Monday Already?

Well, I was sick on Friday and didn't feel well through much of the weekend. Rallied enough to actually cook dinner on Sunday - after procuring and putting up a Christmas tree! Anyway, I made a skillet lasagna with an eye towards leftovers. Veronica really liked it, so (predictably) it has made an appearance this morning in the bento.She also has a salad, two mini chocolate chip muffins, and some apple slices. She should be pretty happy with this I hope. The skillet lasagna was easy and healthy - Miranda told me it should become a regular in our dinner rotation so I was happy.

A Garden of . . . Ham?

Today Veronica has a ham sandwich. Thanks to my friend PJ, I cut them into little ham sandwich flowers on a bed of salad. In the other tier, she has a pickle, pineapple, two itsy bitty candy bars, and the ubiquitous Hot and Spicy Cheese Its. The rectangular container has her bacon bits and sunflower seeds for the salad; the salad dressing is in the little green bird container. And so it is, lunch.

Bento Moments of Zen

Have been having a craptacular few weeks personally; but, I have noticed that bento preparation is remarkably therapeutic when I actually make the time to do it. Today Veronica took some left-over steak on a bed of fresh rice (love, love, love my rice maker with a timer.) She also took a salad - because she loves her salads), some Hot and Spicy Cheese Its, and a Hello Kitty sidecar with some fresh pineapple.
I think just the fiddling with small things - choosing which box fits a particular meal, which containers, picks, etc complement everything, what balance out the meal with . . . ) all serve as a lovely distraction from other crap in life. That is all I have to say about that. Bento = cheaper than therapy.

Posting Again

Okay, so it has been weeks and I apologize - especially to those who keep mentioning my delinquency. The girls both bought their lunch today, so I was the only bento bringer. I thawed out some frozen peas and made a quick green pea salad, threw in the half of a pork chop from last night, some cauliflower and fruit and voila! Lunch is ready. It isn't thrilling, but it is kind of pretty and healthy.

Just Bento

There is a great post about the philosophy and practice of bento over at Just Bento. Maki discusses what bento is, talks a little about the art of charaben (the very decorative, elaborate bentos) and about making a box lunch. If you are interested in bento at all, I recommend looking this over. This site is a great reference and a fun read.

Bento and Distraction

I have been making bento lunches right along, but having time to take pictures has been problematic. This has been a weird couple of weeks, but I am back now. Here is a picture of just one distraction that occurred - her name is Luna and she joins Chloe, Sandy, Maggie, and Linus at our house.

 I love all the little fun things that set bento apart from a boring lunch. I took a quick photo this morning of some of the fun little touches that can go into a bento to make it a little more decorative with no real effort (Cause little effort is important on a busy morning, and aren't they all busy mornings?)

Here are some picks of various sizes and shapes - including my newest acquisitions the pandas and the mini forks. Also pictured are a few sauce/dip holders. These are lots of fun and perky to put in a bento.

And Veronica's bento for today is a quick one. I put the chicken in the toaster oven just before I hopped in the shower; took it out shortly thereafter so it could cool - critical to put things in a bento after they cool!

So she has chicken nuggets, carrots and ranch, strawberries, ketchup (in the blue), Hot and Spicy Cheese Its, and a few Teddy Grahams. Not a lot of prep time, but she will eat it and I managed to use the little fork picks that I just got.

Minor Distraction Monday

     A little distracted today by the appearance of a tiny stray cat in my driveway. She is at the vet now and will become a member of the (ever growing) family of cats that live with us.
So on to the bento. Veronica is taking one of the larger Hakoya boxes today. She needs it because she is taking leftover pizza. The bottom tier is large enough to accomadate the bulky pizza (two slices cut in half and arranged to fill the whole tier. She has some fruit and green salad in the top. Also, she has come to love the Light My Fire brand spork that you see here.

For me, I ended up eating lunch at the Indian buffet - a VERY kind PJ took me out to celebrate(?) my craziness in taking in another cat. So I stuck this bento in the fridge at work and will have it tomorrow. In the top tier, I have pasta salad and grapes. In the bottom tier, strawberries and a green salad with blue cheese. Yum, tomorrow will be tasty. Also, I really like this Hakoya box, it is the only bento box I have seen that has a little plate included. How useful is it? Occasionally very, but most importantly, it is really cute.