The Daily Lunch Box.

Organization skills required.

Bob works in the vineyards Monday to Friday and as he hasn't got time to come home during his lunch hour, I pack a big lunch bag for him. Gosh, he needs it as it is hard work cultivating and tending to the raw material that eventually transforms into delicious wine.

As layman we often forget that integral part in the wine making process. Grapes seem to suddenly be there on the vines and somehow belying the many months of hard yard work involved to make them grow to their individual perfection.

The last few weeks have been blazing hot, so hot that the cheese melted on Bob's sandwich. It was time to go high tech in the lunch packaging and we bought a small carry-cooler box. More of a bag really, and not girly at all. Blue, white and brown stripes make it quite trendy.

A routine doesn't take long to set in. Bob has to be at work by a quarter to seven and at six o'clock I start making his sandwiches and all that goes into his lunch. We have four ice packs, those blue plastic rectangles that keep the cold for a while, which I freeze as soon as Bob gives me the empty lunch bag when he gets home.

Knowing that he has his own little fridge with him makes it easier to put treats in. Well, treats for Bob that is. He loves Kefir, which is a cultured milk product with a tart taste. Cocktail tomatoes, raw peanuts, two bananas and a few energy bars complete his lunch.

Often, when Bob comes home from work and puts the cooler bag on the table, I think of all those lunches his mum used to make for him and Brett. Can't have been easy to pander to two different taste buds. Imagine making lunch for two growing teenage boys. Sometimes Bob and I reminisce about school days and lunch times. Swapping sandwiches with friends, buying from the tuck shop and wishing that school was finished already.

Each and every afternoon I have a look at what was returned with the cooler bag. A treasure hunt of sorts!...yes, certain food comes back untouched, a silent yet paradoxically loud protest. Shopping for the week takes on a whole new degree of difficulty. Tempting Bob's appetite yet taking care to keep the food healthy has its challenges but is rather fun and divinely domestic.

Biggi