Bento number unknown

Test. Today's bento.
Trying out the blogger app on my phone.

Feisty Bento #397: One Last "Real" Bento

 I couldn't get the light right or something... not sure why I am holding it in my hand.  Also, I'm amused that I'm wearing a sweater... it was pretty mild weather until mid-December! 

I took another picture once I got to work, even though it all got smushed, and I don't know why there's a napkin underneath.  Anyway,

Mini-pita-pocket egg salad sandwiches with baby carrots, extra egg salad topped with cilantro.  Yummy!

Happy bento!!!

posted on 1/1/10, backdated appropriately - the last 'real' bento for a very long, long while... it's like I knew, so I put in extra effort - three days in a row!

Feisty Lunch

It looks like I took this photo at night, but I assure you, it was something like 7:30 in the morning.  Yep, that's how dark it was this morning.  It's so difficult to wake up in the morning when it's dark out and chilly - my building hasn't yet turned on the heat, and I don't really blame them, since the temperature is at that point where it's a delicate yo-yo; it might be 40 tonight but tomorrow it will be 70.  As a shareholder with an actual vested interest in our bottom line financially, I don't want the heat on if it's going to make my apartment unbearably hot on days that are unseasonably warm! 

In any case, I know I just said yesterday that I wouldn't have bento this week - and I don't! - but that first pic is my lunch for today.  An awesome Greek salad from my local diner ... so, last night, I had barely any time between work and class, and I needed to eat (long story but I basically forgot to eat lunch...), and in a fit of inspiration, decided to utilize Tower Diner's online ordering system to its utmost potential by placing an order before I left work at 5:30 to be picked up at 6:45.  This all worked out great and I had dinner in my grubby lil hands easily, but I took it a step further by ordering the above salad for the specific purpose of bringing it for lunch today.  Even better!!!  Perfect.  I've had their Greek salad before - in fact, easily a dozen times this year alone (BF really likes this diner so we go there pretty often) - and really really like how they do it, except for two things: they use very fishy anchovies so I always request it without the anchovies, and they use olives with pits, which means I eat one or two and then leave the rest out.  (When I make Greek salad, I use pitted olives!)  Otherwise, they have a great version here.  Yum! 

I also just really wanted an excuse to post these pics of Keywee. 

The bestest boyfriend in the entire whole world did me the greatest favor the other night.  I'm a ball of stress lately (not to be confused with a stress ball; if you try to squeeze me, my latent violent tendencies might rear up and poke out and b*tchslap you...), with having no time, and very little time to spend with my absolute darling puppy (okay, she's 7 and a half, but still will always be my puppy), and just... feeling guilty... well, I had no time to take her to get groomed because I was either at work or school during their business hours.  So my boyfriend picked Keywee up at 11pm on Monday... took her to her 2pm appointment on Tuesday... and dropped her back off at 11pm on Tuesday. 

Yes.  Yes, he did.  Yet another reason why I love this man.  Yes indeed. 

And can I tell you?  24 hours without her and I missed her more than I thought possible.  Missed her climbing into my lap while I studied, her trying to convince me that I only need one hand to study and that I should use my free hand to pet her; missed her following me around as I went from room to room looking for something, or just following me around in general.  Missed her snuggling right into my belly when I lay down to sleep, missed her climbing up my chest when I'm half-lying down watching TV.  Missed her. 

Now she's back where she belongs, with me, in my arms, and I can't even enjoy her that much because it's been rush, rush, rush, everywhere, all the time.  Ugh.  I realized, however, that she is my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE photography subject in the world.  Even though she wiggles and sometimes won't stay still for my non-flash photography.  Even though she's not something I photograph then immediately consume in deliciousness.  Even though sometimes she just doesn't want to photograph. 

She is my absolute favorite. 

Baby I love you, and I'm sorry I waited so long to groom you and made you all uncomfortable.  You smell delicious and look wonderful, and Mommy will always, always love you best out of anything in the world.  Always. 

Ahem. 

Also, those photos were indeed taken directly after the salad photo.  Still so dark, right?  Ugh. 

