Friday's Bento

this is the bento lunch that I made for Samantha and myself today. In the top tier is a salad with mushrooms, cucumbers and tomatoes and the little clear container on the side is some dressing that I made last night. The bottom tier is some hummus in the little purple container, sprinkled with green onions, some mini pitas and a ham/turkey/pepperjack roll and some grapes on the little bee picks. On the side is a container with pumpkin seeds and the top is a banana smoothie. Samantha hasn't seen the new tiffin boxes or the bees yet so she will be surprised.

I LOVE World Market stores but there isn't one very close by me so when I am near one I have to stop by and do some shopping. The tiffin boxes are from my last trip a week or so ago. Of course those aren't the only things I bought, but the only bento related stuff. We have a local cake decorating supply store that I have recently discovered and when I was in there I picked up a bunch of cupcake pics, including these adorable bees.

I have noticed that when I go to school to eat with her, I am the only adult that is not carrying a fast food bag. On Fridays there are lots of parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles eating in the cafeteria and I am the only one that doesn't bring fast food. Knowing how kids don't necessarily like to stand out as different, I asked Samantha how she felt about that and she let me know that she definitely prefers the bentos. She did let me know if I didn't have time to make a bento that take out sushi would be okay. We have been doing the bento thing every other Friday or so since last school year. I think it is interesting that so many of her classmates are fascinated with the food that I pack. One little boy in particular always comes and takes a look and says "you are so lucky" every week. Samantha has always eaten a wide variety of foods, ever since she was a tiny thing. Green onions have always been one of her favorite things. When she was two or three and would see us pull out green onions to go with dinner she would get so excited! that's why the hummus has green onions on top as well as blended into the hummus.

Want to see lots more cool bentos? I have linked my post to "What's for Lunch Wednesday". Lots of great bento ideas to be found there!