Todays Bento

Vietnamese egg rolls, fried rice, broccoli, soy sauce and Loquats (Japanese Plums).

Why I Love Bentos & Seedlings

This year I have made the girls bento lunches everyday for school.  There's many reasons I love these lunches.  They're so practical.  Ha!  You're most likely saying..."Those are the most impractical lunches with all the forming and decor...and they must take hours to make."  Nope, not really.  I haven't had so much fun fixing lunches in my life.  I used to hate making lunches and I would get lazy and skip.  Then my girls had to get lunch in the cafeteria, and we know what those taste like.

When I was in high school I would take my lunch money everyday and buy a candy bar, a bag of chips and

a coke.  Wonder what my Mom would have thought if she only knew.  My girls love these lunches, and I know.  Each day they let me know exactly what they liked and sometimes didn't.  Mostly I get rave reviews from my girls in the bento dept.

The Things I Like About Bento:

They are fun to make and eat

It's easier to include healthful choices that your children will eat

The containers moderate portion sizes

and there is absolutely zero trash to throw a way

Here is a couple of bentos I made the girls recently. 

Baby boiled egg wrapped in a pink soy "lacy blanket" with flowers.  The oranges are from my trees.  The carrots are from the garden and the eggs are from my chickens.

 

AAAwwwww!  I used a paper punch to make the lace on the soy blanket.

It's really easy to decorate it up.  The carrots cut in two ways make a nice sun on fried rice.

Fried Rice Recipe

Cooked rice 2 to 3 cups

Sesame oil 2 tblsps

chopped onions 1/4 cup chopped fine

Thai garlic chili paste 1/2 teaspoon

Chopped green onions 2 or 3 stalks

soy sauce 2 tblsps

2 to 3 eggs

salt to taste

pepper to taste

bean sprouts

Put everything but rice, bean sprouts and eggs in wok or skillet.  Not sure on portions.  I just use the amount I like of each seasoning.  Saute until onions are clear.  Add rice and stir until completely covered.  Once rice heats up push to sides of pan.  Crack eggs in pan.  Gently scramble until done then mix rice and eggs together.  Sprinkle salt pepper and sprouts on top and serve.  Of course you can make numerous variations.

Picks are an easy way to brighten up the bento.  They make my girls smile.  It's King Cake time in New Orleans and Ponchatoula Strawberry time.  Mmmmm these strawberries were sweeter than Louisiana strawberries typically are.

They stack up nicely and are held together with a felt or elastic band.  When the girls finish their lunch they put their box in their book bags and bring them home to be washed.  I include chopsticks, spoons or forks when needed.  I just slide them under the strap.  Absolutely ZERO Waste. 

That's important to me.  My girls' schools actually serve lunches on disposable Styrofoam trays, plastic utensils, paper napkins, and cardboard cartons...Seleste says that each child has a small mountain of trash on their disposable tray to throw a way each day! 

That's just our little community....3,000 little mountains of trash EVERY DAY.  DOES THIS MAKE SENSE TO ANYONE?????!!!  I was told that they didn't have the finances to hire someone to run the machines to wash the trays.  THEY HAVE TRAYS AND A MACHINE AND DON'T USE THEM!  THIS IS SINFUL!  anyway...it really doesn't make sense to me.  Even if you have no prob with the trash....wouldn't you rather use the money to pay someone to have an actual job in the community rather than send it off to purchase landfill fodder?

My seeds are sprouting!  I used a micro soil blocker tool to plant the seeds.  I will move them into larger squares once they develop some roots.

Lookin' good

You'll be in the ground before you know it!

Getting Ready For Christmas!

Me loves Christmas!  ...and this year I seem to be especially feeling it!  I don't know....just sorta happier than usual.  I'm not supersticious...I don't think anyway...but when I get like this I sorta keep looking over my shoulder thinking maybe something is going to happen to ruin it...maybe it will, maybe it won't, but I'm going to have fun regardless.  I'm learning a little more each day to plan for the future...but don't forget to LIVE in the moment. 
Here are the bento's I made for the girls recently.  Penguins!  It's hard boiled eggs wrapped in nori and accented with cheddar cheese beak and feet and nori eyes.  The teachers love to look at the girls lunches!  I really hated waking and making traditional lunches everyday.  I actually look forward to making these lunches!

Close up of Artie the penguin.

We decided this Saturday would be sweets making day.  Tera helped by making brownies for the Youth Group Party that night and making the cupcakes for my Sunday School class this Sunday.  I teach the 10, 11 and 12 year olds.  I have between 25 and 30 of them every Sunday.  Challenging fun!

Don't you love Tera's improvised cooling rack?  It's the top part of a broiler pan on top of a food storage container.  Yeah and that's our prize winning, butt kicking ginger bread house in the back.  (minus a few eaten and falling off pieces)  Everyone else did traditional.  We did a beach and surf theme...the "Ho Ho Cabana".  Bring it on Doug and Debbie...   :-)...

