Hello Kitty Egg Bento

Just a little one for the TinySprite. Shoyu chicken furikake, hapa rice, hard boiled egg, tomatoes, carrot, corn, honeydew melon and grapes. Happy Wednesday!

Shoyu Chicken LunchBots Bento

Uh huh, yup yup, it's shoyu chicken again. With all the standard sides again (I made Moroccan chickpeas but I forgot to put it in! Oh well. It didn't really go with the Japanese theme anyway. Next time!) like broccoli and tomatoes. Instead of a lettuce leaf, you can pack yours over rice, which is how I like to eat it. The smaller LunchBots Clicks holds strawberries, watermelon chunks, and carrots. These two boxes are very cool! I love them because they are completely leakproof, with tight-sealing snap lock lids. They are a nice options to plastic containers and one of the few stainless steel box sets I have that are leakproof. Plus, the two together hold just the right amount for my third-grader. Perfect!

Shoyu Chicken ECOlunchbox Bento

One of the standards that makes a frequent appearance on this blog: shoyu chicken with broccoli and potatoes. I used the very sturdy and substantial ECOlunchboxes Three-in-One set, which gives me two tiers to pack a lot of food for my 7th grader. Besides the lower tier that I just mentioned, he gets a container of yogurt with wheat germ and blueberries, plus some plum, donut peach, and grapes. This whole set latches together on two sides very securely and has never come apart in our experience. Hope your week is getting off to a great start!

Shoyu Chicken LunchBots Cinco Bento

Second time using the big-size Lunchbots Cinco, and like the first time, I packed chicken once again! This time it's shoyu chicken, with broccoli and potatoes on top of a few lettuce leaves. Pasta goes in the side (again!) with mushrooms and parmesan. Are you sensing a theme here? On top: chopped sweet red pepper, mandarin, and carrots. I like using this box, but for some reason I get nervous that I won't have enough to fill it. Maybe the third time we'll see something really exciting! Let's hope! ^__^

Shoyu Chicken Bento

If it seems like deja vu, it probably is because I've made this bento many, many times. It's a kid favorite and a guaranteed hit in our house so that's why it's on constant rotation. It was my favorite as a kid, so I can understand it! I made shoyu chicken and crispy potatoes for TinySprite, in a lettuce cup. I didn't cut the chicken this time; let's see what she says. There's also a broccoli tree, blood orange wheels, a couple of grape tomatoes, and some fresh cut pineapple. All packed up in our Sistema Bakery container. So perfect for this girl of mine. Happy Wednesday!

Shoyu Chicken Round Bento

Remember this round bento? It was dubbed by some readers as the Magic Round Bento because it was this box that made me realize that the round shape makes everything look good with minimal effort. Try it; you'll see for yourself. With no beginning or end, no edges or corners, the meal looks perfectly balanced and artistic. Automatically.

Today I packed some shoyu chicken for TinySprite in a lettuce leaf, sliced for her ease, steamed broccoli and corn, carrots, blood orange segments and a couple tiny grape tomatoes. Nothing special or cute, except maybe a little flower cut from cheddar cheese smiling up at her through the translucent lid. You can't see, but there's a substantial crack in the lid now, which mars the view a little, but no matter. I'll use this magic round bento box until it falls apart. 

Shoyu Chicken Magic Round Bento

Shoyu Chicken Magic Round Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

You know how you had a favorite dinner when you were a kid? Mine was shoyu chicken. If my mom ever asked what I wanted for dinner, that's what I requested. To this day I still think of shoyu chicken and rice as my ultimate comfort food. My kids like it too, but I omit the rice since they're not big fans of plain rice. They are happy to have steamed broccoli with this meal, to dunk in the shoyu sauce. To the Magic Round Bento I've also added corn off the cob, carrot, strawberry and cubed (unsweet) honeydew melon. This box is so called because all food looks good in a round arrangement. Try it yourself and see!

Shoyu Chicken Furikake Rice Sistema Bento

Shoyu Chicken Furikake Rice Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

The dual compartment leakproof Sistema click box makes this ordinary bento stand out: with TinySprite's favorite shoyu chicken and furikake rice (with broccoli and tomatoes) on one side, and pickled cukes + red onions, strawberry and grapes on the other. Don't let the compact nature of this box fool you; it actually holds 630ml. If I were in the habit of taking bento with me, I think I would love to tote this one around. In addition to providing a bit of separation, it also allows visual appreciation through the translucent top and sides. Cute, right? If they ever come out with a 3- or 4-compartment box, you know I'll be all over it too. ^__^

Soy Chicken Drumsticks Bento

Soy Chicken Drumsticks Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Shoyu chicken was my absolute favorite dish as a child. I always requested it if my mom ever asked. This version is one I've posted before, and it's a Vietnamese style using fish sauce and coconut water. It has a different, less sweet flavor that I really crave, and when you make it in the slow-cooker you can enjoy the aroma for hours while you dash in and out of the house between kid chauffeuring duties. We are now cutting out soy due to allergies, so I had to adapt the recipe further (substituting with coconut aminos), but as MisterMan says, "It still tastes almost the same, like you know what it's supposed to be." Well, good! I guess. Kids (my kids, anyway) really like shoyu chicken, and I served this one over rice in the bento (out of view), and all the rice got devoured. Something about chicken & rice. The rest of the round box contains: Okinawan sweet potato flower shapes, steamed broccoli, carrots, pluots and golden watermelon. I didn't mean to buy a golden one, but it wasn't labeled as such. There's something weird about a yellow watermelon, though it tasted just like the red kind. I topped with a radish cut like an apple, with sesame seed detail. Simple!

