Chickie Garden Bento

This is a lunch the Muffin had on the weekend.  We had been looking at some cute bento boxes online, and she decided she desperately wanted "something cute with chickens in it".  So this is what she had:

Top Container:  One whole boiled egg (cut in half) with the yolks scooped out, mixed with a little yoghurt, piped back in and made into chickens.  Their wings are kernels of corn, their eyes are black sesame seeds, their beaks and feet are carrot, and they are sitting on a twiggy stick log amongst the (spinach) leaves.

Left-Hand Side:  A garden!  Pear leaves, carrot and apple flowers, and cheese and nori bees.

Right Hand Side:  Two bread and butter chicks with cheese wings and nori eyes.

I am linking this up with What's For Lunch Wednesday - go check out the other fun lunches!

Panda Bento

Last week, Husband brought home a packet of those Hello Panda chocolatey-filled cookies.  The Muffin was so thrilled with them that I promised her a bento to match:

In addition to two Hello Panda cookie thingies, The Muffin had a panda face sandwich (with Vegemite for the black fur, and cheese eyes);  A pear with a panda face (this time the black fur was bits of prune);  string cheese & spinach leaf sticks of bamboo for the pandas to eat;  plus extra pear and prunes.

I am linking this up to What's For Lunch Wednesday.  Go check out all the other great lunches!

Shiny Bento Giveaway at Bento, Monsters!

Check out all the amazing bento goodies that Bento, Monsters is giving away!

It's not too late to enter, if you're quick!  Click on over there Right Now (or by Thursday 6th of June) for your chance to win!  While you're there, you should totally check out some of the super gorgeous bento lunches that Ming makes for her boys.  She is SO creative!  My lunches want to be her lunches when they grow up.  :o)

Muffin Tin Monday and... Boo! Bonus Bentos!

Hallowe'en is one of the most fun times for Muffin Tin Monday!  Here's what The Muffin had in her tin this Monday:

Top Row:  Bat cookie eating chopped Papaya;  Witches Brew (green sauce - basically a pureed cucumber raita with added spinach for vitamins and green-ness);  Naan bread Witch Hat with string cheese and purple carrot detail.

Bottom Row:  Rice tinted green;  Star-shaped Egg;  Witch Broom (piece of banana dipped in yoghurt, sprinkled with shredded coconut, with a pretzel stick handle).

The After Shot:

The Muffin loved her Banana Broomstick!  She was very pleased with this dinner all round, really, although she didn't love the papaya (this was her first time trying it).  She ate some, and said she quite liked it, but wouldn't like a lot of it.  Fair enough (I felt a bit the same way about it, actually).

To see what other spooky treats were dished up this Monday, check out The Muffin Tin Mom's blog.

But Wait - There's More!  Bonus Bento!

The Muffin wanted Hallowe'en-themed bentos on Monday and Tuesday this week, as well as on Hallowe'en itself, so here's what she had yesterday:

Spook Bento!  The Muffin has four ghost-shaped tortilla sandwiches (stacked - one cheese, one ham, one Promite, and one thick home-made applesauce) - I got eight ghost shapes from a total of two regular sized tortillas.  She also has a ghost pear (I am so in love with these - you should totally try this, it's really easy.  Pears seem to be a naturally perfect shape for slicing a ghost-shape from!)  The eyes of both ghosts are black sesame seeds;  the mouths of both were made from one chocolate chip - the flat part for the tortilla sandwich ghost, and the tip for the pear ghost.  Her snacks are a "Boo" marshmallow, three prunes (with a ghost sticker pick), and vanilla yoghurt.

On Monday, The Muffin had this for lunch:

This is not as neat as the spooks, but I really like the idea of slicing the top few millimetres of crust off the top of a bread roll, to make a flat surface for decorating (desperation being the mother of invention - I had run out of sliced bread!)  She also had chopped pineapple, and a little gummy heart lolly as a Hallowe'en treat (yes, an anatomical heart-shape, not a love heart).

My poor little vampire honestly looked WONDERFUL when I first made him, but this photo was taken after he'd spent the night in the fridge, and he looked a little washed out.  The sprinkle bow tie seemed to have bled its colour into the cheese a bit, and the eyes aren't quite right either...  Still, The Muffin was amused by him, and liked that there were raspberries "bleeding" into her yoghurt!

I'm linking this up with Halloween Bento of the Week over at Bento Blog Network - check out all the Hallowe'en Shininess!

