XLIV

It was hard to get a clear photo this morning. I stepped outside into single digit temps in my pajamas as usual, but had trouble keeping steady in the cold wind!

I don't care about football one bit, but I don't want to deprive Ryan...not that he likes football much either! But he does enjoy most other sports...
Ryan's lunch: Saints vs. Colts rice balls; grapes; blanched spinach; vegetable gyoza; meatless meatballs.

I got a quick hike in before more snow arrived though...





















A view down to our neighborhood area.
Mud crystals!

Snow & Ice

Woohoo! A bento for me! I made this to enjoy myself while watching Lost (on dvr), and I also entered it in the Adventures In Bentomaking 200K contest.

Monday:

AJ's snack: cold
tofu; animal cookies;
soba noodles; cucumber
slices; grapes.




Ryan's lunch: soba noodles; cucumber slices; animal cookies; blanched spinach; vegetable dumplings; dropper of soy sauce; cold tofu w/scallion.

At home I threw together
a muffin tin dinner: pickles,
carrots, spoonfuls of peanut
butter, mini pitas, edamame,
cherry tomatoes, almonds,
cucumber slices, grapes, apple
slices, whole wheat bagel
pieces, clementine segments,
and snow peas.

Tuesday:
Ryan's lunch: soy cheese; veggie crackers; black sesame crackers; a fresh apricot; mini banana blueberry muffin; mini pumpkin muffin; broccoli; grapes; almonds, peanuts & cashews.

AJ's snack: broccoli;
mini banana blueberry
muffin; black sesame
crackers; grapes.





Nate's lunch: chinese red
bean paste cookie; black
sesame crackers; mini
banana blueberry muffin;
grapes; broccoli; Nate's
meatless meatball.



Wednesday:
Snow day for everyone, except my husband who walked to work by himself. Snow & freezing rain kept us inside for the day.













Nate loves playing
with his toy planes.








I could probably eat our
entire 8 pound parnsip share
this way...as baked parsnip
"chips" dipped in my chili
chreez sauce. The boys
all loved them too.




Ryan hung a sign in
the dining room
proclaiming "Welcom
to Mamas Yumey
Resternot".





Thursday:
Nate's lunch: forelle pear; broccoli; grapes; mini pitas w/edamame hummus & cucumber; animal cookies; mini pumpkin muffin; carrot sticks.

AJ's snack: flat
pretzels; forelle
pear; grapes;
mini pitas w/
edamame hummus
& cucumber.

For edamame hummus,
sub 1 cup cooked edamame
for 1/2 the chickpeas in
my hummus recipe.

Ryan's school had another snow day due to the icy sidewalks.

Friday:
Ryan's
lunch:
inari
footballs
for
the
Superbowl
this
sunday;
cucumber
strips
over a
bed of
hummus;
baby
corn;
Tofurky
slice
pompom;
Good Dog bites; broccoli pompom; soy cheese XLIII. There is also a side of 2 white & dark chocolate chip cookies.

Giveaway Winner!

And the winner is...

MindfulMama!

























Congratulations! You'll be receiving your football food picks before the end of the month.

Please bear with me everyone...I had intended to post a video of Ryan pulling out the winning comment from a hat. But my camera died. And I mean DIED. It was already on its last legs: the battery door had to be left open or it would mysteriously drain new batteries within a day, the retractable lens cover no longer opened & closed properly and was super-glued open, etc. But when I went to use it sunday evening it wouldn't function anymore, at all.

So I got a new camera. But we could not afford my dream camera, so I have a new point & shoot Casio...with a few hundred page CD-rom "book" to read so I can figure out how to do the most basic things like, say, turn off the ridiculous face-recognition and smile features...who uses this stuff??
And I need to load new software to even get photos off the memory card.
Basically, I need free time that I don't possess. So bear with me...hopefully I'll be back up and running by my usual friday post!!

My First Bento Giveaway!

For my upcoming 10,000th hit (yep, that's it folks) I wanted to give away a little token something. So from now until then (some time this week I assume), leave me a comment answering the following questions:

What is your favourite winter holiday/celebration?
What food do you eat/cook to celebrate?

The lucky winner will receive these 2 food pick sets:

I am not a big football
fan, (okay, I did have
season tickets one year
at Syracuse University),
but I know many people
are. The Superbowl is
coming up on Feb. 1st,
so I should have plenty
of time to ship these to the recipient. Besides the obvious bento applications, these would be great for Superbowl party appetizers, sandwiches, or cupcake toppers. Have fun!

I'll use my super high-tech random 6yo-pick-a-number out of the winter hat generator to determine the winner this sunday, January 4th. So spread the word!