World Tour Begins!

VEG is away camping now at the start of her school holidays and I am sure we'll be having some amazing adventures! NeverSeconds has just been award Blog of the Month by Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. VEG is thrilled!



Many of the emails and comments we have received express how much you have all enjoyed reading about children and their dinners from around the world. So for the coming months of the holidays NeverSeconds is embarking on a world tour to hear more from children and their daily dose of school dinners. From Monday to Friday each guest blogger will share their stories and do something with Mary's Meals as VEG has for us all to enjoy.

The World tour starts in Wales, heads to England then travels on via Texas, Tokyo and Brazil. VEG will also blog on Fridays to share her developing Malawi plans and to pass the blog on. We still have some available weeks if your school would like to get involved.

First stop, starting Monday, is Ysgol Kingsland, Anglesey, Wales. Let us know how long it takes you to find it on a map! Ysgol Kingsland will be blogging in their home language Welsh, with English underneath. I know they have great ideas and I am looking forward to hearing them.

Thanks again everyone for your support. Keep your photos coming and let the World Tour begin!


VEG's Dad

NeverSeconds@gmail.com
@NeverSeconds

Porridge Party!

This morning we were told that the menu had changed so the kitchens could use up what they had left. I am not sure what the menu should have been.

I think it's a good idea not to waste food so I didn't mind having croquettes 2 days in a row. We also had two desserts! I can't remember having a Viennese (14s!) Biscuit before and they are nice and soft and they melt in your mouth. I decided not to dunk it in my yoghurt.

Food-o-meter- 6/10
Mouthfuls- 37
Courses- main/two desserts
Health Rating- 2/10
Price- £2
Pieces of hair- 0
Wristband- Yellow

We have raised over £108,000 for Mary's Meals and to celebrate I had a Porridge Party! I cooked some Likuni Phala. I measured out the mixture and added the water. I kept stirring it as it cooked and it didn't stick. Mary's Meals told me,

'Porridge provides a delicious breakfast for people all over the UK, but for over 549,000 schoolchildren in Malawi it is a powerful incentive to go to school and, for many, the only nutritious meal they will have that day.

At schools in Malawi where Mary’s Meals is working, every child is given a daily serving of likuni phala – which is a nutritious, vitamin-enriched maize porridge served in plastic mugs.

The porridge meets the children’s immediate needs by filling their empty bellies, but also attracts them to the classroom where they can get an education which can lift them out of poverty in later life.

Each child is responsible for looking after their own mug, and holding on to it ensures they get a fair portion every school day. Some carry them around their necks on a piece of string to make sure they don’t miss out.'

I really enjoyed the porridge. It's different to Scottish porridge and it's sweet and filling. Here I am tasting it! Remember it only costs 6p a day to feed a child with Mary's Meals. 6p.

I can't believe I am going to Malawi later in the year to help finish the 'Friends of NeverSeconds' kitchen sign and meet the children receiving Mary's Meals. I want to blog everyday when I am there but dad isn't sure how we'll manage it! Meanwhile NeverSeconds will be on its travels. More on that tomorrow.

So here's me and my dad saying thanks to you all!



I want the last word to go to Jailosi who is 10 years old and from Blantyre in Malawi. He says,

“Likuni phala gives us energy to learn and walk back home after school. We also have the heart to come back to school the next day because we know we will have porridge. I tell everyone how Mary’s Meals helps the weak to become strong.”

VEG

Countdown

I am looking forward to my camping holiday. It is only 2 sleeps away! I received the Likuni Phala from Mary's Meals and some instructions on how to cook it. Tomorrow I will be cook and taster.

I wasn't very hungry at lunchtime because dad made drop pancakes for breakfast and I had loads. They are quick and simple to make and very nice with homemade jam.

The hot dog is made from pork and chicken but it's hard to describe what it tastes of. Maybe it's because I smothered it in tomato sauce. I love mashed potato and so I love croquettes too. I ate my salad after I had finished my hot dog and croquettes. The muffin is one of my favourite puddings because it's sour in your mouth when you first have a bite of raspberry and it makes you suck your mouth in!

Food-o-meter- 7/10
Mouthfuls- 31
Courses- main/dessert
Health Rating- 5/10
Price- £2
Pieces of hair- 0
Wristband- Orange

I found out next year the price is going up to £2.05.

