2 Momocon 2013

I punctuated my coming-out-of-hibernation with a big BANG!  Momocon 2013!  "Momo" is Japanese for "peach" signifying The Peach State of Georgia. Several months ago, Jessica the director of the Momocon family events planning asked me if I would be interested in hosting a panel and and workshop. Would I?  Of course! So, I invited three of my bento-bloggery friends and we led a panel discussion on American-style bento on Friday evening, and then a make-your-own bento on Saturday morning.  SOO much fun!  We also had a TON of help from my wonderful husband Ian on both days.  He actually moderated the panel on Friday night and kept everything going!

Left to right: Beth from A Boy and His Lunch, Kandice from We Aren't Scared of Sugar, yours truly, and Erin from Feeling A Little Lunchy

During the panel, we had about 300 people come through!

After the panel discussion we let con-goers come up to the stage and check out our loot!  On the left side of the picture is someone checking out my Cooking With Trader Joe's: EasyLunchboxes book!

We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant after our panel was over.

Morning of the workshop. I wore baby Clara in my Beco Gemini carrier the entire time (and she slept right through!)

Ian and a unicorn staffer helping to prep food for the workshop.  Isn't everything better with a unicorn?

The line for the workshop was out the door and around the corner!  We only had seats for 120, and it ended up being standing room only!

My Angry Birds in an EasyLunchbox.  I made three before I got up and started walking around the room to see how everyone was getting on.

Our awesome workshoppers!

2 Princess Bride Party

I'm continuing with the pirate theme today, since yesterday was the 25th anniversary of my all-time favourite movie, The Princess Bride!  This party happened a couple of weeks ago, hosted by my good friend R, and it was so much fun she wants to make it an annual thing.  All guests were encouraged to dress in character, (my friend E as The Abino, above) and bring a themed food item.  I have to say, we have some amazingly imaginative friends!

First of all, my own offering.  I made Skewered R.O.U.S. Meatballs, which were Aidell's teriyaki pineapple chicken.

Next was R.O.U.S. Thighs and [pretzel] Turds

And what Princess Bride party would be complete without MLTs?? That is, Mutton [ham] Lettuce and Tomato sandwiches!

We also had Count Rugen Six-Finger Tuna Rolls

Fire-Swamp Chili and Screeching Eel Cutlets (bacon-wrapped mini sausages with a brown sugar glaze!)

We had a wide array of themed desserts.

And of course quenched our thirst with sparkling punch (with or without Iocaine Powder)

Ella won her very own copy of The Princess Bride book.

We made our own t-shirts for the party, check out Ella's!

Hubs'

The Westleys.

My friend S as our very own Inigo Montoya!

The whole fam!  My shirt says "Keep Calm and Carry Iocaine" (I had to buy a white maternity shirt to fit my 6 month belly.)

Such a fun evening!  We watched the movie, quoted lines, had some yummy food, and great company!
 

3 10th Anniversary Dinner - Kyma

For once our anniversary fell on a weekend night!  This past Friday, Nana and Papa took Miss E overnight and the Mister and I made reservations at Buckhead's famous Kyma.  They specialize in Greek seafood and meze (small plates.)  The service was excellent, the staff went out of their way to make us feel special, and the food was amazing!

First we enjoyed a cod fritter amuse bouche, compliments of the chef.  It was light as air.

Next arrived the best spanakopita I've ever tasted.  Perfectly crispy and creamy.

Then we had herb crusted Hawaiian white tuna, quinoa salad, preserved lemon, pine nuts, tomato and mint.  That quinoa salad was so good, even my husband loved it!

Next was perfectly seared sauteed scallops - Maine sea scallops, yellow split pea puree, pickled red onion and capers.  The were probably the best-prepared scallops I've ever had.

Fifth was an off-menu special of fish stew - prawns, mussels, scallops, Arctic char, Dover sole, Royal Dorade sprinkled with salty feta.  By the way, we had a delectable selection of dips served with smoky grilled pita.  The chef chose the pairings, and we had a roasted red pepper and feta htipiti, a lavender hummus, (complex and delicious) and a balsamic vinegar and garlic spread.

Next was served Kyma's famous grilled octopus with pickled red onion salad in red wine vinaigrette.  They braise it for four hours to make it tender, and then grill it so that it gets this crispy, almost pork fat-like crust.  Totally unexpected and delicious!

By the octopus we were totally stuffed, but we still had the Athenian meatballs with white navy bean stew, tomato-carrot compote and preserved lemon yogurt.  We could only have a couple of bites, but I loved the navy beans, it lent a creaminess to the gyro-like meatball.

And of course we couldn't end the evening without a bite of dessert!  From left to right, a baklava roll with a quenelle of pistachio ice cream, loukoumades (a ridiculously light and airy warm donut) with honey and bougatsa cream tart in a filo cup.

If you ever visit Kyma, you must try the espresso marini with homemade hazelnut cream, caramel and cinnamon. We had 2 of these! We also tried a pomegranate martini and a cucumber martini, and a decanter of very good Greek Sauvignon Blanc.

I'm so bummed I didn't get a picture of the both of us that night, the one I had was totally blurry, but here is one I snapped on the way out, rocking one of the new dresses I got on the consignment tour a couple weeks ago.

I'll leave you with a cute pic of us at our reception 10 years ago, looking really young.  This was before digital photography, yikes!

Speaking of weddings, we are getting ready to leave for my sister Amanda's wedding in Maryland this weekend! She's having her reception in the exact same place we had ours, and I'm so excited that Ella and I are to be a part of her special day!

3 All Thumbs

Hi guys!  I had to take a little break from making lunches and excessive typing early this week.  I was invited to do some bento demonstrations and show my Stella & Dot jewels with my mommy group at a friend's house on Sunday evening. During my very first bento demonstration of an Aussie apple, (which is normally a very non-dramatic event) I cut myself.  Badly.  The apple slicer I was using completely broke apart as I was pushing down on it.   I received nearly identical lacerations on both my thumbs and palms, three on each.  Yikes!  I spent the balance of the evening in the emergency room getting stitches, which was such a bummer.  My left hand, which took the brunt of the force, is especially sore and bruised black and blue from my wrist to above my first knuckle.  Not pretty in the least.  The picture below is one that my friend's husband took after we hightailed it to the ER.

As a sort of funny/crazy aside, on the way to the hospital, our friend who drove behind my car broke down half way there, and we had to pull over and wait until she could call for help!  All I could do was laugh at the situation and try to keep my upholstery clean.  Anyway, I'm grateful my thumbs are still attached, (yay, I needed those!) that there were no children present, and that I had some wonderfully capable and caring friends to do what needed to be done.

1 Lots of Bentos

First of all, I'd like to announce that Bentobloggy has been nominated on parents.com (Parents Magazine) in the category of "Best Food Blog", so I'd be obliged if you could spare a vote for me - click here.  Thanks!

Today I set up again at Harry's Farmers Market for their second back-to-school event and met some great people, including the ladies from Cute Sip (adorable and versatile stainless steel bottles that go from infancy to 6 years!) and Yummy Spoonfuls organic baby food.

Here are some bentos that I made on the fly.  Time to get those creative juices flowing!

What fun!