Feisty Bento #51: New ideas

Top tier: Romaine lettuce for the "wrap sushi" - whole wheat tortilla spread with pesto mayo, turkey slices, thinly sliced tomato.  This proves conclusively that I cannot, for the life of me, roll sushi- I don't understand!  It was so hard to roll this up, when logically, it should have just been, well, roll up tightly, no?  Ah well.  It still tastes good (I ate the ends when it was clear it wasn't going to fit in the box).

Bottom tier: new ideas, new ideas!  Normal cooked Napa cabbage on the left, and on the right... mini-shepherd's pie (I've got to fix that recipe; it is NOT one cup of soy sauce, more like a few tablespoons, my bad, I wrote that way back before I knew what a cup was)!  Well, not real shepherd's pie, I don't think, but my version, with a few tweaks this time around- I used individual aluminum muffin liners that claim "no muffin pan needed, these will stand up on their own!" and... added cheese on top, which I do not normally do, but sounded like it might be a yummy addition.  Here's hoping!

The color scheme is way off this morning, but probably because I was rushing around trying to do a million other things before I left, and it was really grossly humid and hot, which makes me move slower.  Ah well. 

I prepared a couple of these mini-shepherd's pies last night and popped them in the fridge, so this morning all I had to do was plunk them into the toaster oven and turn it to 350.  When the cheese had melted and I thought the whole thing was probably heated through, I turned the broiler on and browned the tops of the cheese really quickly (well, I was pressed for time, so I just crisped it without any browning).  Voila!  I am going to try to freeze a few as well and see how that turns out for re-heating down the line. 

As always, happy bento!!!

Feisty Bento #50: More yumminess

Left, from top: edamame (soy beans in pod), mini Milano cookies, mini grapes, and tongue onigiri
Right, from top: pork, leek and mushroom dumplings, seaweed salad, monterey jack + smoked mozzarella with salami slices, and cooked cabbage

Can't wait for lunch!!!

Happy bento!!!

But where do I GET bento?

The next question, after I've answered why and intrigued a person into wanting to bento for themselves, is always, "Okay, now what? Where can I get the supplies I need to bento?" Though I haven't the time today/right now to answer this in depth as I'd like to (with links and pictures to all of my own personal gear- I guess a bragging post of all my stuff, if you will!), I have to emphasize that you needn't any special gear to start bento'ing. You can use a regular plastic container leftover from takeout or whatever, it's just about maximizing the use of what space you have, making sure that the food doesn't shift in transit, and have fun with it! You don't need any cutters or molds or anything, just really, you can pack a sandwich, cut it in half and stack it in a slightly deeper box, then fill the side next to it with salad and a small container of dressing. It needn't be fancy, it's all about having fun and making your food interesting for *you*. Next time I have a chance, I will definitely post in-depth about all of the gear I have, what it's for and where to get it. Happy Bento!

Why do I bento?

Everyone has their own reasons to bento.  A lot of these reasons will be the same ones over and over, which is great, and some will be unique to the person.  Well, a number of people have asked me about my own personal reasons, so here they are:

I first got into bento after I saw Cooking Cute.  Well, I was into the idea, but I wasn't that into the work, and I lived so close to work at the time, I normally just went home for lunch, no packing necessary.  Separately, I'd found Mr. Bento by Zojirushi on Amazon, and desperately wanted one, despite thinking the whole thing was too big.  I didn't make the mental connection that Mr. Bento lunch jar was actually, well, bento'ing, either, since though it's in the name, I thought more along the lines of "boxes" as bento. 

Months passed, with me occasionally browsing Cooking Cute and drooling over her gorgeous creations.  Then Danielle of Habeas Brulee sealed the last nail in my coffin with this post, sending me over to Lunch in a Box, which showed me that bento can be aesthetically pleasing, delicious, fast, simple without being necessarily cutesy and time consuming.  (Looking at Danielle's post, I realized I never thanked her.  And actually, looking at the date, I ran out as soon as possible (I begged my brother to take me, ASAP, to a Korean supermarket so I could scour the place for bento, the night after I'd read that post, I believe), bought my first bento set, and the rest, as they say is history...  So, a big hearty thank you to Danielle for alerting me to this subculture of bento: not just pretty, but time-efficient. 

That's just how I got into it though.  Not why.

