No lunch today

I stayed home with a headache, so here is a photo of our forsythia bush to keep you busy.

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Technorati tags: flowers

Cordy likes her comics

Cordy tries to decide which comic to read next...

(And Cordy's bloodwork so far has been good. We'll get more of it back tomorrow. She probably has a low-grade UTI, which is not unusual for her. I'll update tomorrow.)

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Technorati tags: dogs

Thrown-together lunch

I had to leave early to get Cordy to the vet's for her tests, so lunch was whatever was easiest today.

Veggie dumplings, a salad with almonds, veggies, and black and green grapes.

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento, mrbento

Back to the bento box

I was waiting until after the Mr. Bento Fun Swap sign-up ended before I used my bento box again. Everyone's all partnered up now, so I get to use the bento box!

In the big box is curried kale, veggie dumplings (from the freezer section of CAM), a carrot fence, green beans, strawberries, soysauce and a round of a wonderful creamy cheese I found at Weiland's. In the smaller boxes are strawberries and grapes and crackers.

You can also see at the bottom that I brought my new chopsticks. :)

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento

Monkeys! Presents! Monkey presents!

I came home last night to find two boxes on my porch and they were full of presents from a very good friend of mine! Monkey presents! OK, not everything was monkey-themed, but a good portion of it was. I do have favorites, I have to admit (though I absolutely love love LOVE everything!):

Check out that monkey shirt - not only does it have a monkey on it, but it's pink and green! How cool is that?! He's got to lay off the fermented bananas, though. And that's a monkey basket. Jeff did posit that it might be a mouse or a kangaroo, but it's obviously a monkey - he's animal-illiterate. The bowl and chopsticks are also just the cutest things ever! The chopsticks came to work with me today to help me eat my lunch. And an amigurumi book! One I've been trying very hard not to buy, even!

I'd name my fabulous friend, but I don't want to embarrass her. But she just totally rocks!

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Technorati tags: monkeys

A kinda picnic lunch

It's supposed to be in the high-fifties today, so I decided on something kind of picknic-y for lunch. Please forgive the poor photo quality. I had to use the cheap-ass camera.

The makings of a BLT (with faux-bacon & a little container of mayo) are at the top. I didn't want everything to get squishy, so everything's packaged separately. There's also a hardboiled Araucana egg (the eggshell is a pretty blue-green color, and they're also smaller than a standard chicken egg) on a bed of curried kale, a salad, and strawberries and grapes for dessert.

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento, mrbento

We never need fear alien abduction

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Technorati tags: dogs, shar pei, alien

Excessive excitement

Why do the dogs think we want excitement? We don't. We like our lives boring.

On Friday, I took Cordy to the vet because her breath was horrible, and she just hasn't been herself the past few weeks. So they looked at her teeth and took her blood. Her teeth are fine, just some gingivitis and minor infection under the gumline. She's on antibiotics for that, and it's no big deal.

Her blood work, on the other hand, presented some concerns. First, it was so fatty they had trouble getting reliable results. What they did manage to come up with was that her liver values are low and her biliruben is high. Now, that may be because her blood work was wonky, so next week, we get to fast her for 24 hours (a hungry 77 lb. dog - fun!), then take her to the vet's for the day for them to do some more blood work and other tests, if needed. Hopefully, everything will be fine with her. She's my big baby - our oldest, too, though.

Then, later on Friday night, Kaylee starts drinking a lot, peeing a lot, and being just a little incontinent. So I call the emergency line of our vet's office (it was, of course, after hours by then), and the vet agrees that she probably has a UTI. But rather than make her wait until the office opened the next day, the vet called in a prescription for antibiotics to a local pharmacy. Kaylee feels much better already, and I don't have to follow her around with a pooch pad anymore. :) But she's on it for a full two weeks because of her prednisone and imuran - both of which make her suseptible to infections like this.

Indy seems to be doing well. We're very grateful. Now we just have to convince the girls that we don't mind a little boredom.

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Technorati tags: dogs

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Anyone have any experience with coloring their hair with temporary-to-semi-permanent dyes or funky colors (think hot pink)?

