April Fool's Breakfast

This sunny morning, I decided to make sunny-side-up eggs for the kids.

 Except that it's April Fool's Day, so these aren't just any sunny-side-up eggs.

These aren't eggs at all, much to LoveBug's relief (since sunny-side-up eggs are her least favorite type of egg).

SuperBoy couldn't figure out why the "yolk" wouldn't run when he poked it.

April Fool's! It's a base of yogurt, swirled to look like an egg white. And an apricot half (from a can) carefully placed on top. Tada, and (to my kids), "Gotcha ... again".

Ps. My daughter was hesitant to drink her milk this morning, thinking that I might have pranked the milk as well. Nope, but there's always next year! :)

The Marshmallow Tree bloomed today!

There is a type of rare-blooming Marshmallow Tree. In fact, it is SO rare, that it only blooms once a year, on April 1st. AND we have our very own in our front yard!

When I woke the kids up this morning, I told them all about this amazing tree in our front yard. LoveBug was a bit dubious at first. However, once we got outside, they were both ecstatic!

So this is how marshmallows grow?! On trees!

Pure excitement.

Pure delight.

Pure sugar.

Happy April Fool's Day.

April Fool's Day bento... just kidding

Presenting my April Fool's Day bento. Just kidding! You'll have to wait until tomorrow.

My mom-in-law is in town, and we are in cahoots to make each meal contain an April Fool's surprise element. We've got breakfast and lunch figured out already. Still working on the dinner surprise.

Plus ... did you know that the Marshmallow Tree blooms very rarely ... every few years, and only on April 1st?! AND we have our very own Marshmallow Tree right in our front yard?!! Well, my kids are about to discover that amazing fact tomorrow morning before school. And believe me, I'm gonna take pictures.

List of O Foods

Since the foods beginning with the Letter O are not very numerous, it's time to pull out the stops on the creativity. For instance, instead of putting Octopus into the lunch as the main protein, I created an Octo-Dog (octopus-looking hot dog). What will YOU come up with? And please share a picture - I'd love to see!

Breads/Grains:
Oatmeal
Oats
Orecchiette pasta (looks like little ears)
Orzo pasta

Dairy:
Olde York cheese (creamy and crisp taste)
Oxford blue cheese (creamy, semi-soft, blue cheese)

Desserts:
Oreos

Fruits:
Orange

Meats/Protein:
Ocean perch
Octo-Dog (octopus-shaped hot dog)
Octopus
Orange roughy
Oysters

Vegetables:
Okra
Olives
Onion rings
Onions

Combos:
Omelet

Letter O Lunch

This bento was SO fun to make, albeit challenging. Why so challenging? Name a meat or protein that begins with the letter O ... you thought of "octopus", didn't you? Yeah ... do YOU want that in YOUR lunch? Well, I can almost guarantee that most kids (and adults) don't want it in their lunches either!

I also thought of Ocean perch, Orange roughy and Oysters. Still none of those sound appetizing in a packable, to-go lunch. Time to get creative!

Presenting the "Octo-Dog"! Also known as "an-octopus-shaped-hot-dog". It's rather simple to do - carefully slicing the hot dog to create "legs" and then boiling in water for a few minutes. Click on How to Make an Octo-Dog for step-by-step instructions.

I laid the Octo-Dogs over a bed of lightly buttered Orecchiette pasta. This cute little pasta looks like tiny ear-shaped shells.

Into the corner, I tucked some green Olives. Note that I put them in a silicone cup, to contain the olive juice, keeping it from making the Orecchiette from tasting like a summer pasta salad. That is a delicious thought (and perhaps, I'll make that dish this week!), but it wasn't the idea that I was going for now.

In the second layer, I placed Oreos in a small silicone cup as a dessert. (Note to self and y'all: place the cookies into the lunch in the morning. Experience talking again.)

Oranges make up the fruit component as this Letter O lunch. Originally, I wanted to place Orange smiles into the lunch, but they wouldn't fit. So they became Orange quarters. Still delicious. I put these in another silicone cup to prevent the juicy oranges from soggifying the Oreos and Okra.

Fried Okra! I've never tried my hand at it before. However, the Letter O veggie choices are quite limited. Honestly, it wasn't awful. It was rather delicious. I can't wait to try it again, now that I am more confident in frying it.

What will you make for YOUR Letter O lunch?

Preview of Baran Sheets

Hey friends! Unfortunately, life is getting in the way of blogging. Nope, actually, I mean that I am choosing my family and our life over the blog, once again. "Family first" is my motto.

Although I am a stay-at-home-mom, I have picked up a few housecleaning gigs as well. Today, I begin cleaning a rather large home. The first few times of cleaning a new house are pretty time-consuming for me, as I am not familiar with my new client's home, nor my own routine of cleaning it efficiently.  So, I expect my entire day to be consumed with cleaning, leaving no time for blogging.

But let me leave you with a preview of my next topic: baran sheet. A baran is a food divider or separator. They come in all shapes and sizes. Here is a picture of an adorable one. Can't wait to share more with you! Now, I'm off to clean!

Happy St. Patricks' Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! We are not Irish in the least bit, so I was NOT about to attempt making the traditional Irish fare, especially not with the blog world watching. So instead I created a whimsical rainbow and shamrock bento.

The main part of this lunch features a rice shamrock on a bed of baby spinach. It is actually fairly easy to make! I cooked rice in my rice cooker and let it cool for a few minutes. With wet hands, I molded the rice into heart-shaped rice patties. OR you can make a bed of rice, wet a heart-shaped cookie cutter, and press it into the layer of rice. Positioning the three hearts of rice into a shamrock shape, I added a fish-shaped, soy sauce container as the stem of the shamrock.

I spooned yogurt into the bottom left section, adding a few drops of food coloring. Using a toothpick, I swirled the colors to create a modern-style rainbow.

Lastly, what's a St. Patty's Day bento without a rainbow of fruit?! A few strawberries, clementine sections, half a pineapple ring, kiwi slices and purple grapes. Arrange them in a rainbow fashion. Tada!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, y'all!