Bottom tier: more "oyako" Top tier: hummus and ciabatta sliced up- ciabatta courtesy of Zaro and it's YUMMY. The hummus container has a lid - though I've packed hummus before without a lid, this container fit well, so I thought I'd just add it - no spilling possible.
(Details of how I got the bread on Feisty Foodie!)
Can't wait for lunch today. I'm eating with one of my favorite girls, and it is so yummy looking!!!
Happy Bento!!!
I didn't want to jinx it which is why I didn't mention it before it happened... so, since July, I've been "in the process"- this long, grueling process that stressed me the freak out, which in part is why I've been sticking to this bento thing- of buying a co-op!!! Whee! I closed on Thursday which explains why I took some time off from work and stayed in New York (I tend to prefer going somewhere, anywhere, when I vacation, though this will probably change soon), and didn't make any bento...
(For the non-NYC-area people: click. A lot of non-NYC people have asked me what a co-op is, before which I hadn't realized it's mostly an NYC thing. It's like a condo, but not. Basically I bought a 1 bedroom apartment if you're not so inclined to click, but I had to go through an application process, including an interview and probably a background check, etc. etc. etc.)
I am now officially a homeowner!!! I hope to move in shortly, but am planning on painting first, so that's going to take a few weeks to get everything together and planned out...
And, the update on the goodie bags ... I only gave out one [of the ones pictured last time] so far, but mostly because I wasn't going to see her this week. I took off the candy canes and let those two remain the same. I haven't actually put together anymore, but tonight will be the big to-do where I put all of them together... BUT I gave out two larger goodie bags, and here's what they looked like- thanks Lilly for the idea/websites/how to's!!! (You guys all rock btw. I am really seriously not creative and not crafty- I can try as hard as you like but mostly I fall very, very flat.)
Easy enough even for someone like me. I punched two holes near the top and looped wired-ribbon through a few times then tied into a regular bow, looping a regular size candy cane through. Oddly enough, I messed up the green bag's bow, even though it was the 2nd one I did. Haha. I should have taken a picture of what went inside: everything I wrapped in about 20 minutes because I was in a huge hurry, and it came out decent, I think. I heard no complaints =P
(I'm not exchanging gifts with anyone this year outside of the obligatory family. These aren't gifts. These were little things I saw randomly and thought "OMG, [person] would love this!" so I picked it up. It wasn't expensive, but some of the items were kind of larger than you'd think for the price I paid. This is my disclaimer before people get mad at me or whatever. I genuinely like buying people things that I think they'd love, and in fact, I had to curtail buying some items for the green bag, since I saw a couple of other things I KNOW she'd have loved- including Greek honey- sorry sweetness! But yeah, no getting jealous, no getting mad, I love everyone, but some people I happen to know their tastes and happen to shop in stores that have a lot of that stuff more than, say, umm... other stuff.)
I really missed bento these past few days, especially when I hopped on the scale and noticed a few lbs. came back, but I am going to blame that on where I am in my cycle. (Not that you need to know this, but I am currently at "FAT" in my cycle.)
Oh, and that little paint swatch under my bento? That's what color my bedroom is going to be. "Caliente" - Benjamin Moore Aura. HOT. *wink* Or spicy, depending on how you want to translate...
Quick and easy bento today, to get me back in the swing of things!
Top tier: hummus, toasted pumpernickel cocktail bread
Bottom tier: roast pork, cucumber slices, and potato salad
BTW, I went to CostCo to pick up hummus and wow, it was $6 for 32 oz. I paid $6 for my 17 oz. container a week or two ago. I go through hummus fairly quickly, so I will definitely be going back for more... yumyum~!
Happy Bento!!!
Told you I'd use those brand new bento supplies sooner than later!!! Love the belt! I love the fat lil bunny on top of it especially, haha. It's keeping my two separate Lock & Lock containers tightly together. No kinchaku/wrap/bag around my bento today because the size of these boxes would take up too much room in a bag, inside my ('specially purchased handbag to fit a book for my commute + my bento right side up) bag. But loving it!!!
And, the contents.
turkey+cilantro+mayo+Romaine+tomato sandwiches on 12 grain bread; grape tomatoes & organic baby carrots
orange bell peppers + roasted pine nut hummus
I like how quick it is to make sandwich bentos. Plus I have the stuff so I have to use it before it goes bad. If you looked inside my fridge, though, you'd be terrified; there is enough food in there that I could just not go to work for a week and not leave the house, and not go hungry. Yes, that's a lot of nots, but oh well. And I LOVE hummus... that creamy, salty goodness (seriously, no pervy jokes or I will hurt you) on crunchy veggies is the bestest.
