Drawn

I absolutely totally forgot my camera again today. Well I didn't totally forget it because I got it into my school bag but not from my school bag to the lunch hall. I was so keen to eat I dashed out of my class leaving the camera behind. So today I have drawn my lunch for you on the computer!



In case you can't tell I had carrot and coriander soup to start which is still my favourite and I would pick it over chocolate cake any day. The soup was so hot after one mouthful I nearly burnt my mouth so I had it after my main. I chose an omelette over the sausages because I haven't had it for a while. It was really nice and tasted of cheese. With it I had roast potatoes which are never crunchy, radishes, pineapple and cucumber. The radishes were crunchy and spicey! I ate absolutely everything but I was too full for fruit.

Food-o-meter- 9/10
Mouthfuls- thirty something
Courses- starter/main
Health Rating- 8/10
Price- £2
Pieces of hair- 0
Wristband- Yellow
Mary's Meal Total-170 children fed for a year or 25% of a kitchen. Thank you!

I am getting excited about meeting all the people with Nick Nairn this week to talk about food. It's going to be awesome!

Danny's mum sent in this picture from Alba in Spain (20 seconds!) because Danny is only 10 months old and is at nursery.



I love the cute teddy bear bowls! LEFT: lunch one consists of white flesh peaches, strawberries and yogurt melts under they also have a meal which was cous-cous, broccoli, cucumbers and roasted salmon RIGHT: day two lunch he had poached apple pears, strawberries and blue berries, for the meal he had pieces of swede and fresh garden peas.

It costs 1 euro, about 80p, and I think I could eat three but there again I am nine not 10 months old!

VEG

Disaster.

Disaster. Today I forgot to take my camera so I have no photo. I chose a salad today but I don't think it's fair to rate it if you can't see it for yourselves. I got a lovely email reply about where our meat comes from though and with it came loads of info about the hot dogs we have.



You can read it here.

I read it with Dad but it's hard to understand. It's weird that they can be kept for three years though! Let me know what you think.

Annika from Munster in Germany (17 seconds!) sent me her lunch photo. She says,
'I'm a student at a university and we have a few canteens for many students.
Today one of those had one of my favorite foods. They are called
"Schupfnudeln". I like them a lot! You can always take three side dishes(always different ones).
If you just take one or two the menu costs less. A dessert can be as cheap as a
side dish but there are also some which are more expensive. So here is my
food-o-meter. I couldn't eat all the rice because it was very dry without sauce.
But my salad was very crunchy and fresh:



Food-o-meter: 9/10
Mouthfuls: 42
Courses: main + 2 side dishes
Health Rating: 8/10
Price: £2.02
Pieces of hair: 0'

I like all the choices you get at University but it would take me a long time to decide everyday! The Schupfnudeln look like gnocchi which are delicious.

I'd really like to see some more school dinners from the UK to compare to mine so please email neverseconds@gmail.com with a photo or just an email if you are not allowed a camera.

I will remember my camera next week. I will.


VEG

Almost Triple Pasta!

It was almost triple pasta because after yesterday's mince pasta and Dad's Spag Bol last night it was Spaghetti Bolognese for lunch today! If Dad hadn't cooked it last night I would have had it but instead I went for chicken fajita. I'd really like to know where the chicken comes from so I am going to write to the lady in charge to ask. I know it comes from a hen but I'd like to know where the hen lived.



There is always spag bol the day after mince pasta which I think are the same meal really. The fajita was lovely because there was no fat on the chicken and it was covered in salsa. I cut it up rather than pick it up in case I dropped bits which isn't popular. It is quite hard to eat peas and sweetcorn without dropping them but I was very careful. The dessert is called Australian Crunch but I don't know why. The only reason I can think of is it has coconut in it unless its a traditional Australian recipe. I didn't finish my dessert so no fruit. Our special visitor in the white coat and hair net wasn't here today. I don't know if we'll see her tomorrow.