We are now going to Corryong College, Victoria, Australia (19 seconds). They say,

'We are a Grade 5 and 6 class at Corryong College,in the northeast of Victoria, Australia. Last year our school created a kitchen garden program as part of a number of schools across Victoria. Each week students in Years 3 to 6 spending about one hour working in the garden. We also have a 2 hour block of time where we cook meals that use the products from the garden. Any food scraps are taken out to our chickens. Each week is a different meal. This week we cooked a ricotta and venison pizza and apple crumble.

We even made the ricotta cheese ourselves. We have been following your progress over the past week and are simply in awe of what you have been able to achieve. Well done, and keep on with your blog.
Cheers
Students and teachers of Grade 5 and 6'

I really like reading about schools that grow their own food, keep chickens and cook. We have venison from our smallholding but I have never put it on pizza. I have had nettles though!

The blog will start travelling on Monday and is going to Wales first! Please keep sending in your pictures and ratings. Exciting!


VEG

Likuni Phala

Likuni Phala is a porridge made from maize. I think maize is like our sweetcorn and it is ground up to make the porridge and vitamins are added. Mary's Meals are sending me some and it should arrive tomorrow. I will be cooking it for my porridge party on Thursday to celebrate raising over £100,000. I'm looking forward to a big mug of it like the kids have in Malawi. My uncle has said he will eat porridge on Thursday too and donate the cost of his dinner to Mary's Meals. We don't have porridge at school but once we had semolina but I didn't try it. I think I had a yoghurt.



It was my dream school meal today because it's all my favourites mixed together. I knew it was chicken curry but I didn't know until lunchtime which I would get but I was in the korma queue. I had lots of salad today and I really enjoyed it. I chose potato salad, radishes, carrot, peppers and cucumber. If I could only eat one salad off my plate it would be the radishes. The shortbread wasn't as good as grandpa's because grandpa's is soft all the way through not crunchy like today's. I sometimes dip my shortbread in my ice cream.

Food-o-meter- 10/10
Mouthfuls- 43
Courses- main/dessert
Health Rating- 9/10 the ice cream and sugary shortbread lost the point
Price- £2
Pieces of hair- 0
Wristband- Orange

Daisy, aged 10, from Manchester in the UK sent me this picture of her lunch. She is a vegetarian. She says,

'Every week we have the same meals but we have at least 4 different options each day, there is always a veggie option. Today it was Cheese Swirl, Carrots and Potato Wedges and for dessert Strawberry ice-cream. It was DELICIOUS!!!



It is probably my favorite meal. Here are my results:

Food-O-Meter: 10/10
Mouthfuls: 34
Courses: Main/Dessert
Healthy Rating: 7/10
Price: £2.00
Pieces Of Hair: 0

I think your meal is quite small. I would like to have it but I'd like it to be bigger. Maybe your plate is very big and it looks small.

VEG

School Picnic!

My whole school had a picnic on our astroturf pitch today because lots of schools visited to take part in World Sports Day and inter school relays. We were told there were about 450 of us taking part and my relay team came 2nd and beat some P6 and P7 teams! I had to bring a pack lunch which Mum made but I stuck the Chrysanthemum flower on top and I ate it as well.



The lettuce in my cheese sandwich and the peas with the peppers are from my polytunnel and I sowed the seeds for them about 2 months ago. The shortbread was made by my grandpa and is a Scottish speciality but my brother thinks it is from Libya. I forgot to shake my yoghurt drink so I held the lid back on and did it gently so it didn't come flying out at me. I think I was the only person that had a flower to eat.

Food-o-meter- 10/10
Mouthfuls- about 40
Courses- packed lunch
Health Rating- 8/10
Price- not worked it out
Pieces of hair- 0
Wristband- No band today

Because I had a packed lunch I have chosen another packed lunch from Oscar, aged 10, Blenheim, New Zealand (3 seconds!).

'Hi VEG,

Here in New Zealand, we make our lunches at home and so it is always free. We take it to school in a lunch box everyday. Sometimes I make it myself or sometimes Mum and Dad make it for me. To me, this lunch is pretty normal, except for the meat (lamb chop, to be precise) sandwich and salad.