1. My wallet is very happy that I don't spend ridiculous amounts on lunch.  Even with our subsidized cafeteria, lunch at $5 a day comes out to be pretty expensive after a while, not to mention how many calories I'd be consuming.
2. I've lost [happily] about 10 lbs. since I started bento'ing about 3 months ago.  Portion control is so easy when you pack your own lunch into small compartments.
3. You know, I look forward to lunch every day now, it's much better than bringing a boring turkey sandwich every day because no matter how you spice it up, it's still a turkey sandwich.  With bento, it'd be that turkey sandwich, but with some edamame on the side, and over here some veggies and hummus, and over there a bit of fruit...
4. It really, truly makes me happy.  I mean, I cook for other people all the time, but usually when it comes to cooking for me, I laze up and just throw together some random stuff.  This is me taking the time to prepare stuff just for my own personal enjoyment.

Of course, there are some side benefits that came with these very selfish reasons.  For one, bento'ing is all about reducing waste, which is good for the environment.  I'm lowering my personal impact and footprint on the environtment, and though I admit I'm not the most environmentally-conscientious person (though in my high school days, I did a good bit of volunteer work including picking up trash, and I detest litterbugs), it's nice to know that I'm doing right by Mother Nature with my bento'ing. 

This ties in with reason #2, but knowing exactly what goes into my bento- even if it is pre-made gyoza or dumplings- is really just flat out good for me.  I can really be careful with what I'm eating- if I know something is a bit extra heavy or fatty, I can always bring less of it or reduce the amount of other foods I eat that day. 

So this is basically why I bento: to make me happy, to help reduce waste, and because I save a ton of money!

Other bloggers' reasons why:
Lunch in a Box
Freakin' Tasty Bento

***Personal anecdote here- yes, I'm going to mention a bit about myself!: Looking at the link for Lunch in a Box's reasons, I am reminded of my time in high school and how I grew to love Lunchables, purchased with my own money, for lunch, but they were quite expensive on my fairly standard allowance, especially bought at bodegas or convenience stores near school.  One day, I brought in a plastic container with crackers, cheese, sandwich meats (none of the gourmet stuff, I just ransacked my mother's fridge) and someone asked me what I was eating/why I'd brought it in.  I felt embarrassed to admit I hadn't the money to always buy Lunchables and kind of just mumbled and shrugged it off.  Hell, I'd thought it was a great idea on my part to try to recreate what they did, for cheaper! 
My father had noticed what I'd done but didn't know about the little run-in my ego had had, and the next morning, when I was leaving for school, handed me a rectangular Pyrex container he'd bought for me.  I peeked inside and he'd made me a wonderful lunch!  Looking back, it was definitely bento-style, though at the time, "bento" to me meant what you buy in Japanese restaurants that gets you the most food possible all in one order.  There was a deviled egg, salad, mini sandwich, all beautifully arranged.  I don't recall how I reacted- it wasn't negatively but it may have been neutral, I WAS a surly teenager- but when I got to school, it'd all shifted in transport and lost the beauty.  But I held my head high while I ate lunch that day.  Someone loved me and had spent all that time and effort into making my lunch.  (Occasionally, he would make me another lunch along the same lines, but the Pyrex container being glass was just too darn heavy and inefficient for me to always take.)
Along those same lines, a month or so ago, my mother sat at the dining table, watching me make my lunch and carefully arranging bits and pieces of food to fit the space I had.  She looked a bit pensive, so I said, "What are you thinking about?"
"Oh... just how if your Dad were here, what he'd say about this crazy thing you're doing..."
I hesitated before taking the leap, and asked, "Well, what would he say?"
"Well, he'd tell you to put this there, and that here, and he'd move and start doing it and eventually he'd just do it all himself and make your lunch for you." 
My initial reaction was, "Oh hell yea then I don't have to wake up early anymore to do it!!!" 
Of course, right after that thought, I just responded, "Yeah..."
At the end of this month, he'll have passed away 7 years now. 
So, I guess since my mother reminded me that once upon a time, someone else bento'd for me, it helps me feel closer to his memory.

As always, HAPPY BENTO!!!  Why do you bento?

Feisty Bento #49: New Bento Set, Hot Curry for Me

This is one of my new bento sets, making its debut!  Expect to see more of it in the coming winter months- love the insulated aspect.

A few months ago, I saw this set I really wanted from Lunch in a Box.  I didn't see it at Ichiban Kan in San Francisco when I went unfortunately, but I found this one - in this year's style, the smaller bag - on eBay and purchased it.  Look how cute!  It's completely insulated and

comea with a fork in a case which slips easily into the mesh pocket up top (where one could ostensibly also store napkins or other utensils), and on the right, two "side dish containers".  The left is a thermal jar with a top you pull off as opposed to unscrew- something that Biggie of Lunch in a Box says is a useful feature if you're packing food for a young child who may have trouble unscrewing a lunch jar. 

