Bentos #165 and #166... Weekend away...

I spent last weekend in a small town in central Utah. I was working a gig at an events center down there. They brought me in because I know what i'm doing, and the rest of the crew was going to be college students.  I left Provo at 5am on Friday to make it to an 8am call time.  And I was there until 7pm Saturday afternoon.

I didn't want to spend a ton eating out, so I packed a cooler for the weekend... Mostly drinks, but also two Bentos!  They are exactly the same, which is fine by me, as they are made with tasty food...

I broke out the rubbermaid take-alongs for these meals. Since they were going in a cooler, I wanted a watertight seal.

I've got pasta salad... It looks like a ton, but it's 50% cucumber and tomato.  I just packed the entire bottle of Italian dressing in the cooler instead of pre-dressing it.  I find that pasta salad gets a funny after taste if left for too long.  I topped it with some bacon bits for protein.  And because bacon!

The sides are jicama with hummus (kind of an odd combination) and strawberries.

I had planned to eat one for lunch each day, but that didn't work out... My gig provided lunch on Friday. I was going to eat it for dinner instead, but on the way to the hotel I passed a diner that I just had to try... I can't resist a small town diner.  This over had everything you could want; great atmosphere, amazing food... A cranky lady who fills the water glasses...

I didn't have to be to work until 4pm the next day... I slept in, went running, and then went for a long drive through the mountains.  I had lunch on a pull-off, overlooking a valley full of sagebrush. 

I made it back to town in time for pumpkin chocolate chip cookie ice cream at the local dairy.  That ice cream alone might make it worth the drive back out there...

I ended up eating my other bento after I got home.  Yay for not having to cook after a 2.5 hour drive!

Bentos #160-164... Playing catch up much?

I have a serious lack of internet going on. And I haven't been working, so mooching off of work internet hadn't been an option. I may actually have to get internet one of these days. Because my current option is to post from my phone. And I really dislike the blogger program on my phone.  I can't format posts the way I like.  I also can't edit pictures. So they will look kind of crummy until I can get to a computer to edit them...  *sigh*

So until then, bear with me.
It finally got cold around here... I say that like i'm happy about it... Let me try again. 
Its #@$& cold!  It was hot for Weeks! near triple digits! And then one day, mother nature decided it would be funny to randomly drop the temperature by thirty degrees.  Overnight.
I do like fall.  Fall smells good. Fall is pretty. Fall means pumpkin flavored everything.  But I would have loved to ease into the temp change...
Whatever. Fall means soup weather!  I had been slacking off on my veggie consumption, and they were building up in the fridge, so I thought... Soup!
I just roasted everything I had... Three bags of carrots, seven tomatoes, two onions, three peppers,a zucchini... For how ever long it took me to do the dishes, threw them all in the blender with some hot water to thin it out, and seasoned it up with whatever spices were in the front of the cupboard!
I've been eating it all week. I think I have enough left for lunch today.
I packed it for lunch three times this week.  The first two are identical... Because it was good the first day, and since I knew it was a winner, I managed to pack it the second day in less then four minutes...  Soup with feta, a side of peppered pretzel pieces and a handful of  grapes.  And a dessert... I used three pretzels as croutons.  It was a great combination!
The last time I packed the soup, I was out of both feta and pretzels. Sad day. I plunked a pumpkin cutout into the bowl to make it fun, and packed strawberries, grapes, cucumbers, and sesame crackers to go with it.
The last bento has a combination of whole wheat fettuccine tossed with smoked garlic, spinach, and feta.  It's accompanied by strawberries, cherry tomatoes, and grapes.  I realized as I was packing it that my grapes and some of those tomatoes look exactly the same. :)

Bentos #158 and #159...

These are both warehouse bentos... one from Tuesday, one for Thursday.  I get interesting reactions to my lunches at the warehouse.  At the theatre, people expect random artsy, cutesy things from other people... because... we're all theatre people.  We're artsy, and creative, and all that junk.  At the warehouse?  They are, for the most part, warehouse people.

For instance... Tuesday I took out this bento...

It's nothing special... cream cheese chicken salad (with sesame seed 'spatter') and sesame crackers... baby orange tomatoes, strawberries, jicama, muenster cheese, and some biscoff cookies.

I was sitting on the steps outside and one of the warehouse guys came out.  He wanted to know what the $(*# I was eating.  I started with 'chicken salad and crackers' ... and realized he didn't really care, and I didn't really want to or have to explain myself, so I trailed off with '... healthy stuff'.  Because I knew he would go away.  And he did.  But not before saying, "Ew."

Don't get me wrong... I like the warehouse guys.  It's just an interesting dynamic.  Not only am I the only female there, but I don't eat out everyday, I bring healthy lunches, I don't swear like a sailor, I don't need to have social activities going on in order to get work done... I don't think they know quite how to handle it.  Mostly we smile and nod and sometimes I curse a little bit just so they won't feel self conscious around me.  As much.

