Bento #35 ... I didn't eat it. Somebody did.

I totally worked on Presidents' Day. That's right. I work for the government. Every other department in the city was shut down for the day. And I had to work. I don't really mind. The way my schedule is, I get random days off all of the time.

I almost didn't pack a lunch today. I looked at my watch and realized I had only 15 minutes before I had to be at work and it takes at least 5 to get there. I hadn't prepped any of my foods from my bountiful basket yet. And I had no idea what I had in the fridge. But then I thought... A Challenge! 10 minutes with no planning? It will be amazing!

It wasn't exactly that. But it was balanced, looked edible, and from what I was told, tasted pretty darn good.

The hot layer was the remains of a Parmesan herb chicken I had made in the crock pot. I'm glad I found it today. Two more days and it might have been iffy. It also had broccoli and under those things, the last of a pot of brown rice.

The other layer was strawberries, grapes, and orange bell pepper strips. And those lettuce leaves that I will probably never end up eating. Maybe I'll try next time. I'll pack a tiny bottle of dressing, rip up the two leaves, and eat them. Maybe. ... maybe.

Something I've been enjoying a lot lately is checking out all the fresh foods in my lunches. The frozen veggies that used to get chucked in there are long gone. And these taste so much better!

... I suppose you're wondering why I didn't actually get to eat my lunch today... At about 1:00, we decided it was lunch time. I announced, as I have been lately, that I brought my lunch, and would be eating in the office as per usual. And the friends were having none of that. I was told that if I came with them, they'd pay for my lunch. I decided it would be rude to turn them down. I gave my lunch to the poor intern who never brings lunch and didn't want to go out. He ate the hot layer. I'm currently eating the fruit.



PS. Basket this week. Because I know you all want to know... Strawberries, bananas, forelle pears, cantaloupe, apples, mangoes, yams, spinach, cabbage, yellow squash, carrots, and Jerusalem artichokes. It was a pretty good basket considering the deep freeze in Mexico last week. And the Jerusalem artichokes are intriguing. They'll likely be showing up in my lunches the rest of this week... or at least, the two more days this week I'll need to pack lunches...