Blackberries & Pixie Vites

Today was a noon release day leading into SPRING BREAK -- hooray, an entire week off to play! Don't worry, though, I plan on posting a lil' bit of this-n-that next week to tide us over.
For school snacktime today shmoo chose some fresh blackberries (I covered them with a bit of crumpled parchment paper to keep them from knocking about). He also wanted to take one of his new Dr. Fuhrman's Pixie-Vites to school, basically to show off. They arrived Monday, and shmoo is quite enamored! He stirs them into his juice (which he turns into some kind of elaborate science experiment role-playing game) or eats them straight à la Pixy Stix.
I love Dr. Fuhrman's vitamins (no, I'm not being paid). They're designed for people eating a healthy, plant-rich diet, with no mega-doses of anything, and no isolated vitamin A or beta carotene.
Personally, I think a good supplement can help fill in gaps even in the healthiest diet. One interesting study showed that vegan diets tended to be deficient in calcium, iodine and vitamin B12. The same study showed meat-eating diets tended to be deficient in calcium, iodine, vitamin C, vitamin E, fiber, folate, and magnesium. So either way, it couldn't hurt!

Antless Logs & Chickpea Spirals

This morning I made "veggie spirals" -- pasta colored with powdered spinach, beet, and tomato powder -- and tossed it with olive oil, garlic, parsley, and chickpeas. Up in the fruit section we have apple and orange slices (now that's an apple that's not going brown!). Over in the veggie department I used a small cookie cutter to make cucumber flowers and spread organic peanut butter on celery sticks (no raisins -- shmoo can't stand ants on his logs). For snacktime I tucked in another Thinkorganic! Cashew Pecan Bar, one of shmoo's new favorites.
Verdict: Even antless, the logs got soundly rejected -- not even a nibble! But maybe I just packed too much, as he didn't finish all his fruit or cucumber, either. The pasta, however, was very well-received. 3 stars.

Kabobs & Crazy Hair

Today is "Crazy Hair Day" at shmoo's school, so I found a funny picture and made a little "Happy Crazy Hair Day!" card for his lunch box (try getting a Hallmark card for that one!). This was an all-around fun lunch to make: a wholewheat bagel spread with organic peanut butter, sprinkled with sunflower seeds, and cut into bites; peas & carrots; fresh fruit kabobs on little wooden skewers (pointy tips cut off after they were filled, of course!) with "Orangey Sauce" on the side (mix 1 cup vanilla soy yogurt with 1 TB concentrated frozen orange juice and sprinkle with cinnamon -- veganized from the sadly honey-heavy and not vegan book 50 Ways to Take the Junk out of Junk Food).
Verdict: Yes, it all fit! I crammed a couple more bagel bites in, then snuggled those kabobs down and wrapped everything in plastic wrap. He accidentally spilled most of the yogurt dip (what a mess!), but the part that made it to his mouth was enjoyed. 4 stars.

Empanada

When I started the Vegan Lunch Box project, I had no idea how universal the hand pie was. So far I've made Italian calzones, Russian piroshki, Cornish pasties, and now Spanish empanada! This empanada is filled with Taco Smart Ground. If I hadn't been making them for a picky shmoo, I might have made a pumpkin empanada, or one filled with spinach (using vegan cheese), or maybe just added some sautéed onions, green olives and raisins to the veggie meat (a traditional combination). The large lidded container holds apple and jicama, the medium container holds black beans and red Spanish rice (rice cooked with garlic, cumin, and Knudsen's Very Veggie Juice instead of water). The smallest container is filled with tofu sour cream for dipping.
Verdict: The empanada was completely devoured, along with everything but the sour cream. I guess anything in pie dough is an instant 5 stars.

Corn Cakes

This weekend I made corn pancakes from Erin Pavlina's Vegan Family Favorites for breakfast, and we all instantly fell in love! Made with cornmeal, whole wheat pastry flour and melted Earth Balance, they honestly taste so flavorful and buttery that they don't need any syrup or toppings. I made another batch for shmoo's lunch, this time adding lots of fresh corn kernels to make them more corn frittery (I also used 4 oz. silken tofu instead of Ener-G, and used 1 cup rice milk instead of 3/4 cup soymilk and 1/4 water). I packed them with a side of shmoo's favorite "Tuscan Bean Medley" (cannellini beans and chestnut limas) from Trader Joe's, and an organic orange. Beverage: vanilla rice milk.
Verdict: I usually slice our oranges into wedges (they're prettier and easier to hold), but decided to try peeling it this time, so I could fit more into the lunch box. It wasn't very photogenic, but there were no complaints! He couldn't quite finish all the beans, and saved the rice milk for after school. 4 stars.

