Eat my Bento!

Sturdy Bento Boxes

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 00:36:37 GMT

Does anyone have any recommendations for a sturdy bento box that can take a beating? I'm a clumsy college student that drops things a lot and the bento I have currently is too small and pops open even if you jostle it gently. A chart I read said I'd need one that was at least 600 ml.

I've looked through sites but it's hard to tell. D:

Selling my bento stash

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 01:38:00 GMT

I apologize if this post isn't allowed here. I read through the FAQ and posting guidelines and did not see anything about it. I am selling my bento stash at my website. Each item is priced separately, but if anyone wants to take the whole lot, please contact me to work out a price. Everything is in good condition, so please consider giving my supplies a home!

Samhain bento!

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 08:58:56 GMT

Boyfriend's Samhain bento, #62 [09-11-2010]
Originally uploaded by Cy-V

Samhain, a pagan 'day of the dead', new years and just wonderful day altogether, was the 9th of November. This bento was made with leftover carrots, the soul cakes (click for my explanation if you have no idea what this is, or what this has to do with Samhain) I made just had to be in the bento =)

They don't look so fancy, but with a story:

Representing the 4 quarters of the moon, soul cakes have been a part of Samhain, and since the middle ages of all soul's eve, for decades. Probably not very known anymore, but these do have had a major influence on history, especially in the United States (though also on the Dutch).
"Explanations on the origins of soul cakes vary. Some say that cakes were baked for the bonfires and that they were a lottery: pick the burnt cake, and you get to be the human sacrifice that ensures good crops next year. Or, soul cakes may have been tossed around an area to appease evil spirits condemned to wander in animal form." (NPR.org)
By the 8th century they were given to beggars going from door to door, and promised to pray for the giver's soul in return for the cookie.

They came in al shapes and sizes, some more cake-y, some more like cookies, others hard as rock. Thick, thin, with or without cross, gingery or saffrony: it's really hard to give _the_ recipe.

I like these, because of the moon reference, and the sun because of their yellow look caused by the saffron and egg yolks (hard to tell on the pic though).

I'll put two on my altar and bury them later. The rest I will eat with my housemate and boyfriend p=
The next batch had twice the thickness, btw.

Top tier contains a pasta salad based on a somen salad recipe: red onions, cucumber, tuna, yoghurt mayonnaise (I think regular tastes too fatty), shoyu and pepper and salt.

I'm pink dabadeedabadaaaa!

Mon, 08 Nov 2010 16:13:14 GMT

Bento #61 [08.11.2010]
Originally uploaded by Cy-V

I was feeling pink today, as you can see. My first attempt into making a kyaraben. The onigiri, sausages and cooked veggies were prepped yesterday so I wouldn't have to cook today, and I finished it this afternoon. I woke up with a foul mood, being homesick half a year after I've moved, so if it looks a bit rushed: True.
The pics look a bit odd here, but had no short pink or pig picks (say that fast 5 times 'pink pig picks'), but I can't possibly pick up balls of pears with my chopsticks without making a fool of myself. And I really need nori face punches >.<

The onigiri are coloured and flavoured by beetroot, with some sushivinegar and cinnamon. YUM!

10 bento's, halloween and my 50th bentoversary!

Tue, 02 Nov 2010 12:12:02 GMT

I keep forgetting to post, gome! I figured out I had numbered my bento's wrong, and actually 'missed' my 50th bentoversary, so it wasn't as spectacular as I wanted. Not at all actually. It was a simple soboro bento XD
My boyfriend also told me he'd rather have his food mixed (besides the sidedishes) which makes stuff a bit harder presentation-wise. But I'll just have to be creative =) We finally have the new bento's, his 1000 ml one, and my 560 ml thermos one. Looove! I notice it's a bit harder for me to fill a bigger bento, but it just means using more stuff, which in the end is good offcourse! But, on to the pictures! Small previews before, bigger pictures after the cut!

