Madeleine has a new bento (sent from Japan) this year – blue with a lucky white bunny. Today’s lunch (bottom photo) was a peanut butter sandwich, walnuts, cheese, whole grain crackers in the large section (pictured), plus a variety of other things, including our homemade granola bars, in the other compartment. The first photo is the lunch I just packed – a garden of pasta with shaved parmesan dotted with little cheesy flowers accompanied by a mini flower shaped cheese sandwich on homemade white bread.
Sadly, the other portion of the bento (below) is a super cruddy photo (their eyes aren’t quite so beady) of the little strawberry mice sneaking quietly out of a bacon wall to fight over a piece of cheese, plus a small granola bar, walnuts and a few more cheesy flowers.
While my bentos are not nearly the creations that some of the bento-bloggers I enjoy reading, Madeleine enjoys them which is most important of all. She squeaked and squealed at the mice and said that she can’t wait to eat her lunch.
Gregory’s lunches are also bento style now (we’ve really tried to eliminate the plastic sandwich bags), but not stylized into cut creatures and gardens, plus no added greenery. I want to respect the reality that I’m fixing a lunch for a high school guy (who can’t stand cafeteria food!) whose entire table of friends will look at what he has in his lunch. (Yes, guys I’ll send more cookies…) Ironically, one of Gregory’s friends last year kept suggesting that I send him a lunch, too.
In the upper container he has a ham sandwich on fresh roll from Sunday’s dough, our nearly famous molasses cookies, a yet to be perfected homemade granola bar (in it’s wrap), pistachios and a few sweets. In the lower container is leftover carbonara (tonight’s supper), a slice of homemade bread, 2 pieces of bacon and some ham and cheese roll ups. (personal note: He was studying by the time I finished his lunch and as he walked by asked me what I was doing. “Blogging your lunch,” I replied, “Want to see the photo of what you’re getting?” He looked at the pictures and said, “Mom, you are so good at this.” Those are the comments that make my simple efforts worth it.
I really enjoy making lunches. It’s incredibly easy to do and doesn’t take long at all when a) I do it as the dinner dishes are being cleared and food put away, and b) when I have a plan, which I’m fortunate to have again this year as the kids both sat down with me a couple of weeks ago and made their ‘requests’. It pleases me that the kids are getting food they like and will eat, and the lunches are more nutritious than Lunchables and Gogurts.
