A Veritable Rainbow of Flavors!

1. oven roasted butternut squash
2. peas
3. crispy polenta
4. tiny tuna
5. freakin' tomatoes

How'd you like that title? That's called high-PER-bow-lee. Or in-SAN-uh-tee. Want to peek in my brain? Of course you do! I looked at the picture, thought, "ohhhh, pretty colors, like a rainbow!". Then thought of Top Chef's Team Rainbow, then thought of Skittles and then thought of Mazda ads. At this point I was bored with myself - see it's not just you - and the word veritable popped into my head. When I was a kid my mom and I used to read the dictionary for fun - and yeah, we had cable - and I remember instantly falling in love with the word veritable. And why did I think of that right after the Mazda thought? Like anyone's still reading this! Well Mazda led to Caddie Woodlawn which lead to sprigged lawn which led to dictionary fun and then of course, veritable. I hope someone buys me a Pannetone soon. Sophie and I need brandy butter.

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The Weather Outside ....

is not even close to being as frightful as soggy corn chips.



1. chili
2. corn chips
3. sour cream
4. pumpkin bread

Nice bowl of chili for lunch on a cold dreary day? Good idea. Packing corn chips in a container with other stuff and sticking it in the fridge the night before? Not such a good idea. But all was not lost! My original plan was to dip - my revised plan was to crumble and stir. It worked out.

The pumpkin bread, corn chips, sour cream, cilantro and beans used in the making of the above pictured chili were all purchased at Fresh & Easy. Now known as My New Boyfriend.

Okay, it's reallllly not all that cold here. But it was colder than usual. Cold enough that I'm disappointed that I most likely wasted a potential coat wearing day. And people? I have a new coat. It's red. And it was dirt cheap. In other words, perfect! Gaze on it's beauty.



Maybe tomorrow....

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Ham & Greens

1. ham and greens
2. jalapeno corn muffin

That little muffin is from a boxed mix and it is the best thing since...well, since jalapeno corn muffin mix! Fresh & Easy saves the day again! Actually, I love F&E. Know why? They have collard greens. I LURVE me some collard greens. Who needs beans when you can have greens? Beans are stupid. And mean.

Oh. One last thing. Have you heard that liquid fabric softener will remove a thick layer of carbonized bean from the bottom of a stainless steel pot? Well it will.

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Ham Biscuits and That Other Thing

1. ham in biscuit
2. tiny tomatoes
3. baked sweet potato
4. sweet, sweet cake

For Julie - 'cause I love her.



7 random facts - or at least near-truths - about me.

1. I'm wearing a sweatshirt right now that's older than the Boy.
2. Above mentioned sweatshirt was purchased with a matching pair of buffalo check leggings that I happily wore. In public. A lot.
3. I'm afraid of birds.
4. I hate the sitcom Wings and seriously question whether I can be friends with anyone that feels differently.
5. I've washed the same load of laundry 3 times this week because it doesn't "smell right" but have totally ignored the DOG URINE in the laundry room for the same length of time.
6. I hid 40 bucks 5 years ago and couldn't remember where I put it but I can't forget that I lost 40 bucks.
7. I talk about drinking WAY more than I actually do it.

and the lucky tagees will be...

Mimi @ Potspoon!
Yvo @ The Fiesty Foodie
Abigail @ Piece of Cake
Jesse @ We All Go Poopie
Sarah @ Lemony Life
Allergy Mom @ The Allergic Kid
Kristie @ The Spiteful Chef

'cause leaving a comment totally pays off around here.

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No Leftovers & A Shout to Ray-Ray

When we walked into Yao Saturday we were greeted with two questions. "Did you have a nice Thanksgiving?" immediately followed by "Did you go out of town?" When I answered yes she frowned "ahhh, no leftovers." A woman who clearly has her priorities in order.

So yeah. We went out of town. I love Thanksgiving with my parents. They let me cook ... AND clean up! But the best part is that we want the same food, the same way, every time. Thanksgiving is NOT the time for experimentation. Sure, some things may come, and some things may go, but the core menu remains. Turkey. Sweet potatoes. Dressing. (not -stuffing-). Gravy. Cranberry sauce. Pumpkin pie. I know, I know! Anyway, we love it, and I love them, and I miss them. Except Max. I don't miss Max much. But Ray-Ray? You my only friend.

