Onigiri Bento

Today I really wanted to make something different. I wanted to make something that I had not posted about before. I wanted to make some onigiri. I have made onigiri before, but I have never taken a picture and posted it on the blog. Just a little info: an onigiri is a rice ball. It is essentially exactly what it sounds like, white rice typically in the shape of a triangle, but also made in other shapes as well, that is wrapped in nori (seaweed) and has a filling of some sort. Traditionally onigiri are filled with umeboshi (pickled plums), or other salty or sour ingredients. These are very popular in Japan and are widely available, especially at convenience stores.

In the top tier I placed three onigiri. You maybe wondering what is that purple stuff on them? Well I made two different kinds, the middle plain looking one was filled with homemade fruit salsa, and the two  other are filled with pickled cauliflower. The purple stuff is furikake, which is a dried seasoning intended to be sprinkled on rice. There is a wide variety of furikake, but here I used shiso (an herb in the mint family) furikake.  In the second tier, I placed a hard boiled egg. You may notice here... this doesn't look like an egg at all... it looks like a heart... Well there are these  Interesting little devices used to shape hard boiled eggs that are very popular in bento! I also placed some carrot sticks, and in the pink container is some Russian dressing for the carrots. I also added some dried mango and cheddar and gouda cheese.

I also included a bit of cucumber salad. This salad is very simple, but delicious. Its basically cucumbers in a dill sauce. 

Here's a picture of how the bento looked all closed up! It's so cute! When I saw this box, I knew I had to add it to my collection. :) I also stored it in a thermal bag with an ice pack for food safety. 

Well that's all for today, until next time, happy munching!

Very Western Bento

Hello Again Everyone! Today's bento is actually very westernized I think. I used this neat bento that I actually received by accident when I was shipped the wrong box, however, I still like it because it is very different from a lot of my other bento. It is also quite spacious, and has a nice square shape that can be useful if you want to pack larger items, which I definitely took advantage of.

In the bottom tier I packed a peanut butter and apple jelly sandwich (that's homemade apple jelly by yours truly). I also included some pepperoni bites (due to their nature I wanted to store them in something that would separate them, however due to some reorganization going on at my place, I wasn't able to locate the right dividers and cups so I substituted with a simple plastic baggie. I little less eco-friendly, but it does the job. In the upper tier, I packed a variety of cheeses including dill havarti, old cheddar, dubliner, and swiss gruyere, some dried apricots and mangos, and almonds and soya beans.

This is actually a dinner bento that will be great to last me during my three hour class that intersects dinner time today. I am very excited to enjoy all these delicious items!

Until next time, happy munching!