Packed in a 430 ml Lock & Lock along with a 180 ml Lock & Lock container, both purchased at Han Ah Reum on Northern Blvd. separately. These are great containers with a supposedly airtight seal- haven't tested this theory and will not be, but they are popular among the bento-making set for their ease of use, locks on all sides and variety of sizes.
Happy Bento!
This is a completely ridiculous picture that BF made me take last night. I'm faking the smile (although I do actually look quite happy) because I'm actually quite grumpy. It was 7:35 and our movie was at 8:10 but we were still waiting for a seat. We got to the theater at 8:21 and managed to only miss the teensiest bit. I don't think it hurt our enjoyment (or lack..) of the movie, either.
I look so farking tan, though...
Yet another new bento set. This one is in an insulated bag- well, so they said, but the bag is pretty thin, just seems to be lined with tin foil looking material. We'll see later if it kept my warm pasta warm and my cold hummus cold ;)
What's inside...? Too bad I don't have the matching fork for this. Oh well. Yes, I'm a sucker for matching things; it means I don't have to think!
And here's my bento for today.
Top tier: Hummus; baby carrots; smoked almonds tucked along the side
Bottom tier: green beans; more pasta
Yep, I made a huge container of the beans and pasta, so expect to see it a few more times. I haven't been eating dinner at home, so tons of leftovers solely for bento :)
HAPPY BENTO!!!
Top box: Romaine lettuce; low fat Hidden Valley ranch in 50ml bottle; a couple of cucumber bits scattered
Bottom box, from top left: marinated artichoke hearts; cucumber slices; hummus; mini bell peppers stuffed with hummus; in the little cute container, shredded Monterey and cheddar cheeses for sprinkling on said salad in top container
It's so pretty, even though there's no meat, I am happy. All the colors on the bottom make me squee. Even though I feel like crap, achey, headache, and just gross all over- I'm definitely coming down with something. Yay.
Happy Bento!
New kind of box - I saw these on Lunch in a Box a long time ago, and picked one up for $1.50 at Ichiban Kan (I think, there or Daiso) back in September. More details can be found all over LiaB (last link is the extended review)...
From left: meatloaf sandwich cut in half; mini bell peppers stuffed with hummus
This was a really fast lunch to pack. It was super cool to be able to unfold and flatten the entire box at the end of my meal, but my biggest gripe was that some of the hummus and tomato sauce topping slipped a little and got on the kinchaku I'd wrapped around it. (I used a bento belt to secure the whole thing since the lid didn't quite fit securely enough for my tastes.) After perusing LiaB's posts about the box, seems like I should have lined it with plastic wrap to solve that problem... but then what's the point of the holes and how's that make this an easy case to use? *shrug* I'm still iffy on it and plan on testing it out with a more regular sandwich - perhaps sliced chicken, mayo, etc. - before making a final decision on the case itself.
As always, happy bento and have a great weekend!
In the jar: chicken and veggie curry with a rice lid
Left container: various Korean banchans, crab meat salad, some beans, spicy green beans, more beans, spicy squid, jumble of stuff
Right container: hummus, sesame Melba toast
So last night I thought "I have no leftovers in the fridge. Damn. I don't know what to put in my bento. I won't be home for dinner tomorrow night either so what would I put on Wednesday, too?"
I realized I had some rice already in the fridge, and some Korean banchans from my nephew's birthday party on Saturday (my sister kindly gave me all the leftover banchans), hummus, some Melba toast in the cupboard, and of course, prepared curry in the freezer.
What would I do without my freezer staples?
Wind up paying a lot for lunch, probably! So here's to having a well-stocked freezer for moments like this!
Happy bento!
MOST BORING LUNCH EVER.
Yellow bell peppers; roasted pine nut hummus; baby carrots
Grape tomatoes; turkey+cilantro+mayo+Romaine+tomato on 12 grain bread
It's not a Hello Kitty! It's a tulip, just wider than most. Someone asked me to make sandwich bentos- well here's one. I'm not going to make these again until I am absolutely desperate- this has to be the worst bento ever, not just color-wise but feeling-wise, I am not excited to eat lunch at all. Maybe it's because I had to cut out a sandwich! (I ate the scraps as breakfast.) Or maybe I just feel like I can eat sandwiches, veggies and hummus anytime at all and bentos are meant to be special, made with love & care and.... I don't know, maybe I'm just crazy.