Talia helping make treats to give to the girls teachers.  Very yum and easy...just spread peanut butter on town house crackers and dip in melted chocolate.  Talia became a world class dipper yesterday.... We also dipped pretzel rods and twists in chocolate and decorated with sprinkles and white chocolate.

These are Tera's hardworking hands perched on her retro apron.  See those clipped nails?  She forgoes the lovely nail look just like her Mother.  She really loves the lovely nail look, but she loves being able to play the violin unhindered a lot more.  I really try to steer my girls completely away from our societies idea that girls value is in their beauty.  I teach them that beauty is really nice...but very fleeting....I see 50 year old woman running flat out every day trying to catch it and not quite succeeding...beauty really is in who and what you become...and skills, talent and quality character you develop usually far outlast any beauty you might have been given at birth....I love my girls....

Look at that gurl dip!

Now for the icing on the cake...

....and pictures of the finished treats for the teachers!

...and a little holly for some Christmas cheer!

...lovely Tera....

...mmmmhhmmmm....

... an easy nice decoration touch...a red rose in the middle of a mint julep cup surrounded by holly berries and herbs!

Today's Bento

A little messy, but still cute!  Teddy bear rice molds decorated a little different makes cute frogs!  The rice is dyed green.

Bentos and Fall Garden Cleaning

This cool weather that followed tropical storm Lee has me feeling energetic and inspired!  The garden has needed a good weeding, pruning and cleaning for a while (typical summer), but 95 degree weather tempted me to put it off to the next day....no excuse now!  

Cleaning is coming along really well, and fall planting will start today!  Fall is really our best growing season here.  Even eggplant hangs it's head in our heat and humidity.  Only melons and sweet potatoes seem to revel in searing sun.

Today the girls' bentos had a heart shaped pink rice ball (tinted with Wilton's pink dye paste for icing...works well for other things too)....

Sweet little cheddar cut outs and small bottles of soy sauce for the egg rolls so "kawaii" (cute in Japanese)...

...pears from the trees with kawaii picks :-)... and a Greek pepper (the girls like the juice on their rice)...So yumm

Here is the front garden all trimmed back...The roses are just sticks currently...they were a little out of control so I pruned them rather severely...should be fine.

I dug out the shabby buddelia and put a pot in its place.  I plan on putting some type of focal point in it...maybe a gazing ball...and then planting some sort of trailing succulent around the focal point.

...the mounds of red dianthus survived the winter and summer (I sheared them occasionally) but I think I'll remove them.  The red just isn't the right color for the front garden.  It's too harsh.  I prefer yellows, oranges, pinks, and white in this garden.  I also had to dig up the Aztec grass to remove some stubborn weeds.  After separating the weed roots from the Aztec grass roots I replanted a larger more spread out clump.  I also removed the yellow mounding lantana.  It tended to get too leggy over the path and it's roots too had bundles of weed roots that were removed as well.  In the process I was able to dig up my hurricane lilies or naked ladies (as you choose) bulbs.  I plan to plant them in a better spot this weekend.  I would like to enjoy them more.

As this garden matures I've had to make decisions on what to remove.  This reminds me of a permaculture practice.  Newly planted areas are over planted with legume trees then later as the planting matures they are removed to make room for the plants that their roots collected nitrogen for.  Did you get that...maybe it was too run on-ish...anyways....Look at that mound of cuttings.  I'm going to put them in another part of the garden until the leaves fall off (the leaves will become mulch).  Then I'll put the stems in a brush pile that I am forming to make a hugelkulture bed.  I think I spelled that right.

I also pruned my lorepetalums or "plum delight fringe shrub".  The cuttings were just dropped right underneath.  They're nice and flat (the cuttings) and make a perfect "chop and drop" scenario for returning nutrients to the soil and providing mulch that shades out weeds and keeps the soil moist.

My garden this morning with the sun breaking through the trees on the batture (batture is the area between the levee and the river).  With the cool weather weeding is actually pleasurable...time to think, plan, and contemplate.

Sweet potatoes on a rampage...Sooooooo excited about these....smile...grin....smile.....

The egg plants are recovering from Lee....they were a little wilted for a while....

Had to put wire cages over the pumpkin seedlings....because of marauding chickens...I'll have to think of a solution to this soon.

How To Make A Strawberry Pincushion...and Todays Bento

School has started and I'm just starting to get back into the routine...not quite there yet.  There is a huge marsh fire burning in New Orleans East and the wind is sending the gigantic smoke cloud in our direction...gaaackk...it's hard to breath at times.  I'll just have to stay inside and keep the doors and windows shut tight.  So much for working in the garden today.....but...there's plenty...more than enough...to do inside.

I did make this cool little strawberry pincushion I saw directions for in a magazine.  A small bowl of these would be adorable and usefull sitting on my sewing shelf.