Hehe, oops, I overpacked the jar with too much rice.  It's not all rice; hiding underneath is Japanese curry, using a "rice lid" method I learned from Lunch in a Box. 

In the side dish on the left, pork & leek dumplings and gyoza sauce in case I find them dry, and in the right side cup, edamame and bean sprouts.  Yum.

The jar of curry, pre-adding the rice.  Supposedly using the "rice lid technique" in this jar will keep the curry hot along with the rice until lunchtime- you fill the jar with boiling hot water and let it sit for a little bit before emptying it, then adding your goodies. 

Having eaten lunch a while ago now (and waiting to post this), I can say that because I overfilled the jar, it didn't seal completely so my rice/curry wasn't piping hot.  HOWEVER, I firmly believe that's my fault and not the container's fault, so next time, I know better than to pack it so full.  Even still, the rice/curry was warm and tasty, soft and delicious.  YUMMY!

As always, HAPPY BENTO!!!

Feisty Bento #48: Sushi/Sashimi Bento?!

The Rambler!

Last night, it was soooo chilly/nippy/cold when I was walking home, I was like, you know what's great in cold weather?  No, after ramen/pho/Asian noodle soups... that's right baby!  Japanese curry!!!  I whipped up a decent sized batch, medium hot, which actually was just the right amount of spicy for me (I can't eat very spicy things).  Super thick, filled with carrots, onions, celery (the veggies I found in my house), and oh-so-good.  I also made plenty to bring to work today in my brand new thermal lunch jar bento set... but... but... my exceedingly thoughtful and lovely brother (encouragedforced by the lovely Elaine of heart-shaped meatloaf fame!) brought me home some sushi, and weighing which to bring to work today... umm... duh, the sushi wins out.  I was surprised though; look at what he handed me:

(Look at the colors!)  Two pieces each salmon and hamachi/yellow tail sushi; three pieces of tuna sashimi, two pieces of white tail sashimi, and four pieces of spicy tuna on top of yellowtail maki/roll.  It's so pretty!

Of course, any normal person would think, "How do I bring this to work?"  (Well, I would have eaten it right then except it was like 10 pm.)  Putting sushi in the fridge, in my experience, makes the rice go hard and kind of icky, but I am not one to be deterred.  I popped it in the fridge and decided it was time to debut one of the containers I bought in San Francisco... it has a freezy pack in the top of the container!  So cool! 

The Lock & Lock container on the left has canteloupe and in the middle, wasabi, in a separate small container I picked up in Ichiban Kan in San Francisco - it's originally for makeup, actually, and has a pink lid.  Three pack for $1 or 1.50 - it's perfect for containing the wasabi, but it was a bit narrow to dip the rolls in.
On the right, in the freezy pack container, I had to stack the sushi/sashimi two deep, but the container was deep enough for it.  I wound up eating the lone piece of tuna this morning that didn't fit and it was oh sooo good!  I also, in the interest of food safety, slipped pieces of ginger in any empty gaps as ginger has anti-bacterial properties to discourage bacteria growth.  I was worried about the texture of the rice later, but honestly, when I was packing it this morning, the rice was actually moist and still soft.  Weird, right?  But I'm not going to question my good fortune.  (Edit: Having now eaten lunch, I can say that the rice was actually surprisingly still soft and even fell apart a bit when I tried to pick up the rolls.)

I forgot to stick my chopsticks in the picture; these cute blue ones with their own case!

Of course due to the temperature sensitive nature of my lunch, I had to whip out one of my insulated lunch bags... the Rambler by Built NY/BYO!  (Seriously peoples I'm not sure why you haven't run out and bought some of this stuff yet.  It's AWESOME.  They even sell it at Whole Foods, or at least definitely the one on Bowery - which is huge and awesome and amazing actually - upstairs in the holistics department across that little bridge.  GO GO GO!)  Check it out!

As always, happy bento!!!

Feisty Bento #47: So many choices...

Today's bento: surprisingly, I am actually overflowing with food.  Well, not really, just not sure what I want to eat from all the stuff I have!  Oh crap, I just realized I forgot sauce for the "meatballs"...

Canteloupe snack/dessert on the left. 
Top tier: beef balls, blandly boiled, over shiitake mushrooms (I wanted to bring tonkatsu sauce to brighten these up...); edamame (soy beans in pods); bean sprouts (my mom has realized I will eat these in great quantity in my bento, so she keeps making them for me!  Thanks Mom!!!)
Bottom tier: roast pork + scallion onigiri; kyoto style pork chop, cut into bite size pieces; monterey jack cheese with salami; baby bok choi that I roasted quickly in the toaster oven with some soy sauce, sesame oil and freshly ground black pepper.

Happy Bento!!!