The Flower Power of 2014

I am rushing this one. Really rushing this one. I am going for the world record in how quickly anybody has ever written a blog post. This has nothing to do with the fact that I am busy trying to prepare for the next month. 

So, I'm trying for under 20 minutes. (FYI, it normally takes me at least 2-3 hours). Be prepared for a pretty abysmal post. I apologize in advance. 

So, peanut butter sandwiches. And those sandwiches were not cut from sliced bread. I had to slice the bread myself (I will master that elusive even slice someday. Maybe in heaven. Long live sliced bread.) which left Dad in a not so happy state. Apparently, he likes his sandwiches to be the same thickness at one end as it is at the other. I can't imagine why. 

So peanut butter sandwiches, a sliced/broken up cheese string, to BEAR Yoyo lollipops (i.e. a Yoyo on a coctail stick) and a (I'll give you one guess) apple that has been sliced and had flower shapes cut out of it. 

So, to review. 

1. TIME I was pleasantly surprised, this bento took me a lot less time than I thought it would. One star to me. 

2. LEFTOVERS Leftovers was a bit of a fail. I had the apple and bread scraps in a box all ready to put out for the birds in the morning. But then it poured down. So they got put in the compost bin. So, fail. No stars. 

3. RECORDING Despite the fact I feel rubbish (like really rubbish) AND I am concentrating on Vegan MoFo and so am speed writing this post, I am recording this. On Sunday. Which is good because otherwise it probably wouldn't of happened until October. So I will have that star back thank you very much. 

7. CUTENESS Come on. Just look at it. It's cute. It's all flowery! I doth believe that this is the cutest bento that I've had in a while. If I could award myself two stars I would.  As it is, I can't and so I'll just add one. 

There isn't much else of note, and as I'm doing this as quickly as possible, I'll not expand on those points. 

So that's two stars to me, and now I'm going to have a nap before getting back to MoFo stuff. All will be explained tomorrow. 

If scheduled blog posts work that is. If not, I'm going to have one of those headaches you get  from trying to sort out technological problems. 

And that is all over and done with in about 25 minutes. Not bad. See ya. 

Speak Swedish?

I have been to IKEA. 

I have actually been and walked around IKEA. Okay, I did get pushed around for quite a bit of it, but I went to IKEA. Lets not pick at straws here people! 

That's one more thing ticked off my New Years Bucket List. 

I have been to IKEA. 

I have been to IKEA. 

And okay, I'll stop saying it now. There, happy now? 

(I have been to IKEA)

Like my haul? So- I spent not a lot of money buying a lot of stuff. I'm happy. 

I also bought a table, a wardrobe organiser that doesn't fit in my wardrobe (anybody need a wardrobe organiser?) and some dedicates washing bags. 

I did not buy a chair or the kiddie plastic plates. AKA to things out of the three things I 'need'/want. The IKEA lady helpfully told us that the plates would be back in tomorrow. But I'm not here tomorrow, I'm here today. And the chair has been discontinued. (IKEA need to do more office chairs without wheels, BTW). 

Sad face. 

:(

Do you like the flamingos?

Happy face.

:) 

And I got elk pasta!!!! (Which my friend is now probably very tired of hearing about.) But look, it's shaped like Elk's!!!

And what better to inspire a bento then a trip to IKEA?

Look, elk pasta!!! (Sorry Miss H, I'll shut up about it now!) Plus homemade veggie meatballs (yes, I know thats an oxymoron), an apple, a peach yogurt with bits of chopped up Nakd bar in it and a lingonberry juice box. I was going with 'simple but good'. Not sure if I achieved this, but hey ho. 

1. TIME It took very little extra time to do this one. I had pasta and meatballs (and tomato sauce) the night before, so I just had to boil a bit more pasta, and keep some more meatballs from the freezer. All I had to do was cut up the apple and add the Nakd bar to the yogurt. One green star to me. 

3. RECORDING Guys, I'm recording this one on time. For the first time in like, a month. Are we impressed. Two stars!

5. BOXABILLITY Okay. It's not completely in one box. But it's only a small box (it's marketed as being a box to hold a sandwich) and I haven't yet worked out how to stop my yogurt covering everything else. But we'll go with minus a star. 

7. PACKAGING Okay that is a juice box (and not my reusable one) and the yogurt came in it's own pot, and the Nakd bar came individually wrapped, but I CUT UP THE APPLE MYSELF. For the FIRST TIME. So, for that improvement, I'm giving myself another star. It's not the perfection, it's the trying hard. (Yeah, I'll keep telling myself that.)

8. PLANNING I had this one planned ever since... um... actually I can't actually remember. But I had it planned for a while anyway. So I'm on three stars. 

