Misobutterfish Bento

Misobutterfish Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Today I went back to the usual type of bento, in a single-layer bento box. The results of the thermal bento day were pretty good; the food stayed hot and the kids ate everything. I'm still going to do more testing before I write my review, since there are lots of aspects to consider. Stay tuned! Today I packed some misoyaki butterfish (recipe here) for each of the kids, along with a nice variety of vegetables (kabocha, broccoli, carrot, yellow cauliflower, romanesco and Okinawan sweet potato). We have strawberries now, and so I packed some of those along with blueberries, a mini mandarin for TinySprite and some blood oranges for MisterMan. I've learned -- and recommend to you -- not to give blood oranges to a toddler wearing school clothes, unless they happen to be in the precise same shade of dark red. You're welcome. To add a little kawaii to her bento, I made a bunny from two hard-boiled quail eggs. I rolled one into a long oval shape before slicing it in half to form the ears. The yolk just happened to be teardrop-shaped. So happy to see some color: out in the garden, in the markets, and in our bento! How about you?

Added to What's For Lunch. Go ahead and add yours!

Sticky Rice Bento

Sticky Rice Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

I made sticky rice today and it just begged to be used for bento. It's a nice way to put together a one-dish meal. I make mine in my trusty rice cooker, which happens to have a "sweet rice" setting; but you could probably use any old rice cooker. This batch contains Chinese sausage (lup cheong), shiitake mushrooms, and shredded baby bok choy. You could also add char siu or other vegetables if you like; I don't think it's necessary to stick to traditional ingredients. The rice itself is a mixture of one part regular Japanese white rice to two parts sweet (glutinous) rice. I found brown glutinous rice in my market and used some of it to replace the regular glutinous rice, but I think the brown takes longer to cook. Or I could have possibly soaked it longer. Anyway, I ran through another cycle and it was okay. I also replaced the water with chicken broth, which imparts a nice aromatic flavor. I put the sticky rice in a thermal frog bento, and sent along another box with steamed broccoli, romanesco and yellow cauliflower, plus carrots and blood oranges. And a frog fork to complete the set. I have two new thermal food sets to test and review, so stay tuned for that. Hope you all enjoyed your Chinese New Year!

Sticky Rice Method
2 cups glutinous (sweet) rice
1 cup medium grain (Japanese) white rice
3 cups chicken broth
Start rice cooker. About halfway through the cooking cycle, add ingredients of your choice, such as sliced lup cheong, shiitake, char siu. I used baby bok choy, which I added even later, to avoid too much wilting. You can also use green onion. Stir and serve! Delish!

*Note added 4/2/11: If you're in the market for a thermal bento jar like this one, there's a blue version up for auction right now on Bento4Japan! Just click here to see it!

Chicken Wings Bento

Chicken Wings Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Today's bento contains a bunch of chicken wings we grilled the night before. I asked my 7-year-old if he could eat 6 of them and he said "yup!" I also pan-fried some lightly steamed red kabocha in butter and garlic, and snugged some steamed colorful veggies in the spaces (yellow cauliflower, broccoli and romanesco) There's also a purple carrot skewer, a grape tomato, some chopped blood oranges and a blackberry. All packed up in our LunchBots Duo. Bento: accomplished!

Butteryaki Salmon Bento

Butteryaki Salmon Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

I'm pretty happy with this omega-3-packed bento for MisterMan: it includes butteryaki salmon, mini red kabocha and little Okinawan purple potatoes lightly steamed and then fried in the same pan.

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To make my butteryaki salmon:

Heat oiled pan, sear salmon on both sides. 
Add a T butter and melt, turn off heat, drizzle shoyu over salmon and into hot pan briefly. 
Remove salmon and serve. 
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Yummy! There's also mixed rice (black, white, black quinoa, cracked wheat and bulgur) onigiri with cherry tomato, steamed broccoli, romanesco and yellow cauliflower, and tiny purple carrot flower shapes. Fruit section has alternating blood and cara cara orange wedges, along with two cherries in the last corner. I'm so happy to have more colors and fresh produce for bento now that spring is coming / here. Do you feel the same way?

In case you were wondering what my mini red kabocha squashes look like, here's a photo. There's a Cutie next to it for scale. Isn't it cute? ^_^

Panda Blueberry Egg Bento and Thai Chicken Bento

Panda Blueberry Egg Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

TinySprite has a finger foods bento again today. She still has that long-lingering cough, which I am hoping will clear up in a few days. Her appetite has been unpredictable lately. Some days she'll eat everything and ask for seconds, and other days it'll take her forever to finish. This afternoon she had eaten her entire lunch and even came home and scarfed up the leftover veggies from my lunch. Today I gave her a bento she can eat with her fingers (her preferred method): hard-boiled egg decorated as a panda with blueberries and nori, sauteed asparagus and kabocha, turkey skewer, steamed romanesco and yellow cauliflower, carrot sticks and blood oranges.

