Tag Archives: Lunch Box

Kamaboko Flowers and ” Can you name the white balled candy?”

16 Nov

Flower Bento

I haven’t had time to really explore my new bento books, so I had to go with an ol’ standby bento – the sandwich! 🙂  Although, I did manage to jazz them up a bit with the kamaboko flowers.  I’m trying to think if there are any tips to be given from this bento, but it’s pretty much my fast and easy bento.  To make the sandwiches, I make one normal sized sandwich, cut off the crusts because Ms. Little Bubbles doesn’t like the crust, and then cut it into four. I then line the middle of the bento with lettuce, cut the kamaboko, peel a cutie and then added some Japanese cracker/candies.  Okay… I just realized that I do not know the name of the small round balls in the bento.  I’m sure my Japanese bento blogger friends can help me out with this one!  Wow… I can’t believe I’m forgetting the name.

Contents:  Ham and cheese sandwich, cutie, kamaboko, and the mysterious white balls 🙂

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Rainbow Bread Bento

12 Nov

Rainbow Bread

During our recent trip, we stopped by a bakery that featured some really good pastries and food!  Oh my… I think I gained five pounds by just walking into the bakery! One of the breads that attracted my kids was the rainbow bread.  It’s very colorful, but I have to admit, I can’t help but think this bread is not very healthy.  I mean really, how can it be, it must be filled with a lot of food coloring.  But, ah well, vacations are about having fun and getting things/food you usually don’t.  So… we got the bread.  Although, I’m not sure if my daughter likes it that much.  I think it’s too bland for her.

For this bento, I made a quick rainbow bread sandwich filled with ham and cheese.  I cut the sandwich with a flower sandwich cutter (I got it as a gift, but I think it was from Williams-Sonoma).  I thought the flower looked bare, so I added a small cheese flower in the middle and added black sesame seeds.

Contents:  ham and cheese sandwich, granola bar, cutie

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Tamagoyaki (egg) Hearts – BTW, I love my new tamagoyaki pan!

11 Nov

Tamagoyaki Hearts

A few posts ago I complained about my tamagoyaki pan.  Yes it was awful, but I was always so stubborn to go out and buy a new one.  Well… I finally did buy a new one and all I can say is WOW!  What a difference the new pan makes.  It’s wonderful and so easy.  The egg doesn’t stick to the pan, even with little oil.  I love my new pan!  🙂

Thus, in honor of my new pan, I made tamagoyaki hearts for Ms. Little Bubbles bento.  Fried rice is one of her favorite meals, so that is the base of this bento.  I then added tamagoyaki for an added protein.  I think I made one egg with an additional egg white.  I can’t remember exactly what I used.

Contents: Fried rice, tamagoyaki (egg), a cutie, broccoli, carrots and grapes

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Mickey Mouse Bento

10 Nov

Mickey (Minnie) Mouse Bento

In October our family took a trip to Disneyland. Our first in many years. The kids had a blast, and by the end of the week, we were all exhausted. To celebrate our recent trip, I thought I’d make Ms. Little Bubbles a Mickey Mouse onigiri. Shaping the rice was easy, as I had a onigiri rice mold. The nori facial features were made using a nori punch, so again, it was easy. But the ears were not so easy. I had to free form that and I’m not exactly the best artist. I wish they were a bit bigger so they would cover the entire ear, and the big nori part that is supposed to frame the face isn’t perfect (thus the bow and transformation into Minnie Mouse), but I think we all get the gist of who this is supposed to be. 🙂

In the small dish is some leftover chili, with some cheese hearts for accents.

Contents: onigiri with nori accents, chili, grapes and a cutie

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Oh the Bento Goodies!!

8 Nov

Love this book!

October was a CRAZY month.  It passed with a blur and I can hardly believe it’s November.  I sadly didn’t have time to make bentos for Ms. Little Bubbles and by the end of the month she was asking when she would have pretty lunches again. This, of course, brought a smile to my face.

 

At the end of the month, Christmas came early for me!  I’m excited to say that I got the best present ever… a box filled with bento making books, accessories and other fun stuff!  Oh, I’m in heaven!  The book above is so inspiring and it came with the cutters that are on the right.  The book tells you how to use the cutters and it’s just awesome. I must say, the packaging was absolutely ridiculous and absolutely not green (the cutters came in a box the size of the book, of course wrapped in plastic), but I love this book.

