| Lunch Box 644: I'm not dead yet. |
[May. 8th, 2009|10:06 pm] |
 Wow, it's been a while since I've posted. This is due to 1) my vacation, which was my birthday present to myself, and 2) being overloaded in real life and not having much energy for cooking. I've been packing bento lunches, but they haven't been interesting enough to blog about. I'm working on some new stuff that ought to be worth posting, though.
Anyway! Here I have a boiled egg - wow, I'm starting right back in with the fancy cookin', ain't I? - simmered shiitake mushrooms, baked Japanese sweet potato, steamed broccoli, and a banana bread muffin. By the way, I made a dozen of these things and brought the other 10 in to the office. (Had to test one beforehand to make sure it wasn't poisonous. You know how it is.) It's gratifying when goodies disappear as fast as these did.
(Website post, with links to recipes.) |
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| Lunch Box 639: Shades of orange |
[Mar. 26th, 2009|10:49 pm] |
 I've been doing a lot of stir-frying lately. I see a bunch of vegetables and immediately drag out a big pan. Well, here's beef & broccoli stir-fry, which is held in check by some baked Japanese sweet potato. On the other side, a fruit salad made with strawberries, kiwi, blood orange, and yellow raspberries.
Is it my imagination, or are the blood oranges darker this year? Last time Kroger had blood oranges they were light orange shading to red inside. This time there's only a touch of orange, with a lot of red shading into a dark wine, almost purple color.
(Website post, with links to recipes.) |
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| Lunch Box 633: A-Positive Orange |
[Mar. 2nd, 2009|09:26 pm] |
 Here's some good cold-weather food: beef & broccoli stir-fry and baked Japanese sweet potato. On the other side I have some tamarinds, almond cake, and a fruit salad made with persimmon, kiwi, baby bananas, and blood orange.
Blood oranges, in case you don't know, are oranges that look normal on the outside - or may look like someone dropped them in some red dye - and when you peel them the segments are orange, red, purple, or all of the above, as is the case in the photo on the right. They taste slightly berrylike. As some of you may have guessed, I am fond of weird-colored food, so when I saw that Kroger had a sale on these I hustled on down to the store and grabbed a big sack of 'em.
(Website post, with links to recipes.) |
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| Lunch Box 623: Applet |
[Jan. 20th, 2009|10:41 pm] |
 My whole office spent lunchtime in the conference room, watching the inauguration. And In that spirit I present an all-American bento: meatloaf, baked Japanese sweet potato, steamed snow peas, strawberries, persimmon, and a yates apple.
Check out that little bitty apple! It's only about an inch and a half high by about 2.5 inches in diameter. I suppose it says something about me that the first thing I thought when I saw these was "chibi apples!"
(Website post, with links to recipes.) |
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| Lunch Box 621: Guard octodog |
[Jan. 13th, 2009|08:21 pm] |
 Lookit that hot dog octopus. He knows that steamed broccoli and baked Japanese sweet potato are good food, and he's getting all covetous. However, he doesn't seem too sure about the yaki onigiri, and he seems to be ignoring the roasted chestnuts and mochi.
By the way, the last time I went to the Buford Highway Farmer's Market I looked for Nishiki rice. I couldn't find any in bags smaller than 25 pounds, and as I had to take my groceries home by bus that wasn't an option, so I got a 5-pound bag of Sho-Chiku-Bai Sweet Rice from Koda Farms. Let me tell you, I'm not pleased with that brand. It is not just sticky, it is gluey. You can't make fried rice out of it because it refuses to mix with the other ingredients. The texture is... not pleasing to me. Washing it before cooking doesn't help. Hmm, maybe all this has something to do with the fact that second ingredient listed on the bag, right after short grain rice, is corn starch. At least onigiri and sushi made of it won't fall apart.
(Website post, with links to recipes.) |
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| Lunch Box 618: Cactus for lunch |
[Jan. 7th, 2009|09:56 pm] |
 I'm back from my holiday vacation with a typical what-do-I-have-in-the-fridge-today lunch: yakiudon, spinach with mayonnaise, baked Japanese sweet potato, taiyaki, grapes, and cactus fruit.
OK, the cactus fruit is pretty weird. I saw it in the farmer's market and figured that, at that price, I'd give it a try. I was delighted to see that fluorescent-looking fuchsia inside. Freaky-colored food is cool! But... well, there's only a tiny bit of flesh between the peel and the seed-filled core, the seeds are too hard to chew, and the taste did not impress me at all. You can eat the seeded part, sort of sucking the flesh out around the seeds and then spitting them out, or you can swallow the seeds. Me, I'll pass. Cactus fruit isn't nifty enough to be worth the trouble, in my opinion.