I'll be back in a little while with The Muffin's actual Hallowe'en lunch, so I hope to see you back here soon!

Doctor WHO?

Okay, so are we all excited that Doctor Who is back?  Yes?  Good.

I wasn't going to bother about the whole Doctor-Who-bento thing, considering that my daughter has never seen Doctor Who.  Now before you sci-fi geeks out there get all judgy, she's really really girly, and she's really really sensitive to scary television, and oh yeah - She's Five.   So give us a couple of years, hmmm?  I did think about a fairly neutral-looking one with a "Hello Sweetie" built in, but honestly?  It didn't seem worth it.

But then we actually saw the first episode of the new series, and I was feeling all inspired.  And then I remembered:  I Have A Husband!  And He Eats Lunch!

So here's my quick little homage to the episode that got even the Daleks asking the eternal question...

(yes, that's a question mark hiding there).

I was quite proud of my Banana Dalek.  The fairy bread Dalek is kind of hilarious, I know, particularly in the lunchbox of a grown man, but there was already kind of a lot of cheese in there, and frankly it was midnight before I started making this lunch, so I ditched the painting-on-cheese idea.  He also has strawberries, and a piece of chocolate brownie.

Luckily Husband is almost as childish as me, so whilst I suspect he found his lunch slightly embarrassing, I think that deep down he also kinda liked it.   :o)

I'm linking this up to Bento Blog Network's Doctor Who theme, so go check it out - there are some awesome entries!

Olympic Bento (No, It's Not A New Sport)

Today The Muffin is having an Olympic themed bento (have I mentioned The Muffin is really excited about the Olympics?  Have I, have I??)

She has a ham and cheese sandwich (on White Bread - very unusual in our house, she'll be Thrilled!), with rather sketchily hand-painted cheese Olympic Rings and Olympic Torch.  Next to the sandwich is a Leda "Baked Fruit-Filled Bar".  These do not contain any added sugar, and they're also gluten-free (if you're into that sort of thing.  We're pretty gluten-friendly around here).  She also has pineapple and banana (which are both Gold - yes they are, people), and a few sultanas in a silver mini cupcake paper (because winning silver is good too!).

Are your kids interested in the Olympics too?

Buzzy Bee Bento

The Muffin's school lunch:  Happy Bee sandwiches (Vegemite and cheese) with cheese & nori details, Yoghurt with a dried-apricot-and-craisin flower,  carrot flowers, and a banana.

Easter Fun

Okay, so I know Easter is all over and done (apart from the enormous mountain of chocolate currently residing in our cupboard. Wow.), but before we kiss it goodbye entirely, I thought I'd share a few things we did to celebrate on Sunday...

Coloured Eggs

Sure, everybody colours eggs for Easter, right? But we do it a little differently...

We used to do it the normal way (ie boil eggs, then soak in food colouring to colour the shells), but we found that little hairline cracks in the shell would usually cause skanky-looking coloured bits on the egg itself inside, and sometimes there was actual coloured water hiding in there as a nasty surprise for the person who cracked it open (because we colour our eggs to eat, not just to look at). When, a few years ago, my friend's small son ended up with indigo-coloured water running down his arms, I thought to myself, There Has To Be A Better Way.

So then it occurred to me that it's really the shell causing the problem - and Who Needs The Shell, Anyway? So now when we dye eggs, we hard-boil them, shell them, and then dye them. And after just a minute or two (way quicker than dyeing eggs with shells), they look like this:

Aren't they pretty?

And the best part is, it means you don't have to feed people just a whole boiled egg (which is, let's face it, kinda boring) - instead, you can halve them, scoop the yolks out and make a yummy filling to pipe back in...

And they're still pretty!

Sweeties

We had cookies (which I've already posted separately, but here they are on the platter):

Quick & easy chicky cupcakes (with Starburst Chew beaks, which incidentally are So Yummy! - I hadn't had them before):

And The Muffin and I also made some of these M&M birds (this fantastic idea is from Callye at The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle - she did them with sugar almonds as well - so cute, and so very easy!)


The Muffin's Dinner

After all the festivities, none of us wanted a proper dinner, but I wanted The Muffin to eat something halfway decent too, so when she asked for "a cute chicken themed Easter bento", I thought sure, why not?

