One Fish Two Fish (No Fish)

Is it weird that this One Fish Two Fish bento does not actually contain any FISH? ha ha.

In celebration of the 109th birthday of Dr. Seuss (March 2nd), here is my One Fish Two Fish lunch. The fish are actually made with egg sheet colored with food coloring! I had a heck of a time making egg sheets, I just don't have the skill. So I used a microwave method posted by Biggie, and it worked out okay. I'm still not that good at doing egg sheets.

In this bento: rice, egg sheet fish, steamed broccolini from Triple T Ranch, carrots, and pulled pork topped with picked red onions and sprigs of cilantro. The eyes of the fish are swiss cheese, and the details are cut out from nori.

Of course, I had to pack this in my Dr. Seuss bento box! This is actually just a food container I got in the dollar bins at Target, but it is perfect size for a bento. Yum!

How Does That Bento Fill You Up?

I am giving myself a refresher course with Maki's Just Bento online course. So far it has been really fun! The course is designed for people new to bento, but since I fell behind on bento making for a while, I think this is a good way to reinforce good bento skills. Lesson 2A is called What Do I Put In It?

One thing I have heard a lot from my friends and family when they see my bento box meals is, "How do you get enough to eat with that small box?" Maki takes on this idea in Lesson 2A by having you show the food spread out on a 'normal' dinner plate, and then see how you can put that food into a 'relatively' small container. Here is my bento:

In this bento: two pieces of leftover crispy fried tofu from Goji Kitchen, leftover grilled pork with rice noodles and some lettuce also from Goji Kitchen, three slices of cucumber, a radish, and four yellow cherry tomatoes. I had the fortune cookie in this picture, but I actually forgot to take it with me today for lunch!

Here are the ingredients spread out on a dinner plate, and actually, I was able to fit one more cherry tomato and one more slice of tofu into this bento box! Spread out like this, it looks like a normal portion of food for lunch. And I felt perfectly satisfied after eating this, not deprived at all.

Here is my ADORABLE Hello Kitty bento that I picked up in SF Japantown the last time I was in the city. This came in a set of three boxes, each one a bit smaller than the last. The big box was too big, so I chose this one, which is big enough to hold 300ml of food. 

Maki has posted the next lesson in her Bento 101 course today, which deals with finding the right kind of bento box for you. I think I find TOO MANY right kind of boxes for me, ha ha. But they are sooo kawaii!! I encourage you to check out the courses on JustBento.com because I am sure you will learn something new. 

I have also included this bento in Shannon's What's For Lunch Wednesdays blog. See more great ideas for lunch inspiration!

Valentine Magic Round Bento

Oh Magic Round Bento, how I love you! For some strange reason, it is so easy to place items in a round bento! Today's bento uses leftover roasted chicken that I picked up at local Oliver's Market for our dinner last night.

In this bento: roasted chicken in a silicone cup with a hand cut red pepper heart on top, more red pepper hearts in the corner there, heart shaped mini yaki onigiri, a strawberry, and slices of cucumber. This was my breakfast this morning. 

I am adding this bento to the Bento Blog Network for their Valentine theme. And I think I will add another Valentine bento I made two years ago. It was ALSO made in a magic round bento.... hmmm, I am sensing a pattern here. :D

Kawaii Cookies Bento

I saw some super cute cookies on Instagram the other day made by Ming of bentomonsters.com and I wanted to make some of my own. Now remember, I am not the most confident of bakers, but sugar cookies are relatively easy. And the amount of dough needed for these tiny guys is small enough that I can store the rest of the dough in the freezer for when the baking mood strikes me again (RARE).

In this bento: a tiny clementine, a cornbread muffin with a slice of jalapeno baked into the top, two deli rolls of steamed green beans inside of german bologna, cucumbers, some Lamb Chopper cheese cutouts (the cheese is from Cypress Grove Chevre), a few yellow cherry tomatoes, and my little kawaii sugar cookies.

Close up of the little cookies. I don't feel so bad about including these since there are really tiny. I used a stamp (like a stationery stamp) to make the face in the dough, but you could totally use chopsticks to make the eyes, and maybe half of a plastic straw to make the little mouth. 

Smiley Egg Bento

Here is a bento I made for breakfast (I get up stupid early for my work) that features an egg from my coworker's chickens, as well as little yaki onigiri (grilled rice balls).

In this bento: half of a hard boiled egg with nori face decorations, slices of cucumber, two teriyaki chicken meatballs from Aidell's, carrots, yellow cherry tomatoes, and three little brown rice yaki onigiri. 

I made the yaki onigiri using a recipe by Rachael of La Fuji Mama. She serves hers with bacon and avocado, uh, YUM!!! I need to try that! Mine are little mini onigiri I made with a small onigiri mold. 

I have added this bento to Shannon's What's For Lunch Wednesdays. Check it out for lots of great lunch ideas. Happy bento-ing!