"My, where did you get that lovely lunch box?"

It was another noon release day today, so instead of a lunch box I decided to write up another FAQ-type post, this time answering the timeless question, "Where did you get the lunch box?" (Yes, I know the link is right there in the sidebar, but people still ask me a lot!)

The lunch box you see in the pictures is a Laptop Lunch System from Obentec. We love it! The bento-inspired lunch box comes with removable containers in different sizes and colors, and a space for a fork and spoon. One of the larger containers has a lid to hold wet foods like applesauce or soy yogurt, and the set includes one tiny lidded container for things like dressing and dip. The other containers simply go into the lunch box without lids and the cover of the lunch box acts as a lid to hold them in place. Usually this is enough, but if I’m packing something very small, like peas and corn, I will cover the inner container with plastic wrap or foil just to be safe.

The Laptop Lunches FAQ can answer more questions regarding the lunch box system.

"Does it hold enough for an adult?" I think so. It certainly has space to hold more than I could eat! If you also purchase a thermos or lunch jar, it should hold all you need for a good-sized adult meal.

"How do you keep his food cold?" The entire lunch box slips into an insulated carrying case with room for a beverage container and an ice pack.

"How do you keep his food hot?" If it's something that really needs to be eaten warm, I will pack it in a preheated thermos (fill with boiling water and let it sit, covered, for 10 minutes, then drain, dry, and fill with hot soup or stew). The thermos we use is a 10 oz. thermos I found at our local grocery store. There are some nice thermoses online at the Thermos Website, and the Laptop Lunch people also sell a large "food jar".

"How does he reheat things?" He doesn't; he eats things like cooked veggies, pizza, etc. cold or at room temperature. Although I have seen some classrooms with microwaves, his class does not have access to one. Before you decide that sounds awful, think of all the great cold cooked veggies and beans you find at salad bars, and think of the cold pizza college students eat for breakfast! You can eat a lot of things cold that we are simply in the habit of eating hot.

"How do you keep the apple slices from turning brown?" (I know that's not specifically about the lunch box, but it's another one I hear a lot.) I toss his apple slices with a bit of orange juice. If we're having grapefruit for breakfast, I'll sprinkle the slices with grapefruit juice. Lemon juice will also work, but we find it too sour. Citrus soda will also do the trick, but we don't tend to have any around.

Whew! I think that's it, and we can use this comments section to ask more questions specifically regarding the lunch box.

Sticks 'N' Stones

I wanted to use up the rest of our Yves veggie ham, so I made shmoo some roll-ups filled with homemade tofu-cashew creme cheeze (from Bryanna's book Soyfoods Cooking for a Positive Menopause) and packed them with organic pear slices and Reduced Fat Triscuits. I came across this Sticks 'N' Stones Salad in one of my mom's old "Taste of Home" magazines -- blanched carrot and celery "sticks" and water chestnut "stones" (I used whole chestnuts to make it even more stonelike, and the magazine recipe added 1/4 tsp. dried dill weed to the dressing). I think the name alone might entice kids to give it a try!
Verdict: The salad was really good! Blanching the celery and carrot sticks in boiling water for 2-3 minutes then plunging them in ice water changed their texture just enough -- still crunchy but tastier than raw, and the dressing was fantastic. Don't forget the dill. It was nice to get away from Tofutti cream cheese and try something homemade; the cheeze was a bit softer to work with when making the roll-ups, but the flavor was excellent. 5 sticks 'n' stones, no broken bones.