In this lunch I have an apple, salad with cucumber, carrot, lettuce and coriander, a rice cake with meat, kiwifruit, popcorn, raisins, dried apricots and energy balls (or so we call them) which have apricots, oats, nuts and seeds mixed in and coconut on the outside. At my old school, we had a nude food policy where we weren't allowed anything with wrappers. Here's my status:

Food-o-meter:8/10
Mouthfuls:Don't know
Health Rating:10/10
Price:FREE
Pieces of hair: NONE!
Type of Meal: Main'

Oscar's parents add,
' This might be free to Oscar but we are guessing that the total of the ingredients in this lunch might come to about $3NZ. P.S Oscar usually eats his lunch in two mouthfuls so he can quickly get outside to play football ;)

The nude food idea is so cool! I think that would be a real challenge for a class or school to try.

I am still smiling about our Mary's Meals total which is now over £108,000! Dad says please keep sending your pics in and if your class would like to guest blog get in touch! neverseconds@gmail.com


VEG

It was too hard to take my photo today. I am going to describe my meal instead. We always have the same trays. On it today I had fish, chips and peas with a yoghurt and some water. The fish was golden brown and very crunchy. It was the the size of my hand but thinner. The fish inside was white with bits of brown and grey. We don't get vinegar or salt only tomato sauce which is served to you on a spoon. I ate my chips with my fingers and dipped them in the ketchup. The peas are hard to get on your fork so I stabbed them.

Food-o-meter- 6/10
Mouthfuls- forgot to count
Courses- main/dessert
Health Rating- 5/10
Price- £2
Pieces of hair- 0
Wristband- Orange

We are going to Erlgasse school in Vienna, Austria (10 seconds!). English group 2bd, Marcus, Filip, Ana, Nici, Salih, Alisha, Vivi, Musti, Sandra, Christopher, Sara, Laura, Meli, Michelle, Can, Anita, Mehtap and their teacher Miss Killian wrote,

'Our school is from eight o'clock till one or two clock most days. Sometimes we have afternoon classes. Some pupils go to after-school care and only these eat at school. There is either salad or soup, and always a dessert. Dessert is sometimes fruit, but we always get fruit one hour after lunch.

This is Tuesday's lunch "Wurstsalat"



It's sausage meat mixed with tomato, cheese, lettuce, gherkins. Dessert was a raspberry pudding, but we don't have a picture of it.

Food-o-meter: 6 of 10
Mouthfuls- 34
Pieces of hair: 0
Health rating: 8 of 10
Price: EUR 4,20 (that's 3,39 in British Pounds)
Food tester: Kevin'

Your bread looks really dark and I like your Wurstsalat but it's really expensive!

I am planning a Porridge Party if we manage to raise over £100,000 for Mary's Meals. We are really close now so I hope we make it over the weekend!

VEG


VEG's Dad here.

School holidays start soon here in Scotland. We are looking for schools from around the world to guest blog on NeverSeconds and show us their daily dose of school dinners. For one week it's your chance to show us what's important to you about your lunch. If your class would like to take on the challenge please get in touch with NeverSeconds@gmail.com . Many thanks!

Concert

I had my stookie off today and tonight I have been in a concert so I have not had time to blog. Sorry! I hope we can celebrate raising £100,000 soon for Mary's Meals. We are so close. I don't know what I'll do!



VEG

I met two ladies from Mary's Meals who told me children have to walk for 2 hours to get to their school every day. I couldn't walk that far every day. The kitchens start cooking early in the morning so that all the children get fed so thanks again for your support!



Today's meal was delicious. It was a beef burger, roast potatoes and peas. I didn't want any salad today. The roast potatoes were soft. The ice lolly for dessert comes in orange, yellow, purple and green. I got given purple. It has two sticks because it's easier to hold that way.

Food-o-meter- 10/10
Mouthfuls- 32 not including licks.
Courses- main/dessert
Health Rating- 2/10
Price- £2
Pieces of hair- 0
Ease of eating with wrist in stookie- 5/10 hard to hold ice lolly
Wristband- Orange

I got this fantastic email from Australia,

'We are from a school in Australia (in Nowra – on the south coast of New South Wales, 21 seconds!).
We found out about your blog from one of our teachers who is from Scotland, like you! How cool is that??!! At school in Australia most kids have to bring their lunch from home. Some schools have a canteen where students can buy their lunch, but our school is too small to have a canteen. So we do cooking every second Wednesday instead.



Today was cooking day and we cooked Salmon Fish Cakes with Garlic Mayonnaise and Lemon. It was DELICIOUS!

Here are our scores (We have averaged our scores for the whole school, the serving was 2 fish cakes each):

Food-O-Meter: 9/10
Mouthfuls: 7
Courses: Main
Healthy Rating: 8.5/10
Price: AU$1.25 (BUT we used lemons from Mrs M’s lemon tree and an egg from the school chickens)
Pieces of Hair: 0 (thank goodness!)

