Fresh Bento

Well I can't believe I've made bentos all winter and didn't post one. That's what happens when you get up early before anyone else is up, and make lunches in the dark....no not totally dark I do turn some lights on, but not many. I make my coffee, just one cup at a time with some organic blend that is bold enough for one cup a day. Then I start on the lunches, sometimes my daughter will let me use the Hello Kitty bento for her but she won't let me do anything too cute....you know how it is at her age. Anyway photographing food before the sun comes up is not easy and then there is the time restraint. If we are not running behind I will start making breakfast, then it is my turn in the bathroom.




So often we will enjoy our bentos at poolside on the weekend where we can relax and enjoy the. That is if we aren't trying new regional cuisines that we've come across.


In this bento I've used some leftover squash, local orange slices, grape tomatoes, marinated green beans, little Mediterranean chicken patties with feta and 7 spice, carrots, and shallots
and a touch of arugula.


So I am back sharing my day...


...from early morning...

to late evening...



I plan to be back with you all soon!

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!