and i never even watched that show

I think that if you guys could see what I start out with sometimes before I get one of these packed, you would be muy impressivo at my bento-fu. AND, I think some of you who sit there on the electronic sidelines thinking to yourself, "That's nice and all, but I could never do that" -- YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE -- would realize that you, too, could totally do this. Srsly, if you saw just how little I had to work with in my fridge and pantry, at midnight, with every dish/pot/pan/utensil/glass in my kitchen in need of washing...

I'm saying, the thought crossed my mind to just punt and eat out for lunch BUT NO I DID NOT CAVE TO TEMPTATION AND LOOKIT HERE I HAVE A SEMI-NUTRITIOUS LUNCH AND I AM ONE TOTAL BADASS MOFO THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKIN 'BOUT.

• tuna sammie SEMICIRCLES* -- tuna, mayo, sweet pickle relish on 9-grain bread; romaine leaves for the sandwiches; cojack stars for decoration and dairy
• hard-boiled egg (that was lucky to get boiled at all, nevermind trying to mold it, and which broke as I was putting it in the water); sweet pickles to fill the gaps
• peas and carrots; dark chocolate covered raisins

And yes, I realize there's a high proportion of chocolate in ratio with everything else, but a) MY CUPBOARDS ARE BARE Y'ALL, b) raisins totally count as fruit, c) ANTI-OXIDANTS HELLO, d) if you knew the kind of day I was facing today, you would wonder at my restraint.

* Because my little rounds wouldn't fit in the box with the lid on. So I cut those bad boys in half and do you see how I am like the MacGuyver of Bento?

approximating normal

Well that sucked. Two weeks to the day since I first came down with the bug from hell and I'm finally feeling something approximating normal. I'll probably be fighting the lingering effects of this bug for awhile, but the worst has passed, I think. Which is a good thing, because I have a busy week ahead. As long as I stay drugged up, I should make it through the week okay.

And then! To the coast this weekend!! Happy happy joy joy it cannot come soon enough.

• bottom tier: beef stir fry, consisting of tri-tip steak, jasmine rice, artichoke hearts, kale, carrots, onion, leek, and garlic (we had a bunch of veggies to use up from our organics bin)
• top tier: minneola tangelo sections, carrot sticks, peanut butter honey dip, dried cherries, and dark chocolate raisins

concoctions from yesteryear

Finally got some sleep Tuesday night, and then some naps yesterday and a little bit of sleep last night. I'm not better yet, but feeling less pitiful than I was a couple of days ago.

The pantries at Hall House are looking rather bare these days, which makes coming up with something for lunch a bit of a trick. There's soup, of course, but I went almost the entire day without eating anything yesterday (and even when I did, had to make myself do it because I wasn't actually hungry) and I'm thinking that I need more solid food right now if I'm going to get better.

So today is a bit of an experiment, with breakfast food as an inspiration.

• egg scrambled with CoJack cheese and scallions
• French toast sticks* made with 9-grain bread
• Minneola tangelo sections
• smoked sausage

*I had the idea for these for awhile, with the idea that I'd have a little container of maple syrup for dipping. Unfortunately, we're out of maple syrup and I didn't want to have to pack butter and powdered sugar for sweetening them up, plus it would require reheating and I try not to do that if I can help it. So I flavored the egg batter with liberal amounts of cinnamon and sugar so that these wouldn't need any kind of sweetener. And if they still are kind of blah, I can eat them with the sausages, a concoction known at the Sheridan Best Western as the "Brittney Blanket" back in the day.

Let me 'esplain...

The summer before I went off to college, I worked at the front desk of the Best Western, which had a breakfast and dinner buffet. The shift included one meal (since you were basically "on call" even during your break) and you could eat for free at the buffet. Which is a nice enough perk, but it doesn't take long to get bored eating from the same array of options everyday. (And this was not a gourmet selection by any stretch -- all standard American fare.) To liven things up, we started coming up with imaginative creations since we basically had the whole buffet at our disposal. My creations were pretty tame compared to my coworkers', but when I worked the day shift, I loved putting sausage links in French toast slices like a kind of pig in the blanket -- hence, the "Brittney Blanket" -- sometimes with syrup, sometimes without. Sounds gross, but don't knock it. I still get a craving for it sometimes.

classic lunchbox bento

Back to the grind. I only went in for a few hours yesterday, then came home and slept most of the day away. Which sort of offset the exactly zero point none hours of sleep I got the night before. Last night was the same, I'm sorry to say but I pretty much have to be here all day (morning meetings, afternoon conference call) so no leaving early and making up that lost sleep for me.