Think outside the lunchbox!

Feisty Bento #385: Spinach

Today's lunch!  You may find it gross.  Sorry.  I like cheese.  A LOT.

Top: slices of local/organic tomatoes from my CSA; stuffed zucchini (recipe to come on Feisty Foodie) (zucchini also from CSA!); more sliced tomato and a grape tomato - also from my CSA!  Yum, deliciously sweet!
Bottom: quick creamed spinach I whipped up in about 5-10 minutes after class last night, lol

Different angle, so you can see the stuffed zucchini better. 

You might wonder what's with the ginormous amount of spinach... well!  I bought 40 ounces from Fairway on Sunday for $1.99!!!  I'm trying to use up a lot of it before it goes bad, so it's been spinach non-stop.  I was going to stuff some manicotti with a spinach+cheese mixture, but I didn't have much time so instead I just made a sort of creamed spinach.  I haven't decided yet if I'll post the recipe, as I'm not entirely in love with what I've made so far (twice).  A few tweaks with the rest of the spinach and I should have a workable recipe for y'all, if you're interested! 

Think outside the lunchbox!!!

Feisty Bento #384: Two Tier Treat

Top tier: stuffed eggplant; stuffed zucchini; baby carrots & hummus
Bottom tier: roasted zucchini salad; grape tomatoes (omg, so good!); spinach sauteed with garlic

Here's a closer up photo of that top tier.  I'm not sure I'll be sharing a recipe for the stuffed eggplant on Feisty Foodie; I wasn't too thrilled with the entire thing, but it was an issue with the eggplant and not with the stuffing.  I used the same stuffing for the zucchini, which was delicious!  :)  That recipe, I will for sure be sharing, along with the roasted zucchini salad recipe ;)

Think outside the lunchbox!!!

Feisty Bento #368 & 369: Double time

Quinoa on the bottom, on top, two roased cippolini onions, a hard boiled egg, and some soup veggies that I just plopped on top.  This was really good and surprisingly, extremely filling.  That was Thursday's bento, but I forgot to post it on Thursday...

I went to meet up with a coworker on Thursday for lunch, and while we were climbing the stairs to the Elevated Acre, we came across this.

It was on one of the steps.  It didn't move, so I thought, "It must be dead," and was ready to keep moving (around it).  She said, "Wait, I think it's hurt," and I realized it was still alive.  We were both surprised by how BIG it was.

The thing was huge, that's like 5" or so, right?  Anyway, it fluttered a little as she coaxed it onto her hand so we could put it in some nearby bushes - away from kids who might accidentally trample it or crazy people who might kill it on purpose or capture it for whatever purposes.  I decided that, the day was a little chilly and we were near the water, so very windy, that might have been what caused it to feebly tremble in our presence instead of being all happy and healthy. 

Friday's bento, which was basically the last of the quinoa topped with soup greens and a hard boiled egg.  VERY filling.  And delicious.  That helps.  :) 

Think outside the lunchbox!!!

Feisty Bento #364: Off for vacation

A simple bento but totally delicious. 

Sauteed bean sprouts and another slice of my zucchini & potato gratin (the second to last slice! boo). 

I can't wait to eat this.  *chomps down*

I took this photo this morning after I got off the bus.  If you look closely, I color-accented red - everything else is black & white.  I just liked how things lined up, though in the photo the back building looks like it's glowing... it looked much cooler in real life (not glowing). 

Maybe it's glowing because as I got off the bus and looked up (most NYCers don't look up quite as often as you'd think, whatwith all the tall buildings... people looking up are tourists.  With cameras? DEFINITELY tourists... lol)... I noticed that I could see the humidity waves.  I'm sure you all think I'm crazy, even though when it's really hot, you can see the heat waves in the air - it makes everything in front of you ever so slightly blurry and sometimes you can see the lines of heat! - but I swear, I saw the moisture hanging in the air, just thick, blurry, like I was looking through lenses that had the teensiest bit of petroleum jelly rubbed over the lens.  It was SO GROSS. 

