Slider - A Deconstructed Bento

My lovely nesting Alice in Wonderland hosted the bento of the week. These are the perfect boxes for a deconstructed bento.

Large, medium, small and smaller filled with the elements of a work-day lunch.

Starting at the right we have homemade brown sugar wheat bun with kettle chips. Lettuce and tomato. Grass fed organic cooked beef patty and grated cheese. Dijon mustard and homemade pesto mayo.

At my desk 1pm sharp sandwich made and consumed. This picture was the "oh yeah" half way thru.

Bentoin' all week with you

Monday ! Tuesday ! Bento Days!

Leftover panko chicken and stuffed peppers, and vegetables and brie and crackers.

Mixed salad, chicken sausage and rolled omelet, carrots and tomatoes and hummus, cookies and candy.

Wednesday ! Thursday ! Bento Days!

Tomatoes and mangoes chunked, hummus and peanut butter with bread sticks and kumquats.

Heirloom tomatoes and cottage cheese and a carrot star and thinly sliced radish, pecans and orange slices and bell pepper and carrots and strawberries

Yay!

Alice is my bag

When I told the clerk at the shop what I planned on doing with this fabric, she said dully, "How nice." I'm all about educating the masses so I went on (a bit like trying to save myself from drowning), "You know bentos? They're little boxes that hold food for lunch. Very Japanese!" That was met with a smile, sort of. After a moment or two, she said, "Well it is very cute fabric."

And it is cute! Just like bentos!

After I bought my nesting Alice in Wonderland bentos, I thought I might make a bag to go with them. I have a bag for my red Hello Kitty bento box and my black strawberry bento box, and of course, Mr. Bento has a bag as well.

Bags work well with me. They're cute and contained. And the bag kind of protects the box. I would also like to try the whole art of wrapping the bento box in fabric, Furoshiki, and (I guess) use the fabric as tablecloth or napkin. I have to research this art form.

So check back sometime... I will blog the bag when it's finished.

Shinzi Katoh's Alice in Wonderland nesting bento box

This is the latest addition to my stash of bento boxes. Along with some other adorable panda picks and chopsticks, I scored these goodies at JFlair dot com. What a fun place to shop!

I had seen a Shinzi Katoh box that had bunnies riding in a car, and I thought How Cute! So I started hunting around for anything of his and found the very current Miss Alice and the grumpy Queen.

(I haven't seen the movie yet, but I will soon.)

They are really quite charming and the lids snap firmly into place. I don't think they are microwaveable, but that doesn't matter since I don't nuke any of my bento boxes.

They do need a bag however. They only nest when they're empty. And I saw some Alice in Wonderland fabric at my local sewing shop the other day, but I would loathe to battle the traffic this weekend as we are in the middle of yet another wine celebration, the Zin Fest.

For those of you that don't know - I live in the Central Coast region of California and vineyards have taken over. Every direction I look grapes are growing. What use to be cattle and hay fields, now cab, zin, syrah, etc.

So wineries throw festivals and everyone (in the world) comes here and gets drunk. (And the coppers make some dough too.)

I wait till they all go home.

Not that I have anything against wine. I am enjoying a glass of 2003 Brunello di Montalcino this very moment while I cook up my pizza. ( Guess I'll blog about that over on Foodie. )

Look what else I found at JFlair! Due Mugs! by Shinzi Katoh. Tea kept warm with dish for snack. Love the birdie on the branch!

Welcome Spring!