So I packed myself a good solid lunch -- might as well try to keep my energy up any way I can. Nothing to write home about, but this is, collectively, probably more food than I've eaten in the last four days.

• tuna sandwiches (tuna, sweet relish, & mayo on 9-grain bread) with romaine leaves to put on them
• carrots, celery, and Pink Lady apple
• honey peanut butter in the small container, heart-shaped molded egg, since I decided I needed a little TLC; you'll note, however, that the egg broke (from being wedged in against the small container), so it's actually a...broken-hearted egg ::rimshot::
• black cherry jello, which has been the mainstay of my diet for the last week, and which was about the only thing I felt like eating for the first three days; I've said it before, I'll say it again:  jello is way awesome and tragically underappreciated
• a few Reese's in the silverware container as an added little pick-me-up

sick day bento

I'm not going to have a lot of time to eat today, hence the slimline with no small box or sidecar. But if I play my cards right, I may actually get home before 8 PM! So...yay?

ETA: Nope, sick today. (And if you're confused about the above in relation to this -- I write up these posts the night before, then add the pics and update if necessary; I'd never have time to write these up from scratch at work.)

I had a bit of a throat tickle late last night, and within an hour, a sore throat, aches, and congestion. Woke up this morning and knew I wasn't going to have the energy for work today, but I had a meeting that I absolutely could not miss this morning. So I got up a little later than usual, threw on jeans and brushed my hair, then headed down there to gather up my folders and then head into the meeting. Came home afterward and I'm headed to bed right now, but figured I should still post today's lunch. Not hungry right now but it'll be nice to have something already made up and ready to go when I'm hungry later.

Paris slimline:

• top tier: asparagus sauteed in a bit of olive oil with salt and pepper, carrot sticks, dried cherries, and dark chocolate raisins (since that's what I dumped over in yesterday's lunch and never got to actually enjoy them)
• bottom tier: 4-flavor radiatore pasta (beet, spinach, carrot, regular) with carrots and peas; smoked sausages

Taken with my new camera! On a "cuisine" setting, though it was low-light and had to use the flash instead of natural light, so I don't know if that setting really did anything. Anything looks better than a pic from a cameraphone, though....

Low on fruit in the house -- pineapple and raspberries and grapes gone, there wasn't really any room in the box for enough pear to make it worth cutting them up, and the last two Marcott tangerines and the last Sierra Gold tangerine were all moldy on the bottom. That's one thing about buying fresh and organic, is that you pretty much need to eat your produce right away or into the compost it goes. I hate waste, especially wasted food, so that's always kind of a bummer to have to pitch something that was perfectly fine a day or two before. Incentive to eat the fruit and veggies on hand before defaulting to other (less healthy) things, I suppose.

ho-hum

This week may or may not be as busy as last week's was, depending on how much I get done today. Based on past experience, I'm going to bet that it's not going to work out in my favor. But ever the optimist, I'll continue to hope....

Breakfast and/or snack (animals small box):

• Gold Blush apple, carrot sticks, celery sticks (underneath everything), and honey peanut butter for dipping

Lunch (strawberry box):

• top tier: breakfast burrito -- egg scrambled with spinach, scallions, asparagus, and cheddar wrapped in a tortilla; fresh spinach leaves to tuck inside when I eat it
• bottom tier: Gold Blush apple slices, dried cherries as baran and gap fillers, dark chocolate covered raisins

This one doesn't look quite as pretty as it tastes, mainly because the wrap takes up one whole tier. That's the reason I also packed a sidecar, since the wrap tier isn't as densely packed as it probably should be for a smaller box like this. But it's a pretty good (and good for me) lunch, at least, and considering my weekend, it's kind of a wonder I have something that looks this put together.

ETA: And I was going to take another picture of lunch because that one didn't turn out well, but managed to dump the bottom tier on the floor. Sigh. Welcome to Monday.

