Crepes and Cherry Plums Bento

As I type this, the smell of bacon is wafting through the office. Our afternoon talk show host just finished talking to Duskie Estes and John Stewart of Zazu and Bovolo Restaurants, and they brought their own Black Pig Meat Co. bacon which they cooked up in the studio. I was able to sneak a taste, otherwise I would be crying as well as hungry right now. Duskie and John won the recent Cochon 555 competition in Aspen, so they are the official Queen and King of Pork! Woohoo!

Sadly, there's no bacon in this bento. But it was still tasty. This bento features items I picked up at the Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market yesterday when I went there with fellow bento maker, Bentobird!

In this bento: crepes with turkey, colby jack cheese, and wilted arugula from Ridgeview Farms. Also baby carrots, french breakfast radishes from Ridgeview Farms, a few broccoli spears, and cherry plums from DeSantis Farms. The cherry plums were a bit tart, but so cute and perfect size for a bento. It was really fun to show off my favorite farmers market to a fellow bento buddy.

Here is the video I made of my recent adventures at the Sonoma County Hot Air Balloon Classic. Enjoy!

Sonoma County Hot Air Balloon Classic Bento

Whew! I am wiped out, but really happy. This morning I was one of the announcers at the 21st Annual Sonoma County Hot Air Balloon Classic. I love this event so much. It was on hiatus last year because of improvements being made to Keiser Park, but I was thrilled to see it back this year. As one of the perks of being a part of the media, I was able to go up in a balloon on Friday. I will post a video of that soon. Today I met another bento buddy in real life: Bentobird!

Ok, so Jenn is a little camera shy, but I really did get my picture with her! She and her sweetie Jamison are in Northern California for a visit and they showed up at the Sonoma County Hot Air Balloon Classic this morning. I am so glad that I made this quick bento (at 4:00am this morning, YIKES) so that I could have a bento when I met another bento pal.

This bento, by necessity, had to be assembled really quickly. I had to be at Keiser Park at 4:30am this morning, yowza! It includes: leftover chow mein from The China Room in Santa Rosa, carrots, broccoli, edamame, and a few grapes. I used cheddar and colby jack cheeses to cut out quick balloon shapes and placed them on the chow mein.

Here is my bento with a giant balloon in the background. I think it would take approximately 1.7 million bento boxes to fill an inflated hot air balloon. That number is not exact. ;-) The balloon in this pic is called Planet Earth and it is based in Albuquerque, NM.

I hope I can see Bentobird again before her visit is over, and if I do, I'll share whatever bento adventures we might have. Sorry if you missed out on the Sonoma County Hot Air Balloon Classic this year, but mark your calendar for Father's Day Weekend 2012 because it will definitely be back, and I will most assuredly be there, too! Ok, now it is time for a NAP!