She had a cheese & Vegemite sandwich cut into three pieces: an Egg With Legs, and two mini chicks. The chicks have black sesame seed eyes, and one of them is just hatching out of a chocolate egg (against my better judgement. But it was out of The Muffin's present stash, so she would have eaten it eventually anyway, and it was Easter, after all). The Egg With Legs has the cheese legs painted with a tiny bit of orange food colour, and icing eyes. There are also spinach leaves, cashews, and grapes.
I'm linking this meal to Bento Of The Week over at Bento Blog Network.

Hope everyone's Easter was as fun as ours - how did you spend yours?

Muffin Tin Monday (Easter!) plus Bonus Bunny Bento

Yesterday was Muffin Tin Monday. We finally got ourselves into gear and made an Easter tin for dinner!

Top Row: Bunny pick with carrot circles; Banana, yoghurt, lime juice & coconut mixture (leftovers from our Indian meal the night before); mini chocolate cupcake with salted caramel buttercream and Easter Egg sprinkles.

Bottom Row: Pikelet chicks with "Mummy Chicken" pick; Easter Bunny bread roll; Pumpkin soup (which is what Husband and I were having).

I was very pleased with how the Easter Bunny bread roll turned out - and it was So Easy! This was a parbaked "Bake At Home" type roll (which we love, and often have with soup), and I just cut a thin wedge out of its head after it was cooked, and then drew the features on with Gourmet Writers. I could even butter it through the hole, so its face wasn't destroyed in the buttering process.

The After Shot:
I was amazed she didn't eat more of the bread roll. Then again, this probably was quite a lot of food, and I think the allure of the cupcake was all too much.

To see what other lucky kids had for breakfast, lunch or dinner this week, check out The Muffin Tin Mom's blog.

But Wait - There's More!

The Muffin also had this bunny bento for lunch yesterday at school:

Dried cranberries, most of a banana with Easter stickers, two TrueFruit bunny heads, pretzel sticks, carrot flowers, and a bunny face & three small egg-shaped sandwiches. Yummy!

Tortoise Bento

It's Reptile Week over at Bento Blog Network! In honour of this (and because The Muffin just loves turtles and tortoises), I decided to make a Tortoise Bento for her lunch tomorrow:


The Muffin has about two thirds of a banana (with a tortoise sticker), a handful of grapes with some dried blueberries thrown in (and a tortoise pick), vanilla yoghurt with green heart sprinkles, and a Tortoise.

The tortoise is a salami sandwich with cheese head, legs and shell markings.

I was very pleased with my little tortoise, and a bit sad that I had to wrap him up, because it squooshed him a bit. But I just don't trust bread to stay edible overnight unless it is plastic-wrapped, and I definitely don't have time to make this sort of thing in the morning!

I hope The Muffin likes him as much as I do! You can check out all the other Reptiles here.

Oh, and I am also linking this to What's For Lunch Wednesday at BentoLunch.net.

Mirror, Mirror, On The Wall...

... who's got the fairest lunch of all?

The Muffin's class was studying the letter P this week, and had a Pirates & Princesses dress-up day as part of the P-related fun.

The Muffin decided to go as Snow White, so I offered to do her a Snow White themed bento. Then I got a little carried away...


Snow White is made of rice balls - a round white one with nori hair for the head, a bodice-shaped one with a teeny bit of blue food colouring, skinny white ones for arms, and a white skirt-shaped one with cheese laid on top. Her sleeves are thick pieces of cheese, which I attempted to draw on with a red food marker (these never work well for me on cheddar). Her eyes and mouth are nori, her cheeks are painted with a tiny bit of tomato sauce, and the bow in her hair is rice paper coloured in with red food marker. I filled a heart-shaped silicon cup with ham, for her to eat with the rice balls.

The Muffin also had an apple (you Just Can't have Snow White without an apple!), some grapes, and a piece of fairy bread with a cracker on top. I made the fairy bread with silver sprinkles, and pink and yellow ones around the edges (for the frame). I told The Muffin "It's supposed to look like a Mirror". She looked at it oddly, and said "It doesn't at all". Don't you just love five-year-old honesty? (Actually I can't say I blame her on this one.)

To be honest, this lunch did take kind of forever to make, and I wouldn't do this kind of thing every day. But it was fun, and The Muffin loved it.

I'm linking this up to What's For Lunch Wednesday over at BentoLunch.net - why not go and check out what other lucky kids got for lunch this week?

Owly Bento

This was what The Muffin had in her lunchbox today:

Top: Cheese and Vegemite roll; dried cranberries; half a banana.