Poor Ms. Bento...

Poor Ms. Bento, feeling a little neglected. Awww. Don't worry, Ms. Bento, I still love you and your brother, Laptop Lunch. It's natural to feel a little neglected when new siblings enter the family, but I love you all the same, I promise. You're still the best at soups and stews and keeping things warm. Like today! See how good you did keeping my comforting lunch nice and warm for me on this rainy gray day? You're a good little bento, yes you are.

• homemade beef stew, with curls of carrot and scallion (leftover from sushi making) for a bit of color
• carrot and celery sticks, tortilla rolls, and a little container of honey peanut butter for dipping (with carrot "supports" underneath so it's at the same level of the rest of the food)
• Sierra Gold tangerines, pineapple chunks, and raspberries in one half; dried mango slices, chocolate almond clusters, and dark chocolate covered raisins in the other half

Taken today with a regular digital camera from work instead of my cameraphone because I forgot to charge it. I may have to break down and start taking these with my regular camera since they look so much better than with my phone.  My mom surprised me with a new camera for my birthday, so it would be a good excuse to start using it. Our old digital camera -- a refurbished Fuji we got in 2003 -- is a 1.5 megapixel, which makes it an Etch-A-Sketch by today's standards. Though it sure has hung in there well. The one she got me is 10 megapixels and has a ton of neat features, including a food setting, but I haven't had time to play with it much yet. May just have to do that....

Bento as sanity-saver

Oh Universe, why must you give me weeks like these? Work craziness (more than usual), and on top of that, website clients (wrapped up last night), preparations for this month's Second Saturday, preparations for guests staying this weekend, bills and reconciling to be done, other website work to do (more about that soon, hopefully), and the house is a flippin' disaster. I need a personal assistant who's willing to be paid in good food and keep me from jumping off the proverbial ledge. Know anyone who'd be interested? Send them my way.

Nonetheless, I stayed strong and made my lunch for today. Considering the day I was/am facing today, that is no small accomplishment right there. But this is where the rubber meets the road, or whatever koan works for you, and though it meant going to bed that much later and being that much more worn out when I dropped into bed, I did so with a certain satisfaction that's become invaluable, and boy oh boy am I thanking Nighttime Me for taking such good care of Daytime Me.

Bunny box today:

• top tier: star-shaped egg and smoked sausages* on one side, fresh mozzarella and tomato slices on the other side, with steamed broccoli as gap fillers throughout;
• bottom tier: pineapple and raspberries on one side, Golden Blush apple slices on the other side with a few strips of carrot to fill the end gap

* I found these great little sausages at New Seasons -- organic; vegetarian-fed; cruelty-free; no hormones; casein, gluten, and nitrite free. Now if they were just calorie-free I'd be set....

One of the things I just love about these new two-tier boxes is that they each fit inside themselves to take up as little room as possible for storage. This one is particularly clever in how it goes together to collapse down, and it's kind of like putting together a puzzle box. I get as much satisfaction from breaking these sets down and putting them away as I do packing them and eating from them.

An American in Paris with a Japanese lunch

We made sushi last night. Well, Sal has experience making it, but I don't so it was a learning experience for me. Turns out, it's pretty easy, actually. We're thinking we'll do it more often, because it's simple and quick and healthy, and we can use up things from the fridge. And of course, works great for bento. ;)

The last of the new boxes today, the Paris slimline box and the plain Natural Lunch. And since they're both pink, I'm doing a pink theme, using the pink sidecar, pink mini spoon, and pink silicone cup. So cute it kind of makes you want to barf, huh?

pink Natural Lunch box:

• plain yogurt in the pink sidecar with a dollop of blackberry jam to mix in
• Fremont tangerine
• wee sandwiches of peanut butter & honey on 9-grain bread
• soy sauce (for lunch)

Paris box:

• top tier: sushi rolls (includes cucumber, carrot, asparagus, and cream cheese) in one half, steamed broccoli and asparagus in the other with shrimp (sauteed in a bit of butter and garlic and a dash of lemon juice and a few sesame seeds sprinkled in at the end to toast) on top
• bottom tier: repeat of the fruit tier from last week -- no need to fix what ain't broken: pineapple, raspberries, green grapes, dark chocolate covered raisins

root vegetables bento

Another day, another new box. Well three, actually. Using my black strawberry box, my zoo animals sidecar, and one of the mini sidecars.

