don’t let that rice go to waste

 We went to Chinese food + Mel Brooks movies at 92Y Tribeca this year, and though we missed our usual festivities with loved ones who need to take a break just this year, we had a great time watching Blazing Saddles and Spaceballs. Most importantly, the Y was good enough to provide takeaway boxes, so we could create Egg Rolls in a Box. Our 3rd annual holiday giveaway! In other news, our sticker project is taking form. We are really excited about this project for 2010, and celebrate two years of Egg in a Box in January.

Egg in a Box is working on a new prong (let’s go with the fork tableware metaphor!): Sticker Project. In an eggshell: we want to get restaurants to put a small sticker on their to-go rice boxes. This sticker will inform eaters to not waste the extra rice and will point to this website for information. We’ll going to start by speaking to three Chinese restaurants that operate close to W. 23rd Street in Manhattan. Ideas and questions? Please write us! Special thanks to writer Jonathan Bloom of Wasted Food, who is writing a forthcoming book about wasted food in America (look for it in bookstores in 2010!), for re-invigorating the discussion about this.

This weekend, I harvested squash, carrots, beans, various lettuces, swiss chard, cukes (22 of them!), and broccoli from our new garden in Upstate NY. It was the first time I had done that in my life. I felt so healthy eating the food just minutes after picking it, and it felt so good to get down in the earth and harvest. Question of the day: how much of your leftovers = raw? How much cooked? Are leftovers usually thought of as cooked food?

That is, we are loving the taste of sweet and tart fruits with egg and rice. Easy to eat at home when you have the leftovers. Easy to give away, because whole fruits with pits like nectarines, peaches, and apricots are small and easily transportable. Sweet+salty delight.

Ladies and gentlemen, Egg in a Box presents our very first photo shoot! Also, check us out on Twitter. Such new developments! Special thanks to MAJ.

We’ve talked about how to boil an egg, but we need to talk about how to peel an egg, don’t we? This information is for those of you eating eggs yourself (obviously, not for those giving them away). Information forthcoming.

To note: both recipients looked cold, hungry, and appreciative. One was diabetic and asked about ingredients and then accepted the box. E-in-a-B is diabetic-friendly! (Note: this event took place on Christmas day; to those celebrating Chanukah on the same day, Happy Chanukah from Egg in a Box!)

 This box makes sense: smaller than a cup of coffee, but enough to fuel a vegetable and tofu dish.  At the top of our to-do list is researching drop-off points for boxes.

 This just in: Wasted Food featured an interview with us! Chow has covered Egg in a Box! Thank you so much to these wonderful publications. We’d like to take you out to the diner across the street.

On December 25, we packed the first batch of Egg in a Box containers and took to the streets of Manhattan to distribute them. Our initial foray into the streets with boxes was met with a resounding “Yeah!” from our first recipient when we told him what goodness the package contained. Here’s what the boxes looked like:

We were originally thrilled to learn of foodbox-ny.org, a project that installs drop-off boxes for leftovers on the streets of New York. Perfect for Egg in a Boxes! But it seems to have gone out of business. Let us know if it comes back, everyone.Happy holidays, everyone, and happy holiday spirit. We just got broccoli and tofu in brown sauce, and a small rice with it for dinner tonight, and we’ll let you know what happens with our leftovers.Have you heard about FreeRice.com? It’s been circulating widely.The South China Morning Post reported on October 1 that “Less Money Save Rice” day will give diners the option of a less expensive meal if they opt for less rice! And that means less wasted rice.