Bento #83... Rehearsals!

So... Rehearsals!

I'm sitting here in my theatre watching the first stage combat rehearsal for Alexander Dumas' "The Three Musketeers" (adapted by Ken Ludwig).  It's rather amusing.  Bunch of actors slowly swinging at each other with wooden dowels because we don't trust them with swords yet...

I'm actually really excited for this production.  The script is a little bit... cheesy (sorry, Ken).  But we have a great director, an amazing cast, and... you know... me.  I'm stage managing.  And I'm feeling rather accomplished right now because I just finished a very detailed schedule for the first month of rehearsals.  Which was a complicated task for this show.  I promise... I'm amazing.

We're having a Stage Combat Boot Camp for the first week.  Which is great for me because all I have to do is show up to let the cast and the fight choreographer in.  I'll probably start using the time for paperwork and other boring things starting tomorrow... but for now?  I want to see them beat each other.

*****

I brought this for my dinner today... And I intended to eat it before rehearsal started, but who has time for that?  With cutting dowels to the appropriate length and discussing schedules with people... I ate it during rehearsal...

Look!  I kind of made it cute!  Two days in a row!

I like brown rice.  I like the taste.  I like the texture.  The color leaves a little bit to be desired in a bento box... but there it is.  The flowers are made out of canadian bacon and slices of kidney bean.  The grass is little shreds of summer snap peas.  I've got a cup of spiced kidney beans (recipe below), surrounded by broccoli.  And there are ham scraps underneath that.

My excuse for a butterfly is made of nectarine slices and strawberry bits.  There are more strawberries beside that.  Then there are snap peas and tomatoes.  With a little ladybug tomato slice.  Which I'm probably a little bit too proud of.  Because I thought of that all by myself.  If I had more time and a decent pair of kitchen scissors, I would have done the spots from nori.  But I ended using Wilton food markers.  I imagine they work better on ... not tomatoes.

*****

Edit... because I forgot the recipe... *sheepish*

Spiced Kidney Beans

1 can kidney beans
2 Tbs soy sauce
2 tsp spicy mustard
2 Tbs sugar or honey
1/4 tsp powdered garlic
1/4 tsp powdered ginger
Black pepper to taste (I add a lot...)

Rinse the kidney beans.  In a small frying pan, mix all the other ingredients.  Add beans.  Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring constantly.  They are done when the sauce is thickened and sticky.