I've been using my Ms. Bento a lot because lately I don't get a lunch break at work (call the police!!!)  I'm in love that I can open up my hot lunch at my desk instead of eating a room temperature sandwich.

Love it, Love it!

Fortunately, I got a new job!!!  I start on Monday and boy, am I thrilled!  I will miss my old company and my old co-workers dearly, but I think it is time I moved on.  There is stability in my future.

Besides the awesomity of a hot lunch with no time for the microwave...

How many of you like Filipino food?  I tried making my own pork guisantes (what? i don't need to buy it?!) and it turned out wonderful.

I got the recipe from www.foodnetwork.com:

Pork Guisantes (Filipino Pork and Peas):
Ingredients

• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 onion, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 lb lean pork, sliced in small pieces
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp patis
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 oz. tomato paste
• 1 pkg (6 oz) frozen peas
• 1 can (3-4 oz) pimientos, sliced
• Salt to taste

Directions

Heat oil in large skillet. Saute garlic, onions and pork until browned. Add soy sauce, patis, water and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until pork is tender, about 5-7 minutes. Add tomato paste, peas and pimientos. Simmer for 5 more minutes. Salt to taste.

I didn't know it was so easy. My Mom would be so proud!  Here are the left overs in my bento:


(click for larger image)

Rice; pork guisantes; cucumber, fried eggplant, orange bell peppers, pickled cucumbers.

Congratulations to me for my new job and my new ability to cook Filipino food!
 

Hi, everyone!

I got a red Smart Bento for Christmas! I'm very excited about using it for the first time, and I was wondering if anyone on this comm has one. Its dimensions are quite narrow, so I'd be interested in seeing how people pack them.

But my main question is this: Are they microwave-friendly? The instructions that came with it are in Japanese, but there's a drawing of what looks like a microwave with a big X through it. I am not sure whether that means the whole thing is not microwavable, or just the lids, or what. I know that most bentos are microwavable without the lids, but I'd like to hear from someone who actually owns one of these particular boxes.

Thanks!

Banning those holiday treats and getting back to healthy eating.

Read more about this bento on hapa bento.

Let's sing it... "on the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...."

Read more about this holiday bento on hapa bento's blog.

Wow it's been a long time since I last updated. Sorry for having disappeared for a while. I still read the updates in here but have not been posting or commenting much. As I have recently mentioned on my food blog, I pretty much went 'off' food for the past few months while dealing with morning (read: all-day-and-night) sickness and the exhaustion typical of early pregnancy. I did very little cooking and not many bento lunches were packed. Even when I did pack lunches, they were not very inspired and I did not bother taking any photos. I am feeling much better now halfway through my pregnancy (I am due at the end of April 2010) and it's been really good to get back to cooking and bento again. Here are a couple of them that made it to photos:

Chicken rice, cucumber slices, steamed chicken breast, char siew (Chinese bbq pork) and kai lan in oyster sauce.


Tuna pasta salad with sundried tomatoes, sliced red peppers and hummus


I am looking forward to getting back to more regular bento-making in the new year. I know that most people are probaly busy with holiday festivities now. Merry Christmas to you all and have a great new year ahead. Cheers to more bento ideas and may your Christmas stockings be filled with lots of bento kit and goodies!

I believe this is my... Eleventh bento?
Haven’t really been brining lunch to school recently ever since I discovered my school’s salad bar!



Top: Broccoli and leftover baked potato
Left: Honey turkey, lettuce and mayo on a whole wheat roll
Right: Pineapple Tidbits


With today being the last day of school before vacation, I don’t think I’ll be having any more bentos until the new year.
Happy holidays!!

I wanted another festive-themed bento, but several timing- and cooking-related disasters later it's just a random veggie bento. Oh well, as long as it's pretty and tasty...!

Small box (background): couscous, carrot shaves and halloumi on lettuce, cherry tomatoes.
Big box(foreground): More halloumi, Ajvar, cherry tomatoes, fried zucchini chips, baked potato wedges, and a piece of Knäck.

This may or may not be the last post this year. We'll see how I feel tonight!

;)

My bentoblog: http://wererabbits.wordpress.com

I just made my first bento!

Swedish meatballs + sauce.
Baby carrots.
Egg.
Rice.
and
Fruit snacks!!! :3

( Photo )
It isn't anything special, but it is my first so I love it to death.

This may well be the last bento of the year (unless I decide to make some for myself during the christmas days where I'm working *sigh*) so.. a Christmas Tree was in order, I thought...

Funny enough this is probably the fastest bento I've ever made, I think it took 15 minutes max - but then again I already had the meat, leftover from dinner, and it's not exactly elaborate, so...

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYBODY!

Bento # 679 Pork pot roast with mandarin wedges. Pasta with ketchup, covered with sugar snaps, corn, carrots, sweet red pepper and peas.

Paperwhites for lunch?   Read more about the leftovers on hapa bento.

