Friday, July 25, 2008

Non-challenge Bento


This was my husband's bento on the same day as the Challenge bento.
Top tier: Vegetable Bao (store bought), steamed broccoli, rambutans and orange slices, carrot star, baby tomato, cheese slices.
Bottom tier: Vegetable fried rice (no egg), steamed broccoli, baby tomatoes, home-made two-potato curry gyoza, cheese stars.
On the side: Coconut cream cookies.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

The Challenge Bento

A while back a friend of mine slightly dissed my bentos, commenting on how small they were and how they could never hold enough food for him. This was utter blasphemy and it became a challenge! My response: this bento, the single bento I have ever made that included meat. Yes, it's true.

Top tier: A ton of veggie fried rice with egg, tightly packed. 3 beef shumai, store bought. 3 pork gyoza, also store bought. Steamed broccoli floret, carrot star and mozzarella shooting star.

Bottom tier: Vegetable bao, more beef shumai and pork gyoza, steamed broccoli, baby tomatoes, rabbit shaped boiled egg with nori mustache and eyeglass. Carrot star, cheese slices, rambutans and orange slices.

On the side: a package of cookies and a container of hot sauce.

It was great fun to do a 'challenge' bento! All the meat was in wrapped form and required steaming to cook so that I could cook it without touching any of it. It had been so many years since I'd cooked a hard boiled egg that I actually had to look up directions for it, lol. It was kind of neat to use my egg shaper for the use to which it was intended, though.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Black sesame seed bento

Left to right: Steamed peas, hello kitty soy sauce container, cherry tomato, sesame carrots with black sesame seeds, jasmine rice with black sesame seed circle.

A very simple bento that was easy to make and took very little time. The black sesame seeds are a favorite of mine both for taste and for looks. They do really taste a lot different from white sesame seeds - I can't explain how exactly, but they do!