Chickpea Noodle Soup

Chickpea Noodle Soup: get (or make) some good-tasting veggie broth, add tomato paste, nutritional yeast flakes, and some spices. Throw in a chopped carrot and some drained, canned chickpeas, simmer for 10 minutes, then add broken angel hair pastas and simmer for another 4 minutes (can you see the steam coming up from the thermos?). On the side is a mixed fruit salad (apple, orange, banana, and strawberries) and a fig bar.
For the past couple weeks I've been experimenting with desserts using no refined sugar (being defined by me as sugar crystals, maple syrup, corn syrup, honey substitutes, and sweet rice syrup, but excluding fruit, dried fruit, dark molasses, and barley malt). You should have seen my pecan tartlett disaster last night -- who knew barley malt would bubble up to twice its original size in the oven? But these sugar-free fig bars with wholewheat-oat-walnut crust turned out very nicely! And did you know figs are a good source of calcium?
Verdict: Shmoo scarfed up everything but the chickpeas at the bottom of his thermos. "They were too crunchy," he complained. 4 stars.

Ham & Cheese Croissant

Here's my new recipe for vegan croissants, using Earth Balance margarine instead of butter. I also used half whole wheat flour to add a touch of nutrition to what otherwise is merely a handy margarine-to-mouth conveyance system. I sliced them in half and filled them with vegan ham deli slices and a slice of Tofutti vegan cheddar, for classic ham-and-cheese croissants. More blanched green beans are in the lunch box today, along with some beautiful fresh organic strawberries. Shmoo picked out the fabric for this Egyptian hieroglyphic cloth napkin; he's fascinated with mummies and all things Egyptian lately.
Verdict: There is nothing like the smell of hot, baking croissants wafting through the kitchen, and the taste of one fresh from the oven. Go make some! 5 stars.

Tofu-Vegetable Spread

A few months ago blog reader Dee made cloth napkins for shmoo's lunch box, but he has since lost every last one of them (plus four spoons, two containers, three winter coats...). This weekend I finally tried my hand at sewing some myself using the easy instructions Dee sent. They turned out great, but is it still more eco-friendly to use nondisposables if they end up disposed?
Anyway, for lunch today I made a Tofu-Vegetable Spread sandwich from Raising Vegetarian Childrenby Jo Stepaniak, with blanched green beans, corn "tires" and an organic strawberry fruit leather.
Verdict: One thing this book recommends that I haven't seen anywhere else is to always simmer water-tub tofu for 10 minutes and chill thoroughly before processing into any kind of uncooked recipe. They say tofu packed in water (not the silken kind in asceptic packages, that's okay) is "a prime medium for breeding foodborne pathogens". Huh. Does anyone else always simmer their tofu before using it in eggless salad and such? I never have before, but did this time. The spread was just "okay" (I think less tahini, more soy sauce next time). 3 stars.
P.S. Happy Meatout Day!

The Luck o' the Irish to you!

Here's our St. Patrick's Day lunch box all decked out in green. First, a thermos filled with green potato soup (potato soup blended with fresh parsley). Next, some St. Patty's Peanut Butter sandwiches from Dr. Fuhrman's book Disease-Proof Your Child (How does the peanut butter turn green? Hint below...). Finally, some green grapes and a little leprechaun lunch box card I found over at Alenka's Printables (an entire collection of free lunch box notes you can print out).
Verdict: Here's a confession I have to make: shmoo didn't have school today (how Irish Catholic school is that, they even get St. Patty's Day off!). But I'd been looking forward to this lunch for months, so I decided to do it anyway! After taking the picture, we took it to the table and all ate together. Even Grandma came over to have lunch with us. She eyed the sandwiches warily. "Your mother is weird," she said. "Hey! These are PEAnut butter sandwiches!" he laughed. 4 leaf clovers.

Flautas

I stopped by our local Hispanic grocery yesterday to watch fresh corn tortillas rolling down the assembly line, and picked up a fresh, steamy package of mini-tortillas for flautas. Flautas are simple: cover the bottom of a 10" cast iron pan with a layer of canola oil. When hot, put in a small corn tortilla for one or two seconds, just long enough to soften a bit. Pat dry on towels, then spread a line of refried beans slightly off center. Roll the flauta up as tightly as you can, then lay it in the hot oil seam side down (so the seam will seal shut). Fry until golden, turn and fry on the other side, about 30 seconds each side. Drain and blot, pack wrapped in foil.
I made four flautas for shmoo along with jicama, sugar snap peas, and applesauce with walnuts to sprinkle on top.
I made the same for myself and packed it in my brand new Medium Cafe Bag from Tom Bihn. Tom Bihn is going to use some of my pictures in a Laptop Lunch display in their store, and sent me this great bag to say thank you -- I love how my lunch box and Klean Kanteen water bottle fit side-by-side so perfectly!
Verdict: "I have ten fingers up, that's how good these are!" Shmoo ate all his applesauce, flautas, and veggies, then snitched half my jicama. The walnuts went untouched; I guess today wasn't a walnutty day. 10 fingers.

