More of yesterday's pesto pasta salad; three spicy XO wontons (I like the XO dumplings better, but wasn't looking at the package and accidentally picked up XO wontons, thinner skin)
As you can see, I'm struggling to get my act straight for bento! Sorry!
Happy bento!
I'm back and slapped together a bento this morning. Do I sound grumpy? Because I kind of am. Well, I shouldn't say that. I HAD A FANTASTIC TIME ON MY TRIP :) and full write ups of everything to come very soon on Feisty Foodie, but work is slamming me from all sides and I'm just trying to catch up... I can't wait to quit! Ahhhhhhhh! I even managed to cook yesterday despite attending a very sad baseball game indeed.
In this bento: a mango pudding (super artificial but it's cute! and an entire box of these was, I kid you not, $1.29); pitted Kalamata olives; gemelli pasta tossed with pesto, chopped broccoli, and corn niblets. Super easy.
Lunch time!
Happy bento!!!
Psst. I didn't pack an airplane bento this time, per se, but I packed a snack bento for us to enjoy on the plane. I didn't pack airplane bento because our flight was early on Saturday morning; instead, I just ran over to Ragtime and picked up a couple of sandwiches for us. Actually, just one; we split it during the flight and were both very full indeed.
I've got exciting news all around soon!
So, last night I was wandering around, shopping a little for last minute necessities for my upcoming trip to San Francisco/Napa Valley. I got hungry and decided to go to my current favorite diner - for dinner this time, try out their hot foods/entrees and whatnot. Unfortunately, it was too late to go the monster route and get the big dinner deal, but I wound up ordering this:
You can guess all you want what it is, because it looks nothing like what I thought it should look like when I ordered it. Anyway, it was yummy, but I could only eat one piece, so the other piece came home with me when I realized size and shape wise, it was perfect for...
the last sandwich. I took a club roll and scooped out the insides, and lay my leftover piece right into that bed. Yummers.
Mandarin oranges; mushrooms/peppers/onions leftovers from last night (to be added to sandwich, didn't want it to get soggy- underneath it, to catch the juices, is the scooped out bread); sandwich made with "mystery meat" (it's not mystery meat, I just don't want to tell you what it is yet)
Last bento for a little while. I'm leaving for San Francisco/Napa Valley tomorrow... a much, much, MUCH needed vacation. So no updates here for the next week, but check out The Feisty Foodie, where I've got posts scheduled to go up daily at 10:30 am EST, for your reading pleasure.
Have a great weekend and as always, HAPPY BENTO!!!
Yes, another sandwich bento! I'm serious, I'm going the whole week, even though I have no idea what to make for tomorrow's bento...
Left side: Arnold's 15 Whole Grain bread with cream cheese and fresh yellow bell pepper slices, cut into thirds
Right side (from top): Kalamata olives; last of the green bean salad; macaroni salad with parsley sprinkles for color
The yellow bell pepper was surprisingly sweet, almost like a fruit. With the cream cheese, it was really excellent and creamy goodness, almost like a dessert, but mostly healthy (I used full-fat cream cheese, though I guess I could have used low fat). And this is vegetarian, too!
Happy bento!!!
What, you didn't believe me that I was going to have sandwiches every day???
Arnold's 15 Grain bread with mayo, roast beef, roasted red peppers, fresh mozzarella, and home-grown basil. Better than pesto, n'est-ce pas?
Macaroni salad; green beans in vinaigrette (drained); potato salad; Mandarin oranges from a can
Despite this being similar to my other sandwiches, I'm actually still keen on eating this. Maybe it's because I'm feeling hungry. Maybe because it looks good. Who knows? But my question is: what kind of sandwich should I have tomorrow? :)
Happy bento!!!
Told you, sandwich week! But not the same everyday, that would be TOO BORING!!!
Top tier: (two) cream cheese and roasted red pepper on pumpernickel cocktail bread; mandarin oranges from a can; green bean salad
Bottom tier: roast beef and honey mustard on pumpernickel cocktail bread; macaroni salad with parsley sprinkled on top; potato salad with dill sprinkled on top
I spread cream cheese on both sides of the bread to act as moisture barriers, so the moist roasted red peppers wouldn't make the bread soggy. Ideally, I would have pulsed some cream cheese with some roasted red peppers in a food processor, but not only do I not own a food processor, well, it just seemed silly to go through all that trouble for two small sandwiches. Though I would like to make roasted red pepper cream cheese one day... :)
Oh my, I can't wait to eat this bento!!!
