Valentine's Day Bento

Happy Valentine's Day, Everyone!

Today, I made my fiance a bento to take to work! It is a bento that is domokun themed! I put the lunch inside this adorable domokun bag. It is actually made of very thick durable fabric and is quite cute.

This is the domokun bento box (closed view). It has two tiers, comes with chopsticks that fit inside between the upper tier lid and the bento box lid. It also came with this simple black band. The picture on the box is also very fun.

Now for the food! Inside I have an orzo pasta salad. I boiled the pasta, let it cool, and added finely chopped carrot, yellow pepper and yellow onion. I also made my own vinaigrette and tossed it all together. In the top tier I included two heart shaped chocolates, some almonds, some cheddar and dill havarti and a few pieces of chopped up beef pepperoni sticks. I also included along with this 2 boiled eggs in a Valentine's themed baggie!

I'm sure that he will enjoy this very nutritious and fun lunch that was made with extra love for Valentine's day! I hope you all have a very special day. :)

Until next time, happy munching!

Dinnertime Bento

Today I have a late class, and it runs right through dinnertime, so I am bringing a dinner bento!

To keep my food hot, I used a thermal bento! When I got to class and opened it up, everything was still nice and delicious and hot!

Inside I packed rice (it is under the vegetables to you can't really see it) and I made a chicken and vegetable stir-fry. First I cooked the chicken with some seasonings and then cut up and cooked the vegetables, then mixed them together again and poured on some sesame sauce and then put it all on top of my rice. 

I also included two little snacks, a few gummy bears and some strawberry yogurt and granola.

Delicious.

That is all for my dinner bento! I hope you enjoyed it! Until next time, Happy Munching!

Hello, Year of the Rabbit!

It is that time of year! Chinese New Year! We say good bye to the previous year, (the tiger) and hello to the new year, year of the Rabbit!!

Rabbit-Dragon Tissue Box Cover

I decided to have a little celebration with my fiance to welcome the year of the rabbit!

I decorated a little (unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the decorations on the walls) and I prepared a hot pot! A little information for those who wish to know, a hot pot is basically a form of table top cooking. We have an induction burner that we use for this purpose. One has a pot on the burner which is filled with a broth or soup of their choice. One can purchase lots of different bases to which they add to water only must add a few ingredients like garlic and green onions. Then one uses thinly sliced meats and cut up vegetables which are cooked in the boiling soup. Its very fun and social.

Here is a picture of the spread we had laid out! As you can see in this picture we had a few different types of thinly sliced meats (pork, beef, and lamb), lots of veggies (cabbage, carrots, cremini mushrooms, baby bok choy, broccoli, cauliflower, and snow peas), udon noodles, rice, cheese cubes (old cheddar and havarti) and I prepared a small salad to start. We also had some lemon green tea. It was great!

This is just a little picture of my tea set that I purchased a few months ago and really wanted to pull out for this occasion. You can see that it has little rabbits on it. :)

 

We also had some treats for dessert! Those fish are Nian Gao which is a Sticky Cake, made of rice. (We didn't get a chance to eat them yet because we were so full from dinner, but they are sure to be interesting!) And we have a few different treats in that box! 

Here you can see that it is filled with some various candies, almonds and some sweet crispy fried dough and some dried yam. We tried a few treats and they were all quite tasty! 

Well that's all for now! I wish you all the best in Year of the Rabbit! Until next time, Happy Munching!

Birthday Celebration!

Hello Everyone!

Today it is my birthday! To celebrate I went to a teppanyaki place with some friends and family! For those of you who do not know what teppanyaki is, it is a form of Japanese cuisine. The word teppan means iron plate, and yaki (in this case) is used to mean grilled, so teppanyaki is a method of preparing food that involves those items being cooked on a large heated iron surface. This is usually done in front of the patrons of the restaurant and is a combination of entertainment and eating. It was very exciting and delicious. I took a little picture to show you how it looks. Here the chef is cooking some chicken and vegetables! (and shrimp?)

In this picture the chef is flambéing the shrimp! It is quite an amazing thing to see the flame is enormous and very warm! Its a show stopper.

If you happen to be wondering what I ate while I was there, we started with a small shabu shabu soup (this is what they call it but it is the broth not the table top cooking shabu shabu), and a salad, then the show began with yaki shrimp, an assortment of vegetables, rice (everyone gets these items with their meal) and I had a delicious New York steak! It was so amazing! This place is definitely one of my favourites! 

Also, my fiance made me this awesome cake for my birthday in the shape of one of my favorite icons, Hello Kitty!! It turned out great! Here's a little picture of it before we put in the candle and cut it up!

It was delicious!! Thank you to everyone for making my birthday special again this year! I really appreciate it and I had a great time, and I hope you did, too!!

Back to School Bento

Hello Everyone!
It is the beginning of a new semester and here is my first bento of the new year!

I chose this adorable festive red Hello Kitty Bento set. It has a matching drawstring bag that helps keep all my bento stuff together.

Here is the above view of the closed 2 tier plastic bento box held closed with a black band.

The 1st tier, In this tier I strained some fruits that were in a light syrup, and placed them inside their own division, and next to that in a separate section is a small cheese, some cashews, some salami cut into quarters, and a lychee coconut jelly.

In the lower tier,which can be viewed in this picture, contains a rice stir-fry with green beans, shitake mushrooms and some seasoning on the rice.

Well thats all about this bento! I hope you are enjoying the new year! 

Unitl next time! Happy Munching!

Bento Tutorial

What is Bento?

            Bento is a well-balanced, compact and visually appealing lunch that is packed in a box. This method comes from Japan where it is very common where mothers see making bento as an expression of love for their children (and husbands too!). Children share and even enter their bento into cafeteria competitions. Bento is also becoming increasingly popular for workers to take each morning and is increasing in popularity in North America. Japan has the highest longevity and lowest obesity rates in the world, so it wouldn’t hurt to take a page out of their book!