1. spicy eggplant hiding rice
2. grapes, tomatoes, cucumber

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Daring Baker #12 Caramel Cake with Caramelized Butter Frosting

tap tap taptap

Is this thing on? Sorry. I got distracted or something. You look great! I've missed you! Did you see the Twilight movie? Oh. Anyway. Daring Baker. Yeah. Late. Very.



My thoughts? The cake is good, the frosting is better, the caramel sauce needs to be -really- dark, the salt is essential.

Caramel Cake with Caramelized Butter Frosting recipe courtesy of Shuna Fish Lydon, as published on Bay Area Bites.

Hosting this month are Dolores, Alex, and Jenny.

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Another Boring Lunch

Well suited for this boring girl and perfect for this boring day. Notice how I went full on Halloween with an appropriately colored container. Go me!

The only thing worth talking about here is those little cupcakes and the only thing worth mentioning about those is the frosting. It's basically an Italian buttercream only I used brown sugar to make the magma and snuck a little cream cheese in with the butter and it ended up tasting like brown sugary cream cheesy buttercreamy illicit sex on a spoon. Or something like that.

The cupcakes themselves? Think ... oily muffin. That whore Martha let me down again.

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White Beans & Collard Greens

1. ham and beans
2. collards
3. jalapeno corn bread

Oooops! Looks like you caught me with my culinary heritage showin'! I don't remember the first time I had beans or greens, and I sure don't remember the first time I had them actually liked them, but I know I sure can't get enough of 'em now. Especially greens...mmmmmm...greens...with bacon...and pepper sauce...and corn bread...Hold on, I'm drooling, sorry.

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Daring Baker #11Shouldabeen Pizza Dough

Shoulda, coulda, woulda, but I didn't. Don't be hatin' on the under-achievers! Rosa of Rosa's Yummy Yums hosted, and she, of course, actually completed the challenge. Click here to see the Daring Baker blogroll.

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Sweet Potato Pie

1. grilled spicy raspberry and chipotle pork chop which tasted of none those things
2. itty bitty teeny tiny squash
3. half of a big ass roasted sweet potato relieved of it's skin

I love roasted sweet potatoes more than sweet potato pie. There. I've admitted it.

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Boobie Cookies!

I promised to send something to my husband's work for a breast cancer awareness month bake sale. So I did.



Classic Toll House cookies with pink M&Ms instead of the chocolate chips. These turned out as expected and looked cute in their little bags tied up with pink ribbon.

Then I made these Cream Cheese Cookies from a recipe I found here, but instead of rolling them out I just used my large scoop to plop out mounds of dough that baked up nice and round. Then I topped each one with a big pink melty mint.



Boo was horrified and refused to have any part of it. The Boy? Not so much. So what do you think? Tacky or cute? I lurved them :)

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Marshmallows! Oh, and a sandwich.

1. turkey & cheese sandwich
2. raspberries & melon
3. M&Ms
4. marshmallow

Just another quickie lunch. But. See that marshmallow? I made that. Sunday. It's the last one (and a half). Who the hell knew? I had no idea it was so easy to make your own marshmallows OR that they would taste so freakin' good. I used Martha Stewart's corn syrup recipe (there's also one that uses egg whites) but only used 2 packets of gelatin because that's all I had on hand. I want to make these again and cut them into ghost shapes. Or maybe pumpkins and roll them in some orange sparkly sugar!

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Who Needs Onigiri?

Who needs onigiri when you have bacon? Yeah, that's right, bacon. I don't know what sort of Armageddon this signifies but we had leftover bacon. Something I'd heard about, but never actually seen.



1. bacon, onion, tomato and cilantro sandwich
2. mac salad, dill pickles and grapes

And here's a gratuitous pet picture from Sunday afternoon. Sophie's not really dead in this picture, just bored to tears from watching football.

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Newbie Bento Contest @ O-Bento Lunch For Kidz

Newbie Bento Contest @ O-Bento Lunch For Kidz

Prizes! Recognition! Fame!

