Bento (another comeback)

Yes! Another bento. Although I feel that this bento, compared to the ones I did when I was attending university, is much more plain and boring.

I bought the cute sauce container (on the right of the top compartment) quite a while ago but I didn't have the chance to use them. Yesterday I tried filling one of them with chili sauce (which has close consistency to tomato ketchup).

It took me one whole hour to do it.

Why? Because the chili sauce is thick and the pipette that I have doesn't have enough sucking power. The pipette is probably more suitable for sauces with consistency similar to soy sauce. Then I tried transferring the chili sauce into a plastic sandwich bag and cut a tiny hole at the corner small enough to fit into the sauce container's neck.

It didn't work well.

Then I thought of squeezing the sauce container before pumping in the sauce. Just like how a pipette works: release any air within the container so it can "suck in" the sauce.

And it worked.

The bento is nothing fancy... just potato salad with carrot and green peas, steamed broccoli, cherry tomato, rice with akajisho (dried beefsteak plant) and wrapped in soy wrapper colored with beta carotene, and fried chicken breast cuts.

Plus the cute panda toothpicks, of course.

I brought this bento to work and ate it in front of my coworkers, and I was a little embarrassed because it seemed like their eyes were fixated on my bento as I eat.

Read More

Weird (read: ecchi) looking bento

This is one of the moments where I say "WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING!?!?!"

^^;

Read More

Bentoooo

Ingredients: Red Delicious apple, boiled quail eggs, surimi (fake crab), boiled shrimp, seedless cucumber, kewpie (Japanese mayo), steamed rice (preferably short grain sushi rice so it can stick well), mirin, rice vinegar, salt, nori (roasted seaweed)

Cutting Red Delicious apple into rabbit apples are pretty hard because the apple is tall and very curvy (it's really sexy!!).

I tried a new way of decorating the quail egg. It's pretty simple: I used a small fruit/paring knife to make zigzag patterns at the middle of the egg. Keep making the zigzag cut until you can split the egg into half. For this purpose, make sure that the egg yolk is completely cooked and not runny. Otherwise you'll end up making a big mess!

Read More

The Bento Boxes Are Back!!

Guess what guess what!! The bento boxes are back~!

Thanks to TOKYOPOP's bento contest, I got fired up again. On Friday night, I read about the contest from Hetalia Archive's updates and then I told my friend that I was seriously gonna make one! At first I didn't know which characters to make. Took me quite a while do decide on the chatty Nordics!

 The chatty Nordics: Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Iceland

And then.. I thought "hey, the Nordics haven't been featured as much as the others until Book 3 and Book 3 hasn't been published in US!". I kept thinking, did I make a wrong choice, did I make a wrong choice.... and then since I have leftover rice in the fridge I decided to give my final shot. 

As such, the Axis Powers vs Allied Forces bento was made!!

Top: Japan, Italy and Germany onigiri

Bottom: China, Russia, America, France and England's almond cookies

Wheeee I'm so happy right now~

I don't know if I can win the contest but since it's been a while since I made my last bento, I felt really excited. I must thank TOKYOPOP for giving me the final push to going back making more bento!

It's getting warmer nowadays... It snowed about a couple days ago, but right now it's raining pretty heavily. Looks like there's thunderstorm outside. The sky looks bright pink because of the lightning. Reminds me so much of Russia ☆

Read More

HELP!

Not meant to be gory!

The initial concept was a person who gets shocked after looking at his friend getting stressed out from studying. After it's been done, the concept changed to a person who witnessed a crime scene (LOL).

I don't have any bento ideas nowadays. I've been channeling my ideas through the songs I composed. Thanks to my friend, I became familiar with VOCALOID and I finally got the software. It's surprisingly rather easy to use. I guess the hard part is to make the voice sounds like a human, and not some synthetically produced voices >.<

And it's also partially because I have gotten really busy with school work! So many things to do, and so many things I want to do!!