            Bento is yummy, healthy and interesting. A great perk about bento is that they are very eco-friendly! It helps reduce waste and most bento parts and accessories are highly reusable. Bento allow for easy portion control, saving money and for one to pack a wider variety of food for lunch. It is important to realize that a bento does not need to be filled with Japanese food. You can fill it with whatever food you like! You can make the food from scratch, or it makes great use of leftovers. The foods used can be premade, or prepared in advance. You can use a rainbow of assorted foods to keep things interesting! Despite the beautiful images we all see online or in books, there is no pressure to have a bento look like an image, landscape or character. Just aim to make it visually appealing and thoughtfully arranged. Once you get the hang of that, if you feel like it you can aim for some more complicated arrangements, but in reality, that's not really necessary. The important thing is that it appeals to you and is arranged in a way to be highly portable, and well organized.

            Bento is a great way to motivate yourself to pack a lunch, eat healthy and also to diminish picky eaters. Lets make packed meals fun again with bento!

Bento Supplies & Tools

There are a lot of different tools and supplies one can use to make a bento but they are not all necessary at first. The main tools one needs are a bento box (even just Tupperware will do the trick), some utensils (whatever you feel comfortable with), and some cupcake paper cups. In the following descriptions I will explain the basic tools/supplies one can use for bento in further detail, and you can decide for yourself what you want to use!

Bento boxes: Come in a wide variety of types, styles and designs.

            Lacquer: heavy, long-lasting, but not microwave safe

            Plastic: usually microwave safe (but not the lid) affordable, modern

            Metal: not microwavable, uncommon, may not have a tight seal

Bamboo: good for sandwiches or onigiri (rice balls) because it allows for            

breathing, but must be lined.

Wooden: Traditional, not microwave safe, expensive, require plastic lining

Donburi: has 2 layers, one for rice and the other for the rice topping (stew, chili, etc.)

Onigiri: for one or multiple onigiri, is or has a compartment specifically shaped for onigiri (triangular)

Chopsticks: useful for eating and cooking

Utensil sets: come in cases with forks, spoons, chopsticks, etc. Very useful for transporting utensils.

Toothpicks/Decorative Picks: useful for eating, decorating and packing

Baran: food dividers, such as grass (often seen with sushi), keeps food separated

Little Sauce Containers/Bottles: a mess-free way to store and transport sauces]

Plastic, Paper, or Silicone Cups: good for keeping foods, particularly moist foods, separated

Oshibori: small, wet, reusable towel in a case, used to wash hands before and after a meal

Rice Paddle: Typically plastic, is a small paddle used in the making of rice

Freezer Packs: to keep food cool and safe

Straps: used to keep containers safely closed

Bag: one can use either a cloth wrapper or a bento bag with a zipper or drawstring

Gadgets: can make lunch a little extra fun, or make being creative with food a little easier.

            Condiment Pencils: allow for drawing or writing with sauces

            Weiner Shapers: make tulips, crabs, octopuses, penguins, etc out of wieners

            Nori Punches/Hole Punches:  for making faces and such on food

            Egg Molds: for shaping hard-boiled eggs

            Plastic Cutters/Cookie Cutters: for cutting veggies, bread, etc, multi-use

            Onigiri Shapers: help shape rice balls

            Sandwich Cutters: cut sandwiches into cute, fun shapes

Packing Bento:

            The key here is balance. That balance applies not only to the nutritional content, but also visually by using a variety of colours and textures and with arrangement.

            One should keep in mind a general guideline for food ratios: (There are many different ones, but I picked this one)

1/3 – ½ : Carbs (Bread/Rice/Pasta) (when mixed with other foods, can be as much as 2/3)

1/3 +: Veggies (Can include fruit/jelly)

1/3 : Protein

Try to avoid junk foods, oily food, or candy, but occasional treats can be included.

Please vary this approximation to your personal need!

Remember to use variety of flavour, colour and cooking methods, and to keep in mind: ease of eating, drain moist/wet foods and divide them, season well (cooled food requires more seasoning than hot), safe packing, and cute and interesting arrangement.  Feel free to experiment with different methods and foods. If you are using leftovers, try to give them a makeover to stave off boredom. Another important factor to keep in mind is: do not leave empty spaces! Make your bento look full and attractive by using garnishes and fillers. Some examples of fillers are: dried fruit, nuts, cooked beans, mini jellies, veggies, fruit, wrapped cheese, etc.

Packing Method

Step 1: Set the rice: Spread the rice across the bottom of the container to allow cooling and avoid condensation. Next, pack the rice, push it against one side of the container until it is even and full on that side.

Step 2: Put in Fixed-Shape Foods: place food that has a shape that cannot be modified

Step 3: Place moist foods: Place moist food that has been drained and separated in dividers/cups

Step 4: Place Shapeable Foods: place food that can be shaped/ is flexible

Step 5: Place Space Fillers: use the fillers to make your bento nice and full

Step 6: Enhance: visually enhance the box by adding picks or seasoning like nori or furikake

Step 7: Cool: allow your bento to cool completely before replacing the lid to avoid condensation and sogginess and to ensure food safety.

This concludes my bento tutorial. I hope I haven’t left out anything important, if you have any comments and questions feel free to let me know!

Tutorials!

So I know I've been absent for some time now, I am sorry, unfortunately things were a bit busy and I was not able to post anything new, and then I had finals, and now I am on my winter break, so as you can guess, I am not really making bento to eat at home. The good news is that I do plan to have new bento to post in January once I start my classes again, and also I spent some time writing up a bento tutorial! So with no further ado, I give you my first tutorial!