Feisty Bento #239: Super Quickie Bento

Super quickie bento, as I'm still feeling under the weather... in fact, I'm dizzy and want to just lie down right now, but alas, I've got the commute home to think about...

Left to right: World's Best Chicken Salad; Trader Joe's brand dolmas (dolmades or stuffed grape leaves, depending on where you're from)

As for the stuffed grape leaves, it was unfortunate that the first one I took out of the jar (not pictured here) was super veiny, and really unpleasant to bite into, ew.  Since then, the leaves haven't been quite as veiny but still veinier than I'm used to (usually, I think they are completely de-veined so that it's a smooth bite, nothing to really bite THROUGH, per se).  The taste is fine otherwise: a bit mushy, as expected from grape leaves that are shelf stable and filled with just rice and lemon juice.  Tasty, but nothing to blow your senses.  I think it was only $2.99 a jar though, so not a bad idea for a staple in your fridge for a quickie bento like this morning's for me. 

HAPPY BENTO!!!

Feisty Bento #238: I am officially sick

I am feeling under the weather, so this is a late and quick post...

Top tier: Caesar salad leftovers from a restaurant, review to come
Bottom tier: Grilled multi-color peppers; sauteed Napa cabbage; World's Best Chicken Salad

That's what I'm naming my new recipe for chicken salad.  I will be posting the recipe on Friday for Recipe Fridays over at Feisty Foodie, so stay tuned. 

HAPPY BENTO!!!

Feisty Bento #237: Getting sick...

Top tier: Assorted pickled veggies; scattered cabbage & sausage; small cup of roasted tomatoes; mango pudding
Bottom tier: Grilled peppers; container of honey mustard for the sausage & cabbage; more sausage & cabbage

I'm coming down with something (I guess I'll make this on Saturday...) and very annoyed with a few things right now.  So this is it, but have a great weekend!!!

HAPPY BENTO!

Feisty Bento #236: More again yes the same

I admit, I bought a good amount of bento stuff during my SF 2k8 trip.  I didn't take a big shot of all my bounty spread out on the bedspread this time, and it's so much fun making you wait and doing slow reveals!!!  I'm evil, but this is in part due to Cookie, who occasionally emails me around noon to ask me "What, no bento?  Why haven't you posted it yet?  WHAT DO YOU HAVE FOR LUNCH?" but has been swearing since forEVER that she's going to get a camera and start posting her own bento.  Uh huh.  I'll believe it when I see it...

I love bento shopping in SF.  A reader emailed me recently asking if there were any bento shopping tips I could give her for an upcoming trip to NYC.  But then she said she was from somewhere near the Bay Area, and I told her, "No... really?  No way!  Don't bother bento shopping here.  Everything's overpriced and there's nothing you can get here that you can't get in SF for $1.00 or $1.50."

For example, I bought this Strawberry Candy set - bento, matching fork, matching bag, matching band, for $1.50 each piece.  That comes out to $6.00 total.  I don't think I could even find this here - if I did, it'd be everything altogether, for hmm $8 or more?  Maybe $10, since my first bento set was $17.99 (no utensils, just the bag and the boxes), and my second one was $17 (two tier box, plain band, bag).  Yeah.

Top tier:  roasted grape tomatoes; cut up steak
Bottom tier: bok choi salad (last of it, boohoo); pickled cucumbers and peppers and stuff; cabbage/sausage mix; honey mustard for the cabbage & sausage mix; grilled peppers

Mmm, I can't wait to go eat this, so I think I shall!!! 

HAPPY BENTO!!!

Feisty Bento #235: Same insides, different outsides

One of my latest bento purchase from my trip to San Francisco.  I haven't opened anything.  That's sad, isn't it?  This box holds 610 ml, surprisingly, since it looks small.  It's squat is all.  It was $1.50 at Daiso in Serramonte Center, Daly City...  and I admit, I mostly bought it because everything suddenly clicked in my head- well, it's a long story about how I cannot think outside the box for the life of me, sadly.  Anyway, I also bought it because Jenn always raves about these boxes. 

I had to buy the matching fork and bag, of course, but I didn't photograph those.  Hehe.  Jury's still out on these boxes, will have to wait until I've washed the box and used it a bit more ;)

Top tier: buttered mixed veggies; pork tenderloin with gravy; mango pudding; pickled cucumbers and peppers
Bottom tier: bok choy salad; roasted peppers

I told you, it would be more of the same all week.  Except this is the last of the pork and buttered veggies.  So I'll have a different protein tomorrow and possibly new veggies.  We'll see.  I'm in a real cooking mood.  Too much eating out lately...

Before I go, I wanted to alert you (because I'm nice like that, even though this decreases my chances of winning... maybe I shouldn't tell you... well, what the heck?) to a contest going on over at Not Exactly Bento.  One of my absolute favorite bento blogs, you should check out her site even if you don't bento or don't want to enter the contest cuz it's kick-butt.  (Keeping it G rated here.)  Seriously, it amuses me to no end that she frequently says "I'm not a good cook," but then wakes up at 4:38 am to make biscuits from scratch or makes gorgeous brownies... (I could swear she once posted about waking up early with a brownie craving and baking at 7 am but I can't find it, boo).  Anyway, I can't bake for crap, so her baking on the fly like it ain't no thang but a chicken wang?  IMPRESSES THE HELL OUT OF ME. 

Anyway, go enter her contest, and then stick around and see what else is bento'ing.  You won't be sorry you did :)

HAPPY BENTO!!!

Feisty Bento #234: Repeats

Hi guys, sorry for the late posting.  I was so caught up trying to write this post, I kind of forgot to post my lunch yesterday.  Ack.  That post was a total labor of love, dude...

Expect to see the same lunch for a while...

Top tier: buttered mixed veggies; pork tenderloin with gravy; roasted peppers
Bottom tier: bok choy salad; pickled cucumbers and peppers; cabbage & sausage mix

Yummy...!

Happy bento!!!

Feisty Bento #233: Leftovers Galore

Lots of recipes forthcoming for the items in this bento, but you're going to have to be patient... I am still slowly posting my SF 2k8 meals!  Patience...

Oh, it was a sister's-house-heavy-weekend, so these are almost all leftovers "stolen" from her house. :)

Top tier: Cabbage & sausage; pork tenderloin with gravy; mixed veggies with butter
Bottom tier: Pickled cucumbers; roasted peppers; bok choy salad (I am so excited about this recipe, I can't wait until I make it so I can post about it and give some notes!)

Happy bento!!!