( Contents and additional bento )

I have a Christmas present bento today, do you know the theme? Read about it on my blog and take a first look at my upcoming bento book, Yum-Yum Bento: Fresh Recipes for Adorable Lunches!

So, this was the last bento this year since I have holidays now, my mom cooking and won't be in need of bentos until the middle of January. =)

Today's nothing fancy, because I just needed a quick snack for lunch. So everything is rather finger food like.



For description and some thoughts see my journal

I wish you all a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Ps: What is it with lj screwing the display format of every post? It's not funny to edit every entry after submitting so it doesn't look strange... (and I saw some of you having the same problem...)

Here are two bentos that I made for this week. Enjoy.

Salmon cakes, veggies and rice

 

Steak, mango, ginger and noodles

Here's today's lunch, the last bento before I have some time off for Christmas! Leftovers from yesterday's lunch out... chicken enchiladas with mushroom cream sauce, rice with poblano peppers, guac pouring sauce, my homemade granola bars and a gingerman pick. Not the best pic using the office camera, but a spicy wake-me-up for mid day.

Here is the blog post as promised! :) Using my Ms. Bento from my brithday (in August!) for the first time. I know, how ashamed I am that I took so long to try it out!

(click for larger photo) Pork tofu, rice, chicken karaage, cucumber pickles, orange bell pepper. This Ms. Bento is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. I own a Tiger thermal: post here, but I was pretty peeved when I found out that it wasn't leak proof. The Ms. Bento soup container IS leakproof and it held my soupy pork tofu perfectly. I heated it up in the morning with some boiling water for about 5 minutes and it kept my food hot until lunchtime. Definitely a great present. :) Till next time!

So, here we have today's bento.



The top box is curry noodles with chicken and broccoli. (Leftover dinner from yesterday). The bottom is asparagus, cut veggies and little sandwiches with brie and pumpernickel. Also a tomato flower and some pear/ physalis for dessert.

( more... )

This bento box almost didn't happen. Details on hapa bento.

I didn't post # 677 yesterday because.. frankly it's so utterly pathetic and ugly that the only reason I'm posting it at all is because I don't want a gap in my postings here... So to counterbalance that, I had to think of something at least CUTE for the newest one, # 678 - and I think I succeeded. Christmas elves play a lot bigger role in Danish yule lore than most other countries. In Denmark it's the elves (or nisser, they're somewhere between gnomes and elves, not REALLY being either one) that brings the christmas presents, sometimes helped by Santa, but they've sorta mixed here. So they're a common sight on christmas cards and of course in any sort of christmas decoration. And now on bentos, too :)

Bento # 678 Ovenbaked pasta and veggies in cheese/cream sauce. Decorated with christmas elves made of baloney, salami, red and yellow sweet pepper and carrot. Trees of cucumber. Chicken katsu with tonkatsu sauce. Kiwi.

( If you insist, here's the pathetic # 677... )

( Contents and Lil' man's bento )

Today's bento:



Main dish is the same as yesterday. Chicken with teriyaki sauce and rice with furikake. Side dish is vegetables (carrots, zucchini, broccoli, asparagus) and some mousse au chocolat with pear-decoration.

( more... )

I don't usually do charaben, but I guess I have to have one winter-themed charaben this year! I've wanted to make an onigiri snowman pretty much ever since I started bentoing, but I didn't get around to it.
The snowman is accompanied by seasonally appropriate green asparagus and red glazed carrots (the red is food dye), and a bit of veggie burger with a Thai basil leaf.

;)

My bentoblog: http://wererabbits.wordpress.com

Once again, reality put a money wrench in my plans. I'd planned the two quail eggs to be baubles on a christmas tree... but then one of them cracked duriing cooking so half of the stuff poured out into the water, leaving me with only half an egg.. And that half looked t me like the top of a candle.,.so after some experimentation where I had to reluctantly admit that the half that was left would NOT look like a bauble no matter how I put it.. I decided to give in and make it into yet another candle..

Bento # 676 Spicy pollack. Kiwi. Tri-coloured spaghetti with pesto, adorned with leek "spruce", quail egg-and-carrot-candle, carrot stars, cucumber baubel with nori angels and -heart. Yellow pepper for the numbers and light rays.

Want to learn bento box songs in Japanese? I made a couple of quick videos of me singing them with the associated hand motions.

( Two bento box song videos )

I'm donating a "Winnie the Pooh Goes Bananas" Bento Kit to the Menu for Hope hunger fundraising charity -- US$10 gives you a chance at this bento set with Winnie the Pooh food shaping tools (sandwich cutter, egg mold, onigiri mold, vegetable cutters) & silicone food cups, Putifresh banana bento box, kinchaku bag, insulated lunch bag, matching chopsticks/case, bento band, and a "spife" (spoon/knife) for packing a whole kiwifruit. Full details here at Lunch in a Box, with a photo of the set behind the cut.

( Photo of the bento set )