Furikake Fish Bento

Furikake Fish Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

I wanted to use salmon, but there wasn't any at the market so I used wild snapper instead. This fish doesn't stay together as well, so you have to be more careful if you pan-fry it. I used butter, flipped once, then sprinkled with furikake after it was nicely browned. In the same pan I tossed the pencil asparagus, which cooks up pretty quickly. There are two colors of steamed sweet potatoes cut into flower shapes, and a fruit section of strawberry, cherries and cara cara oranges rounds out this LunchBots Trio. She ate it all. If you think your child won't eat fish, try smothering it in furikake (I used a no-salt no-msg variety). Suddenly, it's delicious!

Balsamic Chicken Bento

Balsamic Chicken Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Balsamic chicken was adapted from Maki's recipe: I marinated chopped chicken thighs in equal volumes balsamic vinegar and shoyu. Instead of draining off, I just pan-fried the chicken for a few minutes until browned and let the associated marinade reduce during cooking. Sprinkle with sesame seeds after. The reduced sticky sauce is great with steamed broccoli and rice too. I made a batch of Thai purple and white jasmine rice (not the same as glutinous purple rice, or black rice, which I've used before and which turns a much darker black color). I mixed it with furikake to make an onigiri for my boy's bento. Topped with sweet potato / purple potato flowers, this bento now qualifies for Hapabento's May B.O.M.B contest! I also added steamed broccoli, raw yellow carrot spears and a radish. Fruit side contains strawberry, grapes and one of the last remaining Cara Cara oranges. I'm SO sad that they appear to be unavailable suddenly, and the last time I saw them they were $3 a pound! Oh well. I'll have to wait for the summer fruit production. Our tree is now full of apricots, which I hope will mature into bright orange fruit soon!

"Sushi" Rolls For Bento

To make these sushi sandwich rolls (idea originally seen in Lunch Boxes and Snacks by Annabel Karmel), cut crusts off a slice of bread and roll flat with a rolling pin. Obviously, white bread is preferred, but all we had was whole wheat so it had to suffice.

Spread with salmon salad (or tuna salad).

Place shredded carrots and sliced cucumbers as shown.

Roll tightly and press ends together to seal.

Here's how it looks on end. Slice and place on end to enjoy! See these at work in MisterMan's bento. ^_^

Red & Orange Ravioli Bento

Red & Orange Ravioli Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

MisterMan gets vegetable & cheese ravioli, yellow and purple cauliflower, yellow and purple carrot skewers, peapods, sweet potato and satsumaimo flowers, radish, cherry tomatoes and ocean salad. All-red fruit side includes Elephant Heart plums, red grapes, strawberries and organic raspberries.
Hm, looking at it now, it's kind of flowery and "heart-y"... but I don't think he'll mind!
I'll be sure to make him a "boy" one next week for sure, eh?

Chili Pasta Bento

Chili Pasta Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Chicken chili over pasta, with superbright purple and gold cauliflower (from farmers market today), cucumber dividers, peapods, purple carrot discs, 3 tomato skewer, flowers made from satsumaimo (Japanese sweet potato), regular sweet potato and yellow carrot. Broccoflower underneath.
Fruit cup has Dapple Dandy plum (supersweet!! from farmers market today too), blackberries and golden raspberry.

I took this photo outside since it was such a cloudy, dark day (too dark in the house), and it looks so much brighter (and overexposed) than usual! Right as I was taking it, it started to pour, so I got lucky ....

Frogs in the Garden Bento

Frogs in the Garden Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Another garden bento for MisterMan inspired by the kids' backyard play: these 2 frogs have moved into the fold of my favorite lounge chair, so now we don't lounge -- we only peer at them and see how they are doing, sometimes spray them with mist to cool them down from the summer heat.

The two cucumber frogs are resting on some red wine vinegar chicken, with roasted asparagus and garlic enoki mushrooms. Also, peapods, sweet potato and Okinawan purple potato, purple carrot skewer, and rice underneath. Fruit side has lychee, pluot, strawberries, blackberries and champagne grapes.

Stay cool, little froggies :)