Happy Bento!
Cucumbers; hummus; Singapore style mai-fun (not spicy; has a little bit of curry in it)
I think I'm over my food poisoning; I promptly inhaled anything in sight over the weekend because after eating a few bites of whatever everyday for a week, I deserved some food. For those of you so kind to tell me, "At least you're losing weight!" from not eating... I didn't lose a single pound. I don't get it. Ah well. It's okay; that'd be weight lost the unhealthy way and would return anyway. It would've been nice to at least see the scale drop beyond the 1[x]0 mark, though... (I'm a little shy about my exact weight.)
This box is the one I mentioned previously that I got at Target- the first time using it was a week ago, to hold the broccoli from my fated food poisoning bento (though the clams were in the other box). Since it's really way too big for me to comfortably justify filling and eating, I filled the cup less than halfway with hummus (and it was still a bit much), and cucumbers are so low calorie, I think that's okay. The noodles were also filled to less than halfway, but I was still full. Success!
Happy bento'ing!
Top tier: taramasalata macaroni (NO MAYO) with green onions sprinkled on top; kickin' chicken
Bottom tier: cucumber slices, grape tomatoes, and of course, hummus!
I've got a lot to talk about today!
First, the taramasalata macaroni. This is my version of tarako spaghetti, using what's available to me. A while back, I realized that I really like cod roe spread, known as "red caviar spread" at Turkish Kitchen and taramasalata in Greece. Of course, it was phenomenal at those two places, but while we were in Greece, I saw it in every grocery store we ventured into (maybe 3? You can tell a lot about a country by its supermarkets, and also, they have some snacks that are just crazy and totally unavailable here) in the area where you might find string cheese in a US supermarket. Right by all the prepackaged cheeses and "deli" items. So about a month ago, I decided it must be found somewhere here, I'm in a huge city and we do have our pockets of Greek neighborhoods... I'd found it online but wanted to see it in person before I shelled out for it... and I finally found that very same brand in a very ethnic store in my neighborhood (they sell all sorts of cool foreign items, including these wonderful looking cartons of various nectars that I desperately want to try, especially the cherry nectar, that must be so good splashed in a Grey Goose/cranberry drink...). I mentioned mixing it in pasta a few weeks ago so here it is, and I was right: it's perfect, no additions needed. The green onions were for color and because I like the flavor of green onions.
Second, the kickin' chicken. I've mentioned it a few times here, and this dish has become a true staple of my life. Whenever I don't know what to make or don't feel like thinking, this is what I do:
Chicken thighs - boneless/skinless in this case, but I don't mind being frugal and buying them with the bone in/skin on, or even with drumsticks attached. I think it works best with dark meat though.
KC Masterpiece BBQ sauce- I'd prefer to use my own, but it's been a while since I've had the time or inclination to make any.
Crushed red pepper flakes, to taste. (Bento is my way of controlling my weight, and I read somewhere that if you eat spicy foods, you're less likely to snack later. You can totally omit these if you like though.) Alternatively, you can add a bit of honey.
Line a baking dish/pan with foil (easy clean up! this dish is all about easy everything). Rinse off chicken, pat dry, place in dish and sprinkle a teensy bit of salt and freshly ground black pepper over chicken. Bake at 350 degrees for a little bit until chicken is more white than not (this should only take 10-15 minutes in a toaster oven, like I use).
In the meantime, mix the BBQ sauce with the red pepper flakes and/or honey in a small bowl.
Once the chicken has turned white, you can slather on some BBQ sauce, cook for a bit longer, then flip it, cook for a bit longer, and keep it up with the BBQ sauce. You'll probably want to throw all of the BBQ sauce on there and let it heat through just to be sure any and all germs from raw chicken are killed. Total cooking time for 5 chicken thighs should be at least 30-35 minutes, you can let it go longer if you like or if your chicken doesn't feel done.
Once done, allow to cool slightly, move to a container (taking all the sauce with it!) and using two forks, pull the chicken meat apart. Voila! Kickin' chicken! and perfectly sized to put in your bento- no bones, no mess, just use a fork and you're good. Enjoy!!!
Last but not least, my cucumbers! These are a bento's best friend. Well, one of them. Known as hothouse, English, seedless or burpless cucumbers, these bad boys come wrapped in plastic and don't need to be washed or peeled. The skin is thinner than regular cucumbers (I believe that's why they're called burpless) so in the morning, if you're looking for something green, all you have to do is whip one of these out of the crisper, slice away and pack! No washing, peeling, really no fuss about them. Great with hummus, too!