So I was complaining about the rain last month, and now suddenly it's like someone just cranked the humidity dial.  But not the heat!  I mean, it's not cold, but it doesn't feel hot.  Does that make sense?  It's not sunny, just sticky and gross and uncomfortable out. 

But this is part of the price we pay to live in NYC... one of the greatest cities in the world.

On another note, I am taking the next two weeks off from work, so no bentos.  (And I was just starting to get back into the swing... sorry!)  Posts will continue to be going up on Feisty Foodie (I've been working like mad to catch up and get ahead of schedule here so I wouldn't leave you guys in the lurch! so be sure to check over there every day!!!), so you won't be totally alone here. 

I'll be back on August 3rd.  In the meantime, be sure to poke through my archives!!!  I love comments & feedback, and there are a lottttt of posts where I have neither... ;) 

Think outside the lunchbox!!!

Feisty Bento #363: Holy Awesome!

Hehehe... my day is awesome! 

Aside from my funny parking adventures (fitting my massive SUV in a space that turned out to be only 2-4" longer than my vehicle) and my awesome everything, I went to pick up some groceries to round out my CSA and because I had something specific in mind that I wanted to make tonight.  As I was walking back to the subway station, I passed by another Asian supermarket (that I don't like going to because it's a block closer to the subway and is more packed/crowded but not always in a good "high turnover" way, and it's very crowded in its layout... although last night I discovered they renovated and changed the layout to be more open, so...) that had those Golden Rainier cherries for $2.99/lb.!!!  Not SO much cheaper, but really, 25% cheaper!  :)  So I picked up a small bag but it turned out to be like 1.75 pounds... ah well!  Now I have delicious cherries for a snack tonight, yay! 

This bento makes me happy.  It should make you happy too. 

The last of the roasted beets & cipollini onions; sauteed bean sprouts; two slices of zucchini-potato gratin. 

I expect to be super full from this bento later!

Think outside the lunchbox!!!

Feisty Bento #362: But I guess it does get better

Do you know what those are?

No? 

Try the best cherries in the world (Golden Rainier cherries), and my breakfast.  $4 a lb. makes them not so cheap, but hell, 1 lb. does me fine for breakfast and they are so good.  Lightly sweet, gently bursting with their wonderful flavor... I feel they're often overlooked.  Ah well.  Mmm.

I have two pics of today's lunch.

This is to show you from the side my tweak of the zucchini-potato gratin that I made last week and wanted to boost a little.  It's thicker this time because I had two zucchinis instead of just one, and I added some extra ingredients between the zucchini & potato layers.  How delicious does that look???  God I love being part of a CSA!!!  Recipe will come soon I promise!

The full bento. 

Two slices of zucchini-potato gratin; roasted cipollini onions & roasted beets, just thrown together though they weren't roasted together (concurrently but not together).  It looks like not that much, right?  But I was super full after eating this actually... not uncomfortably so but just a touch before that.  Very odd because I didn't think I'd be completely full.  Guess the potato (and cheese) really do something for that :)

Think outside the lunchbox!!!

Feisty Bento #359: One last time

Last one... pasta with CSA veggies topped w/goat cheese

Think outside the lunchbox!!!

Feisty Bento #358: Repeat of the CSA Bento!

It's more of the same as yesterday.  And tomorrow will be the same, too. 

Pasta with sauteed veggies, goat cheese.

So last night, in a fit of rage and anger over this entire week and its goings on, I left my apartment and took a long walk over to Citi Field.  When the season began - or even last year, when I'd purchased my first Sunday plan - I casually remarked that I could walk to the stadium, if I wanted.  People scoffed and doubted me.  Well.  It took me 30-40 minutes, not a bad walk at all.  Suckers.  You're all wrong! 

And I took some pics, which could use some processing, but I was in a rush and uploaded them this morning straight. 

As you approach the stadium from the LIRR platform

Closer up... here's the signage.

The Globe - this is the best pic I caught, but it would be better if I cropped it slightly to cut out the lamp on the left side of the pic, which I'll do tonight. 

The other side... was trying to get the US in the pic, but you can see Florida and just a bit of the rest.  Just how the world is tilted at this time of year (ha... nerd joke!) I guess.

