Kawaii: An adjective in Japanese meaning ” pretty; cute; lovely; charming; dear; darling; pet” It’s stem is two kanji meaning “can love”. It is commonly used by anime and manga fans.  However, it has narrower definition than the English word cute. When applied to pop culture, cute will suffice; however kawaii refers primarily to the affection of a parent toward a child coupled with the protectiveness for the innocent and weak. Thus a pop cartoon character is considered kawaii because it exemplifies the innocence of a child and evokes general protective, caring instincts in the viewer. Other translations of kawaii can include adorable, precious, lovable or innocent.
So, did we succeed in making a kawaii cookie? =)
Blueberries, PB & J sandwich under the (suprinsingly not too unhealthy) bear cookie. Celery tucked under the checkered apple (my first attempt!). Side car has cottage cheese topped with lemon pepper, carrot flowers and scallion. I had meant to layer some spinach under the cottage cheese, but when he saw me packing it, kidlet asked me to please not put the “green stuff” in his cottage cheese. So we nixed that 😉
We made the cookie using Anna the Red’s recipe for pancake mix cookies (I plan to post more about it tomorrow for kid friendly friday). I used a high fiber oat bran complete pancake mix and subsituted 1 tablespoon with ground flax. I also added a pinch of cinnamon.
Total time: It took me six minutes to put everything together this morning. I had spent maybe an hour last night, while watching House on DVR with the hubby, cutting several carrots (you can blanch and freeze them, so I was trying to make some ahead) and an entire apple into checkered apple slices (I’m going to find out how long they are worth eating. Dunked in acidulated water, they shouldn’t brown, but I’m not sure if they will hold up in texture more than a day or two). So I’m not sure how much time it would have taken if I’d had to make the apple and cut the carrots this morning. All I had to do was gather the ingredients, cut some small celery sticks, and pack everything up.
I LOVE this particular bento set. It was the first one I ever bought. I also have a square side car and even a plastic mug with that sweet mushroom design. I doubt I’ll be able to get away with cute and pink boxes with the kiddo for very long (right now he doesn’t think of anything being “for girls” or “for boys”).
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