First cut out a fabric circle about the size of a CD.  Also cut out an additional circle the same size of fusible interfacing (to stiffen up and reinforce the fabric circle).  Iron the fusible interfacing to the back side of the fabric circle...

...then cut in half.  This will make two strawberries...

...fold in half with wrong side facing out and sew a seam forming a cone.  Trim the tip a little bit and then turn the cone so that the right side of the fabric is on the outside....this is just a random pic of my thread and scrap yarn balls I now store beautifully in jars (I love the way it looks and I get to enjoy the color!).

...back to the pincushion...(see the fabric sewn cones in the back?)....put the cone in a small cup fill the cone with sand about 1/2 way.  I put too much at first and had to dump some out....Next poke a little stuffing on top of the sand...

...use heavy duty thread to gather up the edges of the cone and bring it snugly together...you have to keep poking the stuffing back in!  Tie off.

Make a cute little topping of your choice.  I used a piece of leftover bias tape.  You can use rick rack, fabric scraps,  you can even sew a ring on the top to hold on your finger...sew cute!

Todays bento.  Back to school and making fun bentos again.  This method of packing lunches actually motivates me to make sure my girls have healthy lunches from home instead of the yuck they feed them at school...Today their lunches included...Organic chicken (I saved part of the breast from the chicken I boiled to make gumbo for last nights dinner.) on everything bagel with Tony's (Tony Chacheries a cajun spice), a white cheddar baby bel cheese, green greek pickled pepper, carrot sticks, banana bread and dried cranberries....

....and a happy litle animal to say" hi" and " mommy can't wait to see you this afternoon...do good in school!"

Today's Bento

This bento stuff is fun.  I never looked forward to making my girl's lunches until now!  It's like I get to play...anyways...Today's bento has a singing bird theme.  I usually do not buy the orange slices of cheese wrapped in cellophane...but my husband grumped enough that "it's the only cheese I like on scrambled eggs", I bought a pack and funny enough....Byron has ate very little and this pack is lasting forever (another reason why it scares me).  I don't think it's quite as good as he remembered. 

It does make great little cut out bird for the top of the homemade bread ham sandwiches.  The recipe for the bread is HERE.  I also use this bread recipe to make my sub rolls.  I use 1/2 whole wheat flour and 1/2 white.

I added a little musical note pick with olives to show how the birds are just sing their little hearts out!

The babybel cheese also has a cut out of the bird in it's red wax.  There are some carrot sticks, some Zap's (chips), and praline pecans (pecans from my tree this fall).  My girls gave their gushing approval! 

This is one of the many reasons why I pack my girls lunches:  Pink Slime.  Recently Talia came home and informed me that she couldn't bring her refillable water bottle anymore.  She had to bring a "factory sealed drink" or it would be confiscated.  Apparently to avoid children bringing "banned drinks" to school such as alcohol or coke.  Sighhhhhhh.....Please, Please common sense prevail!!!!  I guess I'll have to call the school..........

Around The House And Gardens

Every morning the the guara is vibrating and buzzing with bees.  By the afternoon they've moved on and the guara is silent...I guess the nectar flows in the guara best in the morning?...

The first gladiola has bloomed, and it is beautiful.

My onions are beautiful this year.  This is the first year I have had any significant success with onions.  Not for the lack of trying.  Year after year I have planted and failed with onions.....with gardening....you just have to keep trying....it makes the success all the more sweeter!!!  Yes, this red onion is really sweet tasting as well!

White onions plumping up!

Cherry tomatoes...mmmm....

Little yellow squash...I'm keeping a close eye out for squash vine borers.  If you see saw dust looking crumbs at the base of your squash plants you know you've got them.  The only way to get rid of them is surgery that may or may not work.  Cut a slit long ways (along the length of the vine not across) at the end of the trail the vine borer has made through the vine stem.  Peel it open gently and find the vine borer and pull the disgusting little thing out and squish it.

Here is a vine that volunteered.  I love volunteers...you never know what you may get.  This is maybe a cross between a squash and a gourd???...hmmm....pretty anyway.

Cosmos!

A view across the garden.

Big juicy blackberries are ripening on the trellis near the levee.

Baby muscadine grapes.

I'm already harvesting garlic.  The small creole garlic matured first and then this much larger variety I bought at a local grocery store.  It's really beautiful...I love the textures, colors and the way it looks all piled up after pulling.  See the rosy tint underneath the dirt.  I find the garlic matured pretty quickly this year.

Romaine lettuce seeding.

Butterfly bush.

This is the bento I made my girls this morning.  I know...ladybugs again.   I'm still new at this and need to learn some tricks!  The flowers are rice cooked in pink tinted water with pickled okra centers.  There are carrot flowers, of course the babybel cheese ladybug, Ritz crackers and cheese hearts, dried cranberries and candied pineapple with a couple of ginger snap rounds.

Here is a site that shows how to make cute things with food!  I can't wait to peruse it more!

Cute Food For Kids