It's the last day to enter so quick -- Do it now!

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Make-up Food

1. chicken fried chicken
2. green beans
3. sliced tomatoes
4. mashed potatoes
5. gravy

If I had really been sorry I would have made banana pudding for desert.

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Not Pumpkin Curry

1. chicken korma curry
2. rice
3. http://lunchbucketbento.blogspot.com/2008/05/lunch-bucket-o-curry.html
4. grapes
5. garlic naan (not shown)

Yeah, the curry? Not so good. I bought that same stupid Patak sauce that I didn't like the last time I bought it. And I still don't. Like it that is. You know what I do like though? La Fuji Mama's Pumpkin Palooza series. It's seriously awesome, nothing like that stupid korma, trust me.

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The Omnivore's Dilemma - Want a free copy?

Slightly used. I did more than just eat myself sick on vacation, I also caught up on some reading. And it wasn't all vampires all the time either. Yes, I buckled. You may call me easily influenced if you'd like, (it would probably be better than a lot of things I've been called) but dude. I loved the Twilight book. And New Moon. And I probably would have loved the others too if I'd had the foresight to go ahead and buy them. And I totally can't wait for the movie even if the actor they've chosen to play Edward looks NOTHING the way he was supposed to look. Ahem. Anyway. So I also read this book.



And I liked it. Yeah, I know - always the last on the bandwagon, but surely some of you haven't gotten around to reading it yet either, so there ya go.

If you'd like to have it, just leave a comment between now and 10/18. No haiku necessary! I'll pick the winner (random.org) and mail it out relatively quickly. Hopefully.

Click here to order The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals from Amazon. If you buy using this link I get 3 cents. We're all about the full-disclosure here at lunchbucketbento.

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we’ll be playing and having fun

1. macadamia nut crusted mahi mahi
2. black beans
3. fruit salsa
4. coconut rice
5. papaya and grapes with a wedge of lime

I decided to make a nice islandy dinner for the kids to make up for going to Hawaii and not taking them and then not buying them anything while I was there. I'm nice that way.

The fish was prepared using Alton Brown's method - but I didn't use NEARLY the amounts suggested for the "crust" and still ended up with plenty. And I didn't use butter, because I didn't have any. How can it be that we have no butter? Un freakin believable. Did you hear me? WE HAVE NO BUTTER! Oh, sorry. Anyway.

The beans were a loose approximation of these beans only with canned beans instead of dried.

The coconut rice is just plain old rice but I subbed half of the water with coconut milk and sprinkled some toasted coconut flakes on top.

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Back to the Mill with Pork Chops & Potato Salad

1. barbecued pork chop
2. potato salad
3. green beans & red peppers
4. Greek yogurt with honey
5. granola in Kitty's head



Adorable little long-eared wonder pup? Or insidious Sanrio virus causing grown women to crave tiny anthropomorphic plastic products? Either way, I was powerless to resist. I saw this tiny Cinnamoroll bento box at the gift shop at Maui Tropical Plantation. $4.95 and 40% off. So I had to buy it. Not just because it was cheap though people. I had to buy it because I remembered that I had THIS!



Sucker.

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Haiku that Blog! v1.04 And the Winner Is ...

The contenders:


el tries to Play Hard, Eat Good
The Culinary Assassin
naomi ran ragged with superdumb supervillainn and Prizey
abigail from Little Shindigs, See Jack Draw, Piece of Cake and Mom Spark
she who is the spiteful chef
Ima is The Wordy Bitch
cindiperrine
lizerati of Automotivetry
nadia
cltgrace with her Grace Full Days
mannequin plays with a fractured toy
she's travelingwithbaby
rudegal08
cathyhall who was Not Born in the USA
roberta the flirta
sile who wonders What are you eating???
mary512 has Adventures in Mommyland
stacey in texas invites Look inside the window of my world
judy
betta
gina rules Queen Rabbit's Realm
jess

The winner:

nadia!

The haiku:

Tomatoes, carrots
Colorful jewels in the sun
Earth's treasures to us


The prize:

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Maui '08: Day 9 AKA Tomorrow We Go Home

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