Oh man. I win the  Clean-Out-The-Fridge-Concoction Olympics today.

Well last night I was in an experimenting mood, so I thawed out some smoked salmon (salmon we smoked ourselves awhile back) and read through the crabcake recipe in The Joy of Cooking. It called for some things we didn't have, and I didn't feel like going to the store, so I improvised. Significantly. Obviously, the salmon for the crab. It called for scallions, and I had neither scallions nor green onions. But there was a lovely leek in our bin delivery yesterday so I chopped up some of that instead. I needed breadcrumbs...out of Panko and didn't want to use any of our lovely flavored crackers if I didn't have to, since there's lots of cheese to eat up still. Scrounging in the fridge yielded the last three slices of 9-grain bread that were starting to go stale, so I toasted them and grated them into a bowl. No dill or similar herb, so I left that out. Recipe called for dijon, which I don't like (though mixed in things, it's usually fine) and mayo, which we don't have on hand because Sal just makes aioli when we need it and I didn't feel like making any. But I figured the smoked flavor of the fish was going to be pretty strong, so it was probably best to keep the flavors simple anyway. (Translation: too lazy to go to the store, so let's see what happens.) Mixed in some egg and breadcrumbs, added some sea salt and black pepper, made little bento-sized patties pressed in breadcrumbs, and fried them in a bit of butter and olive oil.

And I have decided that I am a genius. :)

• The aforementioned experimental smoked salmon cakes. Pretty darn delicious if I do say so myself.
• celery sticks
• purple (though it's hard to tell in the pic) dyed molded egg -- I did a heart one, too, but because these eggs aren't big enough to fill the molds, it's harder to tell it's a heart so I'll put in tomorrow's if Sal doesn't eat it first.
• Peas for gap filler, steamed using my new microwave mini steamer. I think I steamed them a bit long, but oh well. Also: peas on a pick. Heh.
• Jazz apple slices
• carrot shapes for garnish

Here's a closeup of the egg, though it's still hard to see the color.

Also, the mystery of my descent into bento madness (not really a mystery, I know) has been solved! I've been emailing my mom pics of them (trying to convert her) and in response to the pics from last week when I embraced the dark side and got more gear, whilst bemoaning my further addiction, she wrote this yesterday:

So I was apparently born with this affliction and was doomed from the start.