I think my next bento will be Noctis bento. I hope it's not that hard to make.. ♫

Read More

Sleeping Bento

The leaves have started to turn red, but the temperature was around 29-30C today, so it doesn't feel like Fall has come. I was talking to my friend today, and I just realized that it has been 2 months since the start of this semester!

I only have 3-4 bento photos so far. That's sad :( I had more last year...

So the theme for today is "I still want to sleep..."

I think everyone has at least experienced this before: the alarm clock rings, you try to reach it and find the snooze button, wishing for another 5 minutes of sleep... which could potentially end up with you waking up late (at least that has been my case LOL).

Recipe is self-explanatory. The beef curry was actually my dinner left over :3

Read More

First bento of the year

Hello again!

Little did I realize that I have entered my last year as an undergraduate. And I have been in college only for 2 years. Sometimes I wish I could graduate normally like others, but tuition is expensive. Why not graduate in 3 years when I can do that?

That being said, my schedule this semester has been very hectic because at least three out of seven courses I am taking right now only exist in Fall semester. Which is to say that once I miss those classes right now, I will have to add another year of expensive tuition and housing and living fees.

Taking 23 credit hours (the normal limit is 18) is more painful than I thought it would be, considering that I'm taking one graduate level course, three 400/senior-level courses, one 300 level course, one 200 level course and only one 100 level class (which apparently takes a lot of my time because most 100 level courses have tons of homework even though they're not that hard).

And on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I have classes starting at 9:30 all the way till 3:20. Six hours with no break. On the first week, I thought my brain got burnt. The moment I came back to my apartment I just collapsed on my bed, unable to think about anything.

Anyways.

Here's my first bento of the (academic) year. School starts in August, ending in May, so, yes, this is going to be my first bento of the year.

Very simple. Rice seasoned with basil, thyme, salt, mirin, and rice vinegar compacted into squares and a big heart shape. The heart shaped rice actually has a piece of lime and clove seasoned pork chop inside. Simple decoration this time: sliced cheese and nori for the rice, cup cake papers for the rest.

The bottom compartment is the dessert compartment. So it's whole wheat bread decorated with Nutella spread, sandwiching sliced cheese and nutella in between. With a couple of Lorna Doone crackers.

The reason why most of the stuffs here are bite-sized is because as I told you earlier I have no breaks on Tuesday and Thursday. So it has to be something that is easy to eat within 5 minute break in between my classes.

Okay, bento time is over. Time to get a grip on my mind and start doing my homework >.<

Read More

Cinnamon Roll Bento

My friend kinda requested for a Hello Kitty or Cinnamon Roll bento. I didn't really have enough time, and she said Cinnamon Roll would be easier. So... here we go, Cinnamon Roll bento!

They're really basic. The ingredients are:
- rice
- nori
- ham (for the blush and the bento box lining)
- meatballs
- frozen mixed vegetables (the corn, carrot, green bean and green peas come in one package, so I had to separate them one by one)
- cherry tomatoes

If you notice, I kinda run out of my creativity. I've been using the same ingredients over and over again. There are plenty of reasons to that, but the main reason is that I'm a college student who lives in a single apartment. That just means that I can't buy a wide arrange of food ingredients. They'll go bad before I can finish them. Take a cucumber for example. It's going to take more than 1 week for me to fully utilize a cucumber assuming that I'm not eating cucumber every day. Before I could finish it, they'd go bad :(

And I don't have a roommate to share the food with. So I'm the only one who finishes whatever I made.

I don't really wish that I have a roommate/housemate, though. She'll go crazy with my randomness to cook at any time of the day at any kind of situation. I'll occupy the entire kitchen just for myself. And I bet she won't be able to stand the smell coming out from the kitchen every day haha!

By the way, it rained again today. Pretty heavily. Spring is here. Or has been here for quite some time, actually.