We think your blog is great, and we love how you raise money for kids in Africa. We pay for our cooked lunch ($2 each) and we are using it to raise money for a clean water well in Cambodia (through Samaritan’s Purse).

From,

Steven and Nicholas (Primary 2 – year 1 in Australia!)
Andrew (Primary 5 – year 4)
Mrs G
Mrs M (who’s from Scotland!)'

I'd would really enjoy eating your homemade fishcakes. It's great you get to cook. We sometimes do too. It's so cool you have school chickens!


VEG

Mini Olimpicz

If you think I have spelt Olympics wrong I haven't! The word Olympics is copyrighted so the school would get a fine if we used it. There were lots of sports but some I missed because of my stookie but it was fun rolling on the paddling pool to get the air out.



I wanted to try a tuna baked potato because I have never had one at school before but I have had them at home. I didn't eat the skin of the potato because it was soft and I like them crisp. The carrots and salad were nice and crunchy and the tuna was soft. The soup is always hot so I tend to eat it at the end. The mugs we have for soup are blue like the Mary's Meals mugs which the children use but ours are smaller. The soup was chicken noodle but I don't think it has actual chicken but it doesn't matter because it's lovely without.

Food-o-meter- 9/10
Mouthfuls- 46
Courses- starter/main
Health Rating- 9/10
Price- £2
Pieces of hair- 0
Ease of eating with wrist in stookie- 8/10 it was hard to get the potato out of its skin
Wristband- Purple

Miriam teaches in South Korea (50 seconds, it was really hard but I found Seoul and I knew it was the capital because of the 1988 Olympics). She says 'lunches are free to the pupils in the elementary school.



Clockwise from left- Lettuce, Kimchi (a spicy, fermented cabbage that is a lot nicer than it sounds), a piece of peacan pie, sliced pork, a clear noodle soup with mushrooms, fish cakes, tofu, seaweed and rice cakes, rice.

There is also a bowl of hotpaste on the table that you can not see. The lettuce leaves are used likes wraps, and you put some pork, rice and the hot sauce in the middle of a leaf and wrap it up- delicious!

Lunches are always the same- rice, kimchi, a soup- then a meat or fish dish. And something sweet- like fruit or a yoghurt.

Food-o-meter- 8/10
Mouthfuls- no idea!
Courses- starter/main/dessert
Health Rating- 7/10 because of pecan pie
Price- free
Pieces of hair- 0'

I didn't know you can get metal chopsticks, I thought they are all wooden!

I am thrilled that the total on our JustGiving page for Mary's Meals is £91,409.00. It means so much. It's almost 10,000 children receiving a school dinner for a year! Dad sang a song in the car about someone called Lola because a donation came from Barry Manilow. I recognised the song!


VEG

Friends of NeverSeconds

Kitchen here we come! We have raised £85,429.63 so far but I am unsure if I should add the Gift Aid at the bottom of the JustGiving page. That means a whole kitchen in Lirangwe Primary School in Blantyre, Malawi (8 seconds I'm getting good at Malawi!) and enough left over to feed another 5800 dinners to other children! Mary's Meals asked me what I would like to call the kitchen and I said 'Friends of NeverSeconds' because if it was just me I would never have managed to raise enough but now we have!



I always choose the lamb meatballs when they are on the menu. Everyone gets the same number of balls because it's fair. Today we had 5. The gravy is hard to eat with a knife and fork but it is nice with the meatballs and the mash potato. There is one piece of cucumber missing because I ate it before the photograph! The dessert is called Golden Crunchie and I think it has syrup and cornflakes in it. It's one of the sticky puddings so I use a spoon so I don't have to waste any lunch break washing my hands.

Food-o-meter- 8/10
Mouthfuls- forty something
Courses- main/dessert
Health Rating- 8/10 because I don't know what's in the meatballs
Price- £2
Pieces of hair- 0
Ease of eating with wrist in stookie- 10/10
Wristband- Orange

Alexandra is 18 and goes to school at SHAPE High School in Belgium (21 seconds, it's shortened to Belg on my globe). She says 'This is a NATO base and we have many international students here! We all go to school together. They are really pushing the healthy aspect, so we do not get as much as we used to do (portion-wise). We had 3 choices today. I chose the chicken patty.'



