Bye Bye, Ichiban Kan

So sad that our favorite and most affordable online bento (and other things) store is closing shop. According to their blog, this will be an indefinite closure although there is hope of re-opening. So goodbye Ichiban Kan! We will miss you:(

On a more cheery note, Bento Crazy is back and she is stocked up with some pretty neat things. Check it out!

Angie, she's got that Pokemon bento!

Hello

Sorry for the lack of posts. I have moved and am still unpacking all of my stuff (wow, I have a lot of stuff!) School is out for the summer so there hasn't been a need to pack their lunches, but I am getting rusty. So as soon as I can get myself situated, I will do an occasional bento and come August 17th, it's back on!

pickles in 24 hours

A few years ago, I saw a recipe for miso-yogurt pickles in a (manga) cookbook that I own. I remember thinking that it was weird at the time, but I decided to try it out. And they are DELISH. And so easy. And they don't taste overly miso-y.

Traditionally, you'd make the pickles by sticking them in straight miso, but the miso flavor can be overpowering and it's hard to submerge the veggies in there because the miso is so thick.

miso yogurt pickles
1 c miso
1 c plain yogurt
veggies

Mix the miso and yogurt together. Submerge veggies overnight. Remove veggies, rinse, and eat.


Putting napa cabbage into the mixture.




Doesn't it look like Russian dressing?




So far, I've used carrots, zucchini, radishes, celery, and napa cabbage, all of which turned out great. And the pickling mixture can be re-used until the yogurt goes bad. Every few days, add a few teaspoons of salt to the mixture, since the veggies soak up the salt and it gets less salty over time. You can also use it as a fish marinade. It works best on salmon and firm white-flesh fish. Soak overnight, remove, rinse, and broil. Though if you marinate fish, you can't put veggies in there after that without the risk of food poisoning.


The miso yogurt pickles were part of my lunch yesterday.



top: white rice with yukari
bottom: local duck sausage, carrot, zucchini, and celery miso yogurt pickles; marinated and grilled tofu and radishes; kiriboshi daikon with abura-age

Long time no post!

Hi Y'all! I'm still alive...barely. Here are a few until I get around to taking more pics. :)

My personal bento. Greek salad...mmmm!

This one's for Rick. Rice, filet mignon wrapped in bacon and sliced, and veggies.

For the kiddos. Onigiri, sliced pork roast, and celery in the first tier. Grapefruit slices with a little sugar sprinkled on top in the second tier.

And a teddy bear bento. The bear is made out of brown rice with some soy sauce. I rolled it in bonito flakes to give it that fuzzy look. Also in that tier are edamame, and breaded chicken. Second tier has watermelon.

New Tiffin Bento

I got some new stainless steel bento boxes, otherwise know as Tiffin, or Tiffin style.

I have a triple tiered one and also a double tiered one.

This is what the tiers look like.

I packed pan seared Sockeye salmon, and a lemon wedge in one tier.

A salad in another.

And fruit in the last.

Hello Kitty rice

I finally got around to using the Hello Kitty rice mold and nori puncher that my mom got for me. It's hard to pick up the little pieces of nori! I ended up using a dampened toothpick to pick up the pieces.



top: brussel sprouts and Hello Kitty rice
bottom: pancetta and chard; lamb, carrot, onion, green bean, red pepper tomato-harissa sautee; Hello Kitty rice

Whoa....backlog!

I know, it's been forever since I have posted. I have been packing, but time restraints have kept me from posting. I have put together a backlog. While it's not everything, it's something, right?

Here I made a mini sub sandwich, cucumbers (marinated) and some Girl Scout cookies (Thin Mints).

Here is a Nightmare Before Christmas sandwich bento box.

In it, I packed chicken salad sandwiches, cheddar bunnies, and carrot sticks.

Here is a healthy grilled chicken lunch with sauteed snow peas, brocolli, and rice with a tiny pickled plum.

Top tier of a bento filled with watermelon.

Bottom tier filled with steak, brocolli, rice crackers, and Lauging Cow cheese.

Another top tier with fruit.

And bottom with grilled fish and rice with furikake.

And here is a BLT sandwich bento with grape tomatoes. And the lower tier has string cheese, mandarin oranges and spicy rice crackers.