Gold Rush Retreat Bento

Gold Rush Retreat Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

I made a special field trip bento today, because MisterMan is going on a retreat to Gold Rush Country! It's probably cold, rainy and there may even be snow on the ground, but he is super excited to try his hand at panning for gold and all that old forty-niner lore. He LOVES history, and he'll be getting first-hand experience of California's heritage. I packed some appropriate food for him to eat on the way up there: shovel-, pick- and gold nugget-shaped pizza rolls (or calzones) to aid in his gold-mining efforts. There's also: grape tomatoes, steamed Moloka'i Okinawan sweet potatoes, a hard-boiled egg, carrots, strawberries, a cup of his favorite pickled cucumbers and onions, and some dried apricots. I also gave him a bag of kettle corn to munch on. The boy's going to need all the nourishment he can get! Go west, young man -- there's gold in them thar hills!

As for TinySprite, she'll be taking a cute doggie calzone to school with her...

Skull Onigiri Chili EcoLunchbox Bento

Skull Onigiri Chili Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Are you getting into the Halloween spirit yet? I'm starting to... slowly! I figured it's time to start getting spooky so today I made a skull onigiri to go with the vegetarian chili (chock full of zucchini, corn, tomatoes, onion, carrots, and kabocha). I lay the chili on a lettuce leaf and put the skull on top. I made it kind of chunky so that there wouldn't be too much sauce to drip all over everything. I usually pack chili in a thermal jar, but I really wanted to use this cool new stainless steel Solo Rectangle box I got from EcoLunchbox. It's on the bigger side, simple and sturdy. I used a silicone cup, and these fit perfectly. They would be ideal for separating foods you want to keep apart. Besides the chili, I put in some cucumbers, a sprig of broccoli, and a mini red pepper. I put some homemade pickled cabbage, lotus root and cucumber in the cup. The lid to this box fits snugly, though not watertight, and I added an elastic band for extra insurance. Because I wanted to keep the fruit separate in case the chili moved around, I used an EcoDipper, a round lidded stainless steel half cup size container. Again, the lid fits snugly but I wouldn't use it to pack anything watery. It's perfect for a handful of fruit, though. This combo worked out very well for MisterMan. He swung his bag around, but since the silicone cup reaches the top of the box, the pickled foods stayed segregated. Although these boxes aren't leakproof, they are easy to use and should not pose a problem for your child to open and close. Having been a longtime user of Ecolunchbox products, when the company asked me to try out these newer products I didn't hesitate. I'm happy to share my experience with you, so you can feel confident before you decide to give these items a try. I've been packing bento for both a girl and a boy for almost a decade (wow!), and I have a good idea about what works and what doesn't. I have more to share tomorrow, along with a giveaway! I hope you stop by!

Ecolunchbox provided the items I used to pack this bento today, but I received no other compensation, and the opinions I expressed are mine.

Summer Rolls Bento, part 3.

Summer Rolls Bento, part 3., a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

We just came off a long 3-day weekend due to a teachers work day, and it's a little tough to get back into bentomaking and blogging again. And did I mention the whole weekend was the most gorgeous, summery, sparkling weekend we've had all year?! That's right; we hit our year's high temperature yesterday. The bay area is notorious for cool summers and late warming, so this is pretty typical. While everyone else is planning pumpkin soups and pot roasts, we're thinking refreshing salads and ice teas. So here's today's no-cook bento: the ever-popular summer rolls in rice paper wraps, filled with lettuce, pickled carrots and cucumbers, deli nitrate-free ham and salami. Yeah, I know it sounds weird. But the kiddos cannot get enough. Plus, the rice wraps stay closed so well (compared to tortillas) that they're hard to beat mess-free fun finger foods. How can you argue with that? Two little Okinawan sweet potato lovebirds perch upon a broccoli branch above a radish heart. Awwwwww. Summery peaches and berries complete the meal. I wonder if they'll go for summer rolls all week?

Added to What's For Lunch. 

Pickled Sticky Rice LunchBot Bento

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

I made one of my favorite one-pot meals for today: sticky rice! See my method here. Since TinySprite is allergic to soy, I omitted the lup cheong (Chinese sausage) and replaced the meat with regular ham. I've also used Canadian bacon before (in this bento) and it went over just fine. This batch got shiitake mushrooms and a new kind of green: broccoli stalks. I thought it would give a little bite to the rice. And another new kind of green as well: pickled mustard greens. I know it sounds crazy, but my kids love pickled vegetables. Even mustard greens. Weird, right? It has a very strong flavor and totally changed the way I usually think of this dish, but in a good way. They liked it! Go figure. I put my girl's portion in the LunchBot Trio alongside: fresh pear slices, blueberries, strawberries, Okinawan sweet potatoes and carrots.