I wanted to put some animal in as a joke and referral to world animal day,
but as Pepijn eats with others I decided to downgrade the cutesy a lot, and
make kyaraben for myself.

So he has a vegetarian soboro, doofu soboro if I'm not mistaken, which is
rice with moist 'furikake': scrambled egg and -in this case- tofu. It's my
own recipe, as I found so many variations. I just made up something myself,
using the base of all those recipes as a reference.

Normal soboro uses chicken, or beef, but I feel we eat to much meat lately,
so it's nearly vegetarian. The patties are two tuna-potato fishcakes , and
by a recipe of Debra from www.hapabento.com. I think they're a bit too
chewy, but that might be just my fault. They're very tasty though! I'll try and give him a small bottle
of ketchup, but I'll have to look for a neutral one. I think I only have
pigs atm.

I think the rest is selfexplanatory: tamagoyaki with yakinori and some
vegetables =3

Bottom tier (top on pic): Surimi sushi, quail eggs, sautéed mushrooms, soy sauce. Put the mushrooms in a silicon cup so it could be used for the soy sauce.

Top tier (bottom on pic): Grapes, bellpepper, broccoli, raw carrots, cherry tomatoes and bellpepper heart.

Hers

His
A his and her bento, for me to take to the woods, for him to bring to his internship.

Corn on the cob, cherry tomatoes, grapes, quail egg, tori karaage with lemon.
Rice with nuts, seeds and dried fruit, sautéed mushrooms.

His

Hers
Another his and her bento.
For him to bring to his internship, for me to bring when I go for a walk.

Contains couscous with corianderpesto (75g feta, 55 g almonds, 30 g coriander, 6 tbs olive oil, zest and juice of 1 lemon: blitz) accompanied by homemade falafel, cherry tomatoes, tangerine and a sauce-pig with chilisauce (commercial)

Pasta with tuna, cinnamon and lemon, iceberg lettuce with tomato, balsamic vinaigrette, cucumber and quail eggs.
Also known as 'empty fridge bento'.

Bottom tier (on top): Tarka dal curry with cardamom rice (premixed), clementine jack'o'lantern, carrot, candy corn, and a carrot/cheese/mozzarella candy corn.
Top tier (on bottom): Caprese salad on lettuce with a mozzarella ghost, Very happy to haunt around!

I had spaghetti and meatballs, so: what else?! =D Ok, I realized too late I could've made the lady and the tramp, so I'll do that next time. This was mostly a 'can't be bothered-bento', so..
The little muffin is a muesli/pumpkin muffin topped with almond and sugar.

Back online

Wed, 27 Oct 2010 20:37:16 GMT

Although I am back online, I am not able to make bentos again just yet. One: I am not working at the moment so there is no need for bentos for myself or others just yet. Two: there is no room in the kitchen at the moment to make the bentos. Although, my boyfriend's sister does work, I could offer to make her cute vegetarian friendly bentos. I see opportunities here. ^_^

Bento maaaadness!

Wed, 29 Sep 2010 17:39:04 GMT

Four bento's this time! Seriously can't update every day anymore now I make so many!
Anyway, bigger pictures under the cut =)

( Clickitty! )

8 bento's to share!

Mon, 13 Sep 2010 10:22:06 GMT

It's been quite a while since I posted my bento's here, but here's a quick update, since I make them daily now!
Just click on the pics to go to the Flickr page!

No more bentos.

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 19:00:21 GMT

At least for the time being. I know I haven't been posting any bento boxes lately, but that's only because I wasn't making any since I couldn't find the time to go to the store to get what I needed since the Marukai that I can go to is so far from where I live and without a car it's kinda hard to get the time to go when you need to ask for a ride. Anyway, another reason why there will not be any bentos from me for quite awhile is because I got fired from my job and I am now moving out of state to live with some of my extended family. Maybe as soon as I find another job or start going to school, I will start making bentos again, this time for not just me, but for my honey too. :) Hopefully I'll be making bentos again soon. I might even make them for my other family members too, like my sis-in-law and/or bro-in-law. I think that sis-in-law will like them, but I'm not sure. I'd have to ask her. Well, that's all for now. See everyone again soon, I hope. :) Ja!