Mini-Burgers

Here's a little cookbook that I love but don't hear mentioned very often: Vegetarian Burgers by Bharti Kirchner. She uses an amazing array unexpected ingredients to create her veggie burgers, almost all of which are vegan or can be easily veganized. For example, this burger patty is made from carrots, red lentils, millet, and sesame seeds. Three of our other favorites are made with quinoa and black beans, kasha and lima beans, and beets and mushrooms.
While I was making larger patties for last night's dinner I formed a few into mini-patties and set them aside in the fridge to broil in the morning. I also baked some whole wheat buns -- big buns for dinner and mini-buns for the mini-burgers. This morning I spread them with a touch of Vegenaise and packed them alongside pear slices and a Thinkorganic! Cashew Pecan Bar.
Verdict: I was worried that this wasn't going to be enough, but he couldn't quite finish the second burger so it was just about right. It's hard sometimes to know how much is enough, how much is too much. I think it changes, too, depending on the day and mood of the child. Oh, and can you tell St. Patrick's Day is coming up? 4 stars.

Ethiopian Injera

Ethiopia, how we love you! Injera is a traditional flatbread made from teff, a teeny tiny grain that packs a lot of nutrition. I sliced it into bite-sized pieces and packed it with a thermos of hot split pea alecha (stew) and a mixed vegetable wat (spicy stew, but not really too spicy). Shmoo ferretted out the last fruit cup in the house, tucked away way back on a pantry shelf, and put it in his lunch box -- mandarin oranges in light syrup. We're trying to cut out refined sugar for Lent, so you can see his desperation mounting here...
Verdict: Shmoo's response to the vegetables surprised me the most: "These are the best vegetables I've ever had!" Uh, really?? I keep trying to figure out what I did right; must be the hearty dose of nitter kebbeh (spice-infused oil). 5 stars.

WOW! Thank you, Bloggie Voters!

OMG!! Vegan Lunch Box won the Bloggie for Best Food Blog! I'm still in shock!

Thank you so much to everyone who voted for me! And thank you to everyone who visits the Lunch Box and leaves their kind, encouraging words behind. You all help keep me believing in the power of veganism, and you make this blog a fun, exciting place to be. THANK YOU!!

Piroshki

Piroshki are small Russian hand pies, usually filled with potato & onion, kasha (buckwheat), or ground meat. This one is filled with simple mashed potatoes (potatoes, Earth Balance margarine, salt & pepper) for Little shmoo, who loves simple potatoes. So, we've got one potato piroshki, peas & carrots, and a pear, along with four Reduced Fat Triscuits (they're finally making them without trans fats!) and four slices of Soy Deli Savory Baked Tofu.
Verdict: The piroshki were delicious (FYI, I made the same rich, "buttery" dough I used to wrap Pups In A Blanket back in September -- and yes, it will be in the cookbook). We hadn't tried storebought baked tofu before; I was worried it would be too spicy, but it wasn't spicy in the least. My son liked nibbling it on crackers, and I put some in my salad for lunch. Only a few little peas were left rattling around in the lunch box. 5 stars.

Hot Dog Soup

I wanted to do something with the leftover veggie dogs this week, so I decided to make this simple German Lentil Soup with Frankfurters (I used 6 cups of water and cooked the lentils until soft before adding the carrots). For fruits and veggies Shmoo chose a kiwi fruit and baby carrots with ranch-bean dip ("Brussels sprouts...no, baby carrots...no, Brussels sprouts...no, baby carrots with dip!"). He's been admiring some shredded coconut up on the cupboard shelf lately, so last night I made some of Dr. Fuhrman's Date-Nut Pop'Ems and rolled them in coconut for a surprise treat.
Verdict: He finished half the soup and everything in the lunch box, and praised me to the heavens for satisfying his coconut jones. Pop'Ems are such an easy recipe to play with; this time I used soft dates, almonds, cashews, and sunflower seeds, and added a tablespoon of roasted carob powder. 3 stars.