I'm not looking forward to summer. I hate heat :(

Read More

Bananana Bento

Left compartment:
- microwave steamed mixed veggies (corn, green bean, carrot, peas)
- tomato mushroom fried rice
- fresh cherry tomato
- sauteed bay scallops

Right compartment:
- omu rice (1 egg, tomato mushroom fried rice inside)
- microwave steamed broccoli
- sauteed mushroom
- fresh cherry tomato
- microwaved meatballs x2

Now, you might wonder why I often microwave-steam the veggies. The reason is simple: it's easy, fast, and gives you bright colors. For broccoli, you just have to cut them into pieces and put them into a microwavable bowl. Add probably about 1-2 tablespoon water. Cover the bowl with a cling wrap, and don't forget to poke several holes on the cling wrap so the steam can escape. Otherwise you might hear a tiny "boom" from your microwave... maybe. Haha. Anyways, steam it for about 40-60 seconds on high power (I like them soft, so I always cook it for 50-60 seconds depending on how much broccoli I cook)

The same goes with corn, green peas, carrots and green beans. 40 seconds is a good time to start, and if you like softer texture, go ahead and heat them in the microwave again for another 10-20 seconds. Remember, it's easier to cook again than to have the vegetables overcooked.

Enjoy~

Read More

High Carb, High Sugar...?

Monday night, and I was stressed. So I did my normal daily ritual to ward it off: make a bento.

I haven't been going for groceries for weeks, so I don't really have that many ingredients left in the fridge. And I'm a little bored of using ham and bacon.

Left: frankfurters, garlic fried rice, crab stick, english cucumber, green onion

Right: sliced baumkuchen, nastar, fortune cookie, orange gummy, milk candy

I tried a new "technique" of making a frankfurter look like flowers. It's pretty successful, I'd say. And it's unexpectedly easy to make :)

But a friend of mine complained told me that this bento is filled with carb and sugar only. Sigh. That's true. I wish my bento boxes are a little bit bigger so I can put in more stuffs.

Read More

FF XIII Bento

Finally! It's an idea that has been running in my mind for quite some time, and finally I've been able to make it! I've been experiencing a "bento block" (it's my own term; similar to a "writer's block", but it just means that I have no idea what to create).

You see, I like to create things from scratch. Like... total scratch. I don't normally follow recipes, so what I create sometimes are haphazardous.

This time, I created something really really good :D

FF XIII bento

Lightning, Hope and Snow. And you know what? Snow looked weird here because I totally forgot that he has hairs! Hahaha oh well at least Lightning looks good and Hope (even though he now has a yellow hair) is not so bad.

My original idea was Lightning, Hope and Fang (my main team in FF XIII), but I figured that Fang would be a little hard to make, with her wavy hair.

I was having troubles creating silver hair. I don't want to totally depend on food coloring. I tried it with egg white, but it didn't work out. So I replaced it with cheddar cheese.

Well, the faces aren't the only ones I'm proud of. I created a new dish, and it's good!

Pan fried bacon-wrapped shrimps, fishballs, fish cake, cherry tomatoes, orzo pasta salad

I got the orzo pasta salad recipe from my friend, but I created the pan fried bacon-wrapped shrimps. Wait, that's just... normal, isn't it? That's because it's not dipped in the avocado lime dip :)

Avocado Lime dip

Basically it's just Avocado with fresh lime juice, salt and black pepper. That's about 1 avocado per 1 fresh lime. Seasonings is yours to determine. I don't like to make it too salty since the bacon is already salty. Make sure it's cold when you eat the bacon-wrapped shrimps. It adds some freshness into the oily, greasy, sinful yet yummy bacon-shrimp.

Itadakimasu!

Read More

Happy V Day + CNY

It's a little late, but happy Valentine's day and happy Chinese New Year! Gong xi fa cai, wan shi ru yi!

Well.. the reason why I didn't post anything because:
1) I was doing my homework,
2) I was reading 169 chapters of Glass Mask, a super old manga by Suzue Miuchi, and
3) I had a group meeting with my friends.

on February 14th. A very sad day? Not really. Haha. It's a Sunday, so I get to rest and have some fun on that day.

Ok, I made a bento for V Day even though it's a little late. I suddenly got the inspiration (even though I was supposed to finish another 17 pages of assignment (I finished 25 pages earlier, so I wasn't really procrastinating - I just needed a break!).

