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It’s not really Bento Season, but I get tired of getting onto my car, spending money on lunches I don’t really want, easting half of it, and accidentally forgetting to put the rest into the kitchen where it will either be eaten by a desperately hungry co-worker, or tossed on Science Project Disposal Day, when management cleans out the communal fridge and the Prime Directive is violated as budding civilizations are destroyed.

I have to admit I have been up to feeling very creative lately, not with food, not with writing, not even with yarncrafts. We’re scooting into Halloween, and while I have a costume all picked out, the idea of the makeup and clothes and all the stuff that goes with it makes me feel tired rather than excited. I know it’s because I’ve had a lot to do over the last few months – Doug’s surgery and recovery, being the biggest weight on my mind, and the pending sale of my apartment building to new owners. On top of that, the creative part really wants to come out and play, but as we get closer and closer to the end of the year, I’m seeing I don’t have much to show for 2013, other than a failed movie project and a lot of wasted time.

Yeah, that’s still raw and it’s all the more depressing when I think about all of the time, and here I mean vacation time, I wasted and now don’t have for upcoming family gatherings. I set aside a lot of family obligations for The Movie That Wasn’t.

Still haven’t received an apology for it either. Says a lot about that person, doesn’t it?

So like I’ve said before, I need to get back into things. It’s just taking longer than I would have thought. I’m not afraid of failure, I’m afraid of wasting time. And right now, everything is no longer weighed in success and fun, but how much time I’m putting into it or how disappointed I’ll be when I’m done.

Enough. Last week The Universe said to me, “MontiLee, you’ve done better than you know. You’ve helped more than you realize. And you’re closer than you think.” I know the Universe says that to a lot of people, but more importantly it was said to me and I need to hear it. We’re getting back into things with small stuff, like Bento Boxes, because I know I can do these and you can’t not be happy with Plastic Babies.

Out to One World Market in Novi for veggies and frozen delights, home to plan and prep and cut. I’m trying something new with prepping because I can’t spend 30 minutes in the morning breading, dipping, and frying. Instead of my usual pile of beef and mushroom, I made the rollups using the same beed and mushrooms, but rolled into cigar shapes, dusted wih flour, dipped in a wash of egg, water, ginger, and garlic, and rolled in honey panko bread crumbs. I pre-rolled six of them, wrapped them neatly in wax paper and oput them into a freezer bag  to keep . It was pretty brilliant, bceause this morning, I only had to turn on my rice cooker and fire up the oil in the wok Ten minutes later I had fried roll u-pw that were a little more done that I like, but I just need to remember that not everything gets gooked on Medium-High. I’m also trying the Mason Jar salads, because I need more greens and something more than pasta to fill me up.

Lunch therefore looks a bit like this: