Picnic! (Amanda's old blog)

Just a quick update. I did some work today on the "H" block print for Val's thank-you cards, but I haven't done a test print yet, so I don't have any photos to share.

Brandon and I went on a picnic last night. It was very romantic. I decided to pack a picnic bento. I made a batch of onigiri and some carrot salad, and Brandon made a noodle concoction that turned out marvelous. Here's the setup:


At the top is some salad with salami and a slightly vinegar-y soy-sauce based dressing.
Bottom left are 2 onigiri held in place with raw green beans.
The green bento has 2 more onigiri set on top of my favorite spicy-soy carrot salad, with more raw green beans. Then some vanilla yogurt with pieces of banana.
The open spot was designated for Brandon's noodle dish.


He boiled the noodles (duh), then sauteed them with orange marmalade and a touch of soy sauce. They turned out great. I added unsalted sunflower seeds because I add them to everything in my bentos. Theye make everything so pretty, with so little effort!

Then there's always the 'extra stuff:'


I use Kashi bars instead of granola for crumbling into my yogurt. It's my favorite bento trick: it stays crunchy, and you can just throw them in your backpack separately instead of wasting a container. They are more expensive, however. But they are also flavorful. I like the honey-oat ones.
I packed the other half of the banana in a ziplock. There's our napkin and silverware. The tiny blue container has fresh nori to wrap around the onigiri. It was SO MUCH BETTER with fresh, crunchy nori. I can't believe I ever packed the nori on the onigiri itself. Soggy, fishy and gross. Although it's great for making little faces when I'm packing a kyaraben.
Then that bottom container has a piece of bean bread from Kim's oriental shop down on Westnedge. If your'e asking why there's only half a piece, you obviously don't know me very well.



I packed two water bottles and some V8 for beverages. Everything was super yummy.


I wore my black shawl and put my hair semi-up. I was very comfy.


It was lovely and romantic. We went to East campus and sat behind East Hall. You can see the whole city from there. We sat until it got dark out, then the city looked lovely with all their lights on. It was a lot of fun. We were both stuffed by the end.

That's it for now. Just thought I would share my latest bento project. More crafts coming soon!