9. EATING The passenger transport came early, so I didn't have time to finish it. So we'll stay neutral on this one. I quite liked having the cold pasta though. And the yogurt. (And by now you've probably guessed I liked the apple) Both of  these will have to be repeated. And the lingonberry juice? It was kinda like a fruitier cranberry juice. If only they had it in Sainsburys...

So that's three stars. 

Now, trying to understand what I actually brought in IKEA. So...

Är det någon som talar svenska?

(P.S. If that's a bad translation- blame Google!)

Two in a Week

Right peoples, like last week, there are two bento's here for you today. Unlike last week, this is because I ate two bento's last week, not just because I'm really behind in blogging about them. I'm just behind. 

Yeah, I know, small difference. 

And, as a side note, I am working really hard on blog things, I'm just not ready to post them yet. It's not that I'm neglecting you, honest!

Most weeks, at the moment, I only eat one packed lunch a week. This means only one bento a week. This week fate dictated I had a packed lunch twice. Just to warn you guys, I'm starting college soon, and so I'll be having a packed lunch 4-5 times a week. Although they won't all be bento. So, expect an avalanche of bento people. Just warning ya. 

The first one isn't like any of the bento's that I've posted so far. It's a bento salad. I know, such things exist! (Well, actually, I don't know if they did before, but they do now!)

Spinach leaves and balsamic vinegar in the lower level; a rolled up tortilla wrap, a babybel cheese, some cashews, crispy onions, dried cranberries, and dried apple on the top level. In other words, salad and all the fixings! 

Salad is not the easiest thing to eat on a train in a wheelchair. Just to let you know guys. It is especially not the easiest thing when that salad comes in a box with two layers. Not the easiest thing but just about manageable. 

So... You know the drill by now. Or if you don't, check here.... 

3. RECORDING Was pretty rubbish for this one. Over a week ago guys. We'll loose a star and move on. 

5. BOXABILITY This is the first time that I have not used my shallow pink square. It wasn't a disaster. It worked. It worked fairly well. The babybel fitted SO nicely into the section where you are supposed to put your dressing pot. It was if they invented it with a babybel in mind! So, we will gain a star (lets go for red today) if you can call ending up on zero gaining a star. 

7. CUTENESS Although it's not cute like experienced bento-ers boxes are, I am quite impressed with that babybel star. It was hard. No, I mean that it was really hard. But I did it eventually. So, it may not be perfectly executed or perfectly cute, but I did something new and I didn't give up (and trust me I wanted to!). So one extra star. 

8. PLANNING Okay, so I didn't plan this bento, but I didn't know that I would need to plan this bento, so we're okay. Well stay with one stars. It wasn't my fault it wasn't planned. 

9. EATING I ate most of it. I ate all the salad and fixings, and about half of the cheese and tortilla strips. I was going to finish these on the way home, but I felt a bit sick, so I didn't. But it was probable the right amount of food, maybe a bit much. It wasn't a great success, but it wasn't a complete failure. And I quite enjoyed having a salad, I hadn't had a salad like that in a while and I liked it. And so we'll add an extra star. 

Which means roll up, roll up, there's two stars in the tent tonight. 

This is more like the other bentos. A chopped up apple, cucumber crescent 'moons', and a falafal, cream cheese and pickle wrap. Decorated with stars cut out of Quorn(TM) pepperoni. Moons and stars- getting the theme here guys? The little pink pot has tahini in it (for dipping apples). 

Mom is vacuuming. Shes got the wires tied up in a knot. It's a very good knot. Any Boy Scout would be proud. 

So.... Back to bentos. 

Let's critique it shall we? 

What we really need at this point is Paul and Mary. 

2. LEFTOVERS Why is it only after you've thrown them away dose it occur to you what you SHOULD of done with the middles of the cucumber that you removed with the melon baller. You should of chopped them up and mixed it in with the cream cheese to make a kind of tzatziki to spread on your wrap. Like I said, this only occurred to be AFTERWARDS. So I loose a star. Before I even have any. I'll try harder next time sir. 

3. RECORDING How can I be on minus two already?

4. BALANCE I only used half a portion of cream cheese on the wrap, so I added the tahini to give it a bit more calcium. (Yes, tahini is a okay source of calcium). That was good planning to make sure that I had the right balance. My debt has decreased. 

7. CUTENESS Moons and stars people. Moons and stars. We're getting better. I'll give myself a star for improvement. 

Um... nothing else of note, and so that means that bento didn't get any stars (but I tried soooo hard. Ooops. Well, Look Wider is supposed to be a challenge.) 

So for too bentos, I've ended up with two stars. Which is a star a bento. It could be worse; but I really need to up my game next (this) week.

Any tips on how to do this?

