BB-8 Bento

Happy Star Wars Day, or May the 4th Be With You!
A little light bento for TinySprite includes her current favorite polenta made with cornmeal, corn grits, and millet; steamed Okinawan sweet potato, little quail egg BB8, tomato, pickled cucumbers, lotus root, daikon and carrot; raspberries and mandarin.

Anpanman Turkey Burger PlanetBox Bento

Round sandwich thin in the square section. It works! And the PlanetBox Rover smushes it down just enough so Anpanman's face doesn't move around. Score! Turkey burger with melty Swiss, romaine lettuce, and varied tomato and Okinawan sweet potato decoration, An ombre selection of blood orange segments, a little cup of cottage cheese with sunflower seeds and granola, carrots, asparagus, and pickled lotus root. Oh and a tiny cup of arare (rice crackers). Happy Bento!

Pan-Seared Chicken in LunchBot Bento

Pan-Seared Chicken in LunchBot Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

I never buy skin-on chicken these days, but I wanted to try cooking it in a hot pan to make crispy skin. It was tasty, but not really worth the splattering oil factor. I'd rather have oven-broiled tebasaki, which also gets nice and crispy, but behind the oven safety glass! Still, my little girl liked it, of course. Chicken is her favorite food, I think, after bread. And cheese, and ice cream. Also in the LunchBot Trio: steamed broccoli sprig, fried lotus root (renkon), pickled cucumber / onion / carrot / daikon, sweet baby organic strawberries, blackberries, and blood oranges.
Added to What's For Lunch.

Egg O'Lantern Bento

Egg O'Lantern Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Egg-o-lantern today, dyed with beet and shoyu, and with a nori face, sits on greens next to grilled portobello (olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic and green onion). He also gets a piece of corn on the cob, a purple and pink carrot skewer, an orange cherry tomato, some pickled renkon (lotus root) and bittermelon, and sliced pluots. Are you feeling the Halloweeeeen yet?

Shoyu Chicken and Jack Bento

Shoyu Chicken and Jack Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Shoyu chicken bento today, with sliced lotus root (renkon) simmered in the same sauce. Also, roasted baby Brussels sprouts and purple potato slices. I filled in with an orange and a yellow pear tomato for color. Other section has a purple carrot skewer, white nectarine, strawberry, black grapes (underneath) and a carved jack o'lantangerine. Today's the first day I've thought about roasting stuff in a long time -- guess that means fall is just about here. I hope we cool off gradually though; today was a perfectly comfortable 76F. ^_^

Sakura Branch Bento

Sakura Branch Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

This bento includes some roasted chicken with Korean sauce (premade and stored in fridge), lotus root (renkon) in shoyu mirin sauce, steamed broccoli, a grape tomato and some raw star-cut baby carrots. The sakura blossoms are cut from steamed purple potato with sesame seed detail. For fruits he gets a giant strawberry, past-their-prime red grapes, and slices of blood orange.

So simple, right? But in the magic round bento box, it all looks like a bright spring day. More and more life is emerging in my humble backyard garden, and each new sprout and leaf bud makes me feel more excited each day. I have Blenheim apricot and nectarine trees in my yard, and I'm crossing fingers for buckets and buckets of fruit this year! I remember one year we couldn't give them away fast enough; we had so many.

I haven't started any seeds yet, but I have big plans for this growing season. Heirloom tomatoes! Basil! Cilantro and green onion! Mizuna! Shiso! Edamame? How about you?