Slightly further away. 

An attempt at a shot of the moon as I was on my way home, but it was hard to keep my hands steady in the super dark park.  Ah well. 

Nice pictures, eh?  I'm being a little sarcastic.  I know I can take better... I just have to practice, but it gets frustrating sometimes for me.  I won't go into that right now though, I need to leave.  Haha.

Think outside the lunchbox!!!

Feisty Bento #357: Yay CSA Bento

Yes, the day after my CSA pick up, I always have something new to eat!  This is just spaghetti sauteed with a bunch of leafy green veggies and then topped with a bit of goat cheese.  Details to come on Feisty Foodie per usual.  Pretty yummy. 

So I was playing with my camera recently and decided to learn how to play with the "color accent" feature.

With my oversized reuseable grocery tote's orange accented, on my messy office desk. 

Also on my messy desk.  Still orange (though what you see is actually red). 

Regular picture, full color.

With the yellows highlighted (didn't come out so well... boo)

The purplish-pink.

The green.  Not sure - which one do you like best?  Full color?  Haha.

These are all random photos taken from behind my office building.  If you're very observant, you'll know what building that is on the left.  If not, oh well, it's not like it's that awesome.  Or awesome at all, I'm just a dork who finds these things amusing. 

Think outside the lunchbox!!!

Feisty Bento #354: Martha Stewart Owes Me Money

 

Here is a color-accent photo of my darling baby.  I didn't know how to use the function properly (still don't, not exactly) when I took this photo, so the color it had picked was yellow, as you can see a bit in her ears and in the background.  Ah well.  I just like the photo. 

Whoa, it's been over 2 months since I posted a two-tier bento. 

Top tier: broccoli slaw with some homemade dill yogurt; roasted fennel
Bottom tier: Collards quesadilla

Unfortunately none of those items wow'ed me much so I'm not going to bother posting any details just yet.  You'll see them in one of the CSA updates on Feisty Foodie though.  :)

SO I HAVE A RANT AND I HAVE BEEN PRETTY GOOD ABOUT NOT RANTING ON FEISTY BENTO (I think... correct me if I'm wrong!)...

Remember that brand new toy I bought?

I am going to return it.

What is that?

Or that?

Closer up.

So, it's staining and I don't cook at the rim, I don't understand it.  Apparently, enameled cast iron gets stains sometimes.  Fine.  That's all fine and dandy then.  I've Googled it and it happens to all brands.  That is fine. 

But you notice something in this picture?  The top of the pot, the rim so to speak... is un-enameled cast iron.  It's raw.  I've read the care instructions over and over again, and it simply says to not use metal utensils, hand wash thoroughly, blah, blah, blah, I do/did those things.  However, it says nothing about drying it thoroughly (I tend to let my dishes and pots/pans air-dry). 

What's the problem?  You don't see where this is going? 

Cast iron + water = RUST

This is why I wanted an enameled cast iron pot - so I wouldn't have to deal with rust!!! 

Can you see it in this picture?

This one?  (The lighting was a bit hard; I wanted to use natural light but it wasn't that sunny this morning, I will take more pictures if it's sunny when I get home.)  That's the underside 'rim' of the lid, which is also un-enameled.

Do you see these horrible, ugly, pitted rust marks???

WHAT THE FARTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT?  I didn't buy enameled cast iron so I could have stuff that's a pain in the ass to keep clean!  I only used it 3 times, too, which makes this complete bull-poopy! 

I'm returning you, and a big F U to the Martha Stewart Collection of enameled cast iron!  I'm warning you all, if you're low-maintenance like I am - ie, like low-care items for the most part because let's face it, I'm a busy freakin' girl and don't have time to hand dry all of my pots and pans regularly! - then do NOT buy these pans.  Martha Stewart owes me $65.03 (that's including tax)!!! 

Grrrrrrr.  Now I have to lug this heavy pot back to Macy's to return.  It was bad enough lugging it home in the rain, now I have to lug it BACK in the humidity!? 

Boo.

Think outside the lunchbox!!!