Below are a few other goodies that came in my goodie box!  Ahhhh….. I don’t need anything else for the holidays.  🙂

Below is the best bento bag ever!  It’s so cute!  I haven’t used it yet, but I can’t wait!  So cute!!

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Blueberries! They add POP! to a bento

21 Oct

Humm... My First OK Bento

Okay, so this is what I consider my first “OK” bento.  After my pudding mishap, I searched for a bento box that would separate my food with inner containers.  I found this box online at Marukai and love, love, love it!  I was so paranoid at the time that I would never find another bento box like this, that I ordered two!  I still have a spare in my pantry.

When I got this bento box, I remember studying (call me crazy) other bloggers and bento books trying to see and understand the style that I like and how I would like to present my food.  One thing I really liked about this bento was the color.  For the longest time, I insisted on putting blueberries in Ms. Little Bubbles bentos because it made for a much more beautiful bento.  But she hates blueberries!  And given the cost of a small box, I had to give up my blue.  😦 This particular bento had too much food for my Little Bubbles, but she did like it.  🙂

Contents:  Onigiri, teriyaki chicken, strawberries, blueberries, oranges, carrots and edamame

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Gasp! My Second Bento and It’s Not Pretty

19 Oct

My 2nd Bento

This is the second bento I ever made, and I look at it in horror now.  The biggest mistake I made here is the pudding in the uncovered cup.  When I made this for Ms. Little Bubbles, she was young, and thus the small amount of food.  But still, there is little substance and it just looks a bit unbalanced to me.  I think I just had my Little Sweet Pea, and I’m sure I was a bit tired when I made this.  Or at least that’s the story I’m sticking too.  However, there is an important lesson to be learned from my mistake, don’t include a pudding or a liquid type of food within your bento without a lid.  It could have spilled, contaminated other food and just made a big mess of things.

Contents: Imitation crab sticks (it was her favorite at the time), small hot dogs, edamame, strawberries and pudding


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Everyone Has A First – Here Is My First Bento

18 Oct
My Very First Bento

The month of October is a crazy month for my family.  Thus, I’ve opted to simplify my life and order school lunch for Ms. Little Bubbles.  I’m not very happy about it, especially since it comes at cost of $6 a lunch!  Wow! And I don’t even know if she is eating it all.  You know, growing up, my school lunches were 45 cents.  Let me say that again… 45 cents.  I don’t consider myself that old, but wow, times have changed.  Hummm…. maybe I am old.  LOL.

So, given my lack of current bentos, I thought I’d dig deep and show you my very first bento.  I highly suggest that if you are going to start bento making, take pictures! And if you are brave enough, share them with the world.  My first bento was not very imaginative, or neat, but i think it was a little balanced.  However, what got me psyched about making bentos was the feedback I got from my friends on Facebook.  They were great, and made me want to do it over and over again.  After this first bento, I made a few missteps (another post) but as with all things in life, practice counts, support makes you feel fantastic and a little imagination always helps.  🙂  Ahh… Life is like a bento box.  LOL.

Contents:  Ham and cheese sandwich, imitation crab stick, strawberry, grapes and a yogurt drink.

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She’s Back – Hello Kitty! :-)

12 Oct
Hello Kitty Mac and Cheese

Hello Kitty Mac and Cheese

She is back! 😉  My quick and easy Hello Kitty couldn’t stay away for long.  Although, she almost didn’t have a bow because I didn’t have my usual standby bow ingredient – kamaboko.  I stood looking in my refrigerator for a few seconds thinking “now what???” and then I saw the apples!  Ah ha…. I used the apple peel as the bow. It was a bit hard to cut out but I think it worked out okay.  I guess you can say this bento has a few of my favorites, or Ms. Little Bubbles favorites – Lunch Bots container, Hello Kitty, steamed cinnamon apples, mac and cheese and ginger cookies.  🙂

Contents:  Mac and cheese, steamed cinnamon apples, ginger cookies

 

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Pizza Bento? What are you talking about?

6 Oct

Pizza Bento

This is my American version bento.  Some people think that bentos always need to have Japanese food in them.  But this is not a Japanese food bento.  This is an all American bento – filled with Hawaiian pizza (pineapples on pizza still weird me out, but my kids love it).  Again, I haven’t had much time to think of cute bentos, so this is one that was thrown together very quickly and then decorated with flower picks and the cute bunny baran.  🙂  If you haven’t noticed, I tend to use the same things over and over again.

Contents: Hawaiian pizza, strawberries, carrots and crackers

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