Christmas Tree Salmon Bento

Christmas Tree Salmon Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

So here it is, two more weeks left of school (and school bento), and I'm running out of new ideas for Christmas themed bento. Luckily, my friend karaimame posted a Christmas bento that is so cute, it begs to be stolen imitated. It's a broccoli Christmas tree. I remember I made one a couple years ago (see this bento), and now that I peek at that one I see that last time I used the tree trunk pick and made the ornaments look like strings of lights (much cuter). Sigh. Maybe I used up all my festive idea brain cells on Halloween this year. Anyway, this bento contains crispy butter shoyu salmon, which means I pan-fried it with butter, then drizzled shoyu after I turned the heat off. Super good. Besides the tree with colorful pepper ornament cutouts, I've got baby grape tomatoes, Okinawan sweet potato stars, carrots, crabapple, strawberry, orange and grapes.

Today I met with TinySprite's preschool teachers to go over her first semester progress. Everything was as I expected until I asked whether she was well-behaved and polite. Well.... perhaps sometimes during circle time when they are asked to share, she'll burst into song... and sing a verse or two, and on, and on, and on. Maybe she could sing a little less. (Sheepish looks from teachers). What?! I guess I should be happy she's not busting out the dance moves too. Wait, I forgot to ask about that...

Sticky Rice Bento

Sticky Rice Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

This bento contains sticky rice, one of my favorite one-pot meals (my basic method is here). For this batch I used regular white glutinous (sweet) rice, and mixed with Japanese brown rice. I presoaked for a few hours before cooking, and about 15 minutes before the end of the cycle I added sliced lup cheong, shiitake mushrooms, and shredded baby choy. You can add other ingredients if you like. I've made it with cubed kabocha, which resulted in a nice colorful batch. You can also add in chopped green onion after the rice is finished cooking, which is what I did here. I packed it inside a lettuce leaf, alongside some carved carrots and a piece of corn on the cob, which I decorated with Okinawan sweet potato hearts. The fruit square contains yellow peach, strawberry and blackberry. The last square has yogurt topped with chopped fresh pineapple, sunflower seeds and wheat germ. If I pack yogurt, I try to overlay it with fruit to keep it contained as much as possible. It's actually Greek yogurt, so it's not very runny. I also usually tell MisterMan when there's yogurt in his bento, so he can try to minimize the amount of swinging around he does with it >.<

Finally, remember the Bento & Co contest to "Make a Bento for Someone You Love"? There were 223 entries, from France, USA, Germany, Turkey, Switzerland, England, Norway, Morocco, and Japan. I wanted to thank all of you for voting and supporting my entry. I didn't win the grand prize trip to Kyoto, but I did place high enough in the final 20 to receive a generous gift certificate to Bento & Co! So, thank you very much, bento friends! ^_^

Meatballs and Bunnies Bento

Meatballs and Bunnies Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Chicken meatballs today, in tomato-cider vinegar sauce. This batch is made with ground chicken, oats, shredded zucchini, wheat germ, onion and my experiment: quinoa! I cooked the quinoa separately and added it into the meat mixture before simmering in the tomato sauce. Very tasty! There's also curried lentils with spinach and grape tomatoes in another section, black rice topped with two tofu bunnies and a radish "Easter egg", and the usual fruit portion with strawberry, grapes and kiwi. This 4- sectioned bento box comes in handy for meals like this one, with different flavors I'd like to keep separate. Festive, isn't it?

Bento4Japan is still going strong. Remember, 100% of your donation goes to Japan Disaster Relief. There've been some bids on the origami crane earrings I made (yay!) -- these are lightweight, delicate and feminine. Would you like a chance to win them? A lovely gift for your favorite girl, perhaps? Or yourself ^_^