Yum Yum Bento Book

We were so inspired by our friend Diane and fellow blogger at http://busynursebento.blogspot.com/, and her wonderful yummy creations that Chick decided to order some really fun Bento products for us to try out.  Yum Yum Bento Box, the book, was really fun and did provide a ton of fun food ideas for kids. We cater parties but when it comes to kids it seems it is best to go with a sure thing. Chicken nuggets, pizza and mac n' cheese.  We love the idea of healthy eating but Bento creating is very time consuming, especially,  if you are doing it on a large scale. Most parents make Bentos for creative ways for their own cherubs to develop healthier eating habits. I am on board with that but my kids are naturally non-picky eaters so if I serve it, they will eat it...even if there is no smiley face on it.

 Above we see rice shapers. There is bear, a heart and a star.  We also have some really good quality metal cut outs. They are like mini cookie cutters. They can make flower shapes in vegetables, meat, cheese or fruits. Below we see egg shapers. Many people add food dye to color the eggs.

Most people use dried sea weed strips to make faces on their food. I really love these seaweed by Annie Chun. My kids like them too and they come in different flavors.

 I wanted to show you the egg shapers. They were not perfect and needed to be trimmed a little. Interesting observation. The brightly colored yellow egg is from one of my mothers free range chickens and the light yellow yolk is from the super market. Interesting.

 These are little condiment containers. They could be used for salad dressing, soy sauce or ketchup. My kids just wanted to play with them. They kept filling them with water, pulling off the heads and drinking from them.

 This was my rendition of franks n' beans. I did little octopus hot dogs, with chicken stock flavored rice and basil, tomatoes with seashell and star mozzarella and beef bologna. I threw in a couple sea weed snacks as well. Below I had little heart shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, an egg and an almond butter ball, bird with apple slices. Note to self. More greens needed. More colors needed. Too much white food. I could have colored it up with multicolored peppers that the kids would have picked out. Maybe next time.

A little shout out to Julia!

Everyone loves her. Julia had so much wisdom. I like that they included her quote"You need fat in your diet to process vitamins". I heard her say this in a couple different episodes. I want to believe that it is true. More butter please.

Happy Thanksgiving Folks!

I would always get a little bummed out by the Thanksgiving Charlie Brown Special. It wasn't because Snoopy...who apparently was the leader, served popcorn, toast and jelly beans. Maybe the guests were all vegetarians.  It was certainly refreshing to see Charlie has an ethnically diverse group of friends. We also notice Peppermint Patti and her "Friend", Marcie who would passive aggressively call Patti "sir", were invited. A Native American friend would have been a nice touch but it is what it is. As a child I found the set up, with the people, the dog and the bird, around the ping pong table weird, but, it was the depressing song, Little Birdie, that really made me cringe.
  What did Woodstock, who I assume was little birdie, have to do with this event. He couldn't help out, because of his unfortunate small size and continually got hurt. It was a tiny bit disturbing seeing Woodstock, a bird,  sit down to a turkey (bird) dinner in the end. I found the whole thing frustrating as a child. This holiday special on the heels of The Great Pumpkin Halloween special, where Charlie Brown got a bag of rocks.What kind of sick adults pass out rocks to some children and candy to others. Bullies!
 I can't wait to be bummed out next month when everyone attacks and belittles poor Charlie Brown again. This time for volunteering to go out in the cold and find a Christmas tree.  Is this what happens when you step up to the plate? At least the holiday special was redeemed by the Peanuts dance number, to the song "Linus and Lucy" by the Vince Guaraldi Trio. Despite the discouraging story lines, the Peanut cartoons still hold a special place in my heart, and definitely have the best Christmas album. Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Knit Wittin'

Knitting and crocheting are both are a great past time, not to mention, relaxing. Over the years, I have received and made dozens of baby blankets and scarves for friends. I have actually knitted several small baby blankets together to make an interesting throw for my own bed.   

 I got this really neat, vintage, knitting kit years ago. I am pretty sure it is from the sixties. I prefer to use long knitting needles or bamboo needles but this is pretty cool with the different attachments.

 There is no excuse for anyone to say, that they are not able to knit. There are so many beautiful yarn varieties today, from sparkly, to thick and fluffy, that one can create something beautiful with a simple pearl stitch. Below, I had two remnant pieces that I was going to use on a few little sweaters. They got messed up so instead of tossing the poor craftsmanship work in the trash, I put them together and made a little bag to stuff knitting supplies into. I usually keep my current project stuff in a basket but the yarn gets snagged and tangled. Problem solved.

This is what I am thinking about doing next......dog sweaters. I really need to get a poodle.

Mushroomin'

I wanted to share a little family tradition that we take part in every year. Believe it or not. it is our yearly expedition to go out and gather mushrooms. However, these are not regular mushrooms...these are actually edible mushrooms. However, I would not be caught dead eating one or advising that anyone try to do so.

We go with our friends from Poland every year. They introduced us to it. They say it is a very popular past time and often an activity to do on a first date in their country. Mushrooms don't seem very romantic but how can you go wrong with a romantic walk in the woods, in the Fall.

 The kinds of mushrooms to look for are sponge bottom type as opposed to a shroom with gills. You check for bugs. cut of the stems, see if it smells mushroomy but not bitter or toxic and throw in your basket.  Oh yeah, you must bring a basket...like Little Red Riding Hood. My friend pickles the mushrooms or dries them to add to soup or pirogi.

 These tree mushrooms are not edible but there are certain kinds, like Chicken of the Forest, that are. Again I would never chance it. The fun part is finding the mushrooms and other little surprises, like this little frog.

 It was a beautiful day and fun for all.