Happy bento and as always, if you have any questions, feel free to ask!!!
Dinner last night at Thai Me Up.
Another vegetarian bento-
top tier: chocolate covered peanut butter pretzels; hummus stuffed mini bell peppers
bottom tier: edamame; vegetarian duck
So I did about 8 of them last night. The candy canes just are looped loosely over the top; this is the easiest way with the ribbons. I ran out of ribbon, too. *sob* It's okay, I don't really care, I'd like to have gold ribbon instead actually. Hmm I wonder how much ribbon I have left. I also ran out of stuff- apparently I cannot count, the sad thing being I keep track of these things in Excel and it was a simple matter of ordering xx number of each item but I chose to order different numbers for each item. I still cannot fathom why I would do such a thing. My only guess is that I hadn't intended on giving to my groupmates at work (just a few select people that I'm friends with), but my groupmates started giving stuff out everyday since Tuesday (!) so I felt like a tool if I didn't reciprocate. That was an extra 5 that I'd intended to just distribute amongst the females in B's family... but ah well. (We have a rule/deal: I buy the presents for my family and stick his name on there, and vice versa. So basically, my family loves him, and his family thinks I'm an asshole. They get gift cards from him! I put thought into my gifts. Ahhh... what a shit deal, and I made it [because I used to go bonkers thinking of gifts for his family and he'd still give them gift cards with my name on it, so I felt like it was a waste of money plus no one seemed to appreciate my gift. Fuck'em.] but oh well.)
So the title of my blog today. I was just asking someone yesterday how to get other people to stop touching me. I believe I blogged about this months ago when she first did it, but the woman who sits next to me- a slightly older woman who is so well-meaning, I genuinely believe that- she once came over to me when my hair was loose and started stroking it, exclaiming how nice my hair was (it's only okay; I don't lie to myself about how nice it is, just what color) and how her son loves Asian hair. SKEEVE. She continued to stroke it and talk about her son. GROSS. She did this at least one other time while I kind of sat, frozen and uncomfortable.
She's a groupmate, so of course she got a goodie bag. And after she opened it, she exclaimed "Oh you're so sweet!" and then said, "I just have to give you a hug!" and started to approach me, which was the perfect opening for me to blurt out...
"Oh please don't!" with this apologetic tone and look on my face. She stopped, looking uncertain, so I felt the need to explain, "I appreciate the thought but I really don't like being touched," and she just said "Oh... okay," looking confused and retreated to her desk.
This is perfect, but WHY do I still feel like an ASSHOLE for having said it? For having said outright how I feel and getting what I want: to no longer be touched?
Top tier: lots of hummus, sprinkled with parsley and sesame seeds for color; toasted pumpernickel cocktail bread
Bottom tier: yay! kickin' chicken, and marinated artichoke hearts on top of pickled radish (I thought the color contrast would be nice but it didn't show up anyway)
Happy bento, and have a great holiday! I'm going out with friends for lunch tomorrow, so my next bento will be next Wednesday. Have a wonderful and safe holiday, everyone!!!
Top tier: refreshing tea salad
Bottom tier: hummus & baby carrots
Recipe for the salad to come soon... on The Feisty Foodie ;) part of the whole Lipton thing... yummy!
Happy bento!!!
Top tier: Sabra brand hummus; toasted pumpernickel cocktail bread stacked; grape tomatoes
Bottom tier: Ratatouille; Chinese roast pork (char siu); store bought potato salad (Sally Sherman brand)
Okay, let's talk: first, I bought the potato salad after seeing potato salad on SushiDay and just like, wanting potato salad but being too lazy to go through all the steps of her recipe (it's not hard, it's just time consuming and I have had NO time to myself lately...). I walked into a grocery store and saw tubs of this stuff going for $1.50 so I said why not, I'll try it, and brought it home. This morning, when I opened it and started to scoop it out, it was gummy and gross looking, not even a sliver of vegetable (the way I like my potato salad, with some crunch, some contrasting textures!). Ugh. Maybe I can feed it to my brother.
