Well, that break was an unintended.
Here’s the breakdown of my time away from blogland (scroll down past the bullet points if personal minutia isn’t your thing):
- Went on romantic overnight date with the mister. Decided that I would get caught up on blogging when we got back.
- Got phone call during romantic overnight date, informing us that my mother-in-law needed to come visit (the mister is her go-to tech guy, and her old computer packed up and called it day not long after our triumphant return from Croatia).
- Week of entertaining house guests (my youngest nephew decided to come along, too).
- Week of struggling with massive cold (mine, then the kids’).
- School starts. I get excited, since my son is in pre-kindergarten now and I will have three hours every morning to do whatever I want/need to do. Surely I will get caught up on blogging!
- Forget laptop twice this week. Get caught up doing annoying but necessary errands on two other days (I hate curtain shopping).
- Finally drag self to Starbucks with laptop this morning. Whoo-hoo!
But enough excuses! On to the bentos!
School started this past Monday, and as luck would have it my daughter hatehatehated the cafeteria offering for the day (she probably eats the hot lunch about half the time, I pack the rest of the month). I wanted to pack her a first-day-of-school lunch, anyway. My son never had a choice; he gets out of preschool at noon, so if he doesn’t eat what I pack or cook at home, he has a long, hungry afternoon ahead of him.
To celebrate the first day of pre-K and second grade for my favorite kids, I decided to make these reading animals.
E. (my daughter) got a sushi rice cat with carrot glasses, holding a book made from a separated piece of crab stick. The details are done with nori. I also added a perky little bow food pick at the last moment.
J. (my preschooler son) had a little sushi rice dog reading a crab stick book. His features are nori, too, with a little white American cheese to reinforce the seaweed on his ears.
Both the animals have an apple for the teacher, too, which was made from a grape tomato, white American cheese, black sesame seeds, and a cucumber leaf cut-out. I got the idea from the always fabulous Little Miss Bento (link here).
The sides are tiny hot dogs, chicken nugget pieces (pan-fried and threaded onto more food picks), cucumber slices, carrots, corn, and berries. Not pictured are the desserts: a half portion of my daughter’s favorite candy bar (Kinder Bueno, if anyone’s wondering) and a chocolate bonbon for my son.
Thanks so much for the patience during my time away, everyone. It’s good to be back :).
Happy nibbling!
~ K.
Floribento 