Turning Japanese

For the past week and then some, we have subsisted on takeout, cheese and crackers, and the dregs of our pantry (three-year-old canned tuna, anyone?) It's all been getting a little tiresome, so one night this week I improvised. My own little riff on the ubiquitous Bento meal became Ice Cube Tray Dinners: a mish mash of what we had in the fridge and in the pantry. It was a big hit with the kids, and I liked it a lot myself. Somehow it seems much more appealing to eat a few slices of banana than a whole banana. I like bananas just fine, but the idea of something in its entirety is sometimes, well, overwhelming. Pair a few slices of banana with some animal crackers, a chunk of cheese, a piece of Turkey Bite, a handful each of grapes and blueberries and baby carrots... you get the drift... dinner becomes fun again.

I did give each of the kids a bite-sized chocolate bar (broken in half, so as to take up two ice cube tray compartments) and Liam did not let me down: he saved his for dessert. Mallory, of course, sniffed hers out in about three nanoseconds and ate it first. A girl after my own heart.