HESH Heart 13

A Year End Review

Year 2013 has been truly an amazing and productive year for us, as a family. A budding year that sparked a promising and a stable career for me. A career that gave me the flexibility to work and care for my kids full-time.  The career that gave us the capability to purchase our very own home after 11 years of married life. It is also the magic year that dismissed our son from ASD after careful re-assessment.  A fulfilling year that put me into the PTA board member, and my son into Student Council Alternative President.  A threatening but miraculous year, when dad had a stroke, but had overcome it without any nerve, organ, or vessel damage. A forgiving year that rescued my marriage and my family from breaking apart. Truly, God is wonderful and great. I thank him for everything.

I am also thankful for being a part of the Bento Bloggers and Friends for the much needed inspiration and support in almost everything, may it be bento-related or not.  I have continued to pack lunches to school and work despite of my hectic schedules and busted camera.  But of course, with my new DSLR, I think I'd be able to go back blogging my lunches in 2014. Hooray for that!

We, the Bento Bloggers and Friends, have agreed to put up our favorite thirteens. I would not consider it my top 13, but my favorites. How did I choose my favorites?  Here are the criteria that influenced my choice.

1. Pageviews
2. Most Requested Meals
3. Ease of Preparation
4. Blog Hops
5. Recipe

Hover on the images below and click the individual images to direct you to its corresponding blog post. Enjoy the following posts and hope that this will bring inspiration to your 2014 lunch packing madness.

Thank you!!

Have a healthy and blessed 2014!!

Please push the button below to see more 13 Favorites from the rest of the Bento Bloggers and Friends.

If you love Healthy Eating Starts at Home, you may subscribe via email to get all my posts straight to your inbox. No spam mails, just healthy food ideas for your lunchboxes.

All bento accessories are available through Bento USA,

the cheapest and most complete online bento products in the USA.

Other bento gears are also available thru My Amazon Affiliate Link.
Thank you for your support!

If you need weekly meals straight to your inbox, try MOMables.

It's our one-stop shop when we're on a lunch rut.

Hop Aboard, Mateys! A Pirate Bento Hop

Ahoy Matey!!

September 19 is International Talk Like A Pirate Day. Let us all gather the pirates and their crews in peace and board our bento feast.

Our hop participants are divided into 2 groups:

• The Atlantic Pirates, AKA: The Black Bread's Revenge, and
• The Pacific Pirates, AKA: The Flying Lunchman (for which I belong), so let's get started encompassing the pirate world by flying with us.

Prepare to be boarded in 3.....2......1...

Of all t' hops I've joined, this be t' fanciest o' them all. And me kiddos be both so willin' t' brainstorm with me. They have t' most creative minds, and I must keep up with 'em. T' good news is, they'r pretty easy t' please. Anythin' done by mom be t' greatest. T' coolest?

We hop every year, and if you missed it last year, here's a link that can brin' you aft t' fun. 

Check aft a little later t' see another lunch that didn't make it for today's post.

Now, let's head over to Shannon of Bento Lunch and dig into her pirate booty feast....ARRR!!

If you love Healthy Eating Starts at Home, you may subscribe via email to get all my posts straight to your inbox. No spam mails, just healthy food ideas for your lunchboxes.

All bento accessories are available through Bento USA,

the cheapest and most complete online bento products in the USA.

Other bento gears are also available thru My Amazon Affiliate Link.
Thank you for your support!

If you need weekly meals straight to your inbox, try MOMables.

It's our one-stop shop when we're on a lunch rut.

The Hobbit {A Blog Hop}

I'm in on another interesting blog hop with my fellow Bento Bloggers and Friends.

This time to welcome the premier showing of "The Hobbit" in theaters today.

In my own honest opinion, this must be the toughest blog hop I've ever done.
I can't believe I've done a back to back hop.  Thought I wouldn't be able to deliver today since not a single idea is popping in my mind.  Since I am doing this lunch for my son, and there are no other ingredients I have on hand, Mr G brainstormed for his main entree. And I think, he's awesome.  He even mentioned that this is his most favorite lunch ever.

