We're cheering for yellow

The verdict from the Dr was that he has to go back in two weeks! The bone is starting to heal though, which is a good thing and the Dr said Ebi-kun could join the sports festival as long as he didn't use his arm!

So this is his lucky yellow bento since he is in the yellow team this year.

Top left: kaki stars and pumpkin salad

Bottom left: Corn and tangerine with a string cheese cheerleader

then of the left are chestnut rice rolls wrapped in thin omlette, yellow pepper stars and yellow mini tomatoes.

Should keep him going...

PS - I am looking for bloggers to review my latest book "Fast and Fun Ghoulish Halloween Treats" if you have been a reader for a while you will know how much I love fun ghoulish food! If you would like a free copy in return for a blog review then please pop your details in this form! Can't wait to share...

Mary Rose Cake Tutorial

Last Saturday was a national holiday, so our American friend hosted a Thanksgiving party. I offered to do the cakes. For the adults I made the very indulgent Bailey's Salted Chocolate Pie of course we didn't want the kids digging into that, so for them, I made the Mary Rose.

We had a round sponge cake that my husband had bought home from work (his company makes cake mixing machines and he often comes home with cake on testing days!) plus a couple of Castella cakes. You could easily use this to make a pirate ship for a pirate party. It was easy to put together…

Start with a round cake and 2 blocks of sponge and a jar of jam to use as glue…

Place one of the blocks on top of the circular cake then cut it so it is as wide as the block of cake…

Take one of the off cuts and place it at the front - and after repeat for the front with the other piece…

Cut it again so the back is the same width too…now do the front end…

Now to build it up, one block will go on the back. The front cut 1/3 from the end. Use some jam to stick everything together, adding some jam to the bottom of the ship will also stop it from sliding around. Once all the sponge is cut, simply build it up…

It should look something like this…

Then all you need to do is cover it with your preferred frosting, this could have done with a bit more smoothing over but I was short of time. The sails were simple, cut some printer paper and thread them onto bamboo sticks, I used a bit of masking tape to hold them in place.

Of course, if you were going for the whole pirate theme you would want to add some mini figures and the such like, my distraction technique worked, the kids were happily distracted by ship cake and the adults got to over indulge! Win-Win!

Did we win at the edible book festival?

Sadly no, but admittedly it was a pretty rushed affair, with Ebi-kun still in school and it being the end of the school year and 101 things going on I didn't managed to get into the swing of things this time.

We did make a fish lunch based on Tiddler.

Tiddler is a Julia Donaldson and Alex Scheffler and was a firm favourite when Ebi-kun was younger, along with the Gruffalo and Monkey Puzzle.

Tiddler available from The Book Depository

Pop over to Playing By The Book to see this years winners...

Mission Explore Food - free download

Ebi-kun got a great book for Christmas called Mission Explore Food. He doesn't really need much encouragement to experiment with food, he loves trying new things and will often pick things on a menu because he doesn't know what it is! I can see this book furthering his interest and helping him learn about where all the different types of food come from.

The book is split into 6 main chapters; Grow, Harvest, Cook, Eat, Waste and Soil. Each chapter has a selection of experiments and missions for your child to complete. Some of them sound great and some are well, pretty revolting but I suppose that makes it more fun.

I think anyone who wants to do more with their children to learn about food or for teachers this book is an excellent resource. Not all the missions are laid out for you step-by-step which encourages the child to think for themselves and come up with a solution.

I also like how everything has been covered, there are missions challenging you to try different specialist diets for a day such as raw food and some of the missions can be drawn or written about in the book. I also feel it is well designed to grab boys attentions by calling each experiment a mission, the illustrations are fun and not too gross.

So, would you like to get your mitts on a copy? We have a paper copy, which to be honest, I prefer - (forever the book lover). If you would like to have a look or if you are happy to use an electronic edition you can download for FREE the kindle version here or the iBook version here, the links are valid until January 21st. If you prefer a paper version, you can get it on Amazon or The Book Depository.

 If you do get a copy, let me know if you try any of the missions, I would love to see how it goes with other people! If you know anyone else that you think would enjoy it, or their kids, then please share using the buttons below.

Picasso Sandwich?

Picasso style pocket sandwich
no other words needed!