And... there we go. Baka couple bento!

A very happy couple, ne? Ingredients used: fishball, ham, crab sausage, lap cheong, white rice, and nori.

Leftover ham and crab sausage. I didn't expect to make a crab sausage rolled in ham. It turned out to be rather cute <3

And the fishballs go well with the ham, too! What I did was just cutting the ham into star-like shape and stick it into the fishball using a toothpick that has been broken into halves.

I cut the ham and the nori using a pair of scizzors.


The theme was Valentine's Day, so I tried to incorporate as many red/pink stuffs. And no vegetables this time. Yes. I'm sorry for being a little unhealthy.

Alright then, time for another 17 pages of assignment! Gambare!!

Read More

More Bento

I'm glad that I had lots of leftovers from the shabushabu party at my apartment. It makes me think, "okay, what am I gonna do with these things?". In a sense, it gives me the excitement in this gloomy weather and stressful days.

I try not to make the same dishes over and over again to keep my brain working. Otherwise, it will be no different than eating out at the Union.

Just recently, I discovered that fake crab sausages (which they claim are made with fish) go pretty well with rice. I'm in love with it!

A few years ago I would consider those fake crab sausages expensive commodities because they were pretty rare on the market since I'm not from Japan. It's like a WOW, IT'S A CRAB SAUSAGE!! kind of feeling.

Anyways, more bento pictures.

omurice with ham + crab spicy garlic fried rice, frankfurters, squid balls on sauerkraut, fried fishball, romaine lettuce salad

Fried rice
Ingredients
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 1 cup cooked white rice
- 1 piece ham, cut into 1cmx1cm size
- 2 crab sausage sticks, cut into 2 and shredded
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- a pint of white pepper
- sriracha chili paste (or some other chili paste that you like)
- 1 egg, whisked

Steps:
1) Heat oil in medium heat (3-4 in a 7 heat level settings) in a skillet
2) Add garlic into the skillet. Fry until the garlic is brownish.
3) Add in rice, ham, and crab sausage sticks into the skillet. Add soy sauce, white pepper and chili paste. Stir and mix well until the color of the rice is uniform.
4) Cook for another 2-3 minutes while stirring.
5) Set the fried rice aside.
6) Add a little oil on the skillet. To even the oil on the skillet, use kitchen towel.
7) Check if the oil is hot by dripping a drop of the egg. If it cooks the moment it reaches the skillet, pour in the rest of the egg mixture into the pan.
8) Stir the egg with chopsticks for about 5 seconds. After stirring, make sure that the egg covers the skillet without holes.
9) When the surface is still a little wet, add in the fried rice on the omelet.
10) Fold the omelet slowly. Use a spatula or a chopstick. \
11) Place the omelet on a plate/bento box.

Took me approximately 20 minutes to prepare all these in the morning from scratch :)

Read More

Morning Food

This semester, I try to constantly wake up at 7 no matter what time my class start every day so I have time to enjoy heavier breakfast and to make lunch boxes. There are times when I just feel like extending my sleep for another 5-10 minutes, but so far my morning program has been smooth.

Enjoying breakfast slowly actually gives me the feeling of ease and peace. It makes me feel that my fast-paced life is slowed down a little. Every time I enjoy my breakfast, I would think "Ahh... today is a great day". Or something like that.

I don't really make bentos that are difficult to make. As long as it has varieties in the meal, it's good enough. That's actually the biggest reason I'm making lunch boxes almost every day: you can't get a 5-meal menu when you're eating out. Most of the time, it's always a one big menu.

Balado shrimp, steamed veggies with kewpie, nastar + putri salju, fried omelet, rice and bits of tempeh

 

buttered garlic crab fried rice with shrimp paste chili, steamed vegs, chicken curry, pizza puffs

And there are just times where I make cute bento just for fun. And to release my stress as well. I feel sad for eating the bento afterwards, though.