Ho-Ho-Ho!!! A Holiday Blog HOP

It is that time of the year again when the globe is lit with festive tea lights, air filled with holiday music, people dressed in fancy attires, everywhere smelled of scrumptious cuisines and delicacies, children opening presents, while everyone shopped and ate till they drop.

My families are Catholics and we live to its practices and doctrines by heart.  We grew up with the Christmas traditions of the Nativity, Christmas Eve Mass, Noche Buena, Christmas carols, Santa Claus and its reindeers and elves, exchange gifts, joyful celebrations, and everything else Christmas-sy.  My children believe in Santa Claus, and so did I when I was growing up.

To celebrate the holiday tradition, my Bento Bloggers and Friends Group are hosting a weekly blog hop with a FESTIVUS Theme.  Nothing religious.  Since there are a huge number of participants, we decided to break the hop into 4 weeks with 16-17 participants on each week.  It's the second week, so if you haven't seen the first week, find a link at the BBF Blog where you can revisit all the passed Christmas lunches.

I was originally going to make use of a book to inspire my entry for this week's hop. But things were not well for us to brainstorm a lunch based on a book.  For the spirit of Christmas, we have to celebrate and observe the holiday season with my fellow BBFs.

For this hop, I have packed a simple lunch to represent the ornaments we put up every year. It doesn't look as much festive as you see them at my home, but my children enjoyed them pretty much.

Missy A had a Gingerbread Lunch with a family of Gingerbread cookie (Dad, Mom, and Boy & Girl) all stacked together, which symbolizes togetherness. She also had a Sun Butter & Jelly sandwich with gingerbread rings as ornaments.  The grapes served as the festive lights that we wrap around our big tree and cozy home on Christmas holiday. All packed on her Lunchbots Trio container box.

I Am Thankful For Bento Blog Hop!

As Thanksgiving Day approaches, my fellow Bento Bloggers and Friends group decided to do another hop, not the traditional turkey lunch (though we still could if we want to), but of the stuffs that we are mostly grateful for.

I am always grateful for FAMILY, FRIENDS, and GOD.
For WITHOUT them, I am NOT me.

On this hop, I'd like to give special mentions to all things BENTO.  Everything that contributed to the success of my bento lunches every single day.  I figured this would be the greatest opportunity to give a nice and warm shout-outs to bento retailers who have believed in me all this time.

Thank you to:

EasyLunchboxes
Momables
All Things For Sale/BentoUSA
Goodbyn
FunBites
Smart Planet Eco Lunchboxes
CuteZCute
The LunchPunch

And here are all the lunches I've sent using all these products with pride and glory.

Thank you so much for the support!!

And last but not least, I will never be so inspired without my Bento Bloggers and Friends Group, who are all so generous about lunch ideas, moral support, and bento tools shopping.  It will never be so much fun without you bento moms!

As a reminder, please never fail to hop around till you get back to where you started on this hop. I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank each one of you who visited and took time to jot comments for us. I am always appreciative of your generosity in time and in words.

Click the hop button below to transport you over to Kathy of Eclectic Lamb.

Enjoy your hop! ~Marie

World Animal Day Hop: A Seahorse & Friends

October 4, 2012 is World Animal Day.

That calls for another Blog Hop.

My fellow Bento Bloggers and Friends prepared lunches of varying animals on each hop. So brace yourselves as we amuse you and your kids with the different animal lunches showcased on this special day.  This is like virtual animal museum of the Bento World.

Ahoy, Matey! ~ Talk Like A Pirate Lunch Hop

It's Talk Like a Pirate Day

Bento Booty Treasure Hunt

at Bento Bloggers & Friends.

Listen up, mateys! 

If ye wants to sail with me, 

then ye've gots to prove 

ye gots what it takes! 

Doctor Who, You've Got Lunch!

