A Bento, a Wedding and Spring Flowers

Hi everyone, I'm back!!
In the nurses office at the elementary school that I work at they have us call it the health room. I guess it's not legally a clinic because no doctor works there and of course we can't diagnose anything. We need to tell the parents that, (oh yeah we do) they always send thier kid in to see us for something that happened at home and wants us to do something about it.

Anyway we have a senior in high school that has an internship with us in the health room, because she wants to go into nursing. She would come in and eat snacks and her second lunch that her boyfriend's mother would pack for her. On my computer my screen-saver is a collection of photos and a couple are of my bento boxes. I like the kids to see what a healthy lunch looks like and how much fun it is to ear. Alysia saw my bentos and was intrigued and so I made her one...

It was just a small one because this was her second lunch, but she ended up eating the fruit and taking the rest home. I used the Longhorn pick because that was one of her favorite pigout places restaurants. I also had another little box with a salad for her. She was thrilled...and it is so simple. She said she never had rice noodles like this before. She thought my dumplings were scary.
Last Saturday we were in Grand Rapids, Michigan for my nieces wedding. Maranda and I were able to fly up for a long weekend. The weather was unusually cool for this time of year and it was even cold for them. The day of the wedding there were blue skies.

Not a good shot but the lighting was better in this one. I had to fight the back lighting of windows during the wedding (I was asked to video tape it for them) and here at the reception. This was just before the toast.

The tulips are usually in full bloom at this time...in Holland, Michigan I believe the Tulip Festival was moved up to this week because in the past they were almost done because it was too warm. Go figure Mother Nature!

These were in my sister's yard...

they had some beautiful purple full hyacinths decorating the chapel for the wedding.

A quick shot of my family without the kids. Me, dad, mom, uncle and aunt. Then cousin, younger sis, her husband, older sis, her husband and my cousin's wife.

The weeping cherry trees were almost in bloom, this one was outside after the reception. I'll bet it wasn't long after we left that they were in full bloom.

Back home in Florida this is what we woke up to...our San Pedro cactus in full bloom. It's a shame the blossom only comes out at night and then closes in the morning and that's it.

Hope you all have a wonderful Mother's Day!

Every Day Bento ~ for real ~

I am so impressed with all you creative super bento moms that can have everything all organized and planed out enough where you can make 3 bento box lunches with all the cute details and artistic flair! Then photograph it beautifully! I thought I could do that, but I'm not 100% on the planing ahead. I often have a lot on hand for my bentos, but sometimes when I get a nice looking tiny fruit, or an interesting color vegetable...my lettuce is wilted...or the bread is moldy :( or everything ends up the same color! Then try to get a good photo when it is still dark out so you just have to use the flash on the counter in front of you not having the time to set it up to look nice...

But I trudge on trying to get a lunch together that they will at least eat and put it in a nice, if not pretty reusable "green" container or bento.

This is often what I will end up with for the everyday...I have to get up at 5:30 and make 3 lunches bento.
In one I have some Spinach Alfredo pizza, babybel cheese, some really nice cheddar, and cauliflower. The other one is Genoa salami, Champagne grape, and cauliflower. Easy peasy...sometimes the best I can do on a busy weekday morning. I'm not making excuses because my daughter is fine with a sandwich of her choosing and some little snacks and tidbits, and she is happy with her lunch!

Show and Tell Time again!
I don't know if you remember my cactus flower buds here. The cactus is called Stapelia and I believe is originally from South Africa. It is also call the Starfish plant, Carrion Flower and a few other names. Well here they are when the blooms are open...
It is an interesting plant because it is considered a "stinky" flower. The flower is about 8-10 inches at it's widest part and smells like meat (I never smelled it). It is hairy and attracts flies for pollination. The lizards love hanging out around the flowers when it's dinner time! It is an easy plant to care for, it like sandy soil and you can pretty much ignore it. It spreads but it is easy to control. It works well for a house plant because the plant it's self doesn't get very tall, not like my San Pedro Cactus. It can bloom even if it's in a planter.

Hibiscus Bento

I was not quite sure how to fill this lacquer bento box that I got for Christmas. I figured it would look good with my sushi that I make. The last time we had that was after a beach run and they just wanted to eat so I served my family first then had mine later and no time to look nice. I did serve it on sushi plates though. It's about time that I used it and I had a little more time to play with it. So here it is. Although hibiscus are edible, I didn't eat this one. Each hibiscus bloom lasts only one day, so I figured it would be okay to use it for the photo...
... and I wasn't quite sure what to do with the little tray in the center. I guess a dipping sauce, which is fine if you are eating it at home like I did.

The top left corner: chickpea tart with shallots and herbs, tamagoyak with fresh spinach.

Top right: sugar snap peas (they've been so good and sweet lately-perfect snack) steamed rice with furikake.

bottom left: lychees, green grapes and cherries.

bottom right: cucumbers, crab stick with baby cukes nori wrapped.

So I would love your help! If you have any ideas of how to fill this bento and would like to share!

Here is another blossom that has a short life. My San Pedro cactus blooms during the summer. The blossom only appears at night for one night. The blooms are large, about the size of my hand when I spread all my fingers out!

Happy Wednesday!