Piggy Calzone Bento

Piggy Calzone Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

I was so happy with the way my pizzas turned out, I decided to make calzones. I rolled the dough (use any pizza dough for this) out into circles, then placed chopped ham, pepperoni, grated cheese and baby arugula on half, and folded the circle in half, pinching to seal the edges together. For fun, I added two balls for ears (which I rolled in flaxmeal), and a little circle for a snout. I intended for it to result in a cute bear face, but the snout rose during baking and I think it looks more like a pig snout now. So a piggy it is. The calzone fits perfectly in one side of the Sistema box, while the other sectioned side contains: corn, broccoli, carrots, pluots, nectarines, grapes, strawberry and lychee. Oink!

Salmon and Potatoes Bento

Salmon and Potatoes Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

It's teriyaki salmon again, this time with roasted baby potatoes tossed in olive oil and garlic powder. I packed the rainbow in the LunchBot: white lychee, red dinsaur pluot, orange carrots, yellow carrot (with nori dog face), purple carrots, and purple Okinawan sweet potato (cut into bunny shapes which you can't ascertain). I'm still stretching out the summer fruit, since they are still available in my farmer's market. Think I can make it last through September?

Back To School Bento

Back To School Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Here's another First Day of School bento. Along with shoyu chicken, corn on the cob, carrots and steamed broccoli, I packed sliced Flavor Rosa pluots, lychees and blueberries inside the stainless steel divided LunchBots Trio. I made a little chalkboard from cheese and nori to commemorate the beginning of school. I freehand cut the numbers and letters with my microscissors. Do you see the little Anpanman? He (a gift from a thoughtful bento friend!) seems a bit apprehensive about all the learning. I remember how bittersweet it was to return to school in the fall. On one hand, it was hard to leave long lazy days of summer behind; but then again it's always fun to see friends again, right? How are your kids adjusting back to school?

Summer Sushi Bento

Summer Sushi Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Our summer sunshine came back today, which put us in the mood for some cool food. I hadn't made sushi for awhile, and I have the perfect bento box for it, so I decided to make a roll for MisterMan. His has krab, cucumber and omelet, plus furikake, inside. One roll fits just about exactly on each side of this cute 2-roll box, but I elected to pack the other side with broccoli, Rainier cherries, blackberries, a little strawberry, carrots, and the delicious Flavor Rosa pluots. This variety is my favorite pluot this season. The flesh (like the skin) is dark red - almost black - and it's extremely juicy and sweet. I've seen my favorite variety from last year (Dapple Dandy) but the batch I got wasn't quite sweet enough. Maybe they'll come through later in the season. I added some edamame in the little side section that's meant to contain either wasabi or ginger, and I packed it all up with a pair of chopsticks in the center slot. Cute, right? The lid (which I forgot to show) is even domed to accomodate the cylindrical sushi. I also have one half this size, which holds one roll and one pair of chopsticks. So handy ^_^

Quesadilla Corn Salsa Bento

Quesadilla and Corn Salsa Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

This was MisterMan's bento from last week. I didn't get a chance to post it then, but it turns out to be relevant for today's twittercornparty. How nice! I made some rolled corn tortilla "quesadillas" which I love to use this LunchBot for (since they fit so perfectly), and made some black bean, tomato, corn and cilantro salsa on the side. I tucked a couple of carrots in the lettuce cup as well. The delicious fruit section contains ultra-juicy cantaloupe, super-juicy pluots and fresh local cherries. Okinawan sweet potato "fish" add colorful decor to the bland tortillas. I attached the little fish to the tortilla with rice sticks through their eyes.

For our twittercornparty I made a variation on Fu Fu balls, which are a traditional West African (and Caribbean) staple made usually from steamed plantains or yams. I made mine using Japanese sweet potato (satsumaimo), cornmeal and fresh corn kernels off the cob. After steaming and mashing the imo, I added cornmeal mush until I got the consistency I liked. I stirred in the corn kernels, and added butter, salt, and parmesan to taste. I shaved some parmesan on top too. Voila!

Hey, I just realized this is a Meatless Monday bento. Maybe I'll try to make a habit of it? Happy Monday ^_^

Double Bears Bento

Char Siu Bear Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Yesterday in the Chinese deli both kids requested buns for their bentos. MisterMan asked for char siu bao and TinySprite wanted a hot dog bun. They both become bears with a little effort and some imagination. All I did for the bao bear is cut an oval for his muzzle and then cut that piece of brown bread (skin) in half for the two ears. The eyes and mouth are cut from nori and stuck on with honey. There's also some provolone cheese for the eyes.