MisterMan has a more standard bento, including many of the same items, along with Thai chicken (not homemade), cherry tomatoes and a cup of yogurt with fresh blueberries and chopped blood oranges, dusted with toasted wheat germ. The cup (included with the EcoLunchBox) comes with a leakproof lid, making it perfect for sauces, gravies and.. yogurt.

Kalua Pig Bento

Kalua Pig Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Today's snack bento is made extra delicious with homemade kalua pig from Charlotte, who sent us home with leftovers from their potluck last weekend! Thanks so much Pat and Charlotte! The kids (and everyone) loved the kalua pig. Its salty goodness goes really well with rice and a bunny-shaped hard-boiled egg. I should have dyed the egg for better contrast, but of course I never learn my lesson about the washed-out egg effect. I must be doing something wrong with the white balance, or I should be fixing it in Photoshop somehow. Hmm. Anyway, the rest of the bento contains carrots, romanesco, tomato and grapes. The sweet cherries get a teeny little box all to themselves. Even though I only filled a silicone cup with pork, I bet TinySprite will be asking for more. It's so yummy! I have an exciting post coming up soon, so stay tuned....

Rilakkuma and Kiiroitori Field Trip Bento

Rilakkuma and Kiiroitori Field Trip Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Can you guess what day it is? That's right: field trip! They're going to visit a working farm with tractors and everything. I packed another recycled strawberry tub for him, with the standard field trip fare -- sandwich, veggies and fruits.

But this burger is even more awesome than yesterday's. I used the same burger mix and stuffed today's burger with cheese and salami, then pan-fried. The cheese oozed out the side and got all crispy and golden around the edge of the burger, and the parts of the salami that stuck out got crispy-fried too. Yum. And remember, he still gets the carrot and broccoli bits in the turkey burger too. Super score. I lay some dandelion greens in the whole wheat bun and placed the patty on top. I found these little buns and thought they would make a cute Rilakkuma. I used Susan's idea for raisin eyes and nose (but I later pb'd them on), and added a radish muzzle and nori mouth. His ears are salami rounds. And Kiiroitori is there too, to make sure he doesn't fall asleep. I dyed a hard-boiled quail egg with golden beet juice, and it turned a super dark shade of yellow. I love it, especially since it's totally natural! Facial details and feet are nori and carrot. I used grass baran to keep the fruit and veggies separate from the bread. Along with carrot sticks and romanesco, I tossed in a bunch of strawberry cherries, a half plum and a homegrown apricot.

Have fun MisterMan!

Smoked Salmon Rollups Bento

Smoked Salmon Rollups Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

I'm on a "roll"! Get it? No sushi or kimbap today, but whole wheat bread rollups. These eight mini rollups resulted from two slices of bread, flattened with a glass jar (or rolling pin, but mine wasn't handy), then smeared with cream cheese, layered with arugula, capers, and smoked salmon, then rolled up tightly and sliced. Like sushi, hehe! I even gave him a pair of chopsticks to eat them with, for fun. To fill in the gaps I stuck steamed yellow cauliflower and romanesco. Also broccoli, strawberry cherries and yes, homegrown apricot. Another fresh summery bento, to go!

Added at What's For Lunch Wednesday!

Panda Somen Salad Bento

Panda Somen Salad Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Okay, starting to cook a little for bento now. Does boiling somen noodles count? It's been so hot here that somen salad is really the best thing to cool down with. I topped this one with shredded carrot, ocean salad, green onion and furikake. You could also add lettuce, egg, ham, krab, kamaboko, or whatever you like. I put some tsuyu in the round blue container for him to pour on the somen just before he eats it. To the side I put the standard three: steamed broccoli, yellow cauliflower and romanesco. In the bottom tier of this cool skinny bento I put all the fruits: cherries, white nectarines and -- yes -- lychee!! It's not summer if I don't make my traditional lychee/blueberry panda. So here he is. I also added some other panda pals too, so they can have a panda party in the skinny bento! Not sure how I feel about this shape yet. I've seen others use it so elegantly, but I feel like I have to handle it carefully or it'll flip out of my hands and fall straight on the floor. It is unique though, isn't it?

Hamtaro Char Siu Bao Bento

Hamtaro Char Siu Bao Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Another no-cook bento today! This one is that kid favorite: the char siu bao. I have used a similar bread to make a Pirate Monkey, and a raccoon Kireizukin Seikatsu, and this time I made Hamtaro. I slipped a knife between the baked brown layer and the fluffy bread layer to make his white face, and I used the extra brown part to make his ears. For his eyes I halved a black grape, and poked a little circle of bread and another little piece of nori on top, securing it all with a rice stick. The rice sticks were also useful for whiskers. His nose and tongue are ham and I cut his mouth from nori as well. The other side of the bento is separated from the bread side in this unique box by Sistema. I filled the two sections with all kinds of fruit and veggies: cherries, strawberry, blueberries, white peach, black grapes, carrots, broccoli, yellow cauliflower and romanesco. Whew! There's a lid that secures the bread section, and then the whole thing closes together with the pink latch on the right side. I was even able to fit the tiny fork in there too!