Soy Controversy

A lot of people are emailing and posting about the amount of soy in my son's diet, which I expected. Rather than see it hashed out again and again, I thought I could create this special soy post and refer people here as it comes up (I'd like an FAQ for frequent questions like this, but until I get to it I thought having a specific post I can link to would be the closest thing).

I like what John Robbins wrote about soy on his website here and here. But I think the site I would most recommend is Bryanna's Soy Concerns FAQ -- it's very comprehensive and well-researched. Thank you, Bryanna!

If you're worried about soy there are plenty of other things you can eat, even on a vegan diet. Some people decide to limit their soy consumption to traditional soy foods, like tofu, tempeh, soymilk, and miso. A lot of Jo Stepaniak's books contain soy-free recipes, including the Food Allergy Survival Guide, which is perfect for those out there with soy (or other) allergies.

Tofurky & salad

Ever since the Salad Miracle occured in November, shmoo has been happily eating a big bowl of salad every few days or so, but only if it's finely shredded, and only if it has my Dreena- inspired Asian Miracle Dressing on it (follow the first link above for the recipe), and only if it contains a fruit. Them's the rules. However, lettuce, no matter how finely shredded, is still classified as a toxic pollutant if placed on or in any sandwich, wrap, or other food, and he'll still tell you he "hates spinach", even though he gobbles it down with gusto.
Today we decided to try sending some of his favorite salad in the lunch box: romaine, baby spinach, red cabbage, carrot, apple, and fresh walnuts. You can see the gold-standard dressing on the side next to a Thinkorganic! Cherry Nut Bar, and a half-sandwich of hickory-smoked Tofurky with Vegenaise on cracked wheat.
Verdict: He ate all the sandwich, even the crusts this time. Now I think the trouble with salad is the amount of chewing it takes. These kids only have 20 minutes, so there was some serious last-minute shovelling to get those last few bites in! We loved these new Thinkorganic! bars made from nothing but mashed dried fruits and nuts (mine was Cashew Pecan -- good stuff!). 4 stars.

A Day in the Life

Another noon release day today -- sorry, no lunch box!

Instead, a few of you have been asking what Little shmoo eats when he's not at school, so today I thought I'd pay a bit of attention and give you an example of a full day's food for my growing seven-year-old. Now I'm not saying it's perfect, or ideal, or whatever, so don't nit-pick it to death -- it's just what today was like. Tomorrow will be another day. Okay, here we go (most of the foods were organic, if I could get it)...

• Breakfast: smoothie made from fortified vanilla soymilk with frozen mango, pineapple, brown rice protein powder, and ground flaxseed; whole wheat toast with Earth Balance margarine (he chose toast over cornbread, and margarine over peanut butter or almond butter); a vegan chewable multivitamin.
  
  
• Mid-morning snack at school: the leftover Twinkie Dog (chosen over fruit or a fruit-nut bar).
  
  
• Lunch at home: big bowl of mixed green salad (romaine, spinach, red cabbage, carrot, half an apple, and freshly cracked walnuts) with his favorite salad dressing; a bowl of broccoli Cheeze Please soup (a creamy soup made from potato, carrots, silken tofu, and nutritional yeast and topped with steamed broccoli -- from Jo Stepaniak's Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook); some more walnuts (he likes to sit at the kitchen counter and crack them) and a large handful of unsalted sunflower seeds (so he could pretend he was a squirrel).
  
  
• Snack: two bowls of vanilla soy yogurt mixed with slices of banana, frozen blueberries, and frozen cherries (chosen over a peanut butter sandwich or a kiwi fruit).
  
  
• Dinner: two big bowls of brown rice mixed with black beans & corn, topped with cubed avocado and steamed zucchini (he turned his nose up at our Yumm! sauce, and sprinkled his with Bragg's and Spike instead); a fresh pear; calcium-fortified orange juice.
  
  
• Late-night snack: baked Kettle Chips with ranch-flavored bean dip.

In between bites he went to school, went shopping with me, engaged in mortal combat with his friend H-Bomb, played volleyball at the gym, did homework, read books, whined his way through some chores, and play-wrestled with his dad.