Last summer, I was inspired by my amazing Bento bloggers and Friends, to follow a fabulous long time TV series about an adventure in space and time, Doctor Who. Since it was out of season then, I bought a Netflix subscription to catch up just before the current series premiere on Fall. Christopher Eccleston, the 9th Doctor and the next Thor, is my favorite by far.  He is  my first doctor encounter so he holds a special place in my heart. I love him because he has an incredible amount of humor that makes the whole show enjoyable to watch.  My bento lunch for this hop goes back from the 2005 first season episode 2: The End of the World.

As part of the Bento Bloggers and Friends Group, we have decided that a blog hop would be appropriate to welcome the Season Premiere of Doctor Who on BBC. 

In this episode, the Doctor takes Rose to the year 5B where they land on a space station which is orbiting the Earth and observing its destruction by the expanding Sun.  Among the elite alien guests assembled to watch the phenomenon is Lady Cassandra (featured below),

who takes pride in being the last pure human, though she has received many operations that have altered her image.  It is discovered that Cassandra, to receive money for her many operations, plans to let the guests die and then profit from the stock increases of their competitors. She departs and brings down the shields, causing harmful direct radiation to penetrate the station.

The Doctor manages to reactivate the system and save Rose, after which he brings Cassandra back and she ruptures as she has not been moisturized.  Above is a video clip how she was defeated by the Doctor.

The Mandarin oranges serve as Lady Cassandra's brain,
which is responsible for her return in "New Earth".

Cassandra returned in "New Earth," which took place 23 years after.  "The End of the World." Her brain had indeed survived. Her eyes had been retrieved and she was repaired with extra skin taken from back of her previous body.  She was hiding in the basement of the hospital run by the Sisters of Plenitude, and tended to by a devoted forced-growth clone named Chip.

I hope you've enjoyed this post.

See more Doctor Who inspired lunches by pushing the button.

**Disclaimer: Doctor Who pictures courtesy of Google Search engine and Video courtesy of YouTube.**

Olympic Blog Hop - London 2012

With the Summer Olympic happening right now in London, my Bento Bloggers and Friends decided to celebrate it with another blog hop.

Of all the sports featured, we love swimming the most. Basketball is for my dad and hubby. It's something my kids and I look forward to watch. They are swimmers themselves, my son's a competitive one, but has no future plan for a competition. He said he doesn't like pressure and much training. He just wants to swim, that's all about it. And I say, we'll see.

Olympic 2012 Logo

For lunch, I prepared them sushidogs, arranged in such a way that it represented the 5-Olympic ring logo, with strawberry hearts that represented our love of the event. Each had a scoop of French Vanilla icecream topped with a swimming ring.

Gavin's lunch was packed on his favorite Easy Lunchboxes, while sissy wanted hers on her most loved Dora lunchbox.

Her lunch up close with the #1 pick on.

Now let's hop over to my amazing friend, Sarah of Bentoriffic, and see what she served her girls to welcome Olympics 2012. 

Make sure to push the button above, on every blog, to enjoy the hop till you get back from where you started. Have fun!!

Happy hopping!!

~Marie

Patriotic Blog Hop: 4th of July

My fellow Bento Bloggers and Friends

 are doing another hop today 

to commemorate Patriotic Day.

Independence Day in the US.

 I have incorporated Asian cuisine to make an American flag,
since we are Asians living in the US, with Asian cultures and traditions.

Summer Blog Hop: In The Tall, Tall Grass

Summer is our most awaited season of the year. 

It means a lot of things in our household.

School break

Picnics & Gatherings

Zoos & Amusement Parks

Gardening & Sand Play

Beaches & Vacation Galore

Those are easy to plan. But linking which lunches to prepare are pretty challenging.

When I think of summer, I get vast ideas of it but wouldn't exactly know how to execute. So I turned to summer-themed books to make them come alive.

Lunch is served!

Mother's Day Off!.....A Blog Hop

KIDS Turn!

It's Mother's Day, and we deserve a treat on our special day!  My fellow Bento Blogger MOMS decided to take a rest and let the kids rule for a day. My little girl was thrilled when I broke the news. She's 5 and very much into Bento-making. Dad prepared everything (food & supplies) on the table. Her task was to put them together in a lunchbox.

Green Bento...Nature Friendly

Earth day is April 22.