I added my lunch to Shannon's What's For Lunch link here: you can too!

Penguin Bento Part Two

Penguin Bento 2, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

I saw the penguin theme has been taken up by hapa bento and The Blogging Mum; take a look to see some very cute penguins in bento there!

Well, TinySprite liked her penguin so much she wanted to see more, so I decided to make some for her brother. I had black (Forbidden) rice, so I thought I would make some penguin musubi. I made two small rice balls and cut faces out of egg white omelet. I used a small sharp knife and cut semi-heart shapes but the egg was very fragile so it's not very exact. I used nori for the eyes and carrot for the beaks. There's a boy and a girl. Can you tell? Well, okay; they're not very penguin-y. We'll see what MisterMan says.

In the back there's Korean barbeque chicken, which I roasted in the oven and sprinkled sesame seeds over, in a lettuce cup. I also stuck some romanesco and baby carrots in the spaces. Fruit side has the last of the strawberries, a mini mandarin and some kumquats underneath.

Sunshine Thai Curry Bento

Sunshine Thai Curry Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Hapabento started a sunshiny trend that I think we should continue, especially since we have been "blessed" with very dark wintry days recently.
So here's my sunshine bento: Leftover Thai chicken and vegetable curry including zucchini and eggplant, rice topped with yellow pepper sun, 2 color carrot skewer (orange and maroon), romanesco and grape tomatoes. Fruit box contains sliced strawberry and blood orange wedges.

Who's next with the sunshine? Please pass it along! :)

Quinoa Salad Froggie Bento

I made quinoa salad for this bento. There are several different varieties of quinoa, which you may know about. I took a picture of the four that I happen to have in my pantry right now: clockwise from top left. Black, regular, red (Peruvian) and tricolor (which is just obviously the previous 3 kinds, already mixed together).

This time I used tricolor quinoa. It's so easy: just saute the veggies first (I used yellow capsicum, onion, garlic, carrots, zucchini), then add the quinoa and broth in a 1:2 ratio. It cooks in 15 minutes. After taking off heat, stir in diced celery, spring onion and almonds for crunch. Use your favorite flavorings: I used garlic powder and cumin this time and it was pretty good. This meal is healthy and tastes good at any temperature; even as a cold salad, making it perfect for bento. Quinoa is also a "perfect" protein, as it contains essential amino acids and yet is a (plant) grain. Plus, it's quick and easy to prepare. It's also good mixed in with oatmeal or other hot cooked cereal for breakfast.

In addition, he gets carrots, grape tomatoes, romanesco, and a cucumber frog. For fruit he has cherries, kiwi flowers and sliced kumquats. Ribbit!

Crab Friends Bento

Crab Friends Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

For MisterMan today I made ma po tofu, but with a number of changes from the traditional recipe.

I used ground turkey, and I added chopped baby bok choy because I think it adds better color and nutrition. In addition, I had to omit most of the chili sauce due to the low tolerance level of the kids. However, I did add some! This is a big step, considering they used to cry whenever they tasted a chili pepper in months past. And finally, I don't make mine with lots of goopy sauce; it's actually kind of dry. We prefer it like this :)
All I do for my ma po is brown the meat, add some black bean sauce and chili garlic sauce, and cook a bit. Then add chopped fermented mustard greens, fresh chopped bok choy and stir to wilt. Then add in the cubed tofu. I used firm tofu just because the kids like it like that. I add some water for a little sauce, and thicken with cornstarch. You see, it's not like genuine ma po tofu, but it's close enough that I'm gonna call it that!

I gave him rice, so I could make two carrot crabs to display. I just got some new cutter toys, and wanted to try them out! They really make cute details a lot easier!

Finally, I made crinkle cut cucumber baran, a peapod flower, some romanesco and a cherry tomato. I put the fruits in a separate container so they wouldn't get sauce on them. He has a cute tiny mini mandarin, sliced kiwi and some cherries.

Oh, I forgot to mention that this is a new bento box from Marukai in Hawaii! It's stainless steel, with a tight-fitting plastic lid. I have these in lots of shapes and sizes, but this is the first time I've seen it in a flat square shape. It's shallow, so I can't fit large things in here, but it means that you can see everything pretty clearly in the shot. It's kind of cool :)

Garlic Shrimp Bento

Garlic Shrimp Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

MisterMan has garlic shrimp, a superfast dish cooked in minutes on the stovetop in olive oil, garlic and lemon juice. Next to the shrimp he has romanesco, which I was so excited to find locally :) At the same market I also found arugula sprouts, and the two hearts are cut from yellow beets. Purple cauliflower, tomato/artichoke salad, peapods and purple/maroon carrot skewer. Fruit section includes strawberry, golden raspberries, dapple dandy plum grapes and blueberries.

This is one of my favorite bento boxes, because of its classic round shape, 3 divided sections, and transparent lid! All important aspects of a cool box to me. The topper would be if it had all those characteristics AND were made of stainless steel... but I am still on the lookout for such a thing. :)

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 :)