilla (the flip failed me… or i failed to flip and the egg/potato tortilla crumbled…) box 2: mexican tortilla grilled with cheddar cheese box 3: sweetcorn and green olives with olive oil and lemon juice box 4: grapes from portugal (grown in grandparent’s vineyard! )

friday

box 1: oven baked potatoes box 2: aloko box 3: tomato sauce with onions and grated parsnips box 4: roasted chicken breast

week 41: farfar & farmor

week 40: post surgery

monday

jon stayed at home with mamajon for some post-surgery rest. we walked through the forrest in the afternoon, kicked some yellow and red leaves, collected some to take home and glued them to a nice white paper to show papajon when he got home from work.

tuesday

stayed home with papajon. they went for a walk by the marina, checked out the posh yachts and the fishermen.

wednesday

thursday

friday

week 39: travel & hospital & recovery

quite the agitated week and we are now enjoying a quiet weekend at home.

it started off with mamajon travelling to brussels for 2 days. jon and papajon had fun making calzones for the lunchbox which got a lot of praise at kindergarten jon had a surgery scheduled for friday, which had both his parents more anxious than necessary (but how can one ask a parent to be relaxed when their precious little one is going to have full anesthesia and go under the knife?) but it all went quite well and we were in hospital for a total of 6 hours: from 9am to 3pm. he has been running about the house today as though nothing happened, full of energy.

monday

box 1: pumpkin soup (pumpkin, potatoes, onion, garlic, olive oil and fresh parsley) box 2: lettuce, tomato, cucumber and greek yoghurt box 3: cornbread, from annie’s recipe blog (jon and papajon have now requested cornbread on a weekly basis) box 4: cucumber

tuesday

calzones made by jon and his papa (mamajon was in brussels… missing all action back home)

wednesday

no pictures taken of wednesday’s lunchbox either, but papajon assures me jon did not starve!

thursday

box 1: yellow peppers and tomatoes box 2: tangerine box 3: sunflower bun/roll with philadelphia cream cheese, red pesto and cucumber slices box 4: boiled egg comment: notice the colour of the boxes?? different from our usual ones… well, while in brussels, mamajon got invited over for dinner, and the hostess gabriella had a laptop lunchbox lying around that she was no longer using and donated it to jon. grazie gabi!

friday

hospital food consumed.

week 38: cooking together

jon is helping a great deal in the kitchen. he helped mamajon make the pumpkin pie and papajon in making the lasagna. he also layed his toppings on top of pita bread to make some mini-pizzas. we have a great time together and jon enjoys being/feeling helpful around the kitchen.

we watched fast food nation last weekend (jon was already sleeping), and we were completely grossed out. the docu-film reinforced our commitment to homemade food. at least i know what i am eating…

monday

box 1: vegetarian lasagna made with fresh pasta sheets box 2: cucumber box 3: pumpkin pie (made with freshly cut pumpkin – we would not be able to find canned pumpkin in denmark anyways…) box 4: red peppers

tuesday

mamajon had to attend a meeting in brussels and was not able to take a picture of jon’s lunchbox. papajon put vegetable toppings with cheese on top of pita breads and created mini-pizzas

wednesday

box 1: honeydew melon box 2: red peppers box 3: oat bun with philadelphia cheese and økologisk spegepølse from hanegal box 4: cocktail tomatoes

thursday

box 1: potato salad with peas, carrots, olive oil and lemon juice box 2: raisins box 3: baked potatoes with baked salmon and onions box 4: tomatoes

friday

box 1: greek yoghurt with sugarfree pomegranate jam box 2 + 4: corn on the cob boiled decorated with tomatoes box 3: rye bread with sunflower seeds and philadelphia cheese