Bentos and Flower Shows

Thanks to my Sister Terri I discovered Bento Boxes.  Bento lunches are adorable lunches packed in stackable boxes and secured with a strap.  This style of lunch packing comes from Japan.  I'm now addicted to looking at bento blogs since I've discovered them!   On my side bar I have a link to a bento blog which in turn has tons of links to other wonderful bento blogs.

So I started packing bentos for my girls.  Not very good at it yet...but....I love to make them!  Making lunch for my girls is soooo much fun now.  It's like getting to do a little art project each morning.  It also makes you look at what is possible for lunches in a different way.  I find myself packing things I might not have before!

My girls at first were a little shy to bring their bentos to school.  Now they relish all of the attention!  Lately I've been picking mulberries each morning from the tree and filling the bottom tier of their bentos with them.  When I asked Seleste if she liked them...she replied, "Yes, but everyone begs for them!!!"  It appears that the children all crowd around and ask Seleste to give them some of her mulberries....Now mommies..(pause and sigh)  ..I hope that isn't your child begging my daughter for her lunch.....Get Rid Of The Doritos and PLANT A MULBERRY TREE.....LIKE YESTERDAY!!!!!  :)  My girls love eating their bentos....I find they eat their lunches much better now.  The boxes always come back empty....their bags never did.

A happy Babybel cheese ladybug...pecans from the tree...peanut butter crackers...cranberries...

Recently I gave in to my longing and bought bento tools I'd been drooling over....mind you....I didn't buy all the ones I'd been drooling over.....just a few....

...Sweet little bunny picks for decorating and eating berries and other such things with....

...caa..ute..little picks for the same thing....

...these are the tiniest little cups for packing condiments and sauces...

...the shapes on the left are for shaping rice balls into little bears and flowers...More about rice balls later...the tall silver cutters are for cutting veggies such as cucumbers and carrots and other things into cute decorative shapes...

....some cutsie cutters for cheese and meat etc...

...these are groovy...boiled egg molds!!  after hard boiling the egg you peel it, put it into the mold, drop into ice water for a minute, remove and voila....a bunny or bear shaped egg....how cute....my girls love boiled eggs in their lunches and the chickens are laying plenty!

...these are little cutters for cutting bread and other things into shapes...It makes adorable sandwiches...

I've also been knitting new dishrags for my kitchen.  My old kitchen linens have been transferred to the carwash/house cleaning rag basket and I have and am making new ones....the old rags were...um...well...raggedy...!

It's spring and it's flower show time.  Myself and two friends from my garden club conspired to interpret a painting with flowers for Art In Bloom at the New Orleans Museum of Art.  Much to our delight we won first and an overall award for "Best Interpretation".  I remember going to Art In Bloom as a teen and wishing to my sister Terri that I could participate.  This is my fourth year doing so....God does so like to give his children the desires of their hearts!

I submitted quite a bit of horticulture in the Federated Council of New Orleans Garden Clubs and Jefferson Parish Council of Garden Club's flower show.  I was thrilled with the awards my specimens won.  Eleven blue, two red and an honorable mention.  As well as two of the five coveted overall awards.....

This large green ribbon was the Arboreal award for my crybaby tree.  I was able to cut a long large perfect branch filled to the top with red calla lily like blossoms....stunning....I was thrilled to win (most of the cuttings I threw out after the show rather than transport them home again...things that could be rooted we shared with one another).

This award of merit was for the large perfect leaf from my Tropicana canna lily.  This canna is grown mainly for it spectacular foliage which is yellow, lime green and green bordered with red edge.  Again...I was smiling ear to ear...!!!