Fun Shapes ~Bento~

I found some templates that you use with a fancy cutter, they were on Clarence so I thought I could use them for a bento. It is made out of a very thick plastic so I think it will work well. I let Maranda choose the shape. Sure she wanted the spiral-curly-Q! My first attempt so it's a little messy. I first tried to cut the lunch meat with a tiny paring knife I had but it slipped too easy, so then I use a toothpick. The smaller hearts were on the same stencil. The Havarti cheese wasn't the best choice as it has little holes in it and makes it a little sloppy looking!
A very simple bento:
The right side: Bamboo Jade rice, lunch meat shapes - Havarti cheese heart with a tiny nori punched out heart.
The left side: diced tomatoes and cheese in the yellow silicone flower cup, basil tucked in around it. Sliced orange sweet peppers on a fun, blue, square, spiral pick. Sliced kiwi. I also had some olive oil and balsamic vinegar for the tomato-mozzarella-basil, it didn't make it in the photo!

Just a few yard pictures!
My pineapple is in a pot, they will fruit quicker than when planted in the ground.

Pink plumeria

Yellow plumeria

Pink bougainvillea with a butterfly.

Our friend Neji!

Red passion flower! Have a happy Wednesday!

Stromboli Bento - and beach clicks!

For today's bento I used some leftover Stromboli we had the night before. I made the dough in the bread machine on the dough cycle while we were at the beach run. When I came home it was ready and very easy to work with and turned out great. We each made our own version of what we wanted in our stromboli. I usually have chicken, spinach, cheese.

This one was peperoni, spinach, cheese. I put some marinara sauce in a recylcled container. The top layer is some Florida white sweetcorn, sliced plumbs, in the pink flower cup is My Grandma's Granola that my daughter made this time, carrot-edamame on a white heart pick. The pink flowers are purslane and the others are some of my rosemary flowers.

While we were at the beach I did bring my camera this week. I had stopped to get a photo of these beach toys because the were so colorful. Funny they came back to pack up while I was taking the picture. Ha! They were so nice...

and she stepped away to get another click! They were watching the sky, and he said you should be getting a good rain shot before too long!

I was trying to get some colorful clicks...the runners wouldn't stay still, but it was funny how they would run in clumps of colors!

He has a birds eye view!

Here is comes...typical afternoon early evening weather in the summer for Florida's Gulf coast. And still no oil!

This was added to Color Carnival check it out for a colorful adventure!

Curly Carrot Bento

I never know what to call my bentos, the carrot curls were added last for the final touch because I needed more color. Then it sort of took front and center, so curly carrot bento it is. The carrot was the first thing that Maranda went for!

While I was reading Sherimiya's blog I got some ideas. Of course that's what we love about reading other's great bento blogs is stealing...er...getting great ideas. Thanks Sheri, she was talking about different rice and making your own blend here on Happy Little Bento. I already had some black rice, but then kept an eye out for more. I was able to find some red, and purple, and I have some Organic Bamboo Rice on order (I've been looking for that for sometime now) it was priced reasonable and they offered free shipping! So here is what I did...

I used 1 part - red rice, 1 part - black rice, 1 part - brown rice, 1 part - red quinoa.

I heated a touch of butter, then sauteed the mix with some rosemary and a few favorite herbs, then I added some broken vermicelli and sliced almonds. About 2 1/4 cups of broth added and bring to a boil, then simmer with the lid until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender. About 25-30 minutes.

On top of the mixed rice "pilaf" is some leftover panini sliced, provolone cheese flowers, stacked and a orange pick in that! In the pink cup is some Caribbean Roast Pork, and the carrot curls. In the yellow cup we have some sliced kiwi, and a few carrot shavings. A little chicky sauce bottle (from a good friend thank you J) tucked in with the steamed edamame!

On Thursday we went to Coquia Beach on Longboat Key to meet my aunt and Uncle. It was steamy in the sun, but in the shade with the sea breeze it was comfortable. Mr Gull here chillin' in the shade.

Bentos always seem to keep you cool!

On Wednesday the sky turned the strangest color yellow. It was late afternoon or early evening.

I had to get a few photos of it here are just a few. They even mentioned it on the local news. We never did get any rain from it...at least at my house.
The yellow sky made my pool look green...it was so strange. This looks like and old photo that has discolored.

I just loaded a bunch of photos off from my camera! Hope everyone had a great weekend!!