Bentos from 05/13/10 to 05/17/10

Thu, 20 May 2010 06:06:17 GMT

I am starting to post my bento boxes weekly now. Yes, I am still making them every day, or at least most of the days that I work.

Top tier: Home made onion rings (made with tempura and panko), a Tyson chicken patty cut in half, two strawberries, strawberry yogurt in the cup, and a piece of rolled omelet.
Bottom tier: Sour cream in the cup, mixed stir-fry veggies, California roll, and the rest of the rolled omelet.

Top tier: Strawberry, pear slices, seafood salad mixture (imitation crab and tuna mixed with mayo, onion powder, ground ginger and some soy sauce), two heart shaped onigiri with the same seafood salad mixture in the middle, carrots and cucumber as fillers.
Bottom tier: Mixed stir-fry veggies with fried tofu, boiled Brussels sprouts, rolled omelet with ham, cheese and spinach in the middle, bottle has Memmi sauce, all on top of somen.

Top tier: Two strawberries, pear slices, sea food mixture (same as above), hard boiled egg, flower shaped onigiri with same sea food mixture in the middle, imitation crab cut into thirds.
Bottom tier: Fried tofu, mixed stir fried veggies, Brussels sprouts, shrimp, slices hard boiled egg, bottle has soy sauce all on top of more somen.

Top tier: Strawberry and pear, rolled omelet with ham and cheese, sea food mixture in the cup, flower onigiri with sea food mixture.
Bottom tier: Fried tofu "fries", mixed veggies (made with soy sauce (watered down to delude the saltiness), onion powder, ground ginger, and curry powder), more rolled omelet with ham and cheese, and imitation crab all on top of udon.

Top tier: Apple rabbits and tulips, pear tulips and pear slice, and a sliced strawberry, sea food mixture, flower onigiri with sea food mixture. Memmi sauce in the bottles.
Bottom tier: Diced imitation crab, mixed veggies (same as above), sliced hard boiled egg all on top of udon.

Bentos for this week

Fri, 14 May 2010 23:25:10 GMT

I know that I haven't posted any of my bentos lately, but I will be posting a weeks worth of bento pictures most likely on Monday. I've noticed that I've been like the only person posting bentos, that's part of the reason why I decided to start posting weekly instead of daily.

Much love to my fellow bento-ers. :)

Post from mobile portal m.livejournal.com

a question post?

Thu, 06 May 2010 19:57:34 GMT

I have some bentos for sale and I am not sure where to sell them at?And I am also not sure if I am allowed to make this type of post in this community.But if I am not please just delete this post.

But if you are interested I can email you pictures of them and the price that I am asking for.I also have some bento accessories such as cutters and bottles that I never used along with a couple tote bags for them.

Bentos on 04/30/10 & 05/02/10

Mon, 03 May 2010 16:44:28 GMT

This bento was on 04/30/10.
Top tier: left overs that I had made from the night before consisting of chicken soaked for a few minutes in soy sauce and some veggie oil, green beans, asparagus, carrots, mushroom, ground ginger and onion powder, then everything was cooked in a little bit of the soy sauce and oil, (I had added water to the mixture when the chicken was in it so that it wouldn't be super salty), and rice on the other half of the tier.
Bottom tier: Crab sticks, bottle of soy sauce for the rice, strawberry and baby granny smith apple sliced on some picks and half of an orange cut into pieces, vanilla yogurt in the cup.

Bento on 05/02/10
Top tier: Left over cheesy taco hamburger helper, rolled egg omelet with mushroom, carrot, green bean, and asparagus in the middle.
Bottom tier: Orange slices, strawberry, baby granny smith apples, A'djou pear, and white peach slices on picks, and baby Fuji apple bunnies, blackberry yogurt in the cup.