I've been feeling old lately, and I think I'd like to get back into doing fun shit with my hair (I used to dye my hair a lot in high school. Once I even accidentally dyed it a nasty green. Mom likes to tell that story). Problem is, I've got a semi-respectable job now. Of course, going over the work rules with my supervisor today produced no prohibitions on weird-ass hair colors (though the rules on tattoos and peircings were implemented after the big boss attended my wedding), but, well, you know.

Plus, my hair has darkened considerably since high school. It used to be dishwater blonde (thanks, Beth!). Now, it can only be described as ... brown. Kind of a lightish brown with blonde streaks that most people pay lots of money for, but still brown. I know that makes it harder to get a bright color, something that was so not a problem in high school (trying to dye it red turned it ... bright pink).

I'm frankly afraid to bring this up to my hairdresser (the guy they named Q after), because I know he'll say no to streaking my hair bright pink (yes, that's the idea). But, uh, yeah, I want to do it anyway, even though I'll have to go back in 4 weeks in a trim and hear about how silly I am.

So ... anybody got any helpful advice?

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Technorati tags: hair, misc, changes

Need to go to the store lunch

A curry is always a sign that I need to hit the market for fresh food.

Veggie curry (a variation on my half-frozen curry, but with about a cup of light coconut milk added), steamed green beans with Bangkok Blend sesaoning (too bland), veggie-flecked ongiri, and sliced mango.

The ongiri were an experiment, in that I made them about a month ago and chucked them in the freezer. They held up pretty well, taste-wise, though they dried out a bit and began to fall apart when I was eating them. Probably won't do it again, though, unless I (like last time) make far too many at one time.

Last reminder: sign up for the join the Mr. Bento Fun Swap ends on April 26!

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento, mrbento

Mr. Bento takes a trip south of the border

And we're not talking the Ohio border here.

Some sweets (OK, these are from the Asian market and don't really fit...) at the top, followed by chayote salad, wax beans with adobo seasoning and chipotle, and a quesadilla filled with spinach dip, slow-cooked peppers and a smidge of sharp cheddar.

Oh, YUM!

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento, mrbento

I swear I still crocheting!

See?

My project waits patiently in its plastic bag. It will soon be a shrug from this pattern.

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Technorati tags: crochet

Snowy day lunch

Yes, it's the first full day of spring, and we have snow. Not the horrible, world-ending snowstorm that the over-joyed weatherman was predicting, but we might get an inch or two. Maybe.

That there is some fruit salad (oranges, pineapple, bananas and grapes), steamed broccoli raab with lemon-garlic seasoning, tofu pups in blankets (with a container of ketchup), and faux-turkey wontons with parsley garnish and a baby bottle of soy sauce.

A much more satisfying lunch than yesterday. The only bad thing is that I'm now out of pineapple and fruit salad is a little dull without it. Oh well. Maybe I'll get more this weekend. Or maybe strawberries.

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento, mrbento

A boring lunch

This is the last week to join the Mr. Bento Fun Swap!

Today's "eh" lunch is brown rice with tempura tofu from the Asian market (and it was not yummy. Oh well.), fresh fruit salad (grapes, bananas & pineapple), green beans with Florida pepper, and roasted potatoes and yellow and orange carrots.

It wasn't inspired, but it was easy to put together. I think I was being lazy because I packed Jeff's lunch for him, too, this morning (just to be nice). I have plenty of food, especially produce, so hopefully, tomorrow will bring something more exciting!

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento, mrbento

Spring has sprung

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Technorati tags: flowers

Pinwheels and a turnover

Yep, that's what's for lunch.

Little pinwheels with sundried tomato, roasted red pepper and olive dip (see, works as a sandwich spread, too!) plus a faux-turkey turnover; broccoli slaw qith shitake dressing; veggies; and grapes.

The pinwheels held up much better than I expected. I think it probably helped that the turkey turnover came straight from the freezer (made at the same time as yesterday's pups in blankets) and Mr. Bento spent 10 minutes in the freezer himself while I got my lunch ready.

If you're looking for the long list of recipes that was on the right side there, I've archived them on my main recipes page. I'll add new ones to the right column again when I post some new ones.

