Chef Bento Noodle Contest Results

Wow - so exciting and incredible to place first in the final 10 (of 172 worldwide entries) at the Bento & Co contest! Thank you, friends, for voting for my bento! I really am appreciative and honored! 😘❤🍱

Tebasaki Chicken Wings Bento

Today's bento features that all-time kid (and adult) favorite: tebasaki (crispy salted chicken wings)! Have you had these before? I've made them for my kids' bento many times. Even though by lunchtime they are cold, the kids devour them. I have to make tons because they are small and addictive. I use LovelyLanvin's recipe and method (you can find it here), which I adapted for mini wings and drummettes, which fit better in the bento box.

Speaking of bento boxes, the long stainless steel box is from Bento and Co, and it comes in a set of two. It is of excellent quality and I love it. I often use one of the boxes (as shown here) along with a smaller side box -- in this case the ECOLunchBox Eco Dipper.

I placed the chicken in a romaine lettuce leaf (for nutrition, looks, and grease absorbancy), and six happen to fit perfectly for MisterMan. The little Dipper holds pickled cucumber, carrot and daikon in mini silicone cups, a half satsuma mandarin, and some grape tomatoes. If he wants to, he may sprinkle shichimi togarashi (7 pepper spice) from the penguin (you can find a similar one here) at lunchtime.

Hello Kitty Onigiri Bento!

Hello Kitty Onigiri Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

This bento is one I made for myself, and it was also meant to be my entry for the annual Bento & Co contest. The theme was onigiri, so I made two Hello Kitty mini-onigiri using my mold. I decorated their faces with nori, corn, and radish bows. I think this is the first time I've used this mini-onigiri mold, which was a gift from a dear friend. It's so cute! I added some oven-baked mochiko chicken pieces to the side, and then squeezed in some sweet fresh steamed corn off the cob, edamame, broccoli, carrots, and grape tomatoes. The second tier contains cherries, a homegrown apricot, raspberries, white peach, strawberries, blueberries and a few slices of steamed Okinawan sweet potato. I think I represented just about all the rainbow colors in this one! I packed it all inside my favorite stainless steel boxes. Each comes with its own gasketed lid, which don't have latches but which will stay leaktight if bound with elastic. You can use only one oblong box if you like, or stack two together and bind them with one larger band, which is what I did. There were 237 entries to the contest this year, and sadly I didn't make the final 10. But you can click over to see the ones that did, and cast a vote for the one you like the best (you have until Monday, July 16th). There are some unbelievably beautiful bento crafted by folks from all over the world; I was amazed and so inspired! Contests like these just go to show you how widespread the bento culture has become, and it's heartwarming to see all the healthy, delicious bento created by people influenced by this meal tradition from Japan. Very cool^_^

Skull Quail Egg Bento

Skull Quail Egg Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Continuing on with the skull theme, today I made a quail egg skull on black rice to accompany some shallow-fried panko chicken, broccoli and roasted kabocha. There are also carrot flowers, corn, strawberries, grapes and honeydew melon. All packed up in my supercool slim double decker Zen box from Bento & Co. I love this box so much it was hard to entrust my boy to take it to school with him, but it's proven quite sturdy and impervious to normal 8-year-old boy wear and tear. So far. You all ready for Halloween? One more day...

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! ^_^

Mahimahi Summer Bento

Mahimahi Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

I found a nice mahimahi filet today so decided to do the furikake mahi mahi that is so popular in plate lunch in Hawaii. It's so easy; the way I do it is 3 steps max: squirt with kewpie mayo, sprinkle with furikake, then carefully pan fry both sides. I added three tiny fish shapes cut from radish, with sesame seed eyes, and a grape tomato for color. The next compartment has bicolor corn on the cob, bicolor Okinawan sweet potato star shapes, and purple and orange carrots. For fruit he has lychee (yummmmmy!), sweet yellow peach, and cherries. Everything fits just right in this cute and practical Lunchbot.

Some exciting news about my bento from last week: it reached the final 20 in a contest sponsored by Bento & Co: "A Bento For Someone You Love"! There's a vote going on at the company's Facebook page to determine the final winner -- the grand prize being a trip to Kyoto. If you have a chance, I would appreciate a vote from you, my wonderful readers! The site is here: Bento & Co. You have to "like" the page first, then click on the purple "Participer" button, then scroll through the entries. They're not labeled, but mine is currently on page 3 and looks like this:

Thanks very much for your help! I'll let you know the results :D