No bento for Misha today...

Between a late evening at book club and Friday being my early morning, I couldn't think of anything to prep last night for food. This weekend will find me prepping several things to freeze ahead for use during the week, including rice. I did learn that bout one custard-cupful of rice (about 3/4 C), shaped loosely in a ziploc bag into a flatish oval shape, will freeze nicely, and thaw well enough overnight in the fridge to place into the bottom of most of my bento boxes. I'm going to be researching on justbento.com to get some inspiration. I'd also like to try more American-style dishes, but I have to admit I do like having rice, meat and veggies for lunch.

I do want to make some teriyaki chicken and serve it with grilled pineapple over rice... and try some rolled sushi with the soy wraps I've bought, since I have such an aversion to nori.

I'm also going to make small sandwich bites, stuffed mushrooms, and chop up some veggies to dip in ranch. Is it just me, or are whole carrots cut up better tasting than baby carrots?

Misha bento - Day 3

Today is Hello Kitty bento day... (yay!) My blue bento box is one I found at Dollar Tree a few years back. I also have a green one. Other Dollar Trees apparently had the two-tier bentos, or the ones with a fork in the case, or a thermos. It would have been nice to have a little more variety. I think I have a divider for this, but it may have been put in the wrong drawer. Argh. Bag today is a recent acquisition from Daiso; side dish container is a Charmmy Kitty box from Japan. I don't have many side dish containers, and none that went with my bento box today. I need to get some side dish containers.

Food today is leftover stir fry from last night: bok choy (ick), red pepper, onion, green onion, grated ginger, mushrooms, bean sprouts and carrot, with some carne asada, cooked in soy, mirin and sesame oil and topped with a bit of black pepper. Also have two onigiri with furikake seasoning, a bit of pickled ginger, and a bottle of shoyu tucked in there.

I think I used too many veggies in my quest for healthy food; the flavors are a bit much. And bok choy, if you were a Facebook page, I would unfriend you. To quote Ludo from the movie Labyrinth: "Smell bad." Your texture isn't so great, either. I'm thinking I should get baby bok choy next time - I've had it in Chinese food before, and I like it there... but our store only had gargantuan bok choy.

Again, Hello Kitty head contains a hard-boiled egg (breakfast, yay) and the side dish contains banh men (weird how I got all white and one pink when pouring from the jar), cashews, raisins and a couple of Apollo chocolates (with pink to match the pink box). Tucked in a wrapped mochi treat, and this "King Choconut" by a company called Unisman, from the Philippines. It's "peanut butter chocolate" - and it is. It's kind of like eating chocolate peanut butter cookie dough in texture, and not OVERLY sweet, but a nice sweet taste. The Charmmy Kitty box does not have a snug lid - I may have to find a small bento belt for it.

Had to assemble my snack bento in the dark this morning, because they were working on the electrical wiring down the street and shut the power off while I was getting dressed. Grr!

Other thoughts - I'm using a Hello Kitty ice pack to keep my bento cool. I have a drink box in my bag that I will have with lunch. Maybe I need to start freezing it to help keep it cool till lunchtime, and help cool my bento.

Also - I have only a couple of metal bento forks, and they're part of matched sets. Today's fork is lavender plastic, no case. I need to get some plain forks (or something bizarre that will go with several things).

Misha is way too enthusiastic...

I should NOT be this giddy over a kitchen appliance, but I got notice this afternoon that Amazon finally shipped the rice cooker I ordered back on Saturday. It's coming from Kentucky! Sheesh, whatever happened to them shipping things from Nevada? Now I have to try and be patient and wait for it to arrive via their super-saver shipping... Then I can cook lots of rice, and steam things, hopefully without screwing up! (I'm a better baker than cook...) ^_^;

I really wanted this amazing Zojirushi rice cooker - they have such an excellent reputation, and I've had their bread machine over a decade, with no troubles. But my budget right now is for something far less expensive.

Heres...Bella

So here it goes...I am Bento Bella....along with my other cohorts I plan to amaze and astound you or at the very least make you want to use cheese in wierd ways. Our goal is yummy fun Bento since I am a Steamy girl by nature with a hint of Victorian Goth I plan on making creative foods with a twist especially since I love tea foods like mini sandwhiches and flavored butters so you may see some victorian tea bentos coming from me. Thats right Steampunk Bento...its brilliant really...so get ready for us to blow your bloomers off with our wacky recipes.

Misha Bento, Day 2

Today's bento is the remainder of my chicken and veggie confetti from yesterday. I am using a new bento set from Daiso (each piece was $1.50!) in a favorite green Femmio Valentino bag... There was a bento set that matched the bag, but I never did find it on eBay or other bento sites, and always sigh a little over that.

Added a blue star bottle for shoyu, and a little silicone for pickled ginger because, well, I love that stuff. I was in a rush this morning - did not sleep well because of the wind and rain last night - and failed on my snack bento. The silicone cups I used do not fit with the rounded bottom of the box, and are not deep enough to match the box. I will have to use the waxy paper cups instead when using this type of box. Today's chocolates are Coffee Beat and Gummi Choco, Strawberry. I also added more raisins. Will have to do apples tomorrow!

Misha bento, Day 1 (and Day 0)

Since the month started on Tuesday, I did a test-run (bringing in a snack box of sorts) on Monday. I'd spent Sunday afternoon at a gigantic Asian grocery store, exploring the aisles and finding way too many neat things to bring home, including an assortment of frozen dim sum (yum!) and some small treats for my bento box. (I also cooked a bunch of rice, making onigiri and some pre-portioned servings to place inside my bento.)

Not pictured - because they're hiding in the bento bag -are my breakfast (string cheese and a hard-boiled egg) and a pink lemonade drink.



I like having a side dish or snack bento with little bits of things to eat, like raisins, cashews or almonds, Sunflower crackers, Apollo chocolates and bahn men cookies. That way, if I get a craving during the day, I can nibble a bit and satisfy my sweet tooth. I'm hoping to add apple slices and maybe a mayo cup of caramel dipping sauce as well - I'm trying to eat healthier, instead of those "10 for $10" microwave thing-in-a-box meals. It's hard to do when I'm such a picky eater. Flavors, odors, appearance and texture are big deals to me.

So for March 1st, I decided to try some recipes from Justbento.com - tori misoyaki and sweet pepper and carrot confetti. The chicken was cooked through, but I think I could have browned it a little more. It looked a little underwhelming... it was quite tasty, however. The confetti was better than I'd feared - I did not like the smell of the dashi as I cooked things. I cooked the chicken the night before, and the veggies the morning of. (Note to self: cook things the evening before when you can - less rushed!) I'd pulled one of the rice portions out of the freezer and let it thaw overnight in the fridge. Assembled everything with a piece of silicone grass to divide meat and veggies, a dash of tamago furikake to season the rice, put my treats in my snack box, stuck a hard-boiled egg in a Hello Kitty plastic egg, and placed it in one of my bento bags, with a Hello Kitty ice pack to keep things nice until lunchtime.


Yes, you're seeing a theme or two going on, aren't you.


~Misha