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento

Tofu pups in blankets

I made tofu pups in blankets for our lunch for our trip to the zoo last weekend. While we didn't get to eat them at the zoo, the pups in blankets were pretty tasty (the blanket is Trader Joe's garlic herb pizza dough - yum!). I froze some of them for lunches, and they're making their debut today.

You're looking at rice with peppers, onions, and black beans with my sundried tomato, roasted red pepper, and olive dip from the other day (I love dips that can wear many culinary hats!); veggies; tofu pups and ketchup; and grapes and a smidge of dried fruit.

And don't forget to sign up for the Mr. Bento Fun Swap, if you are one of his devotees.

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento

Why I don’t shop at Wal-Mart

Everyone has a ethical code, whether imposed externally (from, say, religion) or developed internally. Part of my ethical code doesn't allow me to shop at Wal-Mart.

Now, I couldn't care less if you shop at Wal-Mart. I don't dictate what your conscience allows you to do, nor do I expect you to dictate to me. If you can live with it, fine, but my conscience gets pangs if I shop there. So I don't.

Why?

At a minimum, I won't shop with a company that I actively know engages in unethical conduct. Their own internal memos indicate that they discourage the hiring of "unhealthy" people, which is not only unethical, but illegal. They pretended not to know about the illegal immigrants that their subcontractors hired to clean their stores, and the poor treatment they received. They provide laughable insurance "coverage" to their employees, leaving you and me to pay for their medical care under Medicare and Medicaid.

Also, I don't like companies that disciminate against women. Wal-Mart seems to have a history of it. So I won't shop there.

I don't like bullies. Not only does Wal-Mart bully local communities, they bully their suppliers into cutting their costs to razon-thin profit margins. Sure they don't have to sell to Wal-Mart, but if they want their shareholders to make money, they have to. Companies rarely have the balls to say, "No, we don't want to sell our products in your stores." I'm disappointed that some more social-responsible companies that I purchase from sell ther products at Wal-Mart.

They pay their employees poorly. They have a crappy environmental record. They devestate small local retailers. They knowingly purchase from sweatshops.

And that's why I don't shop at Wal-Mart. Yes, I know other companies do those things, too, and I try not to shop at them, either. But Wal-Mart is the biggie. You do what you like, and so will I.

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Technorati tags: walmart, ethics

Breakfast bento

I have to go to a luncheon lecture today, at the Big Boss' command, so lunch is on the company today. So I decided to make a breakfast bento today.

That's a yummy star-shaped baked egg thingy with black beans, peppers, onions and cilantro. Along with it, you see carrot flowers, heart-shaped pumpernickel, and light laughing cow cheese.

I was a good wifey and made Jeff some for breakfast, too, though he got moon-shaped sandwiches with Jarlsberg cheese. I'm so nice.

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Technorati tags: bento, breakfast

BBQ veggies!

It was near seventy yesterday (and will be over seventy today and snowing tomorrow - welcome to spring in Ohio), so we dusted off the grill and made us some barbeque!

Starting at the top, it's brown rice with BBQ veggies and tofu; carrots & sugar snaps with roasted red pepper, sundried tomato and olive dip; steamed summer squash and zucchini with shallot pepper seasoning; and blood oranges and grapes for dessert.

And if you've joined the Cult of the Fifty-Dollar Lunchbox, don't forget to join the Mr. Bento Fun Swap!

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento

They look so sweet when they're sleeping...

Or, sometimes, when they're awake.

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Technorati tags: dogs

The Columbus Zoo

Jeff and I went to the Columbus Zoo for a couple hours on Saturday morning. It was supposed to be in the 60s, but it didn't even make it into the 50s - hence, only a couple hours.

Jeff made friends with a hand-raised adolescent kangaroo.

It's nesting season for Humbolt penguins, so they really weren't too keen on company.

We saw lots of cool-ass frogs.

And lots of fish.

And we didn't even get to see the herbivores or the North America section before it started to rain. And we didn't even have a chance to eat the cool lunch I packed. Oh well. It was still fun and now we'll just have to go back. :)

(To see all of the pictures, go here.)

