Three Little Pandas #120

School lunch number 3 consists of panda musubis and beef stew.  Paige specifically requested pandas because it is one of her teachers favorite things.  The beef stew was our leftover dinner so all I had to do was heat it and put it in the thermal container this morning. Leftover lunches and sandwiches are always my favorites because they are so quick and easy!

I also wanted to share with you all the little scare that we had this afternoon.  I found Macky playing with this half dead centipede in our backyard!    It scared me to death because I thought that it would surely bite him.  After screaming a bit, I stomped on it a few times to make sure that it was good and dead.

Isn’t it humongous???

Last but not least, it’s time for me to donate $20 each to the World Food Programme and Hawaii Food Bank again!  120 posts means that we’ve donated a total of $120 since December `09.  :)

Bear Sammy #119

School lunch number two consists of a Bear turkey and cheese sammy with sliced pineapples.  For the bear’s head, I used a hamburger bun for the sandwich and filled it with turkey, American cheese, and lettuce.  Then cherry tomatoes were used for the ears and provolone and olives for the face.  I also wanted to show you all my new nifty pineapple corer/slicer!  My good friend, Frances, introduced and bought me this time and mess saving gadget!  All you have to do is cut the top off of a refrigerated pineapple and place the slicer on the top.  Then turn the slicer clockwise (like a cork screw) until it reaches the bottom of the pineapple and pull out.  Make a cut through one side of the pineapple and voila you have perfect rings.  I love this thing!  Thanks Frances!

I’m Baaaaack!!!

I am sorry for the long hiatus but these past few weeks have been just insanely busy for us!  Even my Mom had called me on Friday to make sure that everything was okay since I hadn’t posted in so long.  For those who have emailed me or asked me questions, I promise to answer them in the next few days so please bear with me.

Today was Paige’s first day back to school and I can’t believe that she is in the 3rd grade already!!  For her lunch I made her bear musubis with fried chicken, a few veggies, and strawberries.  I packed it in this awesomely cute Kokeshi bento box that I picked up from Bento & Co over the summer.  They have several other types of Kokeshi bento boxes so click on the link to check them out.

Kokeshi bento box assembled!  So cute right???

This past weekend, I was invited to help with Senator Dan Inouye’s table at his Community Day event held at Washington Middle School here in Honolulu.  Our whole family was thrilled to be able to meet Senator Inouye and his wife and I was truly honored to be able to take part in such a great event.  Senator Inouye and his wife Irene are truly genuine and down to earth people!  Many thanks to Jinny for all of your hard work and generosity!   Below are a few of the mini chicken sandwich samples I passed out during the event.  They were topped off with flowers, birds, and pumpkins too.

Winner of the Back to School Giveaway!

Congratulations to Kuusou from Texas, you are the lucky winner!  Kuusou, I will be in contact soon via email.  To see the results of the drawing go to RANDOM.ORG Back to School Giveaway.  Thank you to everyone who entered, I loved seeing where you all were from!!!  :)

*There were a few people who entered past the Friday midnight deadline.  For those individuals, I am sorry that I couldn’t enter your names into the drawing.

Back to School Giveaway!

Hazelnut Sandwich Cookie from Whimsy and Spice.  This chocolatey cookie spider is dedicated to Keira and her sweet mommy who gave me these wonderful cookies and so much more!!!  Hugs to you both!

As promised I am holding a back to school giveaway!!!  The prize is a $30 gift certificate from CSNstores.com which is only available to those who live in the US and Canada (international shipping rates apply to Canadian orders). However because I don’t want to exclude anyone from the contest, I am also offering a second prize package (open to everyone!) which includes a copy of Hawai`i’s Bento Box Cookbook 2nd Course, a Little Red Riding Hood collapsible bento box by Shinzi Kato, fun animal onigiri wrappers, super cute animal baran, and these adorable panda food picks.  This prize package is worth well over $40.  If you are from the US or Canada and win, you can choose either the gift certificate or the second prize package.  To enter all you have to do is leave a comment below stating where you are from.  Please don’t forget to enter by Friday, August 6th, 12 midnight HST and one lucky winner will be announced shortly thereafter.  Good luck to you all!

The Red Riding Hood  bento box is the same as the Oz box pictured below except that the bottom basket is red.

Check out Shannon’s “What’s For Lunch Wednesday” for some great bento ideas and submit your own lunch too!