Behind, behind, behind...

But- what's new with the holidays? Always trying to keep up. These lunches may not be in any particular order, but here they are- and I'll do my best to remember what was in them.

Leftover sweet potato gratin with miso and sesame seeds, a hard boiled egg, two cheese stuffed peppers, a chocolate filled marshmallow and a mango jelly.


Green tea soba noodles with a bottle of sauce, cheese, two cheese filled mini peppers, hard boiled quail eggs and a lotus root salad.


Yogurt with a bento on the side- sushi rice topped with a piece of smoked salmon, cherry tomatoes, cheese filled mini pepper, a hard egg and a chocolate filled marshmallow.


This one was a side to go with some nachos, so it's not too big. Cherry tomatoes, cheese, a cheese filled mini pepper, a couple of candies, and a mango jelly on a bed of cabbage.


A handful of stuff- yogurt, cheese, candy, cherry tomatoes, stuffed mini peppers, brown rice onigri and a mochi is hidden under it all.

Almost four meals

Lunch 1- Thursday

I packed a lunch on Thursday even though it's usually my "fast food" lunch since I have hardly any time to eat and have to eat in the car. I had cooked the oyster mushrooms the night before and had them in a box so I figured that I might as well finish packing in the morning. In addition to the mushrooms there is half a persimmon, a cream cheese and smoked salmon filled onigiri, some cheese, a little mango jelly, and a couple of little candies. I also threw some pocky in. High on the sweets, but Thursdays are also a busy day at work.


For Friday I grabbed a "chicken salad kit" but knew I'd want a little more to eat with it. I packed a little container full of a cheese filled pepper, half of a persimmon, a mango jelly and a couple of little sweets. I'm really enjoying the little sweet peppers filled with cream cheese, and I may try some hummus at some point too.



Wait, only three pictures. I actually packed this bento for Sunday to eat while I was selling yarn in Sacramento, but ended up only eating the onigiri, the olives, and the beet salad. I just refilled the beets and olives and threw in the last cream cheese and salmon onigiri. The olives are some kalamata olives from the olive bar at the co-op, they are pitted and yummy. There also is the last of the persimmon that I had in there, a babybel cheese and a piece of candy.

Onigiri wrappers

I found some onigiri wrappers in "stay fresh" packages this weekend, so the last couple of lunches have included them. I'm still trying to decide what I think. They're very tasty, but kind of akward to get the wrapper off of in order to eat the onigiri.


This lunch included two of the onigiri. They are both made with white rice and filled with smoked salmon and cream cheese, and they're both VERY yummy. I used an onigiri mold- it is slightly easier than molding it by hand. The bottom section of my onigiri box is filled with cherry tomatoes (bought from trader joes, and not very tasty, the rest are going to go to the animals.), broccoli, a babybel cheese and two sweet peppers filled with cream cheese. I had a baby banana on the side.


This has another one of the smoked salmon and cream cheese onigiri. It's easier to see the nori wrapping on this one. There are also some meatballs on a skewer, a little container of roasted pepper ketchup for the meatballs, a cheese, half a persimmon, three cream cheese filled sweet peppers and a couple of peach gummies.

Catching up again

10/29

Yogurt, rice with furikake, cherry tomatoes and mango gel, three mini peppers stuffed with cream cheese and broccoli.

10/31

Mini peppers stuffed with cheese, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, a container of plum sauce for the potstickers, peach gummy, shrimp gyoza, and rice with furikake.

1/3

Yogurt, somen noodles with cilantro and sauce, cherry tomatoes, broccoli and a mini banana.

A Sandwich box

I finally got around to using the sandwich box I bought when I got my first Ichiban Kan order. It's one of the pink polka dot ones with a separate bottom container.


The sandwich in the top is banana and nutella, the bottom container has quail eggs, cheese, a jelly, cabbage, edamame, a peach gummy and a little container of soy sauce.



Two olive filled onigiri (one white rice and the other brown), cherry tomatoes, a jelly, broccoli, cabbage, cheese filled mini sweet peppers, quail eggs, mini meat balls, and a container of roasted pepper "ketchup."

An american bento, and a Hello Kitty one

Mac and cheese with dill, cherry tomatoes and a hard boiled egg on cabbage, beets and a little bottle of balsamic for the beets and cabbage.


This picture is a little blurry- I just replaced the camera batteries, we'll see if that helps. I didn't have much time to prep for this, and I'm running low on veggies, so the "veggies" in this one are pears on a bed of cabbage. I've also got some morningstar farms mini corn dogs, rice with furikake (yes that's hello kitty there) and a penguin container of roasted bell pepper "ketchup" for the corn dogs. On the side is a container of yogurt.