Together, let us:

Reduce

Reuse

Recycle

Replenish

Restore

My post today would be somewhat different because I'd be linking up with my fellow Bento Bloggers and Friends for a round up of bento meals featuring Earth Day.
Mine's nothing fancy though.
Just keep reading....

For this hop, I thought of using all things reusable.
Bento box,
 water bottle,
 utensils,
 Lunch bag.
 And I'm stashing a hand sanitizer, too.

Then I thought of packing everything that embodies the sea life and forestry.

I have Seafood Dumpling (shrimp, calamari, tuna),

 Broccoli (forest), oranges (sun),

school of Goldfishes

Freshly squeezed lemonade for snack 

and cold water for lunch.

The oranges represent the sun with rays stretched wide apart, flashing the prettiest smile to see the school of goldfishes are swimming on clear & uncontaminated sea water. The broccoli stands for the forest life and the seafood dumpling is my land free of trashes. 

To help you visualize my bento, I made use of photoshop to jazz up your imagination.

And this is how it should look!

(Oh well, I hope I didn't mess up neither my post nor the hop.)

I support the Earth Day because I wanted to help save our sea and forest life.  Hoping that one day we could help restore what had been destroyed and replenish what we had once.


In connection with this, I would also like to post my daughter's pre-school project for Earth Day.  It was a family project so everyone gets to pitch in, which made it easier for us to accomplish. I would not claim the brilliant idea though.  All we did was to replicate it with the available materials we have at home.

This is made of juice box, popsicle sticks that I've been hoarding, 

foam stickers, a branch stick, super glue & acrylic paint.

Hope you enjoyed this post.

For more Earth Day Bento, 
Click the button below!

Earth Day Hoppers:

1. Karen http://johnslunchbag.blogspot.com/2012/04/love-earth-for-earth-day-hop.html

2. Michelle http://creative-food.blogspot.com/2012/04/earth-day-lunch.html

3. Astrid http://lunchfitforakid.blogspot.com/2012/04/lunch-41812-earth-day-blog-hop.html

4. Sarah http://zoeslunchbox.blogspot.com/2012/04/earth-day.html

5. Amanda http://amandasfamilyfun.blogspot.com/2012/04/earth-day-bento-blog-hop.html

6. Crystal http://ncsufrog.blogspot.com/2012/04/hello-kitty-earth-day-lunch-and-bento.html

7. Kendra http://bitingmyhand.blogspot.com/2012/04/earth-day-waste-free-all-natural-bento.html

8. Marie http://i-brownbag.blogspot.com/2012/04/green-bentonature-friendly.html

9. Sarah F http://bentoriffic.wordpress.com/2012/04/18/earth-day-hop/

10. Bobbi  http://bobbisbentos.blogspot.com/2012/04/how-to-make-earth-day-snack-food.html

11. Laura http://ellunchdemienano.blogspot.mx/2012/04/dia-de-la-tierra-earth-day.html

12. Keeley http://keeleymcguire.blogspot.com/2012/04/lunch-made-easy-love-our-earth.html

13. Nina http://mamabelly-luncheswithlove.blogspot.com/2012/04/earth-day-lunch.html

14. Dina http://bentoformygirls.blogspot.com/2012/04/day-211.html

15. Rina http://bentoschoollunches.blogspot.com/2012/04/bento272-earth-day-3r-bento.html

16. Emily http://bentobloggy.blogspot.com/2012/04/earth-day.html

17. Ming http://bentomonsters.blogspot.com/2012/04/earth-day-bento.html

18. Keitha http://keithaschaos.blogspot.com/2012/04/earth-day-bento.html

19. Jenn http://www.bentoforkidlet.com/2012/04/earth-day-bento.html

20. Lise http://www.veggie-bento.com/2012/04/17/earth-day-tree-hugger-lunch/

21. Cristi http://www.bentonbetterlunches.com/2012/04/every-day-is-earth-day.html

22. Karen http://momslunchbag.blogspot.com/2012/04/compost-lunch-for-earth-day-blog-hop.html