Tiger Bento

Tiger Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

For MisterMan, Rock Cod Bento #2 -- this time steamed in ginger scallion sauce with shoyu and sesame oil. I gave him a brown / black rice onigiri with a sweet potato tiger on top, roasted asparagus, Okinawan purple potato flower, roasted cherry tomatoes, yellow capsicum rings, and a bit of broccoli. Almost all red fruits today: strawberry, raspberries, red grapes (underneath), red plum, and 2 beautiful snow-white lychee!

Rock Cod Bento

Rock Cod Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

My first-grader gets: rock cod pan-fried in olive oil, butter, garlic and herbs for just a few minutes. The fish was fresh-caught by a friend (thanks George!). A tiny brown & black rice flower onigiri with sweet potato cherry blossom topper, steamed broccoli and peapods, garden-grown yellow pear tomato, and skewer of Okinawan purple potato and avocado flowers. On the fruits side, big strawberry, lychee, blueberries, orange tomatoes, flavor grenade plum, grape, and mango plum slices (all yellow, all the way through!)

I am really gonna miss all these amazing summer fruits when the season comes to an end!

Star Wars Bento #1

Star Wars Bento #1, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Because MisterMan is such an *avid* Star Wars fan, I had to indulge his greatest fantasy to have an actual Star Wars bento :)

Ma po tofu (minus the chili sauce), cucumber dividers, red Bhutan rice onigiri "Death Star" after destruction, TIE fighters cut from radishes (one of them was still red inside after peeling -- this is the "bloody" one -- o_o. Tofu Stormtrooper. Fruits section has black plum from friendly neighbor, strawberry, apricot, blueberries and lychee. Last section has peapods, sweet potato and Okinawan purple potato flowers.

I sort of wonder if he will even eat the fighters, or keep them to play with ;) This is #1; I know he really wants to see his favorite characters but I really have to work up to that...

Winged Dragon Bento

Winged dragon bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Another sandwich bento for MisterMan ~ this time a salmon salad melt on whole wheat sandwich thins. I mixed in lite mayo, diced onion and celery (for crunch), pepper and garlic powder. I would have loved to put hot sauce, but alas, not for my boy. I melted the cheddar, and added fresh spring greens. Carrot sticks, orange sunsugar cherry tomatoes with mozzarella perlini and fresh basil snipped from the garden complete the veggie sides. Oh, and the kosher dill "dragon" with blueberry eyes :) He has Dinosaur Egg plum wings (with veins, even!), and strawberry "scales" with more blueberries, and black organic grapes too.

Have a fanciful day :)

Hokusai Rice

I guess this will be a zen batch.

3 pals pasta bento

3 pals pasta bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Pasta "ears" orecchiette with tomato basil sauce and steamed yin choy, with broccoflower and peapods stuck in there too. Yin choy look similar to chard or kale, and the reddish-green leaves turn quite red after cooking. Like beets! A side salad with sliced red zebra tomato, homegrown yellow pear tomatoes and Okinawan purple potato flowers. Fruit section includes honeydew wedges, lychee, black and red grapes, and raspberry.

pool bento! ...or... goodbye summer :(

pool bento! ...or... goodbye summer :(, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

I took the kids to the pool, thinking we would swim for an hour or so. Well, I couldn't get them out of the water and by the time they finally climbed out onto dry land, it was 3 hours later and we were famished! So, this time I am packing a LOT of food for us in case we hang out all day again!

Here, my 3 tier tiffin comes in very handy! I have packed: peanut butter and blueberry jam on sandwich wheat thins, fresh blanched peapods, apricots and 2 kinds of grapes, bunch of strawberries, Asian pear, plum, carrots, yellow pear garden tomatoes, tangerine, nectarine, banana, mozzarella sticks, and cereal bars. The three tiers stack into a tight-locking frame with attached handle -- it's so cute and fun to carry. Of course, not everything you see here fits, but some of it they will eat at the playgroup they will go to first (while I swim my own laps).

Purple Bunny with Carrots Bento

Purple Bunny with Carrots Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

For TinySprite: Okinawan purple potato bunny with double carrots on an almond butter sandwich... with fruits: lychee with grapes underneath, blueberries, blackberry, raspberries and cherry. Quail egg flowers, cut with zigzag knife.

Garlic lemon salmon bento

Garlic lemon salmon bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

I try to make a point of having fish (salmon is best) at least once a week, since it's so delicious and it's packed with omega-3s too. So this is why you see salmon bento so many times here! Luckily, the family likes it a lot and I haven't had any complaints yet ;)

So this one has a garlic lemon sauce, on a bed of greens, with an orange tomato/mozzarella perlini (after seeing them in hapa's bento, I had to get them --they are so cute and mini) skewer, more cherry tomatoes, Okinawan purple potato gingko leaves ~ can you see the shape? It is so pretty...I should have used a ligher background. Other side has peapods, yellow pear tomato, pluot, white nectarine, blackberries, strawberry and lovely lychee.

I like how this one turned out; balanced and nicely visually pleasing.

Pizza bento

Pizza bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

This is sherimiya brand pizza ~ healthy and fresh! Making pizza is yet another good way to use up all the stuff in the veggie drawer ~ you can put whatever you like; doesn't matter! Look what I put: semi-dried tomatoes, fresh yellow tomatoes, mushrooms, broccoli (steamed and coarsely chopped), thin sliced eggplant, cheese... I forgot the onion and olives, but those are good toppings too. Anyway, they gobbled it up, just as I thought ;) The lavash bread is quite thin and bakes crispy, which we like.
Since there were so many veggies in the pizza, I just made a small side of peapods, tricolor tomatoes, and more pickled bittermelon with raw carrot thrown in. Fruit section has quite ripe peach, YUMMY lychees, strawberry, cherries, grapes, rasp- and blackberry.
MisterMan goes to a park with lake today, for more "camping" adventures. I wonder what he will discover...

Banh Mi bento

Banh Mi bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Let it be noted that this is my favorite sandwich bento basket. I love it a lot, and wish I could send more sandwiches to school with my boy just so I can use it :)
MisterMan gets barbeque pork Vietnamese sandwich (Banh Mi), and I added bean sprouts and extra cilantro (and removed the jalapenos). Sometimes I will add lettuce, but this time I just added a side salad in the tiny stainless box with tricolor tomatoes and pickled bittermelon. The pickling juice acts as a perfect salad dressing, too.
He will flip when he sees the fruit section! I don't think I've ever given him quite so much variety: blueberries, peaches, peapods (ok, not a fruit but I needed the vibrant green color), raspberries, blackberry, Italian plum, cherry and lychee. (doesn't the lychee look luscious?? .mmm, I am soo in love with them..)

MisterMan goes "beachcombing" for shells to make into artwork, halfway through Camping Week at Summer Adventures...

Chickie bento

Chickie bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

This one is for TinySprite: Under the colby jack cheese chick is a little chick sandwich with almond butter. Propping them up are blueberries, and an edamame skewer. A bunch of Bing cherries, and cottage cheese with peach, strawberry and wheat germ.

All my peaches are ripe right NOW, which is what I get for buying so many at the Farmer's Market last weekend. So, you will see lots of peaches in these bento (as the family is seeing at our meals at home too ;) S'okay ~ peaches rock.