(Website post, with links to recipes.) |
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| Lunch Box 609: This ain't kosher |
[Dec. 1st, 2008|11:07 pm] |
 I didn't realize until I started to do this writeup how mixed a signal I'm sending with this lunch. I have mutant hot dogs made with kosher hot dogs. Hebrew National, because those are the most delicious hot dogs on this planet. I have lots of edamame, a cafeteria roll, and some baked Japanese sweet potato. And for dessert... chocolate chip bacon cookies.
No, I'm not kidding. Chocolate chip bacon cookies. That sounds scary at first, but enough of my friends have raved about them that I had to give 'em a try myself. And, guess what - they're good! After all, chocolate and salty go well together; eat a chocolate covered pretzel if you doubt me. And if you've ever eaten chocolate chip pancakes with bacon, you've got a pretty good idea what the flavor's like.
(Website post, with links to recipes.) |
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| Lunch Box 605: Meatcupcakes |
[Nov. 19th, 2008|08:18 pm] |
 Why have I never made mealoaf cupcakes with silicone cupcake cups before? Besides not having any silicone cups, that is? They are the perfect way to make little bento-able protein packages. These ones have ketchup "frosting," of course. For trivia's sake, the recipe I used, which is on my site, makes an even dozen meatcakes.
I also have the usual: steamed broccoli, baked Japanese sweet potato, and rice, plus carrot & raisin salad made with golden raisins. While making these I accidentally opened a cup of plain yogurt instead of vanilla, which meant that I have some leftover plain yogurt to use up, and the only recipe I know that uses plain yogurt is naan, so I guess I'm obligated to make some flatbread in the very near future.
(Website post, with links to recipes.) |
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| Lunch Box 603: Hot dog dragon |
[Nov. 13th, 2008|08:35 pm] |
 Sometimes a hot dog octopus isn't enough. Sometimes I just have to take a fruit knife to a hot dog and see what happens. This time around my mutant hot dog turned out something like a Chinese dragon, or maybe a sunburnt eel wearing a skirt. Um. Anyway, whatever it is, it's cavorting around in a field of inari-zushi, steamed broccoli, and baked Japanese sweet potato, protecting the golden raisins and pomegranate seeds.
(Website post, with links to recipes.) |
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| Lunch Box 595: Candy-box Bento |
[Oct. 17th, 2008|09:45 pm] |
 Normally when I pack a lunch I make patterns with the food. No real reason why except that I like pretty, symmetrical designs. This time I decided to avoid that, and instead pack it so it looked as chaotic as possible without being a true mess. The maki sushi, steamed sugar snap peas, baked Japanese sweet potato, baked purple sweet potato, simmered shiitake mushrooms, and mochi are integrated to make a delicious little mosh pit.
(Website post, with links to recipes.) |
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| Lunch Box 585: A bit of Priest |
[Sep. 19th, 2008|09:05 pm] |
 Today I have some meat pie. Normally I make those in a muffin tin so I end up with small pies just ready to be dropped into a bento box, but this time around I had a few preformed crusts to use up, so I made it in a regular pie dish. The result: it tastes just the same, it's just not as handy to pick up in your bare hand. No problem if you're like me and are willing to tear food up with your chopsticks.
Then there's some baked Japanese sweet potato, steamed broccoli, and strawberries. The anko turnovers were a whim, made because I had some pie crust left over after I cut it to the shape of the pie dish. I just mushed it up, rolled it out, and filled it with some anko I had on hand. They turned out quite nicely.
(Website post, with links to recipes.) |
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| Lunch Box 583: Breadfruit != Meatcake |
[Sep. 17th, 2008|07:23 pm] |
 Good grief, I've packed a vegetarian lunch without realizing it! I have slices of rolled omelet, chunks of steamed, butter-fried breadfruit, baked Japanese sweet potato, onigiri pre-dripped with soy sauce, and light-fried plantains.
I knew I was going to be away from my work kitchen when I ate this one, so I tweaked some of my usual foodstuffs. I couldn't melt butter for dipping, so I stir-fried the breadfruit in butter so it'd come pre-buttered. And I was feeling too lazy to bring a bottle of soy sauce, so I just drizzled the rice balls ahead of time.
(Website post, with links to recipes.) |
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| Lunch Box 579: Snails |
[Jul. 21st, 2008|08:57 pm] |
 Molluscs for lunch today! But not my usual molluscs (octopus and squid). Today I have periwinkles with garlic butter, the periwinkles being the odd bits at the lower left and the garlic butter being in the blue-lidded container next to 'em. Above that I have edamame and baked Japanese sweet potato. To the side, some more of my weird, frozen-and-thawed marinated, stir-fried tofu; and finally some blue country cornbread.