Shoyu Chicken Froggie Bento

Shoyu Chicken and Rice Frog Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

TinySprite's bento today contains my old childhood favorite: shoyu chicken and rice. I used the Secrets of the Red Lantern recipe again, with a whole bunch of drumsticks.

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Soy Chicken Drumsticks Recipe (adapted from Secrets of the Red Lantern, By Pauline Nguyen, Luke Nguyen, Mark Jensen)


4 and a half pounds chicken drumsticks
3 Tbl fish sauce
3 Tbl shoyu (I used gluten-free tamari)
1/2 cup shaoxing Chinese cooking wine (I omitted)
1 cup coconut juice
1 Tbl sesame oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 Tbl cracked black pepper
1 onion, diced
8 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbl ginger, sliced
2 cups chicken stock
2 scallions, sliced, for garnish
cilantro, for garnish


Marinate drumsticks for 4 hours with the rest of the ingredients, except the chicken stock, and use only 1 Tbl each of the onion and garlic.
Remove from marinade, pat dry, then wok fry on all sides until golden brown. Place into crockpot.
Fry the remaining onion and garlic until golden. Add to crockpot with reserved marinade and chicken stock.
Cook on high for 3 hours, or until meat is cooked and tender.
Remove lid, turn to low for an additional hour or so, to reduce sauce. Mine didn't reduce much.
Once cooked, the chicken should fall off the bone.
Transfer chicken to serving platter, boil the sauce to reduce further, then pour over. Garnish with scallions and cilantro.


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I like making this in the slow-cooker, and especially on busy afternoons, because then I can run in and out of the house while the meat gets more and more tender all by itself. To make things easier for my preschooler, I pulled the meat off the bones (really, it fell off) before I packed it into this two-tier froggie bento, layering it atop a white/black rice mix alongside steamed broccoli. It's even better the next day, after you skim the fat off the top. I added a radishroom for a pop of color, and the top tier holds chunks of cara cara oranges, blackberries, carrots, and a perfect little baby white peach. So good!

Happy Little Bento has been getting a bit of press lately, which is pretty exciting! A few months ago, I got an email from an educator who wanted to use my bento pictures for a passage she was writing for a 5th grade reading workbook by ECS Learning Systems. I can't show you the passage, but it's been published and I suppose some 5th graders are now learning about "Lunch Art". Last week, a high school classmate of mine talked about bento as an art medium, using my creations as an example, for her advertising/marketing company website. Then today I saw my radish star tutorial get a plug at Dotcoms for Moms, along with other cute ways to make mealtime fun for kids; and also today another plug over at MentalFloss, in a piece on What Kids Eat around the world. More exposure means meeting lots more people, and I often get emails from parents who tell me they look here and realize: "hey, I can do that!" I just got a couple today, and that always makes my day ^_^

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?

Shoyu Chicken Round Bento

Shoyu Chicken Round Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Okay, time to start cooking again. Today I packed MisterMan some shoyu chicken, along with roasted halved Brussels sprouts and kabocha pieces (I tossed those veggies in the shoyu sauce too). I'm pretty pleased with how I managed to get all the cut segments of exactly one half of a cara cara orange to fit perfectly into one section, and topped them with halved grapes to echo the spots on the radish "shroom" in the center. There was also just enough room to squeeze in a luscious red strawberry to round out this bento. This round box makes bento-packing almost effortless, which is why I love it so much. Everything is so ordinary and quick to prepare, but it still manages to look bright and appealing with minimal arrangement. I think my boy will like this one!
Added to What's For Lunch!

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. ^_^

Shoyu Chicken Bento

Shoyu Chicken Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Does your family have a favorite "go-to" dinner menu? Over here, one of them is definitely shoyu chicken. As soon as my boy smells the telltale sauce he says "Yum! It's the sweet chicken!" I used chicken thigh pieces and also added baby potatoes during the 30 minute simmer. After it was cooked I sliced the chicken into more manageable pieces for him to eat in his bento. A quick time-saving tip: you can steam the broccoli and peapods in the same pot by placing them atop the chicken pieces towards the end of cooking. For this bento, I put the chicken, potatoes, broccoli and peapods on top of a green lettuce leaf. I added a cherry tomato which I cut open and stuffed with rice for fun, and decorated with a few maroon carrots cut into flower shapes.

The other side has a cup of red leaf lettuce salad with cara cara oranges and sunflower seeds, and a cup of cottage cheese with chopped strawberry and wheat germ. I made extra chicken to perhaps give him a followup repeat bento, thinking he'd request it, but when he came home today he informed me that today's bento (smoked salmon bagel thins) was "the best bento EVER!" Huh? Okay, so I guess I don't even have to cook to make the best bento ever ^_^ !

Hearts, Flowers & Tiger Bento

Hearts, Flowers & Tiger Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

I decided to make a double celebration bento: Chinese New Year and Valentines Day, so here's my effort.

Along with shoyu chicken in lettuce, this bento has roasted broccoli and sweet tricolor peppers. For detail interest I cut some sweet potato and pink carrot flowers. The fruit section contains the mini mandarin tiger decorated with pieces of red grape for Chinese New Year, and strawberry hearts. More red grapes underneath. The facial details took the LONGest! But it turns out that grape skin is pretty good for this purpose. You just have to cut it away from the flesh so that it lays flat enough to stay on the surface. I was happy to keep it all in the fruit family for the decoration, for taste's sake :)

This festive paper and heart doily are a gift from a bento friend, and I found this sweet dessert mini fork just for this occasion. It's kinda frilly and flowery, but my 6 year old boy won't mind! He still loves the lovey-doveyness of Valentines Day :D