Here's my lunch for tomorrow... I'm kind of wondering what reaction I would get to actual 'face food'.  They already think I'm kind of weird...  Mashed sweet potatoes with a poppy seed face, collards, a bastardization of my rosemary pulled pork recipe... I was feeling lazy and just wanted to test my new smaller crockpot.  The pork turned out good, but next time I'll actually do it right...

The strawberry box contains... strawberries, jicama, baby tomatoes, and a sauce container of orange barbecue sauce I got from my very first foodie penpal.

Don't forget to enter my small giveaway HERE...

Bento #157... and foodie penpal reveal!

Katie from The Eight Hour Project was my foodie penpal this month.

She sent some amazing things.  It's hard to keep them under wraps until the official reveal day, and to not completely consume them before I can work them into my bentos...

From left to right... a little box of sesame crackers.  They have great flavor, strong enough, I think, to not be overpowered by whatever I want to put on them, but good all by themselves as well.

The Karai Fusion Peanuts... I have to admit, I was a bit worried when I saw 'wasabi' in the description.  I'm a wimp when it comes to wasabi.  I mix the smallest bit into my soy sauce when I'm having sushi, but I could never handle wasabi peas and the like.  However.  These are amazing.  And surprising.  Imagine, if you will, honey roasted peanuts, and then mix in just a bit of wasabi.  Just enough to give them some heat.  They are fabulous!

And last, but my favorite, a head of smoked garlic.  The smell alone is enough to make a garlic lover like myself swoon.  I'm trying to ration it out, but let's be honest.  I totally ate a clove plain as soon as I opened the package.  (It was a good day to not have someone to kiss...)  I've been using it in recipes that will just let the flavor shine...

Katie was also thoughtful enough to send me some information about DC's Union Market, where she went to shop for my box.  You can look them up Here.  It's something I wish could be found in Utah...

Anywho.  Bento.

You saw the smoked garlic in the pasta and greens yesterday...  Today I've used it to up the flavor in my mashed sweet potatoes.  I also added rosemary, salt, pepper, and plain greek yogurt.  I made the face by cutting a stencil in a piece of paper, putting it on the potatoes, and then pressing poppy seeds into the surface.  The potatoes are packed with collards and grilled chicken.

The other layer has strawberries (with a little dead guy pick to eat them with), a muenster cheese pumpkin cutout (the scraps are underneath), baby orange tomatoes and jicama with hummus (which is hiding under the cheese).  I've also included a small container of the awesome peanuts Katie sent to me. :)

Don't forget to enter the last of my blogmark giveaways!  Click HERE!

Here’s a detailed explanation of the Foodie Pen Pals program:

-On the 5th of the month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal!
-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you can choose to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month.
- Foodie Penpals is open to US, Canadian residents & UK residents.  Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. We’ve determined things might get too slow and backed up if we’re trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa. So, I’m going to keep two separate lists and match US w/ US and Canada w/ Canada!

Bento #156... winner, last giveaway... and me freaking out a little bit

So... this week, I had a bit a freak out.  Over something that I don't have to make a decision on for at least another year and a half.  And it completely through my week out of wack.

Basically, I have an awesome job.  Government benefits.  Flexible enough that I can freelance.  Stable.  Fun.  All that good stuff.

And I have another company after me.  Benefits, but not as good.  Travel.  Great tech toys.  Also fun.  Also stable.  Regular 60 hour weeks....

There are more pros and cons to each.  But I'm with my current job for at least another year and a half.  Non-negotiable.  To me really, not to them.  But still.  Non-negotiable.

But time seems to fly, doesn't it?  And 18 months will be here before I know it.  And that's why I was stressing.

And then I though to myself... I don't have to even think about this for another year.  Get over it!

Which brings us here.

The winner of the 5000 views giveaway...


a Rafflecopter giveaway

The announcement of the 100 blog posts giveaway...

Aw, silicone cups.  I didn't even know I needed these until I found a cheap set of regular old round ones at Walmart.  I mean... I already had small ones.  But the big ones!  I love them! I bought many shapes!  (These are the only ones that have made it here thus far.) And I want to share some with you...  Also... those are some amazing guava candies I picked up from a local Asian market...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And a bento...

My last bountiful basket had a bundle of collards.  I don't keep bacon around the apartment, and that seems to be how most recipes start out, so I hit the google.  Pasta and greens...  I didn't actually follow the recipe, just used it as a guideline.  Capers, smoked garlic, olive oil, collards, and whole wheat pasta topped with cheese.  Yes.  It was uber tasty.  Which is good, because this weeks basket had two bunches of collards...

I also have applicot, cucumber, baby tomatoes, and a key lime cheesecake mini.  Next time I get limes I'll perfect the recipe so I can share it with you.  It was tasty... texture had some issues.