4th of July Lunch Box

It's Indepen- dence Day here in the United States, time for parades, picnics, barbecues, and shmoo's favorite -- fireworks!

Here's a special 4th of July- themed lunch in our new Laptop Bento 2.0. I packed the bottom left container with fresh corn topped with radish stars and green onion "fireworks".

In the top left lidded container, a serving of Red, White & Blueberry Fruit Salad: strawberries, blueberries, apples, and lime juice. I substituted agave for the honey in the recipe and left out the mint.

I'm still so delighted that one of the smaller containers now has a lid! Here it is packed with Ethiopian Lentil Salad with Crushed Mustard Seeds, my favorite cold lentil salad from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian.

Finally, for a picnic treat, ruffled potato chips and a bottle of lemonade that didn't make it into the picture.

Happy 4th, everyone! We're off to enjoy a relaxing afternoon and then watch things go boom!

My Laptop Dreams Have Come True!

Check out the new Bento System 2.0 that came out this month from Laptop Lunches. The first thing you'll notice is the new carrying cases decorated with funky aliens or pretty pink flowers. But the case isn't what has me really excited...


Do you see it? Yes! One of the small-sized container comes with a LID! I've so wished for a lid to seal in smaller servings of applesauce, soft fruit, pudding, etc. I used to cover the small container with plastic wrap held in place with a rubber band if the item I was packing was a bit wet. Well, no more!

So we're all happy so far, right? But wait, there's more! You still haven't seen the best part...

Bento Buddies 2.0! This is a separate set of containers you can buy for this new system, and it features one giant container that takes the place of the two large containers!! Woo! The new system doesn't have that line going between the two spaces, so the new giant container fits right in there.

Do you have any idea how many times I have longed for something like this for the Laptop? It's the perfect size for a whole sandwich, or a good-sized salad, or for one large serving of any kind of main dish.

Unfortunately, there is a bit of bad news: these new containers won't fit in the original Laptop Lunch System, so you'll have to upgrade to 2.0 if you want the nifty new sizes and lids.

Right now I'm holding the new system up next to the original Laptop, and the new systems are also a bit larger than the original. They're not bigger by a whole lot, but it's enough that I can see fitting larger servings into this one, servings that might even keep my big-appetite shmoo full.

Stay tuned for shmoo's first lunch packed in the new system!

And the Winning Cover is...

My name is in baby carrots!