Bento Friday - Grilled!

Today's bento box is actually just a clear plastic container.  I will transfer it onto a paper plate before heating it up as these clear containers are not safe in the microwave even though they are supposed to be microwaveable.  It's been a while since I posted one of these bento Fridays.  My lunch features grilled tilapia fish and grilled asparagus spears.  I am laying off the carbs today.  I've been on a healthy food kick recently, which explains the grilling.  Gotta love George Foreman for making grilling avaialble to the masses!

Bento Friday

Today's bento lunch has noodles with little bits of baked organic tofu, carrot slices and zuchini.  The bottom tray is a saute of fresh spinach, mushrooms, and garlic.  What's in your lunchbox?

Healthy lunch

Yummy lunch today.  I love this cactus green TV tray from mom.  It makes every meal look super appealing and organized.
In today's balanced lunch, I am eating 2 pieces of vegan brown rice sushi, a raw and vegan korean salad with
Zucchini, carrots, spainach, shitake mushrooms, apples, garlic, onion, dates, ginger, Tamari, lemon, sesame seeds/oil, green onion, miso, paprika, cayenne, agave, mung bean sprouts.  The larger part of the plate is occupied by an organic kale salad - this one is not as glamourous - it's a prepared kale salad from safeway!

Cute bento boxes

Visited J-town on new year's weekend...had yummy yogurt from moyo and also spotted these cute bento boxes.  I didn't buy any this time, as I have amassed quite a collection, but here's a photo of the display.  Make lunch time fun with these colorful bento boxes.

Llamas love chili

News flash: llamas love chili!  Well at least this one made from rice does. This looks so cute, I wouldn't want to put my fork to it.

Yes, we made that yummy sushi!

here is a photo from week 2 of our sushi making adventure.  This week we made nigiri - tako, saba, salmon, spicy scallop, yellowtail, and more.  We also made little sushi cups with tobiko and seaweed salad!  Picture from week 1 to come...

the nigiri class was a little more challenging.  It takes a lot of practice to get the rice balls (that the fish sit on top of) just right.  The rice kept sticking on my fingers instead of sticking on the ball!  Now I know why they have those molds at the japanese dollar store.  Also, we learned how to slice the fish but realistically, i think i will look for pre-sliced fish or skip this type of sushi altogether.  Also learned that the belts (or strips of seaweed) only go around the cooked items.  the raw ones don't get a belt!

What's in Your Bento Box?

Ok...it's been a while since I've posted my lunches.  Truthfully because I haven't been packing lunches.  I have traveled for work, worked offsite (which doesn't require a packed lunch, ate out with friends...all excuses I know.  Anyway, today's lunch is veggie meatballs, broccoli, and bruschetta sauce on a bed of polenta. How's that for healthy?

What's for Lunch?

My bento box posts have been really popular so I have decided to make it a regular weekly feature.  Here's one of my lunches this week:
egg omelette with spinach and mushrooms, roasted potatoes, edamame salad, and carrots and tomatoes.

hard boiled egg catastrophe

So making hard boiled eggs shouldn't be that hard right?  You just put eggs in water and boil them.  Well, this was the first time the eggs cracked on me while boiling.  Very embarrassing as hard boiling eggs is one of the easiest things to make!  Anyway, i figured out why the eggs cracked - they should be room temp before boiling.  I pulled them straight from the fridge and put it in the boiling water so the temperature difference between cold and hot caused the cracking.  Note to self: use room temp eggs or put eggs in water and bring to boil.  Anyway, here's a photo of the eggs - while boiling.  The parts that leaked out got cooked in the water and I was able to use them for the pink bento box below
...making lunch has been really fun lately!  This bento contains seaweed salad, home grown butternut squash, and purple rice from Taiwan.  I need to get the silicon dividers for my box - next on my list of things to get.

What's for lunch?

I went to Myra's house for dinner tonight.  I came straight from work so i happened to have my lunch box with me.  She let me bring home the leftovers, and i supplemented it with some home-grown squash (not my home), and a cute egg shaped like a fish.  it was my first time trying the egg thing and...well i will save that for another post, but I did manage to get one decent hard boiled egg and molded it.

Double decker box: rice, broccoli, salmon, seaweed salad, egg, squash, cherries

The picture on the left is the mold that I used and the one on the right is how the egg turned out.  The picture is fuzzy - I need to work on my photography skills!

Did you feel the Earthquake?  This post interrupted by 3.9 magnitude earthquake at 11:36 pm - epicenter San Leandro.