Food-o-meter- 4/10
Mouthfuls- 33
Courses- main/dessert
Health Rating- 5/10
Price- £2
Pieces of hair- 0
Wristband- Orange
Mary's Meal Total-161 children fed for a year or 21% of a kitchen. I will write to say thanks to you all at the weekend.

Today we are going to Tel Aviv in Israel. (1 minute 25 seconds, it was really hard!) Ziva emailed me and said Boker Tov! (That means "Good Morning" in Hebrew)so Boker Tov Ziva!



Her lunch was 'falafel, which is ground down chickpeas and fava beans, with pita chips and yoghurt and cucumber sauce, with green leaves and onion. It was a really good food and I always enjoy it. We also get dessert (I could not take a picture as you only get it if you have finished all your first course) which we are able to take with us. This day I had a kichlach which is a type of cookie. Through the day we also have 2 snacks, for which we are allowed to get as much fruit or salad as we like, I normally have סָלָט יְרָקוֹת יִשְׂרְאֵלִ (Israeli vegetable salad) which is small cucumber and tomatoes. Or fruit. We pay for school lunch with school tuition but i believe it translates or 12 shekel per day which is almost 2 pounds.
Shalom! (That means Peace, but also Hello or Goodbye)'

I love Ziva's colourful plate. Every other plate I have seen is white. The pretty plate and place mat make the food look so much nicer and I bet it tastes great. I like colour!

Shalom,

VEG

Double pasta!

Since my blog became well read we have had a special visitor at school who wears a white coat and hair net. She looks at my food when I am walking away from the queue. I think she stays there and looks at everyone's and then she looks at what goes in the bin when serving has finished. Not much went in the bin today!



I asked if I could have a dessert and soup and they said yes, maybe because there was a lot of soup left. The soup was carrot and I ate half of it but then stopped because it was too hot! I finished my soup after I ate my pasta and before my yoghurt. I didn't quite finish my pasta because it had a lot of onions in it. I've called my post double pasta because Dad made spag bol for tea at home!

Food-o-meter- 9/10
Mouthfuls- I did count but I've forgotten!
Courses- starter/main/dessert
Health Rating- 7/10
Price- £2
Pieces of hair- 0
Wristband- Orange
Mary's Meal Total-150 children fed for a year or 20% of a kitchen, thanks!


I got this fantastic email yesterday from Canada (British Columbia 17 seconds!)

'Hello VEG!

I've enjoyed reading your blog very much and wanted to share the wonderful food that my school's cafe produces with you. I teach at a highschool in Invermere, British Columbia, Canada. The school goes from grades 8-12. We have an excellent program at our school that prepares students to be cooks/chefs and they are the ones who produce our snacks/meals on a daily basis.

Their teacher, is an inspiration. She is dedicated to local produce and fresh product. All of the green that are served in the cafeteria are grown in the greenhouse next to the school. We even enjoy fresh lettuce in the winter months!





Today, I enjoyed the Rocky Mountain Bowl (with grilled tofu) and a piece of pumpkin cheesecake. My rating:

Food-o-meter: 10/10! (Yes, it was THAT good!)
Mouthfuls: Sorry! I was too busy enjoying!
Health Rating: 9/10
Price: $3.50 + $2.00 = $5.50 (Canadian dollars) £3.44
Pieces of hair: NONE!
Type of Meal: Main/Dessert

I can't say enough about of wonderful cafeteria... Teaching kids to cook healthy food at home is a great way to help the next generation.

Thanks and keep up the excellent work on the blog, I tune in every morning...

Lainey'

I think this is the best dinner I have seen so far and its made by students at the school! We are building our own greenhouse in our playground out of old 2 litre plastic bottles. Maybe when we finish it we can eat from it too.

VEG

Mine's best!

I started at about 11 o'clock this morning by rinsing and soaking some sushi rice. Whilst the rice cooked I went to the polytunnel and picked the salad. When the rice was cool I rolled it in a sheet of dried seaweed called Nori. I then decorated mine and made some cheesey fish!



