First day of school and I get a call from the nurse, "yes, Nissa has a fever, could you please take her home?" Bummer, because now she had to wait 24 hours but what are you going to do? She only had 100.3 temp and it was gone by the time we got home so I thought she'd be better by Friday. Which meant I got to make a bento! She saw and approved but shortly after complained of a sore throat and to make things worse, Annie got a fever too. So much for going back to school. Ironic since Nissa missed the first Thursday and Friday of school last year too! Anyway, this bento is pretty straight forward with oranges, strawberries, blueberries, and cucumbers. The other parts is a sort of homemade hamburger hotdish that Nissa loves. She did eat it, just not at school. And I got two more days with the peanut!!

It's Nissa's first day of first grade! It'll be an interesting year since Annie switched schools. Nissa decided to stay so she could see all her friends but is a little sad she won't be with her sister, only a little. Grandma bought her these snack boxes for her lunches which meant they "had" to be used for the first lunch. It was fun to do something different. In the little red cups there are two with blueberries and strawberries and one with roasted dill potato bites. The clear rectangle is full of cucumber slices with some nori decoration. The red rectangle has mushroom wild rice with pork chop letters. Finally, the onigiri (pressed rice balls) are stuffed with veggies, wrapped with seaweed, and have a container of seasoning to be added as Nissa likes. I'm going to really miss the little fireball!

This is Nissa's first year to share valentines, so exciting for her. She keeps asking how it works and was nervous about just leaving them in her locker. I'm afraid that's my trait coming out, not wanting to do something unless you know the rules exactly!

Anyway, I actually made them bentos today. Yay, to those creative juices for kicking me in the rear. There's a baked tofu heart over a soba noodle salad with a scallion hug and kiss and a little carrot heart. The top tier is a dumpling from The Tea House, orange wedges and a few carrot hearts. Finally, I picked up a couple of glutinous rice kitty cake treats for them as a valentines treat from United Noodles. Hopefully they'll like them.



A very happy Valentines Day to all and happy birthday to my mom. And finally a special Valentine's wish to my very best friend who still loves me quirks and all after all these years! Love you Bert!

Pinterest has taken over! It is filled with mini foods that are perfect for bentos. It inspired me to make some mini meat pies to go with the girls' Annie's O's. I made up the recipe but it's fairly straightforward so it's probably a copy of one that's out there somewhere. The filling is made up of the following: lean grass fed ground beef, onion, garlic, potato, sweet potato, diced tomato, butter and some Worcestershire sauce as well as some Penzeys 4/S seasoning salt. If you've never heard of Penzeys spices, then you're missing my addiction! I love their store! So, I made enough meat pies for dinner last night and their lunches today too. For sides I added some crabapples and mushrooms. Nissa says she doesn't like the apples or the meat pies (even though she ate both yesterday, ha!) so we'll see how lunch goes. Oh and Happy St. Lucia Day! Can't wait for the little fest we planned for Friday. Hope the kids will have fun!

Leftover spaghetti with cheddar men and a tin of kiwi slices on one side, cucumber slices stuffed with kamaboko (pressed fish cake) men and real little gingerbread men on the other. Here's where their lunches part, one gets preserved plum and the other a sesame stick, two guesses as to who gets which. Oh okay, it's Annie who loves preserved plums! Christmas is quickly coming and I'm loving every minute of it.

The colors in these bentos are so muted that it made me think winter. Mandarin oranges and kiwi, bison sausage and roasted mashed squash, and sesame sticks with a cup of roasted soy nuts fill out their lunches. They ate pretty much everything in this one, foods to remember!

My bentos haven't had much flourish lately and in large part that's because of THE sickness in the house that won't leave us alone. I get a little stressed trying to put together well organized and decorated lunches when the wee one cries for me, poor baby. So there is some decoration and some planning to these but mostly, they are what I hurriedly put together amidst the cries of Oskar in Norby's arms saying, "mama, please stop what you're doing and come put me to sleep!" Nissa sat, or rather stood, next to me and made a snack bento all on her own which she gobbled up before I finished, funny girl.

So in these matching bentos, the left side has quail eggs, orange slices and a bear faced apple - little bear number one. The right side has two containers of puréed dill cauliflower with carrot flowers, sesame udon noodles with shrimp and a couple of cheesy bear faces, havarti cheese that is - little bears two and three!

After I took the picture, I peeled Nissa's eggs for her per her request. She says they don't have enough time to eat let alone peel eggs. This is true, they have very short lunches indeed. Kind of wish they had enough time to eat their whole lunches and milk. Even if they rush, the girls rarely have time to finish. Conferences are on Wednesday, I could mention something then but for now, I hope they enjoy the three little bears.