Bottom: Owls made from Truefruits, with sprinkle eyes and candy-coated choc chip beaks. They are perched on a branch cut from a Simply Fruit bar, with spinach leaf leaves and dried apricot moon. Plus three strawberries.

In retrospect this was probably way too much food for her for one day -it sort of looked half empty, but because there was a lot of dried fruit, I guess it was "bigger" than it looked. She did eat most of it.

Anyway, she loved the little owls!

I will be linking this to What's For Lunch Wednesday over at BentoLunch.net.

It's Not Easy...

... except that actually, it really is!

This bento is a great example of the fact that cute food Does Not need to take hours to make.

Mr Frog was made using my Frog Prince Lunch Punch (from the SandWishes set). The butterfly, reeds, and water are all simply sliced green apple. Then I finished off with some spinach leaf Lily Pads, and some Frog Eggs (peas).

(also included was a tadpole I hand-cut out of cheese, but he apparently decided to hide whilst the photo was taken. On the up side, it made a lovely surprise for The Muffin when she found him under a lily pad).

I'll be linking this to Bento Blog Network's "Green" post - check out the other green bentos here.

Okay, So All The Cool Kids Are Doing It....

I've never done this before, but seeing as how everyone else seems to be, and seeing as how it's possible someone who's new to Muffin Tin Monday might want to see some of my older tins, I hereby present:

Sugary Flower's Top Five Posts of 2011 !

Or perhaps I should say, top five posts written in 2011 (some of my most consistently popular posts are really old ones). In fact, my most popular post ever of all time (and consistently most popular Every Week) is actually a cake related one (the My Little Pony Castle Cake post). But that was a post I wrote last year. This year, it's all about Muffin Tins...

1. Muffin Tin Monday - Horsing Around
I loved this tin - and the author of the book it was based on commented on my post! How Exciting!!
2. Muffin Tin Monday - Baby Beluga
This muffin tin was based on one of the catchiest kids' songs ever...
3. Muffin Tin Monday - The Very Hungry Caterpillar
This has to be one of the most popular book-related themes - heaps of people have done it, but here's our version.
4. What's For Lunch Wednesday - Ballerina Bento
A very simple bento lunch that The Muffin took to kindy one day.
5. Muffin Tin Monday plus Bonus Elephant Bento
Not sure whether the MTM or the bento made this one popular, but The Muffin just loved all the elephants!2011 was a huge year for The Muffin, what with starting - and finishing - Kindy. She has grown up so much these past twelve months, and I know I'm going to be saying that again in twelve months time, but still it's true! One of the ways in which she has really grown is in her willingness to try new foods, and also the likelihood of her liking them has increased. I believe that Muffin Tin Monday has really helped in this regard (as has watching Australian Junior MasterChef), but I guess it's also just part of her growing up. Don't get me wrong - we still have issues with most green vegetables, and her favourite meat is still sausages, but her second favourite? Is duck. Really. And she's still four (just). So I guess what I'm saying is, if you have a SUPER fussy picky eater on your hands (and believe me, The Muffin absolutely used to be), don't give up! There is light at the end of that Very Long Tunnel.

Happy New Year! Here's hoping 2012 is a great year for us all...

Muffin Tin Monday - Hallowe'en (and Bonus Bento!)

It's Hallowe'en! The Muffin has been so excited about it this year, which is actually pretty funny, because most people here don't even celebrate it. But The Muffin figured out early on that Hallowe'en = Lollies And Cookies. And she was totally sold.

So this tin really isn't the healthiest one ever - but hey, it's Hallowe'en.

Top Row: Cadbury Screme Egg; Twisties Ghosts; banana slices.

Bottom Row: Carrot ghosts; Strawberry Ghost (a whole strawberry dipped in white chocolate, with mini choc chip features); Jelly orange (the juice from the orange is made into jelly, and then put back into the scooped-out orange skin halves to set).

The After Shot:

She ate everything except two carrot ghosts and a smidgeon of jelly.

To see what other mummies made for their little monsters today, check out The Muffin Tin Mom's blog.

But Wait - There's More!!

Bonus bento: this is what The Muffin had in her lunchbox today:

Pumpkin cookie (somewhat overzealously decorated by The Muffin herself - for some more of her Hallowe'en cookies - and mine - see the other post I wrote today);
Ham and cheese sandwich Ghost, and string cheese ghostlets.
Ham and cheese sandwich Witch Hat;
Sliced apple with Jack-o-Lanternish face, which I quite accidentally arranged into a head-and-body shape (I was just trying to fit it all in), and then added sultana hair after I noticed.