An entire week this time

Again, nothing to exciting, and several repeats.
Monday:

Fried brown rice with shrimp, eggs, peas and green onion. I picked up a cheap rice cooker this past weekend and wanted to try it. the other side has cherry tomatoes and purple bell pepper over cabbage, and lotus root salad in the cup.

Tuesday:

Tortilla wraps with babaganoush, bell pepper and cheese, a macadamia nut mochi, cherry tomatoes,hijiki salad, banana slices, a monkey of peanut butter for the bananas, and a little cup of garlic pistachios.

Wednesday:
I was at an 1840's "fur trapper camp" and was fed a meal of stew and dumplings.

Thursday:

Spring rolls with sushi rice, shrimp, cilantro, cabbage and bell pepper, cherry tomatoes, sauteed mushrooms, and a little container of thinned pepper jelly to dip the spring rolls.

Friday:

This is very similar to yesterday, except that there are more cherry tomatoes, on a bed of cabbage as well as a little cheese. Yesterday's lunch was just slightly too small.

The end of another week

I'm low on veggies, so Sunday I'm going to hit up the farmer's market to see what I can find. Here is what I managed to get made for Friday. It's in a new "Urara" dragonfly box that I picked up at Daiso last weekend before I got sick. The shape is different from the other two tier boxes that I have.

The top tier is filled with a stewed seaweed, fried tofu , lotus root, carrot, mushroom and onion dish, and has three hard boiled quail eggs on top. The bottom has a silicone cup filled with cheddar and pretzel goldfish, cheese, a mango jelly, a mini pudding and the space is filled in with cabbage. I also included a little container of balsamic for the cabbage, but ended up eating it plain. The pudding was interesting- it's sort of a cross between custard and jello- yummy though.

Tuesday and Wednesday

Monday I missed school because I was in the ER until 6:30 am. (A migraine that ended up with dehydration, I'm fine but still tired today.) so there was no lunch. Here are the lunches from yesterday and today.

Tuesday:

this is pretty much stuff I could easily grab from the freezer or fridge. White rice with furikake, beets, jello, a babybel cheese, a chocolate filled marshmallow and yogurt on the side. It's a little on the red side, but at least there are all food groups there!.

Wednesday:

I was able to prep some of this last night, so there is a bit more variety here. Breaded mushrooms, edamame, a mango jelly (the kind I like! it's a little more solid than the other stuff.), two quail eggs, somen noodles topped with green onions and a shrimp and soy sauce and sauce for the noodles. On the side is a chocolate filled marshmallow and a yogurt. Just curious, is there anybody out there who has sarcastic thoughts whenever somebody calls soba or somen noodles "soma" noodles. Hmmm, they must make you feel real good....

This one is in my new Hello Kitty box. It's got Kitty and Mimmy in a magical forest.

Not a good week for bringing lunch...

While, I did end up making 3 bentos this week, I also bought lunch twice. Here are Wednesday's and Friday's lunches.

Wendnesday:

Shrimp and egg fried rice, sliced pear, jello, beets and cherry tomatoes. I found the blue silicon cups in the dollar section, 6 in a package- they had choices of red, blue or yellow.

Friday:

The top level is a soboro with egg and ground beef over brown rice and topped with furikake, the bottom layer has jello, purple cabbage, blackberries and raspberries.

Belated post

I was busy all weekend, then sick yesterday, so I didn't get my last two bentos posted. (and I didn't get anything done for lunch today when I did go back to work)
Friday's Meal


"Sea Vegetable" salad with lotus root and mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, rice with furikake, cheese, more cherry tomatoes, watermelon daikon and a peach gummy hiding a container of dip for the tomatoes and radish.

Sunday I packed a lunch to take with me to the Celtic festival up in Grass Valley where the fiber guild was spinning and knitting.


Lotus root salad, Cevapcici and frozen shrimp, cabbage and edamame topped with another shrimp, a pear, balsamic for the cabbage and edamame, and rice with furikake.

dragonfruit and more

Tuesday I cut open a red dragonfruit that I spent way too much money on for a single fruit. The flesh is bright pink, the taste is sweet, but not wonderful enough to justify the price. At least it's cool looking! And it's crunchy when you eat it- I do like the texture.

Tuesday's lunch-

Edamame with a fish of soy sauce, cherry tomatoes, green onion for filler (it didn't taste good...), dragonfruit, cevapcici, cheese cubes, and rice with furikake.

