Happy New Year! :)

I hope you all had a great holiday season!  My husband was able to take a lengthy vacation for Christmas and New Years- thank you Lynne and everyone who covered for him!!!   So with Paige out of school we got to spend a lot of quality family time together, thus the reason for not posting in such a long time.  Below I posted the bentos that I have done this year so far along with a few pictures of our vacation.

Here is my obligatory bunny bento since this year is officially the year of the rabbit.  The sandwich is filled with turkey and cheese and I also included a mini apple and carrots in the smaller container.

This bento included fried chicken, three mini onigiri, carrots, and Mandarin oranges in the smaller container.

Hanauma Bay- if you ever come to Oahu, it is a must see!

Lots of reefs to snorkel in!

We also went fishing near Sandy beach and checked out the tide pools.

Sean was fascinated with the hermit crabs.

Valentine’s Rooster and Chicken Bento #32

Back to bento making!  I had a short bento holiday because Paige had no school this week until today.  On Paige’s short break we had a lot of fun going to different places and yesterday we spent the day at the Honolulu Zoo.  They had a lot of new exhibits there and I posted a few pictures of our favorite animals.  The kids especially loved the petting zoo and we spent a lot of time there playing with the goats.  There also was an uber friendly peacock at the snack shop who kept coming around and begging for food.  The peacock, who was taller than Sean, kept coming after him for his french fries.  Needless to say, Sean was terrified and now hates peacocks.

Anyway on to today’s Valentine’s Day bento.  I made two love birds (well, actually chickens) and used red heart picks for their combs that I found at Ben Franklin at the Market City location.  I also used my very red bento box so that I could enter this into Hapabento’s “Red” themed bento contest.  I also found this great Chinese Chicken vegetable cutter.  I have a whole set of all of these vintage looking Chinese cutters that my mother in-law gave to me.  I’ll have to post a picture of them so you can help me figure out what some of the cutters are.

Butterfly Green Tea Soba and Chicken Karaage Bento #20

Paige’s bento today consists of green tea soba decorated with fish sausage flowers, green onions, cherry tomatoes, and a butterfly cupcake pick.  In the side compartment there is a Lady apple, chicken karaage, and cucumbers.  I used a package mix for the chicken which makes a light but very tasty batter.  You just have to add a 1/2 cup of water to the mix, add bite sized pieces of chicken, and let it sit for a few minutes before frying.  This particular mix is the best tasting one that I have come across and I have seen it sold at Marukai and Don Quijote if you want to give it a try!

Snowman and Fried Chicken Bento #10

This week Paige has been coming home with a lot of candy canes from school.  One of them came along with a little message explaining the symbolism of candy canes which I thought was really neat.  I’ve also read that the candy cane represents a shepherd’s crook or staff as a metaphor to Jesus Christ, our Good Shepherd.  What a blessing Paige is, she inadvertently teaches me new things every day. Her bento today includes a fish cake snowman, fried chicken, carrots, cucumbers, a strawberry, and rice decorated with snowflakes and a rosemary Christmas tree.

On a different note, yesterday Green Magazine came out with an article on waste free lunches in which they featured one of my bentos!  Thanks so much Ashley!  They also had an article on where to get the best local fresh produce in Hawai`i and mentioned the KCC (Kapiolani Community College) farmer’s market.  I can personally attest to the freshness of the produce because I love to go there every Saturday.  Below are a few pictures of the KCC farmer’s market.

The bread is awesome, freshly baked!!!

They even have several vendors selling bentos!