Rice Ball Bento

This was the Middle of Summer and a cooling bento was amongst us. Rice balls covered the black sesame seed and salt, radishes, grapes, and lettuce.

Panda Box with Strawberries

New box filled with deviled eggs, hummus, and strawberries.

Pork and Rice Bento

Hello Bento People! I am sure you like a nice lunch. What is better than pork and rice with a side of KimChee? Well, I'm sure you will say "Nothing!"

Cheese and Crackers in my Paris Bento Box

A week or so ago I made this bento with Paris on my mind. What a world we live in. Such evil and such goodness.

I like a lunch like this - a little bit of everything. We have black grapes and dried pears in one box. A mix of cheese, tapenade hummus, purple radishes, and a Bubbies dill pickle in the other. Crackers on the side.

Under The Dome Bento

This special box has a domed roof, so if your bentos are little tall, you don't have to squash them down. It is a single layer with a moveable divider, quite generous in space.

I filled it lots of rice, sliced chicken, cherry tomatoes from the garden, and jewel-cut carrots. And a sesame smile.

Salmon and Dumplings Bento

Leftover take-out from my fave Japanese restaurant makes a bento lunch at my job. Teriyaki salmon with shrimp dumplings and little sauce on the side.

It's funny how happy work can be when lunchtime looks like this!

Tater Tots and Homemade Ketchup Bento

Inspired by Sheri's lettuce wraps, I've sliced roasted pork really thin and wrapped it with Bibb lettuce leaves on one level. Store bought tater tots with homemade ketchup and one half of a tangerine on the other level.

The back story on the ketchup is I read the ingredients on the major ketchup company label and noticed it included High Fructose Corn Syrup. So I found a recipe in my make-it-from-scratch pantry book, and now I have 2 and a half quarts of ketchup in my freezer.

Please don't tell me what's in those tater tots.

Tangerine and Stir Fry Sides Bento

The vegetable stir fry was left over from last night's evening meal. It has lots of walnuts in it which are very good for you. The tangerine is my one a day since we have been gifted with a tree full of picked fruit. Healthy habits to start off 2015.

Oh No! I'm Late For Work Bento

I had to rush the other day, so this bento picture was taken with my point-and-click not my regular camera. And it's at work where the light is lower at my desk.

Grilled salmon with vinegar rice in one level. Fried yellow zucchini rounds and grapes in the other level.

Tapenade and Turkey Bento

Good Monday Morning! The super moon was super last night and back to school is around the corner. I deconstructed a slider the other day and here I have deconstructed a turkey sandwich. Plus crackers with homemade tapenade. The bread is homemade too.

What's inside of the chickadee dee? Lawry's seasoned salt! A must have for a turkey with mayo sammie.

Slider - A Deconstructed Bento

My lovely nesting Alice in Wonderland hosted the bento of the week. These are the perfect boxes for a deconstructed bento.

Large, medium, small and smaller filled with the elements of a work-day lunch.

Starting at the right we have homemade brown sugar wheat bun with kettle chips. Lettuce and tomato. Grass fed organic cooked beef patty and grated cheese. Dijon mustard and homemade pesto mayo.

At my desk 1pm sharp sandwich made and consumed. This picture was the "oh yeah" half way thru.

Happy Cat Bento

Come. Come. Have a nice picnic on this summer day. The Beckoning Cat bento box lures me to a tuna and caper on English muffin sandwich and my very own Secret Ingredient* Pasta Salad.

Pictured here with her sister cat, Hello Kitty thermos, filled to the brim with Ginger Beer. Refreshing!

We sat in the shade of an old pine tree which rained dead pine needles with every breeze.

Parked on a side street of Mission San Miguel's cemetery. Come in. Come in.

And see the old Bell Tower just inside the cemetery.

Pork Two Ways Bento

I finally got around to using my Sushi Bento House. It looks a lot bigger than it is. I filled the bottom layer with pork, two ways. My cooked ahead chicken-fried pork and my cooked ahead curry pork.

I am currently reading (and will soon write a review) a book called Effortless Bento. Cooking ahead a variety of meals, freezing or not, is the main part of the book.

The rice I made in the morning with my little and dumb rice cooker.

Strawberries, orange wedges, and radishes make up the top box, and cool pack goes in the attic.

Of course the whole bento goes into an insulated bag with two small blue ices because it gets hot out here.

And this is where I had lunch last Thursday - a turn-out along the railroad tracks in the shade of an oak tree. This picture was taken when my Scion turned 20,000 ODO in September 2009.

Chicken Fried Pork Bento

Getting on the bento train. Woooo woot! Here's my Tuesday bento - Chicken-Fried Pork - panko crust, radishes, mustard, and cubes of rice  with a sprinkle of roasted sesame seeds and watercress garnish.

All in my indigo rabbit box and eaten at the historic stage stop, Rios Caledonia Adobe in 100 degree heat.

Pink Bear Bento

A cut up pink lady apple with pink bear pic, cut radishes, and kimchi.

I am suspicious of what this bear might be doing. I've known a lot of boys in my life, and when they strike this pose, it usually means one thing.

my girly French bento box

Bullet Train Bento

Protein: white chicken meat, roasted. Leafy green: organic water cress. Super food: blueberries. Crunchies: radishes. From the garden: tomatoes, Juliet. Orange container: sea salt. Bullet Train pick. Bullet Train container: shoyu.

My cute Mio box

Sly Cat and a Totoro Snack Pack Bentos

Cute little flap-down bento box that I'm calling Sly Cat. It's filled with cous cous with pine nuts and homemade kimchee. I always bring a juice and a piece of fruit with my lunch bentos that I end up drinking/eating at 3:00pm to power through the afternoon

I'll be working later starting this summer, so I might bring an extra bento. But the main problem is I need refrigeration. I like the "two hour rule" even with blue ice. It's just that it gets so hot around here!

This is my lovely Totoro snap bento. The pick and container are from Japanese planes, trains, and automobiles set that is perfect for a little boy (or a little girl if the little girl was like me). I still like to chase trains.

Sail On, Sail On, Sailor Bento

A midweek bento last week with a smoked salmon and cream cheese English muffin in the floater tray. Spinach with capers, red bell peppers with capers, heirloom green tomatoes, and a little pink pocket of walnuts in the main box.  

The lid of this box (and my current wallpaper) is a watery scene with demons on the horizon. I woke up last night with dreams of my death in the ocean. To all of those who have succumb to the kelp monsters, to the shadows of the deep, and to songs of the mermaids, my you rest in peace.

Deviled Eggs and Salad Bento

Rub a dub dub

New gear, new year!

I purchased some adorable little containers for bento and filled them with salad-friendly accouterments. 

chia, salad dressing, and cashews

Mixed organic salad greens, deviled eggs, a squeeze of lime in the yellow part. From the garden last summer some dried Juliet tomatoes, and cabot cheese with the animals in the green part. Honey crackers, and a couple of hard Jolly Rogers candies in the beige part. 

Put it all together and what do you got?

 

Deviled eggs and salad

All wrapped up in a Burger Box!

Hamburger Bento Box!

Two New Bento Boxes and One Cute Cat

Merry Christmas from Judy's Bento Box!

Thank you for sharing your bentos this year, and I hope we will share and eat more delicious cute bentos in the coming year.

This is my new Book Bento. Shaped like a book so I can cleverly hide my lunch at work. 

 I love the details of this cover. I didn't even notice them until I took a picture. 

Really?

And this is my new Sushi Bento House. It looks like my favorite sushi restaurant.

Here's the layout. Bottom floor with lid. Top floor with lid. Cool gel pack (Cool!). Roof.

Ruff.