Breakfast:

• plain Greek yogurt in the sidecar; this was exactly the purpose I wanted the sidecars for, thanks to my last breakfast that ended upside down on the car floor...the box lid is sealed so it wasn't in any danger of making a mess, but my breakfast was a mostly lost cause
• Fremont tangerine and some fresh raspberries

Lunch:

• top tier: maple-glazed parsnips, carrots, and sweet potatoes in one half; steamed broccoli, homemade pasta, and the rest of the chicken from the other day in the other half
• bottom tier: pineapple, raspberries, green grapes, and a small container of dark chocolate covered raisins

The maple-glazed root veggies were an experiment. We had parsnips in a delivery awhile back that I wasn't sure what to do with. We've also had a sweet potato sitting here since Thanksgiving(!) that I kept meaning to roast but never got around to. So when I stumbled across this great recipe that called for parsnips and sweet potatoes and carrots, I had to make it.

Maple Glazed Winter Root Vegetables

1/4 cup maple syrup + 2 tbsp dijon mustard + fresh garlic, minced
olive oil, salt & pepper
sweet potato, carrots, and parsnips, cut into chunks

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Coat parsnips, potatoes and carrots with the olive oil, salt and pepper on a baking pan. Roast in oven for 15 minutes, then remove and retoss on baking sheet. Cook 15 minutes more, until all the veggies and potatoes are soft. Comine maple syrup, dijon mustard and garlic powder in a small bowl. Drizzle the maple mixture over potatoes and veggies and mix to coat well.

I'm not a fan of dijon and I almost left it out, but I know that in recipes it can make a difference and you don't necessarily taste the dijon-ness. I can taste it in this, but I actually really liked how it all turned out; I think I would experiment with putting in less, but it definitely needs something like that in order to keep it from being too sweet. Anyway, a great find, super simple, and highly recommended.

new box!

So if you missed it last night, you can find out all about my exciting new craz-itude here. If you scrolled on past for a reason, well then...I don't blame you a whit.

Too many choices, too many choices, and I'd totally been planning something a little more impressive for my first meal in each of my new boxes, but you know, life and whatever, the end.

• bottom tier: chicken breast stir-fried in a little toasted sesame seed oil and Worcestershire sauce; jasmine rice on top of peas, with beets as garnish
• top tier: more peas with mozzarella and colby cheese stars; green grapes, dried mango as baran, and dark chocolate covered raisins as gap fillers

Not only was I working with a limited array from the fridge, but also limited time. I didn't even start making dinner (and thus leftovers) until almost 10. :(  I will also blame the late hour on my lack of either a pick or one of my mini spoons included for the peas, which is unfortunate since, while I'm fairly proficient with chopsticks, my chopstick fu is not so sophisticated that I can manage peas with aplomb. Time to practice, I guess....

bento glee, baby!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA YOU GUYS YOU ARE SO GOING TO HATE ME LIKE FOR REALS OMG.

GUESS WHAT CAME IN THE MAIL TODAY HMMM I WONDER WHAT IT COULD POSSIBLY BE??????

I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS DAY FOR TWO WEEKS BUT ALSO FOR MONTHS AND MONTHS IT IS LIKE BEING SEVEN YEARS OLD ALL OVER AGAIN I AM PROBABLY GOING TO BREAK MY CAPSLOCK KEY JUST FYI.

Click to read more ...

wings 'n things

The aforementioned (from last night) wings are the centerpiece of today's lunch, which may possibly give me tummy trouble because yowza so hot and spicy but so good and so worth it. I tell everyone we're going to rule the world with this wings recipe some day...

• hot wings, good hot or cold or right in between
• spinach salad with beets; vial of basic dressing (balsamic vinegar w/olive oil) and small container of mozzarella cubes
• burli bread pieces, handmade by Sally (and guaranteed to soak up a bit of that stomach acid, so a necessity even if it wasn't yummy)
• anjou pear slices and dried cranberries as gap fillers