Old school turtle

This bento is a tribute to the very first bento that I made a long, long time ago. It was November of 2006 and A-chan had just turned two. I just felt like going back to that early exploration of bento. It was so much fun and exciting to get my first bento box and decide what to put in it. We were going on a day trip to Atlanta to visit friends of ours and their twin baby girls. I was so worried about imposing on them and I didn't want to make them do a special lunch for the vegetarians, plus it was the perfect excuse to try a bento. Ha, ha. I know now that it wouldn't have been an imposition and I actually have a freezer shelf reserved for vegetarian food in their house these days. So when I go to visit them I already have food stocked up! A-chan and I are going to visit them tonight and stay for several days and this bento made me feel all nostalgic.

When I was pregnant I was panicking because I had no experience with babies whatsoever. I'd never changed a diaper or held a baby or anything! Our friends taught us so much about parenting both before A-chan was born and all through the years. They are wonderful people, fantastic parents and I am so grateful to be their friend. I can't wait to visit them - I don't know who is more excited, me or A-chan :)

In the bento: two black olives, cheese sandwich with cheese and soy turkey turtle, a container of chickpeas, a pickle, a clementine and a cherry tomato halved.

I used three different sizes of round cutters to get the shapes for the turtle but tore the soy turkey with my fingers so that it came out rough and in interesting shapes. For the eyes I used black sesame seeds. The sesame seeds were the only part of the bento that didn't get eaten.

The angular nature of the house container makes it very difficult for me to use in bentos. For some reason I just can't get it to fit in well. This bento is an exception because of the straight line of the sandwich to nestle the container up against. But I find myself never using it because it's just awkward.

Here is the picture of the original bento. I'm not sure which turtle is cuter, but I love them both :)