Absolutely Cream Crackered

I haven't been on here in a long time. It's not entirely my fault. I've been away for a week in Birmingham, and I've been away for a week in Scotland. And the weekends? I've been absolutely cream crackered. I've had several pyjama days. Do I want to blog? To be honest - I don't wanna do anything. So if you think that I had disappeared of the blogoshere, then you would be right. If you're worried about this week, worry less. I'm busy (like seriously, seriously, seriously busy) but I'm at home. I have access to my laptop. It's all good. 

:D Happy face. 

Did you know that cream crackers contain no cream AT ALL? They are, in fact, completely vegan? (Well, the Sainbury's ones are at any rate). 

Right, now, before we move onto the bento update, I need to go make tea!

Okay, so I have made tea, ate tea, and made and froze tea for three more separate occasions, and I am now absolutely cream crackered again. I'll restart again tomorrow!!!

TTFN

Okay, so I'm back again. (Yeah, I know you're all thrilled!)

Okay so we got:

• Chickpea salad in a silicone cup
• Cream crackers
• Nori cut out 'A'
• Sliced cheese string
• Green grapes

And this is how it looks when it's all packed up (I'm still working on the lunch bag situation).

And how does it stack up? Well, I'm sure that it will stack up pretty much the same as all the others.

2. LEFTOVERS Well, I snacked on the cut off bits of nori as I made the lunchbox, and so I may not have done anything creative with the leftovers, but nothing got put in the bin!! So one star to me please!!

3. RECORDING I ate this bento in July. Nuff said. No stars. 

4. BALANCE Calcium in the cheese string, complex carbohydrate in the crackers, a fruit point in the grapes, and a veggies point in the chickpea salad, and protein in the chickpeas. Yeah one star (again).

5. BOXABILITY I think that everything fits real nicely in this box, I'm quite proud of it in that respect. So, two star. 

6. PACKAGING Only the cheese string was individually packaged (and they only come like that). That, my dear readers, is an improvement, and so three star. AND that plastic sandwich bag that I'm using to keep everything together? Yeah, I've been reusing that for weeks now. (It doesn't come into contact with food- don't worry. It's just holds everything together.)

8. PLANNING I had planned this bento the weekend before I ate it. That's 7 days people. The chickpea salad was made (and some already eaten) so I just had to put it in. The cheese strings had been brought (I got the idea here). Id made sure that NO ONE had eaten the GREEN grapes (don't like the red ones) and I'd brought the cream crackers (much to my mothers despair). One more star. 

9. EATING I ate it all. I think that this is the first time that I've eaten in ALL. Okay, I didn't eat it all at lunch and ate about 1/4 of it when I came back for afternoon snack, but I ate ALL of it. Another star. 

That's five stars. That's a lotta stars people!!!!! Wahoo!!!!!! 

Right. Now before we get to the depressing-ness of the next bento, lets look at some balsamic vinegar. Enthralling I know. 

While I was at a week of intensive physio in Birmingham, my Mommy brought me some balsamic vinegar. 

She brought me a packet of five little tubs of balsamic vinegar. For my bento project. (well, that blows the packaging thing out of the window). So, coming up, something that requires balsamic vinegar. 

Are you excited? 

I am, I think that picture turned out really well. 

This one not so much. 

That's a cut up apple, two halves of a cheeses string (hiding top right hand corner), celery (that's the green stuff) broken up cream crackers, chopped up Quorn(TM) pepperoni and the most part of a Nakd bar. It was the Berry Delight one. That's the red-brown things which are just kind of everywhere. Or anywhere there was room. 

3. RECORDING Yeah. This one is not quite as late as the other one, but it still doesn't meet my target for how long I have to blog about them. I now have a negative number of stars (it's not good.)

4. BALANCE It meets the requirements. And my box today doesn't have many redeeming features, so we wont add a star, but we will go back into neutral. 

5. BOXABILITY Now, I know that there is no spare space in this box, but, it's just to cramped. I don't like it. Minus one star. (Again. Really need to get out of these negative stars.)

6. PACKAGING Okay, it gets worse. The cheese string comes in an individual package. The Nakd bar comes in an individual package. The apple came cut up in an individual package. We spiraling down and down on this slippery slope guys! 

7. CUTENESS There is no cuteness here. There just isn't. And we can't even stay neutral cause it's so crowded!

8. PLANNING Due to the fact I was away all week, I didn't plan this one. I just kind of hunted around to see what I could find. Not totally my fault, but no redemption. I couldn't control what we had in the fridge when I wasn't home. And so we'll stay on minus 3 stars (when can I start crying?)

9. EATING Didn't quite finish this one. I was going to finish what was left of it when I got home, but then I wasn't very well that afternoon and so it didn't happen. But like above, wasn't entirely my fault, and so we'll stay on minus 3. (You've got to let me start crying now)

Today is not a good day. 

But it's okay. I may have minus three, but I also have five. So that makes two. 

Two's okay, right? 

Has anyone got any good ideas for how to improve my stars?