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Technorati tags: zoo, animals, photos

Join the Mr. Bento Fun Swap!

There's been some interest in the idea of a Mr. Bento-themed swap, so I think I'll do it. Click on the logo to join!

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Technorati tags: mrbento, swap

Fabulous Kaylee news!

Kaylee had her monthly vet visit yesterday, and the news as fantastic! Her bloodwork is perfect, and since she's possibly crazier than she's ever been, the vet is thrilled with her progress. She still has to stay on the six medications that she's on, but she's not showing any side effects from them, and her IBD and liver symptoms are totally gone.

She's gained three pounds, even though we've reduced her food, so the vet thinks that she's really just never absorbed this much of her food before. We're going to cut her back a little more to try to keep her from getting too chubby. I did have to break down and make her a new harness last weekend. Her old one was just too tight. :)

If it weren't for the fact that she needs to get her leptospirosis shot next month, she wouldn't have to go back to the vet's until June. I'm very happy - and not just because that means one less $106 bill per month! She could get really sick at any moment, but she's healthy and happy at the moment, so that really all we need. :)

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Technorati tags: dogs, shar pei

Mr. Bento fun swap

For those of you who have joined the Cult of the Fifty-Dollar Lunchbox, would you be interested in a Mr. Bento-themed swap? I'm thinking fun accessories, treats, whatever you can find to make lunch a more fun experience.

I think that a $10 limit would be more than enough, and I could set up a little form you could fill out to share some preferences.

Let me know in the comments or shoot me an email. I think this could be fun!

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Technorati tags: mrbento, bento, swap

I really don't have anything to eat lunch

Tomorrow is grocery day, so there's not much food in the house suitable for lunches. And we had stuff for dinner last night that I had made over the weekend and frozen. So, back to the little bento box.

In the little box, there's tofu-stuffed ongiri, two honey-sesame candies, seasoned soy sauce, steamed carrots, a pair of faux-turkey won-tons (leftovers from last night's dinner), yellow carrot stars, and steamed sugar snap peas. In the baby box are granny smith apple slices with no-cal chocolate sauce for dipping.

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento

Tuno-riffic

From top left, stir-fried broccoli raab with garlic and orange (the color doesn't stay nice and green in Mr. Bento, but it's still tasty!), whole wheat pasta topped with tuno, peppers, onion & carrots, veggies (which are bing saved for an afternoon snack), and orange segments with no-cal chocolate sauce.

Tuno doesn't really taste of tuna; it tastes more like the memory of tuna. And that's just fine with me, since after 16 years of being a vegetarian, I really don't want it to taste too fishy. But it's good. I like it. It's nice to have another source of protein, and gives me more options when I'm surfing Epicurious, looking for ideas.

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento

Wow!

Three weeks ago, I planted these seeds and now, they're growing like gangbusters. You're looking at kale, pumpkins, cucumbers, and tomatoes. The last two were freebies, and I'm just amazed at how well they're doing.

The other seeds are doing well, too, but not as photogenic.

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Technorati tags: gardening

Inagurating a new box

My newest bento box looks so huge when it's empty, but once I started filling it, it got a lot smaller! This is the first time I used it, and I like it. Kind of a pain to carry to work, though. I'm sure I'll figure something out.

From top left, there's tuno turnovers with yellow and orange carrots; ongiri stuffed with Thai-seasoned tofu; radishes, sugar snap peas and carrots; and salad. In the center is dried pineapple for dessert.

After having the yellow and orange carrots that we got at the North Market, those baby carrots tasted so bland! They yellow ones are especially sweet. Hm... I wonder if I have room for three different types of carrots in the garden, rather than just two...

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento

I refuse to have the flu lunch

I may possibly be a flu carrier now, but I have returned to work to spread the love around.

While Jeff was ill and in bed, I cooked. Not as much as I would have liked, but I got some stuff made. Some of it makes its debut today.

From top is salad with shitake mushroom dressing, three little tuno turnovers (to have with the extra salad dressing), leftover roasted veggies from our North Market trip with slow-cooked peppers, and ongiri sushi.

