Krazy Easter Kupkakes

NQBR (not quite bento-related) but I enjoyed making these cupcakes based on Bakerella's recipe and instructions. The cupcake recipe itself turned out really well: a nice straightforward chocolate cake made with baking cocoa. And the buttercream frosting was nice on the not too sweet chocolate. Then of course loading the tops with extra candies etc. was a blast.

Hope everyone got their fill of marshmallow Peeps and other good things to celebrate spring! I also gave the dogs a bath this morning (Easter dog bath, old pagan custom?) and they smell like lavendar for the moment.


Here you see young Rufus has moved his nylabone chewing operation into Gabey's sunny spot, and poor Gabe has parked himself behind Rufus in futile protest. Life is so unfair. But seconds after this photo was taken, someone moved Rufus's hiney right out of there and Gabe moved up into his accustomed position.

Proving that all things come to those who wait.

Bento for my Baby Boy!!

My oldest baby boy came home for a surprise visit Friday! He practically gave me a heart attack showing up at my work office with no advance warning and having spread disinformation "No I can't come home this break - too busy!". I flashed through so many emotions seeing his beloved self appear around the corner: shock, fear (has he quit med school or something?!), joy, worry (I have work to do), on & on the emotional roller coaster that is loving someone absolutely and having a hostage to Fortune.

I made him a snack bento to take back to St. Louis:

This means that my 'healing of nature' bento is gone south temporarily - I'll maybe retrieve it.

But like all true fanatics, I tried to convert my son to the bento obsession. I told him to bring it to the lab with him, "just put rice in one layer and carrots in the other; you'll be glad you did! No plastic bags, no mess, great food."

I wonder if he will. I'm guessing, probably not. But I could be wrong.

He and Gabey (dog in above photo) are best friends and champion nap takers-together. So both dudes had a great visit involving some z's. Good times.

Jan's Tuesday Mr. Bento

I am only making one Mr. Bento lunch per day this week because I am in a workshop which is providing lunch for us -- terrible ghastly food from the university food service, but we are required to eat together and I can't bring myself to open up Mr. Bento in front of everyone eating sad cardboardy pizza and damp chicken wrap sandwiches...

Anyway here is Jan's Tuesday Mr. Bento:


He got: spaghetti pie in a bed of shredded Savoy cabbage, green beans from last night's dinner, grapefruit slices, and ginger cookies with chocolate covered cherries. He said he wasn't able to finish the grapefruit because it would have been too many carbs for him, but he did not say the cookies went uneaten for that reason!

I figured out how to remove the gasket from the soup container of Mr. Bento for cleaning; a chopstick pops it out nicely and also pushes it back into its groove.
I'll include a photo of this fascinating operation in tomorrow's blog.

Meanwhile here's a winter sky photo of the church across the street, a pretty building with an obnoxious mechanical chime that plays such things as an off-key version of 'Kumbaya' loudly at noon and 6 p.m. every blessed day: