No.19 'Robin sings at sunset' bento

First bento of the week! I had originally intended to make the little birdie in this meal a Chaffinch, since the children and I had a very enjoyable close encounter with one on the way back from school on friday. It's quite often that we meet birds that are as curious about us as we are about them and the little Chaffinch on friday was a  great example of that. We stopped a good five minutes to look at him hopping between twigs in a garden bush and he was studying us as much as we were him. Chaffinches just happen to be the first birds that we looked out for on our earlier nature trails before and after school. There was a time last summer when we seemed to run into a friendly Chaffinch wherever we went! Good times.

Unfortunately, that particular bird is not so easy to craft out of a cheese slice and some primary coloured food colouring. That's what I've learned today. I compromised with creating another garden favourite: the robin. The robins' call can be heard in the trees near our home all through the day, but especially at sunset.

The contents of the bento: The setting-sun sky is a portion of curried mushroom risotto, with a little cress and a broccoli floret for greenery. The lower half is sliced vegetarian sausage. I used a slice of emmental cheese for the robin, with the eye socket formed from a natural hole in the cheese! A dab of red food colouring for the chest and a little black for the legs.

The last picture is of my son's latest Lego creation. We sat down together and photoshopped the speech bubbles (to his specification). The minifigs have been competing in some tough acrobatic competitions lately and as you can see here, even the pirates and Darth Vader himself have got in on the action!

My children have been enjoying Pikko's 'Bento Hoodlems' antics from Adventures in Bentomaking so much, that they wanted to get involved and show their toys getting up to mischief and having fun. Since we have more Lego in our house than is entirely sensible, it had to be the minifigs! These little judges don't seem too impressed with the minifig pyramid...