Mushroom Bacon Risotto Thermal Bento

Mushroom Bacon Risotto Thermal Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Today I'm packing the mushroom and bacon risotto in the Zojirushi Classic thermal bento set. It's a fairly large set, especially for my second-grader, but he's game to try it. He practiced with each of the bowls so I'm confident he can open them all. The smallest bowl is meant to contain the soup, but I've packed veggies in it. I put the risotto in the largest container, which is meant to contain rice. The fruit (which I always include in his bento) is packed in the third container. The way I've packed this set is less than optimal; obviously I don't want all his food to be kept warm, so I have to keep the fruit separate. This defeats the purpose of the thermal set, but I don't see what else I can do about it. At this point, I'm wondering whether this kind of set is the best choice for my purposes. Anyway, after I've heated up the thermal outer container, I'll pack the risotto and the veggies, close the lid, and send the fruit alongside. I've already done a temperature test (I'll post about it later in my full review) and I know the food will stay warm; but we'll see what my 7-year old thinks about his "hot" bento. Fingers crossed!

Penguin Egg Bento

Penguin Egg Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

TinySprite got a penguin hard-boiled egg made with nori and carrot beak detail. I should have used the other end for the head, so it wouldn't be so pointy, but oh well. She also got carrot sticks, broccoflower, cherry, kiwi, mini mandarin, sliced strawberry, and cinnamon banana discs on a cute marlin skewer! I got this skewer from a bento pal as a gift -- thank you! There are other fish in the set too, and I really love them!

When I gave this to her, she said "Oh! Can I eat the snowman?" What?!
Penguin, I said, penguin! Oh, penguin, she repeated.
Sigh. Oh well.

Ginger Scallion Fish Bento

Ginger Scallion Fish Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Are you ready for Spring yet? I know I am. This bento has a bunch of plum blossoms to get us in the mood and signal to the world that we are ready for flowers (and sun)!

I steamed cod in shoyu, ginger and scallions with just a little cracked pepper and a final drizzle of sesame oil. At the same time I roasted some sliced yellow squash and broccoflower, which I placed next to the fish on the lettuce. In the next container I placed some purple potato chips (also roasted), a grape tomato and some red carrot flowers. All the veggies roasted together. I thought the purple might run off into the lighter colored stuff, but it held its color well. I brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with garlic powder during cooking and that's it. In the fruit section I put a strawberry, 2 cherries and a partially peeled mini mandarin. I was in the midst of peeling the whole thing like I usually do, but at this point I noticed that it looked like a little hooded creature! So I added eyes and a nose and put him in like that. Afterwards I also noticed that the cherry stems look like antennae, kind of.

This is a newish bento box that I got from a Korean market. It's nice because it has 3 sections as well as a transparent lid. The volume is 480ml, which is just right for MisterMan if I pack it full(ish).

Happy Monday friends!

Four Squares Bento

Four Squares Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

On my recent trip to L.A. over the long weekend, I scored a bunch of new bento stuff. Yay! This multi-sectional box is one of them. I found this one at a store in Little Tokyo called Tokyo Japanese Lifestyle. It's a very cool store, and you should check it out if you're in the area.

This box also came as a two-tier option, with the lower tier a box of the same size without dividers or containers. Each section of this box holds 170 mls, and the label claims the total volume is 1.2L. I guess this takes into account the convex lid (which I don't show here), which does allow you to stuff extra food in there.

Anyway, this size is just perfect for my first-grader. I don't have to fill up the sections fully, but yet each stays separate from the others to keep sauces and flavors distinct. I love it!

For the first use, I gave him Singapore rice sticks in the red box, a green salad with marinated artichoke hearts and grape tomatoes topped with crumbled feta in the green box, pan-fried garlic enoki and broccoflower along with 2 carrot goldfish in the purple box, and a selection of desserts in the yellow box: cherries, kumquats, a beautiful strawberry and a piece of homemade zucchini bread.

This box is a little wider than my others, and it barely fits in his insulated lunch tote, but I squeezed it in there. What do you think? It's a pretty fun box, eh?

Romanesco!

Look what I found at the farmers market! I didn't think we had romanesco here, since previously I had only ever seen "broccoflower", but it turns out it is grown on several farms in coastal California. Broccoflower looks more like green cauliflower, and I have used it before in bento (as here), but the cool thing about romanesco is that "its shape could be described as fractal; each bud is composed of a series of smaller buds, all arranged in yet another logarithmic spiral." (Wikipedia) Wow!

Thus, it is infinitely cooler than broccoflower. And, it's incomparable in bento -- see my first use here :)

Sadly, its season is short, but I hope to see it again soon. If you see it, you may want to try it yourself ~ it tastes like cauliflower, but with perhaps a slightly nuttier or pepperier flavor :)