Bento on 04/28/10

Fri, 30 Apr 2010 00:41:59 GMT

Top tier: left over pasta with mushroom and meat sauce, a piece of garlic bread sliced into quarters to fit into the bento, and a small salad with mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and carrots.

Bottom tier: egg omelet made with sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg, two strawberries, two bunny apples made from a baby Fuji apple, the orange kitty has ranch dressing for the salad, two mini fudge brownies, flower shaped onigi with yasai furikake, and a bottle of soy sauce.

Bento on 04/25/10

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 19:23:08 GMT

Top tier: In the cup is two mini blueberry muffins, flower onigiri, baby rabbit apples and two little strawberries, somen noodles with two shrimp and a Brussels sprout cut in half on top.

Bottom tier: Flower shaped hard boiled egg (which got a bit squished from the lid), two Brussels sprouts, a bottle of soy sauce, small rolled sushi with salmon in the middle, veggie mixture (green beans, asparagus, carrots, and white cap mushrooms all fresh, cooked up in a little bit of veggie oil, sea salt and fresh black pepper), two shrimp and another Brussels sprout cut in half on top. The egg and sushi was on top of three imitation crab sticks.

This lunch was pretty well balanced, I think and I was amazed at how much energy I had even after a couple of hours after. The store was closing last night and I was totally chipper. I think it was that and the fact that our ASM was full of energy as well.

Bento on 04/24/10

Sun, 25 Apr 2010 02:29:11 GMT

Today's bento was made to share a bit.

Top tier: bear shaped onigiri with faces, (black sesame seeds for eyes, nori for the ears and pieces of shredded carrot for the smiley mouth, I didn't know how to make a normal bear mouth so I just did that), cherry tomatoes for filling the space, a soy sauce fish, heart shaped hard boiled egg with cucumber next to it to fill space, two fudge brownie bites in the cup, and plain rolled egg omelet.

Bottom tier: a whole sushi roll with raw tuna, cucumber and avocado in the middle, minus one piece, (I shared some of the sushi with friends at work), shrimp, carrots, asparagus, shitaki mushroom cut in half all friend tempura with a soy sauce fish on top of it.

Edit: There is a piece of sushi missing because one of the people at work that I shared with ate a piece before I took lunch, which is when I took the picture. I also could not finish everything like I normally do because of all of the rice. Rice is extremely filling. I ate the hard boiled egg and the brownies when I got home from work.

Bento on 04/21/10

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 06:29:14 GMT

Lunch in my new bento box. Top tier from left to right: one strawberry cut into four pieces and a baby granny apple slice cut in half, an egg omelet with imitation crab stick inside, a bottle of soy sauce, home made sushi with raw tuna and cucumber in the middle, rice with sato furikake on top. Bottom tier: udon with lopsided heart shaped slices of hard boiled egg, sauteed carrot, asparagus and shitaki mushrooms, left over roast beef from last night's dinner, and kamaboko (uzumaki and narutomaki).

Two bento's

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 09:35:59 GMT

These are the bento's of this and last week. I was so busy last week because I'm moving (!!!) in two weeks, that I just didn't manage to post.
So last week I didn't actually have a bento. I started one, but never finished it and ate it half from a bento box, the other half from a bowl, surrounded by boxes.

So last week's bento was a tuna pasta one, and this week's a BLT sandwich one.

( Just click to continue =) )

New bento! And some other items

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 05:17:59 GMT

I went to Marukai market in Costa Mesa, CA and found some really great stuff. Here is the album I up loaded for it.

pics.livejournal.com/shinimegami82/gallery/0001400r

I also got some nice fish for making rolled sushi. I'm gonna make some really good lunches now. Yum!

Bento on 04/18/10

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 02:23:00 GMT

Both the top picture and the top tier have the same thing in them; soba, hard boiled egg (the egg in the top tier is shaped like a flower), boiled carrots and asparagus, and fried shrimp. Can you tell that I love shrimp? I have it in almost every bento. Bottom tier has strawberry and white peach slices in it. In the top picture, everything is on top of the soba noodles and I poured the sauce in after I hated everything a bit.

