Adult Comfort Food Bento

Adult mac and cheese with LA beans and pomies and strawberries.

Shiitake Omelet Bento

YUMMY!

Breakfast for Lunch

The lessons I learned making this bento, my my, I will tell you.

After feeling like a pile of crap for many days, I awoke to a slight headache and full of energy. The headache went bye bye after a nice hot shower, and I was ready to begin the day.

The first order of busy-ness was a pomegranate. Now everybody knows that seeding a pomegranate is a zen-like experience. It might also be helpful to be stoned. But rather than fall down that slippery slope first thing in the morning, I decided to let my *yawn* first blush of the day ease me through the task.

I cut open the monster (the pomegranate was as big as a grapefruit) and the puddle of blood oozed out on the cutting board. I cut each half again in half again and rub the jewels into a container, all the while jabbering on to The Mister about my plan of the day.

I want to do a Cute Bento, I said. Of course, that is a redundancy, I continued, hahahahah.

He said something like huh-ehh (fart).

Yes, I said, a Cute! Bento.

Hmmm. An acute bento, he said. Sounds like a disease.

So we were off and running as they say of the day. Many of my favorite bento artists were using pomegranate in their daily bentos the week I non-commissioned. Inspired by my growing stash of shiny gems, I envisioned using my new pink single story box and filling it with breakfast food that I have been craving.

Really pink and girly with no Halloween-y to detract.

Then I thought well maybe a couple of ghouls with big eyes hiding in the back, but everything else - pink bows and pink elephants and pink flower cups.

Lesson 1. Keep the creative process open.

Maybe the french toast could look like an old dead tree, I thought. That would be cool. Like the trees in OZ that threw apples at Dorothy & Co. With eyes and mouths and arms. And if I have an old dead tree, I might as well have a graveyard. Yes indeed the bento was being transformed.

What I didn't expect were the owls. They were ghouls poking their heads up from the ground. When I went to put eye on them, they became owls. You can't see the wings, but that doesn't mean they don't have them.

Lesson 2. Working with Nutella is a bitch.

Since this was to be a edible bento by me for me straight away, I wanted my eggs hot. Cold eggs are okay, but today they had to be hot, or at least warm. So I had to be quick with photos plus no stress on the details and perfection. Ah yes. The heat of the eggs melted the Nutella which was also the glue that held the eyeballs on the owls and they started to slide down.

Meanwhile The Mister started to bug me. Not now, I cried. I've put too much into this piece!

Oh the Drama!

In the end I had to change lenses. Nutella on everything. Yuck! But I ate my Breakfast for Lunch bento and it was really good.

Lesson 3. The unexpected pairing that was superb - pomegranate and bacon - yum!

Oh and the milk bottle (bats eyelashes) that's maple syrup.


Now for a couple of blog items:

I have a giveaway in progress. You must go here to enter. Please do. The more, the merrier.

I have a new Flickr group, Bentoland, and I'm the only member. I tell you that is sad! I know there are lots of bento groups out there already, but I'm really open to suggestions to make this a fun adventure!

Three New Bento Boxes

I've been wanting that Bread Bento Box for a while and I think the strawberry one is cute. The little pink single story will be good for snacks. I bought these from Japan and sometimes you wait and wait, and just when you think it's lost in the mail, there it is. Si expresses my appreciation.

Don't forget to comment HERE if you want chance to win a bento box cookbook.

Giveaway

I'm giving this book away to one random person who comments on my blog, Judy's Notebook, by Halloween night. You must comment over there to be in the running because this is a part of Blogtoberfest.

By the way, this is a very good book if you are just getting started.

Tako Poki Bento

A few days after I made the pretend octopus bento for The Mister, he brought home the real deal. So this was lunch today as I took a break from the computer. I'm reading a recipe book called Asian Bites, a present from The Mister too. He can be nice like that.

Octopus's Garden Bento

The Mister was super upset with me. Aren't the eyes suppose to be on the side? Well, I said, these are baby octopi. He was quite upset that the clams were too big (in relation to other things) and what's that purple stuff?

Well, I said, (after fussing with this Tiffin bento long enough), it is what it is. And then he ate it.

After that, he wasn't so grumpy.

I Heart Hello Kitty

Tuesday was a Mr. Bento day. Carrot soup and rice. Oh so good veggies and fruits.

Say Hello Little Hello Kitty!

I had 3 minutes to throw this together, but good planning makes a difference in bento boxing (gloves up). Have stuff around. (No. 1 key element.)

Oh Bento love oh Hello Kitty. Cutest ever bread and a serious salty tooth.

Hello Kitty Mini Box

The Tuscan melon was so sweet. Definitely the best part of this meal. The monster egg was the result of an accident. I love peanut butter mini sandwiches. Next time I'm going to add eyes.

Totoro Bento Box

It finally feels like fall and this little bento box has leaves and acorns and funny little creatures on the cover. As I was making the turkey/pork patties, The Mister was reading the newspaper to me. Lucy died, he said. I was shocked. Our friend's black lab is named Lucy and she's a sweetheart and how did that make it to the newspaper! No, no, he said. The Lucy in the Lucy in the sky with diamonds. Oh, I always thought that was the Beatles tribute to LSD, I said. Nope. It was a real person that John Lennon's son knew from school.