SO TODAY I DID A ONE HOUR PRESENTATION ABOUT ALL THINGS BENTO AND IT WAS KIND OF THE BEST THING EVER. As in, lots of people showed up, and everyone was enthusiastic, and I had plenty to fill the time. Srsly, I had a PowerPoint presentation and two picture slideshows and visual aids and food samples and a handout and a live demonstration. I AM A MONUMENTAL DORK OKAY.
Sal and I made fifty gajillion gyoza (which entailed us being up ridiculously late for the last two nights) and he also made the sauce stuff that goes with them, both of which were a huge hit with everyone. Oh, and he made bento-sized chocolate chip cookies, which I handed out at the end, just to cement the ranking as the best bento presentation ever done at my workplace in the whole history of forever. That's a pretty competitive field, if you didn't know.
Oh, and I got to do a show and tell about my bento boxes! Making my inner kindergartener positively giddy. I may no longer feel the need to bore random visitors with all the intricacies of single-tier versus two-tier, and the challenges of the round and square versus rectangular boxes. You all can breathe a sigh of relief now.
But because I am both A) a masochist, and B) crazy, I even packed a bento box right there in front of everyone. Which...I mean, I planned all along to do that, but because I am all about preparation, I had also planned to practice the night before to ensure prevent any unexpected mishaps. However, helping to cook up seven dozen gyoza in the wee hours of the morning will mean that you don't have time to practice packing your bento box to ensure doing it live won't result in embarrassment. Yet, despite my lack of preparation, I plunged recklessly ahead. AND! I even let the group choose which bento box I'd pack, just to add an extra degree of difficulty. BECAUSE I THINK WE CAN ALL AGREE I AM TOTALLY ABOUT LIVING ON THE EDGE. Thankfully, even that potential disaster turned out well, and I managed to prove that you can indeed pack a pretty and delicious and healthy compact lunch in no time at all.
And so now, I have a bunch of coworkers who are all talking about bento boxes and egg molds and there's talk of everyone going in on an order together to save on international shipping and it was totally fun and great! And also a lot of work! And I'm never doing it again because I am way too lazy! So it's a good thing it was pretty much the awesomest!
;)
lunch, Lunchbot Duo:
- sushi rice
- asparagus sauteed with green onions and mushrooms (which I unintentionally hid completely underneath the asparagus)
- roasted red garnet yam shapes
- two gyoza (stuffed with pork (seasoned with soy sauce, ponzu, and other things I've forgotten), green onion, ginger, garlic, cabbage)
- steamed broccoli, corn (mostly hidden under the gyoza), and peas
- fresh mango and cherries