Hinged Fish Bento

[dreamshark]

For Valentine's Day, Richard surprised me with an adorable hollow fish with a hinged tail to use in my bento lunches. Thinking of something to do with it is a little challenging, as it is not liquid safe (I think it's made of laquered wood, although I'm not quite sure). Well, there's nothing like a challenge to get the creativity flowing, so I've decided to use the fish every day this week, for something different each time. For added variety, I'll try to use a different bento box each day. Today it holds dessert. I built today's lunch around the star-shaped sandwich cutter I picked up at the dollar store. It looked so pretty in the cutter that I just left it that way until I was ready to eat it. A sandwich cutter is one of those silly things that is really aimed at the parents of picky eaters who won't eat bread crusts. I'm not picky - I ate the sandwich trimmings with yesterday's lunch.

This lunch is also an example of how the Bento Box Diet is improving my nutrition. The steamed vegies are not leftovers - I cooked and added them specifically because I needed to fill in the spaces around the food containers with something colorful. I really am eating more vegetables now - especially orange and green ones. I considered reheating the vegies, but decided that a little bit of poppy seed dressing would turn them into salad. And, in fact, they were delicious eaten cold with only half a bear of dressing.

Bento #20 - Hinged Fish with Tuna Sandwich Star-shaped tuna sandwich; heart-shaped egg; mashed potatoes with a little gravy; steamed asparagus, brocolli and baby carrots. Condiments: salad dressing in the bear, soy sauce in the applehead, and Ghiardelli chocolate chips in the hinged fish.