Wednesday's lunch-


Brown rice onigiri filled with chopped black olives, watermelon daikon, dragonfruit, a container of salad dressing, all on a bed of red cabbage. A container of yogurt on the side.

Too Much Red?

I think I didn't balance the colors well today, oh well...


Chocolate whipped yogurt on the side, mmmmm. The rest is packed in one of my smaller single tier boxes, it's a 480ml "natural lunchtime" box. Beets with salt and pepper, cherry tomatoes, cheese, imitation crab and rice with nori and egg furikake. I am not positive I like this furikake, but at the same time I don't not like it. I think that I will put on less next time I use it.

Cevapcici and rice

I finally decided to try to make some Cevapcici, and I froze the extras. I used the ground meat I had on hand, so they were made with lamb and turkey.



This bento was filled with rice and furikake, cevapcici, beets, an egg (shaped like a bear, but squished in there so you really can't see that), edamame, a fishy of soy for the egg and edamame, and cherry tomatoes to fill in the spaces.

Quinoa and Beets

I like quinoa salads, so this was in the plans even before one was posted on Just Bento. Mine has quinoa, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, avocado, tomato, cilantro and green onions (along with salt and pepper). Next to it is a dish of beets with balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper, and some concord grapes. I threw in a couple cheese cubes to add variety.

Packed in my 650 ml leaflet tight box.

Sushi for Tuesday

I don't like all the bottom of the container that I can see in this one. It's got three pieces of a homemade sushi roll- filled with avocado, tobiko, green onion and imitation crab, and wrapped with soy wrappers. There are cherry tomatoes to fill spaces, as well as a couple of laughing cow cubes. there is also a heart shaped egg, some concord grapes, a still frozen berry lemonade agar-agar jelly and soy and wasabi for the sushi (and probably the egg too).

Packed in my Putifresh banana box, 330ml/250ml.

Fried noodles and yogurt....

I'm still playing with the photograpy, as well as the portions. Some days it seems like I bring too much, other days I wish I had eaten more.

Tomorrow's lunch has blueberry pocky in the lid, the top tier is a mix of veggies (bell pepper, cherry tomatoes, broccoli and cauliflower), some dip for the veggies, concord grapes and a couple laughing cow cheese cubes. The bottom tier is fried noodles with green onion and fish cake- there is at least one little shrimp someplace in there too (I may throw some frozen shrimp on top before I leave for work tomorrow.). The tiger has blueberry yogurt in it.

Wednesday's lunch

I ended up with only 3 bentos this week- I had to be able to eat in the car between schools on Thursday, and Friday the PTA did lunch for us. Here is what I ate Wednesday.

The top tier has blueberry yogurt (which held up better than I expected in transport!) fish cake and grilled veggies. The bottom tier has a hard boiled egg sliced in half, and potatoes with vinegar, salt and pepper, and a bit of myzethra cheese on top. There were strawberry pocky hidden in the lid.

Two days at once.

I have to be up very early tomorrow, so I'm about off to bed, but I figured I should have my lunch done so I can just grab it.

First of all, here is today's lunch. Again, sort of the same thing that I have been making- veggies, dip, rice, jelly, cheese (hiding under the veggies). But I topped the rice with some scrambled egg instead of furikake today. In the lid are some of the good strawberry pocky- the kind with the actual dried strawberry bits in it.



And for tomorrow- I made some sushi with imitation crab, tobiko, green onion and a sesame soy wrapper. I was going to use avocado, but I opened it up and it was rotten (I hate living alone!) Next to the sushi is a fishy of soy sauce, a dip container of wasabi and a couple cherry tomatoes to keep stuff from shifting. The top tier is a mix of things- hidden under the peach gummy and chocolate is a mochi, next to them is a rabbit shaped egg, some blueberries and mango, and a little cup of grilled veggies.

Week 3 done!

This was pretty much filled with stuff that I had around that I want to get finished up. The rice was in the freezer, the grilled veggies were left over from dinner on wednesday....

Grilled vegetables, agar agar jelly with strawberry lemonade and a cherry, concord grapes, fish cake, a fish of soy sauce, a hard boiled egg, cherry tomatoes and rice with furikake.

I actually smoked the veggies more than grilling them. I have a little kamado pot that is a hand me down my dad fixed up for me a few years ago. It's great. I skewered cherry tomatoes, red onion, red bell pepper and mushrooms. I was going to include lamb, but the lamb I had pulled out of the freezer had gone bad (I forgot about it in the fridge). After heating up the kamado pot, I put the skewers of veggies on it, closed it up and let them cook. Usually I'll add some wood chips for smoke, but this time I just used chunk charcoal.