Bento on 04/15/10

Sat, 17 Apr 2010 04:22:54 GMT

Shrimp tempura, imitation crab sticks, and asparagus that was fried in oil, (I know it's not good for me), and seasoned with garlic pepper.

Top tier: California roll, (yes again, but this time I spilled the water bowl on the nori and rice so it came out a bit soggy, but it was still good, at least it wasn't too dry ROFL), asparagus, (same as above), and a soy sauce fish.
Bottom tier: Half a baby granny smith apple and two strawberries cut and arranged to look somewhat like flowers or something. (I had flowers in mind, but it didn't quite work out that way.) The cup has peanut butter, and yes, peanut better is really good with strawberries, but it should since there is strawberry jelly. ^_^

Question Blog?

Wed, 14 Apr 2010 15:37:51 GMT

So I think I posted about this in my last post in this community but I'm not sure.There is this website that got me into making bentos and it's called cookingcute.They girl who makes it seemed to stop posting quite sometime ago.And I was wondering If It would be ok If I did like a dedication blog to her since her website is what inspired me to start bentoing.So my question is could I be able to make a blog with her recipes but put my own swing on it.And give her credit?

I have an interview this afternoon but when I get home,I plan on making a bento and putting the picture on this entry so it has a picture.

Any and all input is welcome!

Bento on 04/12/10

Tue, 13 Apr 2010 04:36:57 GMT

Shrimp tempura, cut asparagus and cut imitation crab and in the cup is the veggie mixture (bell peppers and zucchini)

Top tier is a cut up baby Fuji apple with peanut butter in the cup. Bottom tier is like a California roll, made with shrimp, asparagus and carrot. On the side is an imitation crab stick and on the other side are two fish with soy sauce in them.

Below is what the sushi looks like inside.

Bento on 04/09/10 and 04/11/10

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 03:23:42 GMT

The first two photos are from 04/09/10 and the second two are from 04/11/10

In the middle is some fried tofu, the same from my last bento. I fried it up some, but had to drain it because of all of the water that was cooking out of it. I then added some soy sauce and some black sesame seeds. The two things on the sides are two different mixtures of veggies. On the left is cut green beans, carrots and asparagus with water chestnuts, black sesame seeds and added a bit of lemon zest, sea salt and fresh ground black pepper for flavor, but it was only okay tasting. On the right is yellow, green and orange bell peppers diced up and cut up green zucchini flavored with sea salt and fresh ground black pepper.

Top tier has flower shaped onigiri with black sesame seeds and soy sauce. The green dog has the sesame seeds in them. Bottom tier: (left) pork sausage links cut into pieces small enough to fit. (right) rolled egg omelet made with sugar, vanilla extract (the real stuff), cinnamon and nutmeg.

Left is soba noodles, right is the same tofu as above. Orange cat has soba sauce in it. Although it really wasn't enough sauce, but oh well.

Top tier: (left) California rolls that I made myself. I actually didn't put too much rice in it, but the rice was kind of dry when I ate it. (right) Yellow, green and orange bell pepper and green zucchini mixture(same as above). Bottom tier: (left) D'ajou pear slices. (right) Strawberry slices. (middle) Peanut butter. The fruit was very good with peanut butter.

No bambo mat

Sun, 11 Apr 2010 03:21:20 GMT

I am making sushi rolls, well, sort of, (it's going to have imitation crab, cucumber and avocado and then I'm going to make some later with shrimp and some other veggies), but I don't have a bambo mat or any molds for making it. Does anyone have any suggestions for making sushi rolls without a bambo mat? Like what to use to roll the sushi with?

Oh and P.S. Just so you all know, do not microwave frozen rice balls in a plastic container too long. The container melted and burned and wasted my rice. I'm so sad about that and now it smells bad in my house.