Thursday, September 9, 2010

Happy Birthday California!

Today is California's 160th Birthday! The state of California was admitted to the union on September 9th, 1850. And of course it would be impossible to fit that many candles on a cake, let alone in a bento, so I used the state animal instead. The California Grizzly Bear was adopted as the state animal in 1953. The bear appears on our state flag and in our state seal. And now, on California's 160th birthday, the bear is making an appearance in my bento.

I actually made two bentos today, because I wanted to make a sandwich and a salad. The salad is made with salad greens from Offerings of the Land, walnuts from the Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market, baby carrot 'flowers', a pepper jack cheese bear with a black sesame seed eye, and a mini caprese skewer with a Triple T Ranch cherry tomato, Triple T basil leaf, and bocconcini fresh mozzarella ball. I brought along some homemade yogurt dill dressing to go with the salad.

I made a second bento with a PB&J sandwich, baby carrots, a sliced french breakfast radish from Ridgeview Farms, and grapes that my friend Steve gave me from the Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market.

The sandwich bento was arranged in this cute Toy Story sandwich container that I found in the Dollar section at Target. It came with a water bottle, and I think it was actually $2 for the set. Still, it was really fun to use a sandwich container and pack it bento style. The foods fit in snugly to keep everything in place. Debra at hapa bento has used two sandwich containers on top of each other to make a two tier bento. What a great idea!

18 comments:

  1. The salad looks amazing! Just the salad alone with that yogourt dill dressing would satisfy me. Also find that Toy Story box so cute! Happy birthday California..

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  2. Thanks Chantale! It was a yummy salad with the yogurt dill dressing. Homemade dressing is so much better than store bought, and really easy too.

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  3. I love the bear!!!

    We use those sandwich containers a lot. I've been using them lately for my husband's snacks and then his regular bento (Easylunchbox, Laptop Lunch, etc) for just his meal.

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  4. Hi SB! Thanks for the mention! Love that TS sandwich box. Tee hee...

    So awesome that you have access to fresh produce via the farmers market. Fresh and tasty looking lunch you got there. :)

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  5. Go bears! I've been on a salad kick lately too, post Labor-Day-BBQ stuff. Lovely bento :)

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  6. cute!! Did you use Sand de Panda to seal the sandwich? i have one of those at home....but I haven't been using them lately.

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  7. Beautiful bento SB! Your California bear looks rugged, thoughtful and cute. So creative, and I love how you credit local farmers and the wonderful foods they produce in each post :D

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  8. Happy belated Birthday to CA!
    I like the bread shape boxes!

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  9. Hi Shannon! This was my first time trying the sandwich containers and I like it!

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  10. Hi hapabento! You always have such great ideas, so thank YOU for sharing them. Farmers Markets are the best, we finally have an overload of tomatoes. Better late than never.

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  11. Thanks sheri! There's so much good stuff at the farmers markets now, that salads are the way to go. No fuss, no muss.

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  12. Hi Mrs. P! I did use a sandwich mold to make the PB&J. I am not sure what brand it is, but it works well. I think my bread is not very flixible though, because it keeps breaking in spots.

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  13. Thanks bentobird! I love to give the farmers props because, in my opinion, they are the ones doing the hard work. I just arrange the food, they grow it!

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  14. Hi Angeleyes! Thanks for the nice comment!

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  15. Happy Belated Birthday to California! Your pepper jack cheese bear looks good! I like the sword food pick but I can't seems to find it yet.

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  16. i think sandwich boxes are great for bentos!

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  17. Hi Kids Dream Work! The sword pick is one that I found at the supermarket. They were in the liquor aisle, so I think they are used for cocktails. But they work well for bentos, too!

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  18. Me too, Kelly! I am a new fan of sandwich boxes. :)

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