I have to admit that I ate a good portion of this, then another teacher offered mint chocolate ice cream cake. I really can't turn down many things with mint and chocolate involved....

Bunnies!

Today I used two of my three bunny boxes. One is a 380ml Hakoya box that I like, but it's on the small side. The other is a lube sheep clickety click "rinda rabbit" small box that is 320ml. Together they work for a good lunch.


The top tier of the hakoya box has concord grapes, a strawberry mochi, and a strawberry lemonade agar agar jelly with a cherry. The bottom tier is brown calrose rice with furikake. The Rinda Rabbit box is a salad with a bottom layer of shredded cabbage, topped with cherry tomatoes, a car shaped egg, fish cake and smoked red onion left from yesterday's dinner. There is a bottle of orange sesame dressing on the side.

Wednesday

Very similar to yesterday's lunch, change the fruit, add an egg and switch the sweets....

A fishy egg, broccoli, cherry tomatoes, blue cheese dip, two brown rice onigiri filled with olives, agar agar jelly (stawberry lemonade with a cherry), concord grapes, cheese and a strawberry mochi.

Tuesday's lunch

Bottom layer is mango, blueberries, two homemade "peanut butter and jelly" mini muffins (they actually are almond butter, one has blackberry plum jelly the other has peach butter), and some homemade strawberry lemonade agar-agar jelly.
The top layer has broccoli, cherry tomatoes, two mini olive filled onigiri, cheese and a little container of blue cheese dip for the veggies.

The muffin recipe is one my mom used to make all the time for us when we were kids. I hadn't had them in years. They're yummy and easy to make.

The Omnivore's 100

I ran into this list on another blog I was reading and thought it was interesting. The original list is here The Ombivore's Hundred

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:
1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns and I wish I could still eat them!
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper and I don't recommend it!
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects- I probably have without knowing it.
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi- I have a jar in my cabinet which should come out this week in lunches.
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
2. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare I think that domestic rabbit probably is close enough.
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse in Italy, I realized what I was eating after I started eating it.
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday

I made it through the week- barely, as I really needed to go grocery shopping and didn't make it to the store until Thursday night. I think I'm going to prep some stuff this weekend for next week. As I'm getting busyier at school I am going to need to pack more. Today after I finished my bento I also ate an entire doughnut!

I'm also discovering that it's not easy to take pictures of bentos when it's dark and I'm not fully awake.

Wednesday's meal- click on picture for info on the contents


Thursday's meal- click on picture for more info-


Friday's meal- same as above, click on the picture for more info-

August 26, 2008

Today's bento isn't the best shot. I took the picture before work, and it just wouldn't focus in the dark. (or maybe I couldn't focus since I wasn't totally awake.) I took a lunch to school yesterday, but it was just a frozen pack of mac and cheese, so nothing worth documenting in a photo.



This is a Clickety Click rabbit onigiri container, so what better than to try my hand at some onigiri. I considered a few different fillings, but finally decided on a favorite sandwich filling of olives and mayonnaise, and it worked out well. I have three mini onigiri in the freezer still, these are both hand formed, so the shape is far from perfect. I tucked some Korean nori underneath to wrap them in while I was eating them.

The bottom level holds red bell pepper, a quartered mushroom, a little silicone cup of edamame, a fishy of soy for the edamame, and hidden under the pepper is a babybell cheese.

Made it through an entire week!

Homemade spring rolls with tomato, rice, imitation crab, and cilantro. Bean sprouts with furikake (I meant to put the bean sprouts in the spring rolls), Carob Spirulina "hunks o energy," prunes, hazelnut pocky, Sate sauce for the spring rolls and sesame orange dressing for the sprouts.

Thursday's lunch

Not the most attractive lunch, but balanced and it served it's purpose well.

Shrimp potstickers with some plum sauce I canned last year (in the blue container), sugar snap peas, rice with furikake, cheese and two little prepackaged mochi. (I find that the prepackaged ones taste more like flavored and filled marshmallows. But then I like sweet, so they're fine for me.)

lunch for Wednesday

Potato salad with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, pine nuts, garlic and myzithra cheese. Fresh tomato, edamame and hazelnut pocky on the side.

August 19, 2008

Rice with furikake, cheese, mochi, blanched bean sprouts with cilantro and sesame seeds, a homemade sesame seed dressing for the sprouts, sugar snap peas, a scrambled egg and blueberry pocky.