Muffin Tin Monday (and Bonus Bento) - Cinderella!

This week, The Muffin's school is celebrating Book Week. Today, the kids were all invited to go to school dressed as their favourite book character - and of course, The Muffin chose Cinderella.

This is what I sent with her for lunch:

In the top layer, she had strawberries (because princesses get to eat as many strawberries as they want, right?), and dried dates on mouse and dog picks (as these animals appear in the story).
In the bottom layer, dress and sparkly glass slipper sandwiches, both with ham and cheese. Also little birds made from carrot and cheese (again, standard issue Cinderella fauna).

After kindy, it was time for Muffin Tin Monday! Again, I went with the Cinderella theme:


Top Row: Strawberries; Apple slices with hearts cut out; a macaron shell with a line from one of the songs in the Cinderella movie (written on with Gourmet Writers).

Bottom Row: Another sparkly glass slipper sandwich, this time with Vegemite (I know you can't see the edible glitter, but you're just going to have to trust me - it was sparkly); Yoghurt with a few heart sprinkles in Cinderella blue; a Mouse and a Bird carved from string cheese.

I was quite proud of my cheese animals:


The Muffin had especially requested that this tin include a mouse, so I thought cheese might be easiest. Then I decided to try carving a 3D one out of a string cheese. It was very easy, and worked out so well that I had a go at doing a bird as well (mice and birds being Cinderella's only friends at the beginning of the story).

Chirp.

The After Shot:


This one was a no-brainer. She already likes everything that was in it, and loved the Cinderella theme. The cheese animals went first, which I must admit to feeling quite gratified about!

To see what other mums fed their small people this week, check out The Muffin Tin Mom's blog.

What's For Lunch Wednesday: Ballerina Bento

The Muffin loves to dance, and wants to be a ballerina when she grows up!

Earlier this week, I made her this lunch for kindy:

A Vegemite and cheese sandwich (two halves, stacked), with a cheese and ham ballerina (made with my new ballerina cookie cutter). A clementine with a flower cut out, and a piece of fruit leather (cut with the same cutter) popped into the hole. Four olives on music note picks, and a Le Snak (she doesn't get these all the time, but she loves them, and I'm secretly hoping that eating that soft spready cheese occasionally will eventually reconcile her to the idea of cream cheese, which I wish she liked).

The Muffin was very pleased with her ballerina sandwich.

I am linking this to What's For Lunch Wednesday over at BentoLunch.net - go and check it out to see some other cool lunches!

Playdate Bento (and New Stuff!!!)

Four very nice things happened to me in the last 24 hours...

Thing One
Today, my little girl had her first playdate at our house with a friend from kindy. It happened over lunch time, so I decided to make them a bento lunch each.

Each of them had a sandwich cut with the new Lunch Punch cutters I got for my birthday (fairy princess for The Muffin, frog prince for her friend, who is a boy). I love these cutters, because they use up virtually the whole sandwich - there is very little waste (especially if your child, like mine, leaves her crusts even if they are served to her - so this way is no different really). They also had carrot hearts (and one carrot offcut each), sultanas, and yoghurt with a few mini M&Ms on top. Also a juice box each (which I didn't take a picture of. But I'm sure you've all seen a juice box before).

It was a nice day, so they had a lovely picnic on the grass, and they loved their cute sandwiches! More importantly, they got along really well and played really nicely together.

Thing Two
Last night, I got a comment on one of my blog posts... Now, I love all your comments. I really do. They are all special, and I always appreciate the time and interest you spend looking at my blog. But here's the thing: This comment was extra-super-duper-special. Some of you might remember that I made a Muffin Tin Meal a while back based on The Muffin's favourite books - "Chicken Pig Cow Horse Around". And last night, a comment was left on that blog post by Ruth Ohi - the author of the book - saying how cool it was!!! How Awesome Is That?? I was kind of brought up to worship books, so getting a comment from the actual author of an actual book I like is kind of a bit like getting a comment from Robbie Williams. Really. And here sister, talented writer-illustrator Debbie Ridpath-Ohi, has featured my tin on her blog, too! Now I feel all famous...