Cloud Strife bento (hair: egg yolk, face: white egg, eyes: seaweed), canned sanma, ham, steamed vegs, crab shreds

Sadly enough, the face got crushed as I put it inside my bag. I don't feel like carrying the bento on my hands in such a cold weather. I just want to put my hands inside my jacket's pockets. LOL. As I ate the bento, I felt like I killed Cloud.

I tried something new today:

spicy sanma fried rice with mustard and black pepper, sesame yaki soba, colored egg white roll, romaine lettuce, frankfurters

I was surprised that the idea to make colored egg white turns out to be good. I had egg white left overs because my friend just made crepe suzzette the other day. The bento would have been boring if the egg roll is completely white, so I thought. Glad that I tried this!

  

Read More

Bento fever

Monday and Thursday are the only days in this semester that I can't get free lunch. I'm currently working at a cafetaria, so they give me free lunch at the end of work. Saves me a lot of money :)

I'm fine with Thursdays since I have no other classes after lunch time, so I have my own sweet time to make or buy lunch. But not for Mondays.

So I decided to bring lunch from home, just like how I used to when I was in elementary school. The difference was that my mum used to prepare it for me, and this time I prepared my own lunch.



Pika bento (or so I call it). It's the cutest bento I've ever made, so I felt sad when I stabbed the pikachu with my spoon and put it inside my mouth. It's actually pretty simple to make:

1/2 C white rice
2 tsp ground turmeric
2 tsp chicken stock

You can add coconut milk instead of water when cooking the rice, but that's optional. What I wanted to achieve here was just the yellow color, and not making the traditional Indonesian yellow rice. You'll need more ingredients to make that :)

As for the sushi rolls, the basics of making sushi rolls still applies - the only difference is that you use yellow rice instead of white rice:

1/4 C cooked rice
1tsp salt
3 T vinegar
1 seaweed sheet
1 frankfurter sausage (or any sausage of your choice), cut into long halves
1T mayonnaise

Mix the rice with salt and vinegar well until they appear more sticky. Spread rice evenly on seaweed sheet, covering about half of the sheet, place the sausage in the middle on the rice, spread the mayo on the sausage, and roll it. Some people use a sushi rolling board, but I don't. After you roll it halfway (all the rice covered by the seaweed, make sure to clench the roll with your hands to make the sushi roll firm. A great tip from my friend is to stick a few rice at the other end of the sheet so that after you roll it, the seaweed doesn't get undone. Basically, the rice will act as a glue :)



Again, it's sushi rolls. It seems that sushi rolls are kinda perfect for lunch boxes - they are bite-sized and contain carb, meat and vegetables (depending on the choice of filling).

I tried using frozen steamed vegetables because they contain a mixed variety of vegetables. They have good texture, but one thing I regret about these kinds of vegetables was when they were seasoned in the packaging. I'm not a big fan of vegetables with caramel sauce, so I don't like the overall flavor. On the other hand, I find unseasoned frozen vegetables pretty good!




Unagi. Oh yes, I LOVE unagi! It's been my favorite ever since I started eating sushi (just because it's the only cooked fish they have - I wasn't used to eating raw fish back then). I didn't make this from scratch - I bought the pre-grilled ones from Asian market here. I just have to grill it for a little bit in my toaster oven.

And if you notice, I also have usaringo (rabbit-shaped apples)! It's always been my dream to make one. I have been watching many J-doramas and anime, and I always saw usaringo in their bento boxes. So.. I finally managed to make one! It's pretty simple:

Slice apples into wedges, leaving the bottom a little flat so the rabbits can stand. Make a 'V' shaped slice on the skin, make sure that you don't cut it too deep. Start peeling the skin from the edge until it reaches the 'V' cut. Pull the skin apart. And at this time, the "ears" actually won't stand. So you have to soak it in salt water (~1 tsp per 2 cups of water). Just wait for about 3-5 minutes and the ears will magically stand up!



This one was pretty simple, but I'd say it's pretty balanced. A little too much rice for me, though. LOL. I shaped the rice using a rice mold (the Japanese have tons of collections of rice mold!) Most of the foods in this bento were leftovers from dinner. Leftover salsa, leftover chicken... It didn't take long preparing :)

Read More