It was quite difficult to get it right and I had to use one of Dad's sharp knives to cut the roll because a normal knife wouldn't. The eyes were to hard to make round out of Nori so I used carrot. I think it looks better the Dad's square eyes! What do you think?



The rice was so sticky it held everyting together and the seaweed melted in your mouth. I really liked it as a packed lunch but if I was making it again I'd add much more carrot and cheese.

Food-o-meter- 7/10
Mouthfuls- oops forgot!
Courses- main
Health Rating- 9/10
Price- free!
Pieces of hair- 0

Today's school dinner has been sent in by Aimee from near Brandenburg in Germany (14 seconds because Dad held the globe upside down to confuse me!) Aimee says 'My mom helps me to send you the photo of my lunch today and to write you this mail.'



'We can select from a choice of three meals each day. My choice today was "Hefeklöße mit Vanillesoße" or how you would say Yeast dumplings with vanilla sauce. Usually they scatter poppy about it, but I don't like poppy on my dumplings. For dessert, we can always get something from a separate table. Today there were apples and vegetables. The drink (water) is free for all children. Our lunch price is - I think - 1,50 Euro, I think it's £ 1,21.

My rating:
Food-o-meter- 7/10
Mouthfuls- 20
Health Rating- 9/10
Price- £1,21
Pieces of hair- 0'

I've not visited Germany yet so I can't imagine how a yeast dumpling tastes but you have given it a good food-o-meter and health rating so it must be delicious!

Thank you for your support for Mary's Meals. We're now at 17% of a kitchen or 120 children feed for a year! Whoop! If you leave your email address when you donate I can write and say thank you.

Back to school tomorrow.


VEG

Jubilee day off and a Challenge!

First of all thank you to everyone that has donated to my Just Giving page for Mary's Meals. We have raised an amazing £760 which is 10% of a kitchen or 76 children fed for a whole year. I am going to write to say thank you to you all this afternoon

I love the photos people send me and I have chosen one for my special challenge. It has been sent in by Mai from Japan (3 seconds, I am getting good at this!)



Mai made this for her niece and I think the penguin rice balls are so cute! I am not sure what else is in her box but it is all so beautifully prepared.

So here's the challenge. Dad and I are going to try and make our own penguin rice balls for lunch tomorrow. I'll post up our photos so you can see whose is best! If you fancy giving it a go as well send your photos to neverseconds@gmail.com .


Good luck,

VEG

Coronation Chicken was invented to celebrate the Queen coming to the throne in 1953 and it's still here today! It's a mixture of cold chicken in a cold curry sauce. It tastes a lot better than it sounds. It was on our menu to celebrate the Queen's diamond jubilee this weekend. We've an extra day off school to celebrate and I am going to a street party. We don't go back until Wednesday next week!

My baked potato was hot with a nice crispy skin. I ate my potato first because the coronation chicken was cooling it down. I was practicing eating a little bit of everything so I ate my salad, chicken and coleslaw together. We had metal spoons today for our ice-cream which was raspberry ripple with jam around the edges and in the swirls. The tub had 'God Bless the Queen 1953-2012' written on it. I think the Queen would have really enjoyed the lunch, I did!

Food-o-meter- 9/10
Mouthfuls- 42
Courses- main/dessert
Health Rating- 7/10
Price- £2
Pieces of hair- 0 again!
Wristband- Yellow

There have been some comments on the blog saying I am lucky even to get a meal at lunch. You are right. That's why my friends and I set up Charity Children to raise money for Mary's Meals. We planted plants and decorated their pots. We made cards, felted soaps, necklaces and friendship bracelets. We sold these at school and raised £70. I was given £50 by a magazine that wanted to print my pictures so I decided to give it all to Mary's Meals.

I really like the fact that Mary's Meals feed so many children everyday. I think it encourages children to go to school as well as giving them a healthy meal. My dad has set up a Just Giving page JustGiving.com/NeverSeconds where I have put my money. I can't make you all felt soaps but please join me in helping give lunch to children that really need it.


VEG