Double Trouble Bento

Two different bentos: mine is the panda and Jan gets the pretty butterflies, just for a change from industrial Mr. Bento.


There is: fried rice, sesame and hot-oil fried red cabbage, quail eggs, veggies, daikon butterflies and their outlines, steak strips, a chunk of smoked mozzarella,
soy bottles, and a cake or cookie for me (love the sweets!).


I love these little animal picks:


A sweetness comes from having many different bento boxes and possibilities. I love the idea of lunch made beautiful and environmentally sound and nutritious...in a panda bento!! Life is good indeed.

Baby Bok Choy Takes Over

This beautiful baby bok choy, scored Saturday morning at the local Oriental Grocery, had been on my mind and this morning it took over today's Mr. Bento. I should have included something to show scale but the stem ends are less than one inch across and it is so tender and sweet!

I stir-fried just the bok choy very briefly in a little sesame oil with a drop of hot pepper oil, then topped it with leftover teriyaki chicken. The other parts of Jan's lunch today are a salad I made from julienned giant daikon and carrot with fresh cilantro and lime juice, and pumpkin soup.


We have two different Mr. Bentos; one came with only Japanese writing on the package and has 3 inner containers (and a slick chopstick carrier on the outside); the other was clearly designed for an international market and has 4 containers and a 'spork' in a loop inside. They're about the same outer dimensions so the 4-container Bento's containers are smaller. Today I gave Jan the 3-one so that the bok choy and chicken would have enough space. It's nice to have choice.

Today is the last day of my technology boot camp so as of tomorrow I will be Bentoing instead of eating sad taco salads with mystery meat the consistency and ?flavor of dog food. Alas for my university food service; formerly barely OK, now a disaster due to budget cuts and creeping junk-food-itis.