Peter Rabbit

We ended up spending our Labor Day weekend indoors because Tiny had a bad cold, and couldn't handle being active for too long.  We did play ball in our family room, and I ended up falling flat on my face when I tried to toss the ball in a unique way.  When I tried to bounce the ball off my behind, my feet slipped out from under me, and, though I caught myself with my arms, my chin hit the floor pretty hard.  I have a big lump on my chin, and the punch ended up affecting my ear and jaw.  My whole body aches too; taking a fall when one is older is pretty violent.  It's not at all like when one falls in her twenties.  This story has nothing to do with bento, so I'll get to that now.

Part of the routine when Tiny is ill is that she gets to watch a little more t.v. than usual, so she gets to have lunch while watching a program.  We ordered Chinese on Friday night, and enjoyed the leftovers the next day.  I ordered Lo Mein for Tiny and me, and the next day I assembled the tofu and noodles into what kind of resembled a unicorn (the noodles functioning as the mane and tail).  Tiny didn't eat it because "it was too pretty to eat."  That made me feel pretty good, but I later found out that she didn't eat it because she wasn't crazy about the Lo Mein.  I didn't take a photo of it either because, like I said, it "kind of" resembled a unicorn - in an impressionistic kind of way.

I prepared today's lunch last night, and was actually able to work in a theme.  Today in 1893 Beatrix Potter send a note to her governess' son with the first drawing of Peter Rabbit.  Tiny loves Beatrix Potter's stories, especially Peter Rabbit, so I used Peter Rabbit as the theme.  Don't laugh too much, but this is a bunny:

Peter Rabbit.  Sort of.

Peter has three pieces of Quorn tenders and some cheddar cheese baked inside of him.  His body is made of Pillsbury crescent rollups, and his eyes are made of lentils. 

I tried to carry the Peter Rabbit theme throughout...

...but, not being creative, I could only think to include carrots and a cat pick.  The cat represents, well, the cat that Peter happens upon when lost in Mr. McGregor's garden.  The carrots represent what bunnies stereotypically eat when in a garden.  In the story, Peter eats lettuce, French beans, radishes and parsley.  Tiny purports to love lettuce, but she rarely eats it when it's on her plate or in her sandwiches.  She will have nothing to do with green beans, radish, or parsley, so I couldn't really incorporate any of that into her lunch.  We'll call the frozen peas (yes, she likes them frozen) little heads of lettuce, the raspberries gooseberries (where Peter gets caught up), and the Chinese pears potatoes (near which Peter loses one of his shoes).  I later added some yogurt and crackers to the bottom level where Peter was stored.  I think Tiny will love it.