Harry Potter and the Bento Blog Hop

We are huge Harry Potter fans here. We have been ever since Brick was tiny!

We first discovered Harry Potter when Brick was four. A friend mentioned that her son liked the books, and hey, did you know they just put out a movie? We bought the first book and read it to Brick and G-man (who was a tiny toddler, barely over a year old at the time) at night before bed.

We were all instantly hooked.

We went out immediately, before even finishing Sorcerer's Stone, and bought Chamber of Secrets and Prisoner of Azkahban from the bookstore. We also bought the first movie, which had just been released to DVD. It was an instant hit with all of us, and became a favorite. We blew through all three books in lightning speed, and then impatiently waited for Goblet of Fire to be released in paperback.... then bought it in hardcover, because we couldn't wait to read it!

We pre-ordered Order of the Phoenix so it was delivered fresh to our door the day it was released. I won the coin flip, so I got to read it first. I spent the next three days curled up in bed with Bean (who was brand new, just a few months old), burning through the whole book. Then waited impatiently for the Dude to finish it so I could read it again! Four year old Brick was reading the second book all by himself. Harry Potter was the first book he ever read independently.

When Half-Blood Prince came out, we took Brick, G, and Bean to their first midnight release party. Bean fell asleep on Dude's shoulder and Brick read the last few chapters of the fifth book while in line waiting to buy the sixth. G and I almost missed the unveiling because we had to potty - little fetus Lulu was playing a drum solo on my bladder in anticipation. A couple of months later Brick started first grade and the teacher didn't believe us when we told her that he had already read the entire Harry Potter series on his own.

But the best was when Deathly Hallows came out. We took Brick, G, Bean, and Lulu to a midnight release party in full costume. Lulu wasn't yet 2, and was so charming in her cloak and curls that she was featured on the front page of a local newspaper. Brick and G were old enough to really enjoy the games and fun events at the bookstore leading up to the release, and Bean had been learning to read with the specific goal of reading the series herself. It was a blast, and is still one of our favorite family memories.

We recently started reading the series to Beaker at night before bed, and seeing him fall in love with the characters the way the rest of us did is nothing short of magical.

Bean has been asking for a Harry Potter lunch for some time, and I finally got around to making her one for this hop. She was utterly thrilled (and has put in a request for a lunch from each of the books)!

This lunch is gluten free and also nut/peanut free, and is packed in a Planet Box Rover. Details:

Moaning Myrtle mini Baybel cheese

Baby carrots

Aragog's apple slices

Diary of Tom Riddle gluten free crackers

Gummy basilisk

Turkey and cheese sandwich on Udi's gluten free bread

Tom's giant snake pet is slithering around this tasty sandwich.

The (gluten free) Diary of Tom Marvalo Riddle...

...And a cheesy Moaning Myrtle.

This year Bean and Beaker were even Harry Potter characters for Halloween!

Beaker was an adorable little first year Harry Potter.

And Bean was a lovely third year Hermione Granger, complete with Time Turner necklace!

Now keep going to see what awesome Potter-ness Organized Bites has to share! And of course be sure not to miss the rest of the great posts in the hop!

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The Clock Strikes Twelve

Hello, new Doctor! Tomorrow premieres Deep Breath, the new episode of Doctor Who, kicking off a new season, with a brand new Doctor!

Peter Capaldi stars as the Twelfth Doctor, newly regenerated and all set for a brand new start!

What will this new Doctor be like? Will he be serious and strict? Will he be funny, silly with a wild sense of humor? Will he be adventurous, or stick to familiar ground? And what will become of Clara, now that Eleven is gone?

So many questions, and we'll just have to watch to find out! Here in the Chaos house, we are counting down the minutes until we see Twelve again. Can't wait until Saturday night!

And with every new Doctor comes a sad good-bye. We look forward to seeing what the new Doctor will bring, but with a tinge of sadness, thinking of all the Doctors who came before. We've already said good-bye to Matt Smith, when Eleven regenerated at Trenzalore in the last episode, but we couldn't say hello to the new guy without remembering the last.

But don't dwell on sadness - there is a new adventure ahead! After you watch the episode, come back and let me know your first impression of the new Doctor. And that's not the only adventure - keep going on the hop to see what's next! Click the button below to visit Biting the Hand That Feeds You to see what Whovian deliciousness is waiting:

* Lunch Details *

This lunch contains a simple open faced sandwich made with gluten-free bread, thin sliced roast beef, and provolone cheese, surrounded by kale. The hands on the clock are clipped from a cucumber peel. The lunch also has thick cucumber slices and halved grape tomatoes, and orange triangles. For a bit of sweet, the lower portion holds vanilla pudding with a raspberry fez.

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Resistance is Futile.

I dearly love Edible Geekery blog hops! Remember to click the button at the bottom to continue with the hop!

I am a geek. For anyone who knows me, or has ever read this blog before, this comes as no surprise. I was geek before geek was chic! 

But I must confess. I am not really a Star Trek fan.

I know! Shocking! What kind of a geek doesn't do Star Trek?! It isn't that I dislike the shows. On the contrary - the ones I have seen have been quite good. It just hasn't drawn me in. The Dude, on the other hand, IS a big Star Trek fan. His favorite is Star Trek: The Next Generation. I have seen a good number of episodes with him, enough to have a certain level of appreciation for the show and franchise. At some point I will sit down with him and watch the entire ST:TNG series start to finish, I promise. I just haven't been converted into a total fan yet.

