For Father’s Day, I got bluefish one of these. For its maiden [lunch] voyage, I packed it with some refreshing summer fare – a pasta salad [just throw together, shrimp, chicken, rotini, olive oil mayo, celery salt/season all, peas & grated carrots] and avacado & cucumber rolls [with pickled ginger & soy sauce]. I think may have made bluefish’s co-workers jealous.
This is one of my favorite bento staples, as it’s both fresh and filling. I got the idea from the lovely ladies over at Laptop Lunches, but this is my variation on a theme. You can use tuna fish or chunk chicken, and I like to use olive oil mayonnaise. As for the cucumbers, pick out ones with a wide girth – it makes it easier to scoop bowls for filling. I cut pieces about 2 & 1/2 inches long and use a grapefruit spoon [a paring knife works, too] to hollow out the cuke, leaving the bottom in tact [note: if you're using an end piece, just cut a bit off the end so it has a base]. I also use the same batch of chicken salad to make a sandwich, as I’m usually feeding a grown man with this lunch.
As for the containers I use for bluefish bento, I have the New Wave Enviro Stainless Steel Food Container and the LunchBots Pico Stainless Steel Lunch Container, the latter fits two halves of a sandwich perfectly.
Last Monday, bluefish started a new job. You know what that means? [Besides the fact that I've had almost no time to post new entries.] You guessed it – I’ve started making bento lunches for both of my boys! This was my very first dual lunch spread:
For bluefish: Steak over rice with hard boiled egg [car-shaped] on greens and fresh avacado. For onefish: Steak over rice with boiled egg [bunny-shaped] on cheese and baby carrots. My guys seem to thrive when they load up on protein.
To make the steak extra tasty [they would both be eating in chilled, after all], I pan-fried good cuts of steak in canola oil [with a little salt and pepper]. Once it was done [just slightly pink in the middle], I sliced it right out of the pan and dipped each strip in a combination of soy sauce and walnut oil then laid it directly on the bed of rice. YUM.
I’ve been in love with this itty bit of silicone since I first saw it at A.C. Moore a couple months ago. So, I jumped at the chance to make their Halloween treats for onefish’s preschool class so a) I had an excuse to buy it and b) so I could make delicious, cute treats for onefish and his class. I used an orange cake mix [if you have a good "from scratch" recipe you want to share, please do] and turned the little guys over right out of the oven so their wee faces [on the bottom of the muffins] didn’t get smooshed.
After they were completely cool, I covered their tops with vanilla icing so the kids could decorate them with sprinkles. They turned out delicious, and [I was told] they were a hit with the kids. Now I have to figure out what I’m going to do for their snacks week after next…
About a year [or two] ago, my brother and sis-in-law got me this cute little coffee press. I thought, “oh, how cute” and promptly put it away on a shelf. Well, a year [or two] later, I finally opened my Aeropress and took it on our beach vacation. I could kick myself for not trying it sooner. When used correctly, it makes the best. coffee. ever.
The key is using not-quite-boiling water and stopping the press just above the coffee grounds so that it’s only the air pressure that’s pressing the coffee. And, unless you want espresso, topping the [large] mug off with hot water. This itty bitty [and super portable] press really does brew a mean cuppa joe.
Not the b00bies. The bakeware. I love it. Silicone cups are wonderful for separating foods and flavors in bento boxes, but you can also use them to serve snacks [to the bitty ones or as mixed nut cups]. My favorite use for them, however, is actually, well… baking.
You cook at a lower temperature and for less time; saving energy and patience. And, you can bake healthy muffins in appealing wrapping. But the best part is that wrapping is recyclable! What’s not to love?
As I mentioned in my previous post, I put together a couple bento sets for my niece [starfish] and both of my sister-in-laws. I actually had my camera in hand when starfish opened her gifts, and I was glad because she really liked them!
The nori cutter is from my own humble bento gadget collection. The only reason I didn’t include a nori punch in the gift sets is, well… seaweed [even decorative happy face seaweed] sometimes scares people who aren’t used to Japanese cuisine. But, they are so cute! [A sad side note: all three of my bitty bento cutters have gone MIA. I'm sure they are somewhere tragically obvious. However, until I find them, I will have to hand cut my nori faces.]
In case you want to give the give of bento [to yourself or someone else] I’ve put together a list [with links] of ideas which includes some of my favorite things:
[affordable] bento boxes, travel utensils & bags [jbox]
kids [taining] chopsticks [jbox]
egg shapers & rice molds [daniel's house storefront]
Japanese citrus peeler [daniel's house storefront]
Small cookie [for meat & cheese] cutters [amazon]
cute bento systems [laptop lunches]
vegetable cutters [a fave of mine!] [happy japan]
nori [seaweed] cutters/punches [happy japan]
mini soy sauce bottles [bento crazy]
gel-cool bento boxes [i love obento]
I recently gave some bento goodies to my sister-in-law(s) and my niece. Thing was, I ran out of wrapping paper for my husband’s sister’s [and aunts'] gifts. I went out on a shopping excursion the next day with plans to get more, but first I stopped by Old Navy to exchange a pair of pants. When I was in the checkout line, I saw these super kawaii reusable shopping bags for a buck a piece. That’s when the idea hit me – why buy more wrapping paper (which would just get thrown away) when I could use these bags to wrap gifts? It’s like a gift in an [itty bitty] gift! I plan to use reusable shopping bags from now on the wrap gifts. And, the best thing is, tons of store sell reusable bags for a dollar [or less than], so you don’t even spend much more money* wrapping this way!
[*If you don't have money to spend on wrapping, or are just interested in being extra environmentally conscious, the funnies from the Sunday paper work great for gift wrap!]
No, not the ones about the meaning of life (though, the answer to most of those would be: to drink, be merry and eat fun food!) – the ones about the hows and wheres of my bento. Some of my friends contacted me outside of this blog to ask the following questions:
* When do you make these; night before, nap time, or with itty bitty helpers?
All of the above. And, it’s not as time consuming as it might seem. I actually find cooking even semi-complex recipes more time consuming than creating fun bento lunches/meals.
* Where did you get the plane and train shaped cutters? Did you use mini size cutters or regular size cutters?
Most of my food cutters are mini aluminum cookie cutters made by Fox Run (which I buy through Amazon.com), but R & M makes some really cute mini cutters, as well.
* What do you do with the extra bits of turkey you have left after cutting out your shapes?
I (or bluefish) eat them. Yum.
* Where did you buy the bento boxes?
My favorite place to get bento boxes is Happy Japan. They’re in Nashville, TN (in case any of you are local to that area), have tons of cute bento accessories, very reasonable/fast shipping, and great customer service. They’re currently back-ordered on some products which they said should have in stock in the next couple of weeks.
* Is there an English website that sells the egg yolk shapers?
Yes! You can get them from Happy Japan (though I believe they’re out of stock right now) and JBox.
* Where did you get that camera?
Heh. I shoot with a Canon 5D mark II. If you’re looking to get a DSLR, I would get it from a reputable seller like B&H Photo.
* Would you come be Personal Chef for my kids and me?
I bet you can cook WAY better than I can! And, bento is fun and easy to learn. It’s especially fun to make it with your little ones!