Thing Three
This afternoon I received an Extremely Exciting Package all the way from an Extremely Lovely fellow blogger & MTM mum (who I'm not going to name unless she tells me I can. I'd really love to tell everyone how wonderful she was organising this for me, but I don't want to name names just in case she doesn't fancy doing the same for everyone in Australia). It contained this:

Squeeeeeee!! Seriously, How Cute Is This Stuff?? We do not get much in the way of bento equipment in the shops here, and what we do get tends to be hell expensive. This lovely lady happens to live near a store where it is Much Cheaper, so she very sweetly sent me a whole lot of gear I asked for, and did not even make a profit out of it. Needless to say, she has just a) made The Muffin very very happy (for which I am going to get all the mummy-brownie-points, mwah-hah-hah!), and b) saved me a lot of money.

I think she might be my new best friend. :o)

Thing Four
My mummy is home! My mother and her husband have been off on holidays for a couple of months, and as The Muffin and I generally see my mum quite frequently, we have both missed her. They weren't due back for a couple of weeks, but decided to surprise us and come home early.

So today, thanks largely to other people, I had a very good day. Hope you're all having one too!

Muffin Tin Monday - Cupcakes! (and Bonus Bento)

My daughter had a bit of an unusual lunch today at kindy (ie it didn't involve a sandwich). I would love to say that this was due to me giving her different and interesting meal alternatives to expand her growing palate. Actually it was because we ran out of bread and I couldn't be bothered making any.


This is The Muffin's 2-tier bento box, which we bought online for around $15. Which hurt a little, when I hear about all the American bento mums going down to their local shops and paying $3 or $5. But it didn't hurt as much as going to a specialty store here and paying $30. Yeah. Bento boxes are kind of a designer-or-nothing thing here...

Anyway, The Muffin loves her pink bento box (which has a pink plaid pattern on the lid, and a fork and spoon built in). For fruit time, she had tinned apples with frozen raspberries mixed in (I really need to go shopping. However I do not feel guilty about this fruit - it probably has more vitamins than the "fresh" ones at the supermarket anyway). For her lunch, she had a cheese and corn muffin, cheese bunnies, carrot bunnies, spinach leaves, and a bunny-face shaped egg.

But today is also Muffin Tin Monday! Our theme today is Cupcakes:

Top Row: Banana; Dark & White Fudge Cupcake; Tinned pineapple.

Bottom Row: Cupcake shaped Vegemite sandwich (I cut the "icing" half of the top piece of bread off and turned it upside down, so the Vegemite is showing - hopefully it looks like chocolate icing); Yoghurt with sprinkles; Mashed potato "cupcake" with olive "cherry".

The After Shot:

The Muffin was pleased with this tin, but not terribly interested in eating the mashed potato. It probably is a bit of an odd thing to eat for afternoon tea. But we had leftovers, and I couldn't resist piping into a cupcakey swirl for this tin. She liked the look of it, but only ate three small spoonfuls. Everything else was a hit.

To see what other lucky kids have been eating today, go to the home of Muffin Tin Mondays!

Bento At The Zoo!

The other day, The Muffin and I made a snap decision: "Let's go to the zoo!"

So we packed a lunch, and off we went:

The Muffin had a giraffe, crocodile and baby elephant, all cut from a salami sandwich. She also had water crackers with Vegemite and "ZOO" cut from cheese, some spinach leaves (which the giraffe is sharing), and some grapes which could be fish in the crocodile's swimming pool (or "outdoor enclosure", as The Muffin put it. Yeah, we go to the zoo a fair bit). There are more grapes under the croc. Funny thing: The Muffin has a real thing against most predator animals - she cannot abide any mention of foxes, tigers or sharks. But she thinks crocodiles are lovely. I have no idea why. They're not exactly the cutest and cuddliest of beasties. Maybe she doesn't realise what they're capable of (maybe I'll leave it that way for a while!)

Anyway, we ate our lunch sitting in the viewing area that overlooks the giraffe/zebra enclosure.

Please note that my fingernails are Not Usually That Colour. We had a Mothers Day Spa at The Muffin's kindy last week, during which our children got to anoint us with all manner of hand creams, perfumes, makeup and nail polish. It was great fun, and The Muffin was so proud of her mad nail polish skillz that I have left it on (in all its Purple, Green, Yellow, Pink and Orange Glory). I've had some weird looks from shop assistants.

We love the zoo, and it worked so well taking a bento lunch with us. I think we will do this every time in future - it's more fun than just dragging out a sandwich, but a lot cheaper than buying food there.

I'm submitting this to What's for Lunch Wednesday, over at BentoLunch.net.