Left Over Pork, meet Cute Vegetable Cutter.

Tomorrow I will be working at the flower shop, for the first time in a couple of weeks.  Since it is going to be a beautiful summer day, I could think of about 2 thousand things I'd rather be doing, starting with Floating Idly On An Air Mattress In The Pool and finishing up somewhere around Soaking RJG's Retainer In Hydrogen Peroxide(yes even that!). But, times being what they are, those J-O-B things don't exactly grow on trees and (summer Saturday blues aside) I generally like mine. . .so off I will go, early. . .reluctantly. . .and toting a Very Cute Lunch.

The first thing I did was attack an innocent watermelon with an implement of spherical destruction.  The resulting melony goodness was arranged with large juicy strawberries and(in a nod to my badassed reputation) 2 daggers of blueberries.

Then I boiled some vermicelli.

While that was working I artfully sliced some carrots and a few marinated green beans.

The pasta got dressed with a good old spicy peanut sauce and tossed with some purple cabbage, more carrots, garlic scapes, basil and MUCHO CILANTRO. If you are in the segment of the population that cannot appreciate this herb, my sympathies.  Cilantro is well known to be a food of the gods with many extraordinary properties. It should be eaten regularly, and in large quantities. Look how pretty these guys are!

 My cutting board, pictured above,  is branded with IC for Ives Creek Ranch. It's a boutique ranch near Houston, Texas where my Aunt Laurie and Uncle Matt have a small herd of cows and a big crazy bull named Fred.  They do not really brand their cattle--ear tags being a much nicer option--but they did brand this cool cow shaped cutting board for me this past Christmas!  I love it, and tell people about it at any opportunity.  Like I just did. Anyway I digress. . .

Pasta dressed, herbs tossed, I finished by arranging some slices of left over teriyaki grilled pork tenderloin in my bento box, keeping the foods Small, Separated, and Fragmented. I mixed it up with regard to color and texture and. . . wait what else did I learn from Tracey over at Tangled Noodle??!!OH!  Of Course. . .the obento is meant to evoke nature.  Enter cute veggie cutters.  Sprinkle food with carrot, cabbage and lime flowers. Voila!

The only thing left to do was package up this feast.  I stacked up my bento containers, added the cute lid TA-DAAA!

Which reminded me of Yuri ,my gateway to bento, and her delightful #bentocuteness Twitter Challenge( see the roundup here! ), and finally the elastic strap. . .

Isn't he kawaii!?!?  So I was snapping this photo when my oldest son told me that I needed to flip the strap.  He thought that the Panda would be more Ninja-like and Bad-Assed with eyebrows arching down.  What do you think?

I know, right?! Smart Kid. Too bad his Philosophical Differences will probably keep him out of Harvard. Well, now my Panda Bento is ready to go to work, just a fork and an artfully tied furoshiki and off we go.  Wish me Luck, it's going to be a long day . . .