Happy bento everyone!!!
Instead of sharing lots of pics of my weekend in food (which was still good, don't get me wrong), I'm going the route of the slow reveal.
Ooh~
yumminess hidden inside?
Yesss!!! Yumminess revealed! And I even used a cutesy accessory.
...what? You don't see it?
See? It's separating the green beans from the monster sandwich!!!
This bento kicks off Sandwich Week here at Feisty Bento. Expect to see a sandwich a day this week, because I am going on vacation at the end of it, and I had to buy enough groceries to last me the week of lunches and some dinners without anything left over that would go bad in my fridge. So I thought, "Sandwiches and salad-y type stuff would be great!" So there you have it.
Store bought macaroni salad with a teeny sprinkle of parsley for color; store bought potato salad with a scattering of parsley for color; store bought green beans marinated in a vinaigrette, drained; roast beef, fresh mozzarella, roasted red pepper, and pesto on a club roll.
Don't sneer at the store bought items, this genuine Italian grocery has the bomb deli in the back where I picked out all the those salad things. It's expensive, to be sure, and I'll be posting a review on Feisty Foodie later (I ordered a sandwich there as well for lunch on Saturday), but it's oh-so-delicious. And easy.
Happy bento everyone~!!!
Still not a good week. Well, it's almost over, thank god, and it's ending with one of my favorite things in the world - BASEBALL!!! Whee!
Top tier: miso pork chop
Bottom tier: leftover mac & cheese (from dinner last night); frozen corn
I'm really into this frozen corn in bento thing now. It defrosts and is tasty in time for lunch. Yay. Review on the place I went to for dinner last night to come... This box must be pretty small because one pork chop barely fits into the big tier. Weird.
Happy bento!!!
Miso marinated pork chop cut up over "quick fried rice" a la Lunch in a Box
Microwave white rice with frozen peas and corn. Stir and add a dash of soy sauce.
As you can see, I was in a major hurry this morning, so this is all I get. The pork is layered on top of the rice, though, so there's quite a lot of rice, I should be full afterwards :)
HAPPY BENTO~!!!
I'm having a bad week. It's only Tuesday.
So I woke up early and made myself breakfast. Doesn't that look like a pancake? I assure you, it is not. I don't generally like pancakes, and I definitely do not mess with batter (or dough either actually). It's just a beaten egg that I didn't stir in the pan, I wanted it mostly flat to put in my...
Awesome breakfast sandwich! Wow, looking at that made my stomach leap up.
There's that naughty "pancake" hiding in there...
Hands were shaking from excitement, so I couldn't take a non-blurry shot, haha.
Club roll with one egg "scrambled", Serrano jamon, provolone, and pesto spread on both sides. YUM!!! Pesto that's been heated slightly from the heat of whatever it's put on is just SO good.
And my bento for today. Lots of chocolate. Sh*tty week = extra chocolate. Nah actually it's because I didn't realize I didn't have anything ready for bento in the fridge so I threw in whatever I could find.
Top tier: miso pork t-bone (recipe to come on Feisty Foodie); corn muffin; frozen corn kernels
Bottom tier: marinated cuttlefish; milk chocolate covered, peanut butter filled pretzels; dark chocolate covered pretzels
I've seen other people put frozen corn kernels in their bento, so I figured I would, too. We'll see if they actually taste good...
Happy BENTO~!!!
Friday night: Target Free Fridays at the MoMA for the Dali exhibit before it ends. I never saw Persistence of Memory in person before (despite having gone to the MoMA countless times growing up and even in recent years; it's constantly on loan elsewhere) and had no idea it was so... tiny. Saw some great stuff. Re-ignited my desire to purchase one of his pieces, though it's always a toss up as to which. (Side note: Dali is probably one of the hardest artists to verify a painting... I've read numerous accounts that he occasionally had other people paint FOR him, or that he would occasional sign his name to other people's work... Hahaha. So it kind of sucks since a person might ostensibly buy a fake that has his real signature on it. More about his fascinating life)
Part of dinner on Friday night. Review to come on The Feisty Foodie ;)
Saturday: Tropical Storm Hanna. Tried to keep me indoors. Boo.
Overflowing waterfall
Sunday: Much better weather, a walk up to the commercial part of my neighborhood, as per our usual weekend date
Our new favorite place
Our new favorite cheese - piave. If you like hard Italian cheeses, this is good, with a crumbly texture and a nutty flavor
None of my sammy pics came out clear, my hands must have been shaking a little the whole time. Prosciutto, crusty bread, and pesto spread on the bread, yum!
