Arepa Riena Pepuada Bento~

I have been busy with family, taking classes and studying to pass this Paraprofessional test that I had to take to keep my job, or at least stay at the school that I now work in which is 3 blocks from my house, and with the economy the way it is I can walk to work and not get much gas in my Honda, but I only fill it up every other week as it is....

Okay enough run on sentences...on one of our ventures my daughter and I went up to Tampa to use her gift card that she got from my sister for Christmas. We don't have an Abercrombie and Fitch here is Sarasota, hence the trip north. I had to check out this spice shop which ended up not being too impressive, but on the way out I spotted the Sanrio store! Yipee! I was thrilled, at least if I drove an hour for Maranda I could maybe find a bento for myself...which will be used for her lunch too, anyway...

This is what I found, a cute hot pink Hello Kitty Bento...

I picked up these beautiful baby blue floral luncheon chopsticks and it came with a carry case too! What fun!

I do want to apologise for my bento. I had special made these mini arepas just for a bento so I wanted to use them and I wasn't happy. I felt like I just threw things together. I also got some cute picks from my sister, so I tried to fit them in too. Here is the balloon picks, I had some grapes with the flower stem picks, but it was too much so I took them out.

On the right under the lotus root I have some tabouleh, strawberry candy. On the bamboo pick from Jenn (thank you very much) red grapes and mini sour oranges we picked from our neighbor's house (with their okay to do so). Then some grape tomatoes, sugar crackers (I just love these) I picked up some more this weekend. Laughing cow wedge and finally my mini arepa riena pepiada (arepa sandwich with chicken and avocado) on top of a baby spring herb salad.

Now I do enjoy those post that others post when they have a failed recipe or something just didn't turn out the way they expected. It shows us what not to do or asks what we can do different. It all a learning thing!

We have been having outstanding weather lately and we still try to squeeze in watching the sunset.

It is more difficult to find a place to park this time of year with all the snow birds, out of state visitors and spring breakers. So if we time it right we are good to go...Or we just wait until they all leave. I had to share a photo of this resident that I just couldn't resist taking a photo of when we pulled up at Turtle Beach. After all he wanted to enjoy seeing the sunset too!

Interesting huh? It takes all kinds.

Bento for The Ringling Museum Grounds!

I haven't been on the computer much the past weekend, and my husband has Mondays off, so we like to spend some time together. So I am so behind on my posts and blog reading, so here a a quick one.
The other day my daughter and I went to the Ringling Museum to enjoy the grounds. This was easy to bring along.

The sandwich is rotisserie chicken, homemade hummus, lettuce. Organic orange carrots, avocado slices (which I put on the sandwich) a plum and some tabouleh in the pink flower silicone cup. All in a bed of romaine lettuce that I used to eat the tabouleh.
I made some tabouleh and hummus and have been using it on sandwiches as well as eating in with the Olga's bread I made and lettuce. My husband likes pretty much everything that I make, but he doesn't like cucumbers and I added cucumbers (a small amount diced really small) to the tabouleh. All he could taste was the cukes and he didn't like it. So it's going on everything of mine now! Ha!

The Ca da Zan in John ans Mable Ringling's house and is on the bay front on the museum grounds. I have a few more photos on my Aqua Sunday blog. I love the architecture of this huge mansion. I have so many picture because I can't resist to taking photos here.
I have entered this photo with Window Views...and Doors too there are so many more windows and doors to capture here!

There are so many statues all over the grounds.

This time of year Mable's Garden is in full bloom!

I've always liked yellow roses. There were so many. I'll show more later.

Some more of the statues...

I always seem to get feet photos.

This is another one I can't resist taking a photo of, I've posted a different photo I've taken before on Aqua Sunday. It is so interesting how this one has been surrounded by a strangler fig (banyon tree).
I guess it wasn't that "quick" of a post!

Friday Bento Blues

There is a lot that goes into a bento blog, a lot more than what meets the eyes. Now what does meet the eye is a lot of what bento making is about. The color, the layout, the design, the theme! These women that do this everyday are truly amazing. The creative talent, and artists that they are, and they run a household on top of it all! Some have another full time job as well.

So this is what I am still learning, beside what to name the bento. How to photograph it. I don't have a SLR camera (my dream). I am not used to these, click and shoot, everything automatic...well I am getting used to it now, but I miss being able to get that close up, and to adjust the shutter speed, and aperture, getting that right depth of field etc... so we do the best we can with what we have.
Now that summer is here I can actually make lunch in the daylight. This is great to be able to take advantage of the light. Otherwise it 6:00AM and I have to use a flash in the dark.

The layout is important too. You want to get a nice background, Maybe show some other pieces of the box or utensils. Oops, some of the edge is showing. Let's try a different background...

Ahh...no, don't like that one. The angles not bad though. Gotta watch that edge!

Wanted to get the lid, after all that part of a lot of bento's cuteness. The blackberries show up better with a flash though.

Ah...still not right. Let's go outside on the lanis. Our morning sun shines on the front of the house, so in the back it's not in direct sunlight.

Not bad, a little dappled light showing through...

with the cute lid, but I gotta watch those corners!

Now for the bento if you are still with me here: Rice with furikake (Maranda loves it, say it makes it taste like sushi) avocado. Next layer is: Blackberries, jicama on a bed of spicy sprouts, and chicken tenders.

Our neighbor's cat who thinks he lives here! Meet Neji.

Have a great Friday!