Second, this is probably blasphemy coming from not just a fangirl of Pixar/Disney and all cutesy movies with talking animals, and also from someone who not only lives and eats in NYC, takes the subway with plenty of rats all the time, and honestly, I have eaten in some really delicious dive joints that undoubtedly have rats in the back by the garbage- and according to the people I know who OWN restaurants, well, all restaurants have rats etc. etc. etc. Fine. But I watched Ratatouille recently and had to stop myself from throwing up. I kept gagging and eventually I busied myself looking at stuff on the comptuer instead of looking at the screen the whole time, because I was really disturbed and grossed out by the rat cooking. And other choice scenes which, if you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about. I don't even consider myself squeamish or easily grossed out by much, but something about seeing a rat cook just turned my stomach. Maybe it's because cooking is an activity I really enjoy and consider myself proficient at, I don't really know, I just know that Remy really made me want to barf.
But at a French restaurant on Friday night (review coming on Feisty Foodie!), I decided to order a side of ratatouille to see how it tastes. I'm positive it wasn't a rat back there cooking it, anyway.
It's okay; stewed vegetables and I'm not a huge fan of super soft mushy veggies. But the flavor is very powerfully concentrated, which, if you like the vegetables in that particular mix, is delicious.
As always, happy bento!!!
Greek/Mediterranean/Middle Eastern theme...
Top tier: baked falafel; hummus
Bottom tier: seasoned rice; beans; lamb souvlaki from Corfu Grill
HAPPY BENTO!
I made these two - that's right, two! - bento today. And neither of them are for me!
My darling friends & coworkers, Orzo and Debbie Downer, both are an invaluable help to me personally. In my personal life, not with work or anything (because we all know they're both kind of useless with work problems- just kidding, haha), and to show my gratitude, I whipped up these two bento for them.
(As for me, because we wound up going out for pizza yesterday, I just stuck mine in the fridge and am going to eat it today.)
Left bento, blue for Orzo's supposed status as a boy: garlic pesto tortilla wrapped around ham, cheese, a bit of mayo, green onion and tomato; mock shepherd's pie; 5 mini Milano cookies.
Right bento, neutral color for Debbie Downer- the cover says "Happy Everyday!", a reference to a private joke: 5 mini Milano cookies; mock shepherd's pie; sun dried tomato tortilla wrapped around hummus, broiled asparagus and red bell pepper.
Did you notice, I'm getting better at this rolling thing? I figured out that you have to pull back a bit to tighten the insides before rolling it. Hah... um, yeah. So maybe that would have been obvious but like I said, I don't roll sushi, though I've seen people do it before, so I was just like, OHHH.... and I'm picking up a few tricks here and there. Maybe I will be able to roll sushi one day!
Oh, and the mock-shepherd's pie didn't get cheese this time around because I didn't like how the cheese was after sitting at room temp until lunch time. It had cooled, of course, but the texture and taste didn't do it for me. Ah well. The one I froze had cheese on top of it, so we'll see how that fares in a week or so...
Happy Bento!!!
Top tier: roasted pine nut hummus; grape tomatoes; cucumbers; Harry & David pear slices (dipped in acidulated water to prevent browning)
Bottom tier: leftover lo mein; seafood gyoza
Lunch time!
Happy bento everyone- I'm off all next week so I will return on January 28th!
Right side: cucumber slices, roasted pine nut hummus
Left side: bulgogi
I forgot to take pictures of the package- I want to do a full review- but yesterday, I hit the Trader Joe's that recently (October) opened in my 'hood. Interestingly, it has some items that I've heard other bento'ers mention that the Trader Joe's in Manhattan/NYC doesn't have, including this bulgogi; marinated slices of raw beef in a Korean sesame sauce. At $5.29/lb. it's not exactly cheap but it cooked up in my toaster oven, on broil, in about 7 minutes, on the foil lined baking tray, so it's an awesome time saver. Each package is about 1 lb. so it's probably a bit much to eat in one shot (which I did today, blarghhh...) but definitely good for a meal x2! Or maybe two bentos if you pack for more than just yourself. I sprinkled some extra sesame seeds on top to emphasize the point...
They were pretty good but once they got too cold, it was a little bit gross to eat. And I'd want to cut them into smaller slices before I cooked it next time, for easier eating.
As always, happy bento'ing!!!
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!!!
So yesterday I wrote how freezer staples can help you in a pinch. Ummm... I still have curry in the freezer, but no rice, and nothing really to work with, so this is my sad lunch bento for today. Vegetarian, aren't you proud? Ummm.... yeah.
Sesame Melba toast, hummus and cucumbers.
Happy bento! (I had a big breakfast of bread to counter this, and I might pick up something later if this really isn't enough.)