You can see that I usually give him two or three healthy things to choose from, especially at snack time. I think choices are important. Would he choose meat if that was an option? No, he wouldn't -- it happens sometimes he always politely refuses. Ah, but would he choose candy and soda pop if I had listed that as an option? Absolutely -- in a heartbeat! But we don't have those things in the house, so the idea didn't come up. Was he sad and deprived because of this? No, in fact he had a very happy day today, and I think he's generally happier and healthier than he would be on the typical American diet.

And so the sun goes down on another vegan-friendly day in the life of a shmoo...

Corn Dog

A brilliant woman named Lisa emailed me after seeing my recipe for vegan Twinkies, and suggested I use my new Twinkie pan to bake vegan corn dogs (didn't I tell you the woman is brilliant?).
I used the easy corn bread recipe posted in the comments on February 16th, replacing 1/3 cup maple syrup with 1/3 cup plain soymilk to make it not quite so sweet. I covered the bottom of the cup with batter, set a (slightly trimmed) veggie dog in the middle, then covered it with more batter. I baked them at 350º for 25 minutes, and packed one in the lunch box with a tiny container of ketchup, baked Kettle Chips, steamed Brussels sprouts, and pink grapefruit segments.
Verdict: I baked two dogs so I could peek inside one and make sure it was done -- they were perfect! When shmoo came in the room I closed it back up and set it before him.
"A Twinkie!" he said.
"Open it up," I told him.
He peered inside. "It's...a TWINKIE DOG!" he exclaimed. "COOL!"
The other cool thing that happened today was shmoo choosing to eat his Brussels sprouts at mid-morning snack time instead of his fruit. Have I mentioned they sometimes get a mid-morning snack break? Well, they do, and he always chooses to eat his fruit and/or dessert, so it was neat to hear that he chose the veggie first. 5 stars. Thanks, Lisa!

Peas & Carrots

A few days ago in the comments someone mentioned May All Be Fed by John Robbins, and it reminded me of how much we love Jia Patton's wonderful recipes in the back of that book. Today I made her Lemon Rice and Peas -- brown rice mixed with peas, cashews, and Indian spices -- and my husband's favorite, Ginger Carrot Cake with Orange Glaze, made with fresh ginger and plenty of walnuts and organic raisins. Cantaloupe balls are on the side.
Verdict: It was a perfectly empty lunchbox today! I was so happy when shmoo finally started enjoying raisins so I could make cakes like this one, all chock full of them. 5 stars.

Frittata

Last night I made a tofu frittata (from Bryanna Clark Grogan's book Nonna's Italian Kitchen) with slices of potato and a bit of Smart Ground cooked in. This morning I baked spelt biscuits and made biscuit sandwiches with the frittata and slices of Tofutti cheese. I packed them along with peaches canned in juice and some lightly steamed green beans.
Verdict: I just love all of Bryanna's recipes -- she's a vegan goddess! I made the frittata last night after shmoo went to bed, intending to use it for lunch purposes only. But it came out so lovely and golden and tasty...shmoo was lucky there was enough left for lunch! He ate all the green beans, peaches, frittata and cheese, and left one biscuit behind. 4 stars.

Sloppy Lennies

Here's my kidified version of good ol' Disorderly Lentils (aka Sloppy Lennies) from McDougall: Throw 1 cup rinsed red lentils, 2 cups water, 1 cup smooth tomato sauce (I use my Vita-Mix to turn chunky tomato sauce, cooked carrots and steamed kale into an innocent-looking puree so a certain someone will eat it in peace), 1 TB soy sauce and a pinch of dried basil into a saucepan. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. Ta da! Serve on wheat buns or toast.
Next, this fruit salad combination has been a favorite with the kids in our family for years: combine equal parts fresh pineapple and banana slices, drizzle with a bit of agave nectar or Just Like Honey (which really does taste just like honey, it's amazing!), and top with lightly toasted walnuts. The acidic pineapple and drizzle of "honey" keeps the bananas from getting too brown before lunch time.
Finally, for dessert, look what just arrived at our local health food store: Betty Lou's Organic Smackers. Yes!! Chocolate peanut butter or almond butter cups with the word "vegan" right there on the front of the wrapper.
Verdict: He ate about half the bread and most of the Lennies -- next time half a bun. This fruit salad was a big hit, as always. And the Smackers? We are sooo in heaven, you have no idea. They're not as good as the Reese's cups I miss so much -- they're better. 4 stars.