However, I AM a big fan of George Takei. The original Mr. Sulu!

Besides being a geek legend and an internet superstar with a fantastic sense of humor, the man has done some amazing social work. He has used his fame to turn the bright, shiny spotlight on LGBT rights and on the history of Japanese internment camps in the US. He is nothing short of awesome.

Mr. Sulu, thanks for everything you do!

"It's OK to be Takei" pepper jack cheese letters on steamed rice with baked salmon.

I do kind of love this. It is Takei's insignia painted with edible dye on cheese.

"Oh myyy!" kiwi slices and raspberries. There are also a few chocolate espresso beans from a local gourmet shop tucked in there as a sweet surprise.

Veggie rainbow! Red, orange, and yellow sweet bell peppers with cucumber slices and a purple packet of soy sauce for the salmon and rice.

Bonus lunch! I packed this one for him yesterday:

IceBorg (Heh. See what I did there?) and grilled chicken Caesar salad with red and golden cherry tomatoes and pepper jack cheese spelling out the infamous Borg motto: Resistance is futile. He also has bold guacamole (with tortilla chips in a separate container) and sliced apples and plums.

And as a special fun treat, want to win a nifty prize? Of course you do! Enter below for a chance to win this Star Trek tumbler and set of four cupcake rings!

** Congratulations to Kimberly W! You have won the giveaway! Thanks to everyone who entered! **

a Rafflecopter giveaway

But wait! There's more! You can't stop here. No! You must boldly go on to the next blog in the hop to see what awesomeness What's In Our Lunch Bags? has to share! Click the button below to continue...

Both lunches were packed in my favorite Easy Lunchboxes, which can be found at Amazon here:

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Damn the Man!

Happy Rex Manning Day!

Oh Rexy, you're so sexy.

Empire Records wasn't well received when it premiered, but in the years since it has gained popularity as a cult classic. Gen Xers identify with the theme of protecting ideals and not selling out to the highest bidder. Damn the man! Plus, the flick has a killer soundtrack.

Damn the Man. Save the Empire!

Empire Records ranks very high on my list of favorites. I won't go in to the plot of the movie, because drop everything and go watch it right now!

"Empire Records, open 'til midnight!"

The soul of this movie and of Empire Records itself is, of course, the music. The soundtrack is most definitely on my list of Albums I Can't Live Without. I discovered it in 1999 and still listen to it very frequently (it is on my MP3 player in the car right now, actually). The Cranberries, the Innocence Mission, Better Than Ezra, Toad the Wet Sprocket, and so much more... fantastic music, from start to finish. 

This lunch is shredded roast beef with barbecue sauce, with steamed white rice and corn tortilla letters. There is also a ripe plum, a few mini chocolate bars, and a bit of shredded cabbage with fresh homemade pico de gallo on top. This lunch is gluten and nut free, too!

Now click through the record to bop over to What's In Our Lunch Bags and see what the amazing Karen has whipped up!

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Fish Fingers and Custard Day

April 3 is the anniversary of the airing of the Doctor Who episode 'The Eleventh Hour', which introduced Matt Smith as the new Doctor. As such it is now the official Fish Fingers and Custard Day! I've done a few (or more than a few..!) Doctor Who lunches here, so it only makes sense that we would celebrate.
 

A few of my previous Doctor Who lunch posts (click the picture to go to the post):

Link up any Doctor Who related edibles you might have to share here! We would love to see!

(Thanks to Bent On Better Lunches for putting together the link code!)

Winter Is Coming.

The weather may be gorgeous and sunny where I am, but in Westeros Winter has come.

Tonight is the premiere of Game of Thrones season 3 on HBO, the first new episode in nearly 10 months! My fabulous friends in the Edible Geekery group have put together a blog-hop in anticipation of the new episode.

I think my favorite character from the series is Arya Stark. The girl takes a hit and keeps going. I don't want to give away too much, but I will say that this girl is made of steel. I can't say she is exactly a good person, but she is tough as nails. The TV show moved the ages of all of the Stark children up a couple of years, but in the book Arya is roughly the same age as my Bean - 9, going on 10.

My Game of Thrones inspired meal is all about Arya Stark. "Valar morghulis" is a Valyrian phrase with some significance in the book series. It means "all men must die" and is commonly answered with "Valar dohaeris" - "all men must serve". 

For Arya, this phrase means little and less, but it opens doors for her which were otherwise closed (both literally and figuratively).

The Stark sigil is the direwolf, an oversized wolf from the North. I cut the direwolf head out of nori and rested it atop a bed of white rice.

The letters are cut from dill havarti cheese and Arya's shadow is a toasted corn tortilla, settled on black bean chili.

A clip from the episode 'Valar Morghulis' (season 2, episode 10):

Now, click the button to go through to Robot Squirrel and the Monkeys to follow the hop for more tributes to Game of Thrones:

Tune in tonight for the new episode, 'Valar Dohaeris', and if you get a chance be sure to read the books. They are very well written and rich in detail.

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