(Website post, with links to recipes.) |
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| Lunch Box 577: No discretion |
[Jul. 14th, 2008|07:33 pm] |
 Today's lunch includes a pair of hot dog octopi that appear to be in the middle of an intense discussion, and some smoked salmon sushi with cucumber, which is to say I just strapped a thin slice of cucumber onto the top of the rice block with the fish. Then there's edamame, baked Japanese sweet potato, carrot & raisin salad, and banana bread.
(Website post, with links to recipes.) |
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| Lunch Box 571: Scrounge |
[Jun. 23rd, 2008|09:27 pm] |
 I wanted to do some cooking this weekend, but Saturday was taken up with helping some friends move into their new apartment, and on Sunday we went out to eat, so today's lunch is whatever I could scrounge up.
For dinner on Sunday I had a basket of fried food. Onion rings, mozzarella sticks, and fried chicken fingers. Shame on me, but once in a great while I want a sampler basket! I brought home some of the chicken, so here are cut-up chicken fingers with baked Japanese sweet potato and steamed sugar snap peas. On the other side I have cherries and a fruit salad made with persimmon, grapes, and jackfruit.
(Website post, with links to recipes.) |
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| Lunch Box 556: Grass for desert? |
[May. 19th, 2008|10:30 pm] |
 Today's lunch starts with a baked tilapia fillet, steamed broccoli, and baked Japanese sweet potato. I didn't mean for those to form a doleful face, but that's what I saw after I took the photo. Oh well. On the other side I have fresh longans, and a fruit salad made with mandarin oranges, kiwi fruit, grass jelly, and coconut gel.
Grass jelly is a black Jell-o like substance consumed in parts of Asia either in a dessert or a drink. By itself it has little flavor, as I found out when I opened the can and sampled some. I'd been planning to use it in a fruit salad anyway, so I opened up a can of coconut gel and drizzled some of the syrup on the grass jelly. As it turns out, that's not far from the way it's often served: mix with fruit or serve in sweetened icewater.
(Website post, with links to recipes.) |
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| Lunch Box 547: Curry is convenient |
[Apr. 25th, 2008|09:08 am] |
 I used to hate curry. That was before I understood that there was curry that would not burn the lining off the inside of my mouth, and which furthermore actually tasted nice. But now I like it, and furthermore appreciate its convenience. I stumble home and don't feel like doing fancy cooking, I can just stir-fry whatever I have handy, chuck in some curry mix, and I have a meal. So, here's some vegetable curry - in this case, an armload of vegetables that followed me home from the farmers' market - and baked Japanese sweet potato, corn bread, apple, and purple imo-yokan.
This is almost a vegan meal. I thought it was for a moment there, and then I realized that I'd put egg in the corn bread. Drat it.
(Website post, with links to recipes.) |
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| Lunch Box 545: Insert title here |
[Apr. 22nd, 2008|08:21 pm] |
 I have nothing clever to say about this lunch box. It's futomaki (with tamago, cucumber, shiitake, and masago), baked Japanese sweet potato, steamed broccoli, oranges, and coconut gel. Sorry about the potato border thing - it didn't look anywhere near that tacky in my mind. I just had to do something to keep the sushi from rattling around in there.
One day I'll learn the secret of photographing lunches without having to choose between nearly everything being dark and dingy, and one part being eye-hurtingly bright.
(Website post, with links to recipes.) |
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| Lunch Box 533: Loafing but not lazy |
[Mar. 31st, 2008|07:09 pm] |
 All right. After consulting with my mother, who is a highly respected professional (flutist), I have baked a meatloaf that is... you know how good meatloaf can be really good? Yeah. Like that. Who knew that toast in the bottom of the loaf pan before baking would soak up the grease? (The toast peels off easily afterward.) I can't get a recipe out of my mother because she doesn't use 'em, but I can get some good advice! (Note: I meant my mother doesn't use a recipe. I do, and it's posted on my site if you want it.)
So! Here we have meatloaf, which looks a lot better in person than in this photo, no thanks to my bad kitchen lighting, baked Japanese sweet potato, steamed broccoli, and red grapes. The little red container is full of ketchup for the meatloaf. I like mine nice and ketchuppy.
(Website post, with links to recipes.) |
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| Lunch Box 528: That Fearful Symmetry |
[Mar. 19th, 2008|10:02 pm] |
 Maybe it's just me, but I tend to see faces in the lunches I pack if I make any effort at symmetry, which I often do because I'm just fussy that way. Today's lunch looks like a crab or bug of some kind glaring out at me from under something.
Anyway, here's a meal of inari-zushi, baked Japanese sweet potato, green beans right out of a can, a boiled egg (the eyes of the bug), and carrot & raisin salad. And... that's it' cause I'm hungry. Can't post; eating.
(Website post, with links to recipes.) |
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