The tuno turnovers aren't bad, but they need to be a little more strongly flavored. The crust kind of overwhelmed them. But they were very tasty with the sauce. I made a creamy balsamic dip for them on the weekend, but I ended up using it as a veggie dip, too, so no leftovers. :) I think that next time I'll make them with eggroll and/or wonton wrappers. That shouldn't overwhelm the filling.

The ongiri were just OK - my rice cooker overcooked the brown rice a little and it got slightly mushy. It cooked the rice perfectly the first time I used it, so I imagine it's just a matter of figuring out how much more or less water I need to make it come out how I want it. But you'll be seeing more ongiri this week since I made it last night, then decided I didn't actually feel like having it for dinner.

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento

Waiting...

Kaylee may look like she's being sweet, keeping Jeff company while he lays in front of the fire suffering from the flu, but she really just wants first dibs on his corpse if he dies.

So yeah, it's been a fun weekend. And the odds are good that I'm next...

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Technorati tags: dogs, flu, medical

The North Market

Today, Jeff took off a little early, and we went to the North Market. Even though we're really pretty close, we don't go too often due to the pain-in-the-ass factor, and the fact that we have a really good local market closer to home - but I have to admit we rarely go there, either. Sigh. I need to shop more locally than I do. I'll try to do better.

But we went today rather than on the weekend because the Arnold Classic is in town. Lots of guys who can't scratch their own asses wandering around the Short North. So, to make sure we didn't go postal, we went today.

Because I know my audience, I present my first photo:

Candy. Yummy, yummy candy.

And some questionably yummy candy. I don't dislike wasabi peanuts, I'm just not convinced they'd make a tasty sweet.

But all these cakes and petit four looked mighty fine!

Lest you think it was all sweets...

And this was just off to the side of on of the food stalls. One of the Indian ones, I think.

And don't forget the plants!

And this seller decided to, um, take advantage? of the Arnold Classic's presence:

Arnie himself usually shows up. I don't know if he will this year. The local media has been mercifully silent on this point so far. (bonus photo)

And lest you think we didn't get our parking validated:

Roasted veggies were the result of the trip to the market. You're looking at purple potaoes, turnips, parsnips, and yellow carrots. I added sweet potato, too, after ten minutes in the oven, but I didn't get the sweet potato at the market. They ended up super-good. There are a few left over, and I have a feeling I'll be having them for breakfast tomorrow.

We also got some wine, smoked horseradish cheese, beer & black pepper mustard, some sausages for Jeff, and a few other little things.

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Technorati tags: food, shopping, columbus

Cleaning day bento

Today is cleaning day at work, since we're remodeling this summer and we need to get rid of as much stuff as we can. It's dusty work, but it kind of feels nice to just throw crap away. And I get to wear jeans and sneakers to work, so that's good, too.

Since we went out to dinner last night, I didn't have a chance to cook for Mr. Bento (plus, the fridge is getting a little empty...). So instead, I did a "bits & peices" bento in my cute bento box.

In the little box, there is whole wheat pasta with cilantro, green onions, and a bit of toasted sesame oil. In the bigger box, there's not-meat not-balls, steamed broccoli raab, red pepper dipping sauce, two honey sesame candies, two Thai bean cakes, steamed sugar snaps, and steamed carrots.

It was all actually pretty tasty!

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento

Polenta!

I like polenta. It's super-easy and accepts all sorts of flavors, either during or after cooking. Plus, you can mold it into whatever shape you want. In my case, a couple of stars in my baby silicone bakeware and some roundish shapes brim bowls (extra went in the freezer).

I found I had half a package of instant polenta (because I'm lazy, thank you) in the pantry, so last night, while Jeff was having dinner with a friend, I quickly cooked some up and had a wonderful meal. So wonderful, in fact, that I pretty much duplicated it for lunch today. :)

There's a polenta star (you can kind of see one of the points, if you look closely) topped with light boursin, peppers, broccoli raab, slow-cooked onions, and creamy pesto sauce; sourdough heart toasts with lovely light Laughing Cow; steamed carrots with balsamic vinegar; and yogurt with homemade candied cranberries for dessert.

It's kind of too bad you can't see how cool the polenta star looked like from the side. Oh well. It was pretty tasty!

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento