|
General bad-day ness
|
Apr. 28th, 2008 @ 02:30 pm
|
|---|
|
Sorry for not posting in a while. It's been hard to get back into the swing of things; I didn't realise just how hard papa's death would be to cope with, how much I would miss someone I was seeing every day for a while. I cried every day for a couple weeks before I felt like doing anything...bento was about my only hobby. It was something that didn't have memories attached to it. It was new.
( Grief and Other Various Emotional Outbursts Under the Cut )
In an attempt to be cheerful, and because I promised Mnem that I'd post, I'm still making bento - made 60 of them now, in fact. And I've dropped one size just from healthy food and portion control. Amazing isn't it?
This is my newest pinnacle of bento greatness:
This is not a 'real' bento box - it's a pencil box I've had since gradeschool, with a handy center divider. It's a little too big for a traditional men's bento, I think, but it's about right for the skinny hubby's voracious appetite. Anyway, I am SO proud of the way it came out. Rice done with rice cubers; alternating black sesame seed and homemade carrot-egg furikake. In the green cup is my first attempt at tamagoyaki (rolled omelette) with shredded crabstick in it. It's really good! Then there's cucumber flowers with strawberry, and a few slices of the cucmber 'negatives' to fill space. Parsley garnishes. Not shown, a sidecar with the rest of the cuke negatives and some cookies.
This I'm showing because it's my favourite new bento box from shoppingkawaii.com or something. Cost $18 and shipping, but it's SO adorable. It has grape tomatoes, green beans, and a tamagoyaki heart in the top half of the first tier. Second half has another tomato, half a strawberry, cucumber slices under 40 spices hummus with cuke and tomato garnish. Second tier is sticky white rice with carrot and egg furikake. Pocky in the lid.
And this is my other bento box, with a matching side car. Food isn't worth mentioning, except for the fact that the sprouts I grew myself, and cantaloupe melon balls are AMAZING when sprinkled with ginger sugar.
Some other notables:
Hubby bento with onigiri and melon balls and meat wraps
Molded onigiri with melon balls and a grape flower - so pretty
Spinach salad, veggie fritatta thing, fruit salad and veg
Lame Pikachu Charaben
Sandwiches make cute bento, too
Under da Sea!
Oodles o Noodles (with some meat and veg)
Sonic the Hedgehog Charaben for the hubby
Current Mood:  depressed |
|
Easter Obento
|
Mar. 23rd, 2008 @ 05:56 pm
|
|---|
|
It's a bit of a gloomy Easter, since we have no car; we couldn't get to the church service, hubby's still coping with papa's death, mama didn't feel up to church, the littlest brother had to fly back to college, and the second oldest had to work today. In the end, I seem to be the only one with any desire to celebrate Easter and all it stands for. :(
I did make Easter bentos, not because we went anywhere (we didn't), but because I desperately wanted to cheer the hubby up, and he told me earlier that even if he's too listless to respond to it, the cheerful bentos make him feel more encouraged and cheered.
( Easter Bentos )
To those who celebrate Easter, Have a Happy, Hoppy Easter!
To those who celebrate Easter for the religious significance, He Is Risen!
|
|
Bento Blues
|
Mar. 22nd, 2008 @ 09:41 pm
|
|---|
|
Please, for the love of all that's merciful, can anyone point me to a bento community? If not, would anyone be willing to START one here on IJ with me? It's just getting a little discouraging on my own. *I* like making meals that, even if it's no more than a sandwich/fruit/dessert, looks unique and beautiful. It makes the hubby feel special when the meal looks cool, way more special than the others at work have. It means he and I eat more creative, balanced meals in healthy portions.
But my extended family - mother, father, siblings, inlaws - all think bentos are 'stupid' and a 'waste of time'. They aren't interested in ideas, tools, or seeing the bentos I've worked so hard to make special. This is really, really discouraging for me. So please, if any of you make bentos, and are in/are interested in a community for bentos, please let me know? Pretty please?
( More Bento Pictures )
|
|
Meta Post - Bento?
|
Mar. 21st, 2008 @ 05:02 pm
|
|---|
|
I'm supposed to write a 'meta post' - but everyone's already written on what I would write, already, and done better at it than *I* would have. :(
What I CAN write on is that today I went shopping. For things to make more creative, better bentos with. Cookie cutters in all shapes and sizes. Food markers. Lock-tights that I can use as bento-boxes until we can afford the more costly but more elegant bento boxes. Sushi rice and fresh fruit and veggies. Bean sprouts (dollar for a huge bag of them - mmm, bean sprouts!). And so on. I really spent too much, but I don't think I'll need to go shopping any time soon, either. o_O
Most of my female friends think it's cute or fun or creative, but nearly all my guy friends think it's dumb - "Why put so much time into something that's going to be eaten?" Why, indeed?
Why do you go to expensive restaurants and find the food so artistically arranged - when you're just going to eat it?
My conclusion - and that of many others - is that when food is not just GOOD to the taste, but also appealing to the eyes, when you eat it slowly and savour it - that you will be satisfied with less, instead of overeating, or simply eating too fast and not registering when you're full. I really like that aspect especially - the being satisfied with less - as I really DO need to eat less and lose weight. But for me, there's an additional facet as well.
We live on a REALLY low food budget. We just don't have money for a lot of variety in our diet - rice and sandwiches, ramen, rice and sandwiches - it gets DULL after a while. But I think being creative in how things are made and how they look can make a huge difference in attitude. I think the hubby, when he takes a creatively made lunch to work and opens it up to see sandwiches with cutouts, or roll-up sandwiches that look like sushi, that instead of thinking, "Oh, balogna again," he gets to be surprised with something new and fresh, however similar it might taste.
It makes HIM feel special that I'm preparing lunches tailored to appeal and look cool to him; it makes me happy knowing that, although he's really eating PB&J or balogna sandwiches and an apple, that it looks like something to rival a gourmet lunch anyone else might have.
It's something more than food, it's psychology. And if it keeps us healthy by eating less, AND caters to the hunger in every person that wants to be 'special', then I don't see anything 'stupid' about making bentos.
And yea, my bentos don't feature much in the way of traditional Oriental food (though I confee a certain amount of glee for the first octodog I made), but they do feature food that I've worked hard to make colorful, palatable, and enjoyable :)
Pictures of the newest bentos under the cut:
( Bentos 2 and 3 )
|
|
The Bento Journey Begins!
|
Mar. 19th, 2008 @ 11:55 pm
|
|---|
|
Yesterday I was pouring over blogs and scrapbooks FULL of gorgeous bento pictures, from the cute-and-cuddly children's bentos to hearty bentos to light-snack bentos to breakfast bentos, and finally decided to leap in and take the plunge. Never mind that my fridge is empty, we have no car to go grocery shopping, and we lack actual bento boxes - I made a bento for dinner, hee hee. For my hubby and me!
Here's what's in it: From the left - roll up bologna sandwiches, peas and carrots, my first attempt at two hot dog octopi and a hot dog crab. On the right, white basmati rice with black sesame seed and a gingerbread man cut out of very very thin sliced bologna (a gingerbread man was the *only* cookie cutter I had), and diced chicken with more black sesame and teriyaki sauce. It was a lot of fun to do, and I was really proud of how it turned out, for using such untraditional foods.
Tomorrow morning the little brother is picking me up and taking me to the grocery store, and I can get food and fruit and veggies for future bentos, though the bentos for tomorrow are already made :)
|
|
|