The hot dog bear is made the same way, except he's snuggled up in a sleeping bag. Okay? My 4 year old seemed to buy it, but of course my 7 year old frowned, "It doesn't really look like a sleeping bag because there's no line to separate it." All right. I should have cut a sleeping bag slit. I'll try to remember that for next time. At least, he's got some butterflies that he's watching while asleep under the stars.

They have the usual sides: broccoli, carrot, tomato, corn on the cob, various berries, pluot and peach, and beautiful Okinawan purple sweet potato. This is the first kawaii bento I've made all month, since school let out. Oops! I thought I would have more time to make charaben in the summer but since the kids have been on break I've been preoccupied with other funstuffs :D Now that they're both back in organized summer programs I might start experimenting again. Or maybe I'll make a bento or two for myself for a change? ^_^

Wonton Tulips Panda Bento

Another TinySprite bento today: homemade pork scallion wontons (see my method here) scattered with Okinawan purple sweet potato tulips and peapod leaves on the bottom tier, with the most delicious summer hybrid fruit ever in the top: dark red pluots and deep orange apriums. They're both apricot-plum variants, but very different in appearance and flavor. I'm not a huge apricot fan, but these are fantastic. I'm looking forward to more as the summer goes on! Yippee! Happy panda bento! ^_^

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?

Ume Somen Salad Bento

Ume Somen Salad Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

It's still mighty hot here, but gradually getting cooler. Today's high was only 87F, so pretty nice actually. I had boiled some ume somen yesterday so it was nice and cold today for lunch. It's a pretty pink color and I've never had it before so I was interested to see how it tastes. Straight out of the package it smells sweet to me, kind of like strawberry. Maybe that's just psychological due to the color; I don't know. After cooking, it still had a sweet taste to me -- not salty or sour at all. Anyone else have this experience? Anyway, it does retain its nice pink color after cooking, so that's cool! I lay some inside a lettuce leaf, then added shiitake, julienned cucumbers and carrots, green onions, and sesame seeds. I added some ocean salad in the corner, and in the other corner I slipped in a strawberry bottle filled with somen tsuyu. I finished with a maple cut radish for red color. The top tier contains the rest of the bright color: dapple dandy pluot, red grapes, purple cauliflower and yellow carrot stars. I think I got all the rainbow colors in this one! I hope it serves its purpose and cools down my boy at school tomorrow.

Hello Kitty Quail Egg Bento

Another Hello Kitty Quail Egg Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

I haven't posted a TinySprite bento for awhile so here's one from last week. It's a post-nap snack bento, with various fruit: pluot, kiwi and superripe saturn peach; a cup of edamame, carrot sticks and a little furikake mahimahi. I boiled a quail egg and tried to use a metal star cutter to form a star, but you can see it didn't really work. So instead I stuck some radish ears, rice stick whiskers, nori eyes and a yellow carrot nose (and the very useful red bow pick) and turned it into baby Hello Kitty. She was so excited about this bento; I was glad I had the presence of mind to take some pics of her eating it. The last time I did was almost 6 months ago. She looks so much older now, doesn't she? But still sitting in the baby booster seat, haha! She still prefers to eat with her hands, even though I always provide a utensil. So, things usually end up getting kind of.. messy. Ah, well. ^_^

All Fruits Snack Bento

All Fruits Snack Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

I thought I'd make an all-fruit snack bento for TinySprite before the summer is completely over. When these beautifully colorful fruit finally go out of season, I'll miss them and the pretty effect they had in our bento. Strawberry, kiwi, grapes, cherries, plum, pluot and nectarine all appear in this bento, as well as a tiny purple carrot flower. Admit it; didn't you have at least one all-fruit meal sometime this summer? When it was so hot you just didn't feel like cooking and couldn't bear to eat anything heavy? Summers are made for fruit. And did you notice the ultra cute Moomin utensils? I got them as a gift from a sweet bento friend and I love them to pieces! Today was overcast and cloudy but this bright bento helped perk us up ^_^

If you haven't already, don't forget to enter the LunchBots giveaway here. Contest is open til next Wednesday!