(#131) Gemelli with Basil Pesto

Didn't do bento for the last couple of days, I've been glued to the TV and internet watching every  updated news about the earthquake in Mentaway and Mt. Merapi eruption. Calling my family, relatives and friends in Indonesia and thank GOD everyone is okay, they are far far from the affected area.
My deepest deepest condolences, my thoughts and prayers are with the family and the victims of Mentaway and Merapi.

Anyway, I could not think of another spooky bento for the boys, but still want to add a little Halloween things.             It's a very simple bentos as always.
I cooked some Gemelli pasta served with basil pesto, I hope the boys will like it.

I topped the pasta with Jack O'Lantern out of carrot, next to it are some grapes, steamed broccoli, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and babybel O'Lantern. I so regret I did not grab the red one, so the result would not be to pale :'(
And Uh .. I also put some yellow carrots in the mini bamboo skewer I just got the other day.

Here's another picture :

(#130) sweet and sour chicken

The weather is been so cold, wet and windy here for the last couple of days ... totally one of those day where you do not want to do anything but staying at home, bundled up with the kids and watch movies *kidding*.... LOL ...

Anyway, I cooked sweet and sour chicken for dinner last night, I knew it tasted so darn good and hubby loves it so much, but I guess this is not my boys favorite dish after all, I can tell when they were having dinner they kind a ate it because they have to. So there must be some leftovers today >,< 

But actually D is been doing really good this year, I almost never see any leftovers in his lunch box. I just have to work on B's appetite, he used to be so much better compared to D. But I guess it's hard when it comes to kids, one day they seems to be so picky and the next day they will eat almost anything .... ^_^

For today's bento, I use the eco lunch box that I just got the other day. I love the separated little container inside but I think I should not use that for today's lunch, why? because it's un-microwaveable and even if I manage to heat up the chicken still the heat will probably spoiled the fruits next to it.
So what you see in this picture is not what D is ended up taking. In the morning I took the chicken out to heat it up then put it back in, then I took the fruit and tomato then pack it in another container.

Back to the menu, other than sweet and sour chicken is rice o'lantern, steamed broccoli with bones picks sticking out, grape tomato, and purple grapes.
And here's the picture of bento for B, I use regular plastic boxes for him, everything is the same but instead of making rice balls, I just layered the rice and topped it with carrot o'lantern and nori bat.

(#129) Two little ghosts

I wasn't even plan to make Halloween bento for today's kids lunches, but when I started to put everything inside the box I was thinking maybe I still can give a simple Halloween touches to it, you know like "BOO" letters or something. But still! I wasn't going to take a picture .... too lazy and it was too dark outside, windy and raining almost all day long. Typical northwest weather!
And then I remember last year I made the ghosts out of swiss cheese using the tulip cookie cutter upside down, and I was thinking again hhmmm I can make that simple ghosts and the bento will have more Halloween other than just BOO letter ... and as you can see I ended up taking pictures ..LOL .... So here they are... two little ghosts :

Inside the box : beef patty topped with BOO letter from carrots, mini purple potatos topped with "the ghosts" swiss cheese, steamed broccoli, purple grapes and grape tomatoes and strawberry. I also put a cute spider pick.

(#128) Caterpillar Bento and good news

Inspired by yum yum bento book, I prepared the caterpillar bento for the boys, I cooked the rice in some home-made chicken broth then added fresh parsley and cilantro, so it looks greener. I do this a lot coz my boys love it!!

Inside the box : leftover roasted chicken, sliced cucumbers, orange bell pepper, carrots, grape tomatoes and checkered apple.
Here's the picture of the other one :

Now for the good news :
Today marks the 1st anniversary of my bento blog, I can't believe I've been bento blogging for a year, I still remember how reluctant I was to get started, I was so worry about my English and this and that, but I am glad I did it!! coz I got to know many bento bloggers and get so many ideas, get inspired by them and learn more.
Before I did bento blogging I always post my bentos in my Multiply account which I set it up for my contacts only, so it was very limited and seems to be I was the only bento maker there. So this is great.

And what better way to celebrate the 1st Anniversary than received some bento presents. Special thank you to Kelly, I received the prize I've won on the Awesome Wilton Give Away :

And thank you hubby for getting me this :

 And also this :

And more to come ...LOL ... I hope ...*grind*

Y'all have a fabulous weekend!!! ^_^

(#127) Eyeballs bento

Back to Halloween theme, today I packed the boys some rice served with Indonesian style beef.
I have seen some other bento-ers making an eye ball using bread with special edible marker, but I do not have such tools yet.

So this is what I did after I prepared some rice balls. I put some ketchup into small plastic bag, then poke a small hole at the edge and then squeezed the ketchup out creating the red marks on the rice balls. Then I put a circle nori cut by scissor.
I am not to crazy about the result but the boys seems to be excited to get Halloween bento again.

Other than rice balls and Indonesian style beef are some orange bell pepper and yellow carrots. And I also packed them some fruits and snack (not pictured).

(#126) Spinach Ravioli

I really want to make another Halloween bento, but last night I was so blank and couldn't come up anything, I ended up standing in the kitchen doing nothing and wasting time. I think I have to look up for some new ideas and inspirations from another bento-ers. 

So I decided to go back to my life safer's bento menu :D I know it's just ravioli bento, but I was in the good mood on taking pictures :D 

 

Inside the rectangular box is spinach and cheese ravioli sprinkle with EVOO and Parmesan cheese and herb topped with flowered carrots, yellow baby carrots, orange bell peppers and baby Roma tomatoes. On those 2 little containers are some grapes and strawberry and some gold fish for a snack.

Almost all the time I make 2 identical bentos for the boys to save some times, and here is the other picture :