Food-o-meter: 8/10
Mouthfuls: 42 (I didn't really eat it all)
Courses: main/dessert
Heath Rating: 8/10
Price: 2 Euros
Pieces of Hair: 0

I think a patty is a burger, the tube by the banana is a yoghurt and I do not know what is in the Ranch packet!

Now the best part and this thank you is even bigger than mine!



Mary’s Meals kids send big ‘thank you’ to Martha and friends


VEG

I think you know why I don't have a picture today but I will have on Monday! Thanks to everyone that has helped to get my blog back on track. I would have missed writing it a lot and I'm looking forward to sharing my dinners and yours.

I worried yesterday that I would never reach enough money to buy a Mary's Meal kitchen in Malawi (31 seconds!) but we have raised a total of £45,889.46 which is more than one kitchen! It could be many kitchens or one kitchen feeding many children for years.

A small thank you isn't enough so here's a big THANK YOU to you all!

See you on Monday,

VEG

Goodbye.

This morning in maths I got taken out of class by my head teacher and taken to her office. I was told that I could not take any more photos of my school dinners because of a headline in a newspaper today.

I only write my blog not newspapers and I am sad I am no longer allowed to take photos. I will miss sharing and rating my school dinners and I’ll miss seeing the dinners you send me too. I don’t think I will be able to finish raising enough money for a kitchen for Mary’s Meals either.

Goodbye,
VEG


Hi,
Veg’s Dad, Dave, here. I felt it’s important to add a few bits of info to the blog tonight. Martha’s school have been brilliant and supportive from the beginning and I’d like to thank them all. I contacted Argyll and Bute Council when Martha told me what happened at school today and they told me it was their decision to ban Martha’s photography.

It is a shame that a blog that today went through 2 million hits, which has inspired debates at home and abroad and raised nearly £2000 for charity is forced to end.

Dave Payne
neverseconds@gmail.com

A different day.

I joined Nick Nairn at his cookery school for lunch today. Lots of adults who care about school dinners were there and they all cooked a school lunch and photographed it. I chose the one I liked best. Everyone was really friendly and I enjoyed speaking to them. Nick showed me how to make lunch and it was quick and really tasty and cost the same as my lunches. I ate it all.



Unluckily our car broke down today and my arm is sore and we are late home so I will post more tomorrow. Today has been a new and great experience.

VEG

Broken!

Unfortunately I have to choose my lunches differently now because I have only 1 hand to eat with. Last night at athletics club in the first race I tripped and fell on my hand. It was still sore this morning so I went to hospital and ended up with a stookie on my wrist. 'Stookie' is our Scots word for a plaster cast. My dinners will have to be easy to eat for the next few weeks. My friends are really helpful and they helped me carry my tray at dinner.



Lunch was really nice today and it helped cheer me up. Macaroni Cheese at school is so creamy and it's nice to have it with the crunchy radishes and peppers. You don't have to have mash with the macaroni but they offered me some and I took it as I always have mash if it's offered. We don't get jelly often, maybe about twice in every 4 weeks, and I like to put it on my spoon and suck it through my teeth. It's so slippy it doesn't really make a noise so I don't upset my friends!

Food-o-meter- 10/10
Mouthfuls- 37
Courses- main/dessert
Health Rating- 5/10
Price- £2
Pieces of hair- 0
Ease of eating with wrist in stookie- 9/10
Wristband- Yellow
Mary's Meal Total-180 children fed for a year or 25.8% of a kitchen. Thank you!

Erica who works in a school kitchen in San Francisco, California, America (12 seconds, I got lucky!) sent me this photo of a student's lunch. 'It was pulled pork taco salad day with brown rice and cantaloupe. We always have chicken noodle as well as a vegetable soup--in this picture she has chosen the potato leek soup. Though this wasn't my lunch, I rated it since I did eat after the kids. :)'



Food-o-meter- 9/10
Mouthfuls- how do you keep track?!
Courses-starter/entree
Health Rating- 9/10
Price- (included in tuition)
Pieces of hair- 0

Erica is in charge of the salad bar at the school which I think is really cool. It contains 15 different bowls of salad goodies (like blanched veggies, boiled beans, grain salads, etc.) as well as cheeses, boiled eggs, nuts and house made dressings and the kids can help themselves! I would choose boiled eggs and cheeses. Thanks for sending it in.

Big day at Nick Nairn's cookery school tomorrow meeting people so I'll have to remember my sling and my camera!

VEG

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