Sunshine & Hearts

The friday before
Valentine's Day! So
of course I had to
make cupcakes. Nate's
class was baking heart-
shaped cakes, so I used
my silicon baking cups
to do the rest for us.
Have I told you how
much I hate baking in silicon? Seriously, not worth it. I should stick to the paper liners and just pipe a heart on the top. They barely looked heart-shaped anyhow, and a bit of cake always sticks inside. Not to mention they're harder for kids to get off themselves.

I sent Nate off with his
little cake undecorated,
along with a container
of frosting and sprinkles.
It's so hard for people to
understand that ingredients
are not always straight-
forward. For example, at
first glance many products
might appear vegan...if you don't know where "confectioner's glaze", "shellac", "resinous glaze" or "lac-res" often come from. So I try to avoid the kids sharing embellishments that I haven't had a chance to research myself. Short rule: if it's sweet and shiny, it may not be vegan. (But that doesn't even account for all the items out there that contain gelatin, so better safe than yucky!)

Before I get to lunch, I
have to send a big thank
you to Ramona of the
blog Alone in Holy Land.
Her blog about the struggles
of being a single mom from
Romania living in Israel
often puts things in per-
spective for me. Or some
would say it's because we're both Libras, LOL. Anyhow, I love my award. Thank you!

And now on to lunch! I gave Ryan one of my nicer bentos today, as the colours seemed suitable for a Valentine's lunch...
Ryan's
lunch:
pickled
beets;
mixed
nuts;
veg
gyoza;
rice
cheese
hearts;
mini
heart
sand-
wiches
of rice
cheese,
Tofurky,
spinach,
mustard,
Vegan-
aise; red
bell
pepper hearts; sliced plum; Tofurky cupid hearts; baby carrots.
Here's my bento that
Ryan used. And of
course what did I pack
my snack in for a picnic
around a frozen reservoir
this afternoon?? A Miffy
bento. Go figure. LOL