Banh Mi, Early Summer Version Bento

Banh Mi, Early Summer Version Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

What, you say we've already had a banh mi bento recently? Really? Let me check...nope, last one was 2 months ago! But it's true I've made other kinds of sandwich bento in the meantime. Let's face it: sometimes it's easier to make a sandwich bento than prepare "real food" and there's nothing wrong with that. Today was such a lovely day, we spent most of it outside and I didn't do any cooking at all. We got Vietnamese takeout and took home some banh mi for lunch. Today it is chicken. I cut it in half and added extra spinach and cilantro to fill out the green veggies, then wrapped in wax paper and snuggled them into the basket part of my Keroppi bento box. The lower tier is just big enough for some early summer fruits: white peach, rich red plum, golden apricot, tangerine, blueberries, and more homegrown strawberries. Oh, and some purple cauliflower because I am in love with the vivid hue. I live for summer fruits, and these are just the beginning. The plum is still a little tart, but I really do like them like this. The peaches are super sweet. And the strawberries -- well, these are bigger than the mini ones I packed a few days ago, and they are bursting with sweet flavor. It's such a treat to enjoy fresh picked fruit, and if you can't grow a fruit tree, you can definitely try a strawberry plant. They're very small and prolific; you can enjoy a handful of fruit with each bloom. And they're so cute! I'll try to remember to take pictures of the baby fruit as it matures from a tiny green berry into a luscious red one. You'll be hooked.

This is MisterMan's last bento of the first grade. It makes me a little nostalgic, just like at the end of kindergarten. He's growing up so fast and I always wonder how long he'll be agreeable to taking bento for lunch. He's still the only one in his class having bento for lunch, and so far the response by the other kids has been positive. The girls especially -- he says they come over and say "Awwww, so cuuuuute." I guess the boys are too manly for that. Anyway, I'll still have TinySprite to make bento for. She'll start preschool this summer, hopefully. She's much pickier than her brother, so it'll be more of a challenge!

End of school marks the beginning of summer for us so.. Happy Summer, Bento Friends!!

Mr and Mrs. Banh Mi Bento

Mr and Mrs. Banh Mi Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Today was such a fabulous day; I really would call it the first day it felt like spring. The sun was out in a blue cloudless sky ALL day, and it was warm enough to leave the jacket in the car. A whole bunch of things are blooming in my garden, including volunteers I forgot about from last year. I actually have green onions that had been clinging to life all through winter, and now they are growing dark green and tall again. My sweet peas went to seed and now I've got vines shooting up the tomato cages. How's your garden?

Today we went out for lunch and at the same time decided to pick up some banh mi (Vietnamese sandwiches) for my boy's bento tomorrow. Score!

He gets a pork banh mi, which after I cut into pieces short enough to fit in the tiffin, looked like faces. So what could I do but finish them off with eyes and headgear? I also managed to squeeze in a whole tangerine, a strawberry, a few grapes and a sprig of broccoli. Perfect! This tiffin came with a top tier, but I'm only using the bottom section today -- which means I can fill it up higher. I separated the sandwiches in wax paper to keep them away from the fruits. It's not the first time I've put a sandwich in the tiffin; the round sandwich thins or bagels also work well.

You may have heard about the Spring 2010 Bento Contest going on, hosted by Maki of Just Bento, Thomas and Erico of Bento & Co, and Mook of French Bento. The finalists have been selected, and my Spring Momiji Bento is one of the final 15! The voting has now been opened up to the public, for selection of the top 10 Spring Bento. If you haven't already, please stop over and vote there, if you get a chance! My bento is #051 Happy Little Bento. Take a look at them all; they are all beautiful!

Grilled Pork Banh Mi Bento

This post is part of a collective joint post extolling the virtues of Banh Mi as a bento item. My fellow bento bloggers and I wanted to show how this sandwich can be modified to fit nicely into just about any kind of nutritional lifestyle. We all make bento with different objectives, for people with different tastes and caloric requirements, yet we are all able to utilize this item effectively. There is a banh mi for everyone! Read more about how the delicious and versatile banh mi is playing a part in:

vegan/vegetarian adult bento for Debra at hapabento,

healthy yet tasty adult bento for megan at bento zen,

and

kid-friendly bento for Susan at Hawai'i's Bento Box Cookbook!

Banh Mi is a Vietnamese sandwich. It is widely available where I live (California) from ubiquitous Vietnamese restaurants and delis, in any number of varieties. They usually have some kind of meat filling (such as bbq or grilled chicken, pork or beef), which is accompanied by cucumbers, pickled carrots and daikon on a crunchy soft French sandwich roll. It's very delicious, fresh and light, and also very inexpensive. The kids really like it, so naturally it's a regular go-to lunch item in our house!

MisterMan is a typical, active first-grader, so I sent him to school with a bit over half of a sandwich. To the grilled pork and pickled veggies I added more cilantro as well as dandelion greens. He'll take awhile to crunch through this big sandwich, so in the side section I added just a few fruits: kumquats, cherries and checkered apple. Recently I've noticed that I have to take time consideration into account, as he's told me a couple times that he "runs out of time" to finish! I think maybe he wants to rush out to the playground with the other kids after lunch.

Did you notice my new sandwich bento box? Up to now I have always used my Keroppi basket bento box, which you may have seen before, in a past banh mi bento post. This one has a flip-top lid and an included side cup. It's just the right size for a sandwich and a side, or some musubi and a side. But best of all, since it's not a basket, I don't have to wrap in paper to prevent drying out. It's so cute! Here's how it looks all closed up:

Do you have a favorite banh mi? Tell me about it! Or, if you've never tried it, perhaps we have piqued your interest :)