Sunday night: Why am I eating crappy ice cream with crappy jimmies and ... well, you'll see why.
This picture was taken right before the catcher's interference was called.
This would have been a great picture of the Phillies manager getting booted from the game, except this person a few rows in front of me threw her fist up. Bah.
Here he is continuing to argue even after he was thrown out of the game, the umpire ignoring him and stalking off, as if to say "Argue all you want buddy, I MADE MY DECISION!" Hehe.
We went on to win the game, 6-3. Redemption! The Mets held onto their lead in the division, keeping it to 2 games but not really increasing it. ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN the rest of this month, but I am really excited~! I can smell the October baseball, we're so close! Not as close as last year but maybe that's what we need, keep that fire lit under our asses! Whee!!!
The reason I was eating crappy ice cream a few pictures back! To get this helmet cup :) to add to my Mets' shrine (photo to come after I order a few David items to add to it...)
I actually used a cutesy pick today! Here is my yummers bento.
Jamon de Serrano, chili butter (recipe to come), provolone on a sandwich roll; pitted Kalamata olives in the black cup; roasted red peppers in the bottom cup for last minute addition to my sandwich. Oh, glory!
Here's to delicious "European style" (per the BF) lunches~!
HAPPY BENTO!!! How was your weekend?
Does this even count as bento?
White rice, and leftovers from this dinner (sooo yummy!)
Happy bento! No bento tomorrow, I'll be on the move for lunch... but check out The Feisty Foodie for a great recipe tomorrow! Have a great weekend!
Top tier: pad thai; crispy pork with Chinese broccoli
Bottom tier: beef satay; peanut sauce; cucumber salad
Entire bento brought to you by the new Thai place I'll be reviewing tomorrow. Tune into The Feisty Foodie after 10:30 am for more details :)
Happy Bento!!!
Hey, you know how I didn't have a bento on Thursday? Read all about why here. Pretty cool, so go read it :)
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Friday night dinner (recipe to come... check out The Feisty Foodie on Friday!)
Lunch on Saturday, comprised of all leftovers (including Woorijip yums). Probably stuff I should have left until today so I'd have a better bento instead of what I have... haha.
Dinner on Sunday, recognize the plates? Yep, at my sister's, visited my nephews for a bit.
Dessert Sunday - grilled peaches. Who knew they became so uber delicious after a bit of grilling?!
Obligatory attempt at being artsy - view of the inside of the lid of my brand new rice cooker, before I used it for the first time (squee!). I had to take the shot when I looked inside and saw how reflective that inner lid is.
More presents! BF's father occasionally comes across random books at his job, and often picks up items he thinks might be of interest to me. In the past, under my direction of "any book that's pink or girly looking" he would bring me what I'd hope was chick lit. Lots of interesting books this way that normally I might not read (I'm always looking to expand my reading horizons). He also knows how much I like food and to cook (though I haven't been doing much of that, honestly), and saw a cookbook... the funny thing is, I've heard so much about Chez Panisse and Alice Waters across the food-blog-a-verse, that I got really excited when I saw this and jumped up and down a bit. I may have squealed. Expect to see some recipes from this book soon... hopefully (I haven't cracked it open yet so I haven't seen how complex a recipe is or isn't).
Dinner on Monday - pathetic and sad instant ramen. I couldn't even get up the energy to make frozen udon (which is eons better than instant/dried ramen!). But I did manage to toss in some frozen dumplings and some frozen corn.
And finally, bento. Can you tell I was in a hurry? I threw in the most random assortment of stuff, and didn't even bother to debone the chicken. Oops.
Top tier: Miso chicken thigh (still on the bone); onigiri with leftover salmon, mashed with a bit of mayo and pickle relish; marinated cuttlefish
Bottom tier: Frozen Yakult (Korean yogurt drink); chocolate covered, peanut butter filled pretzels; frozen corn muffin; miso mushrooms
Wow, I haven't made onigiri in months upon months! I seriously can't remember the last time. I tried to make these by hand really quickly this morning but gave up almost immediately and used my trusty mold instead. But unfortunately, I think I packed way too much rice into them, because it's a bit dense... Eesh. Wow, I just checked, and the last time I made onigiri was in October 2007... or that was the last time I ate any that I'd made (I can't tell if they were frozen at an earlier date, then put in bento).
I didn't have a very adventurous or interesting food weekend, but it was yummy. Ah well.
Happy bento!!!
