Char Sui Bao Bento

This is my 120th bento post, and that means it is time to donate to my favorite local charity: Redwood Empire Food Bank! For every 20 posts, I donate 20 bucks to the Redwood Empire Food Bank. That's a dollar per post. I like to think that my lunches are helping other people in my community enjoy a healthy meal as well. I was inspired to donate a dollar per post after seeing the wonderful example set by Susan Yuen of Hawai'i's Bento Box. She donates to her local food bank. Debra of Hapa Bento also makes donations for each bento post. We are a supportive community of bloggers, and it is great to see us making an effort to help others. I encourage you to find a charity you like and make a donation per post, or you can make a donation to the Redwood Empire Food Bank. For every dollar Redwood Empire Food Bank gets, they distribute $4 worth of food! They are very efficient.

Today's bento includes a char sui bao from Trader Joes topped with three nori hearts, a few baby carrots, steamed edamame, and fried rice with onion and carrots. I can't wait to go to the farmers market this weekend. I totally need to get more bento ingredients.

This morning I ran into dragonmamma at the grocery store! It was so fun to meet someone from the bento world in person. I know dragonmamma doesn't do bento so much, but she does have a fun blog and is in the midst of a fun 365 challenge: breaking a routine everyday. She's breaking habits left and right, and building new synapses along the way. It's really fun and inspiring, be sure to check it out.

Have a great day, bento pals!

Big Ol 100th Bento Blog Post

Cue the marching band! Bring out the dancing girls! Today marks my 100th Bento Blog Post! I am so happy to share this milestone with you. I started on this fun bento journey in April this year after spying some amazing bentos created by Sheri of Happy Little Bento online. I wanted to try bento lunches for myself, and incorporate the wonderful produce and artisan foods of Sonoma County. So far, I have made some great friends, learned new recipes, found a great outlet for my creative nature, and donated to the Redwood Empire Food Bank to help the hungry in my community. For every bento blog post on Sonoma Bento, I donate $1 to my local food bank. I was inspired by Susan Yuen of Hawai'i's Bento Box after I saw how she donates to her local food bank. We are so lucky to be able to create nutritious and cute lunches with a variety of delicious and seasonal foods. It is important to me to remember that not everyone has this same luxury. I encourage you to find a way to give back as well. You can donate to Redwood Empire Food Bank online, or choose to help the hungry and less fortunate in your own community.

Woohoo! In this bento: purple rice (naturally colored-it's a mix of Purple Forbidden Rice blend and white sushi rice cooked together) with a provolone and cheddar cheese 'cake' and nori and cheese candle, plus cheese 'confetti'. In the upper compartment: steamed broccoli, a radish, glazed mochiko chicken pieces, and roasted acorn squash from Ma and Pa's Garden.

To celebrate my 100th bento blog post (and coincidentally I also made it to 20,000 hits on my blog today!) I am giving away some cool stuff. You can win this cutie bento box plus the Angry Onigiri Bento Box Strap (made by me)! (The box in this photo is my bento box, but you will win an identical, brand new one.) See more cute bento box straps in my online etsy shop here.

One of my favorite bento making tools is my microwave steamer. I use it all the time for broccoli, edamame, dim sum, and other items that need to be steamed quickly. You will win this brand new one!

You will also win this craft punch to make cute faces from nori, and a set of three veggie cutters.

Here are some darling animal shaped picks that you will win, to make your bento box lunch very kawaii!

And last but not least, your very own copy of my Sonoma Bento 2011 Calendar! It's filled with adorable bento box photos along with monthly tips for making cute and nutritious bento lunches. You can order your own copy at zazzle.com to send to friends!

So how do you win this amazing pile of goodies?!? Glad you asked. There are a few ways to enter, so please read the directions carefully. This contest is open to EVERYONE. Please leave a separate comment for each entry. GOOD LUCK and thanks so much for following my bento adventures.

1. This part is Mandatory. You MUST be a follower of my blog. To follow my blog, simply click the Follow with Google Friend Connect button on the right side of this page, or click the Follow link located at the upper left corner of the blog. Leave a comment telling me that you follow the blog and what your Google ID or Blogger ID is.

2. Mention this giveaway on your own blog or twitter account for a second chance to win. Just post a comment here with a link to where you mentioned my contest.

3. Follow Sonoma Bento on twitter. Leave a comment to let me know that you follow me on twitter.

4. Follow Sonoma Bento on facebook. Leave a comment to let me know that you follow me on facebook.

5. For a final chance to win, leave a comment here telling what winter foods you like to pack into your lunches.

Please leave separate comments for each of your entries. Entry deadline is Sunday, December 19th, 2010 at 11:59pm PST. Winner will be selected randomly from entries. Good luck!

 

RIP Sandwich Bento

Another Halloween Themed Bento for lunch today. I made a "tombstone" sandwich with PB&J. On the top of the sandwich is a stencil of a skull and crossbones! I got the stencil from Wilton and also used their brand of edible food spray paint. Wilton Halloween Mini Stencil Set, 8 Piece is the set I picked up with fun witch hats, spiders, skulls, and more. Wilton Black Color Mist is the food spray paint I used.

Also in this bento: baby carrots, cherry tomatoes, cucumber slices, and daikon radish sprouts. I have included this bento in Shannon's What's For Lunch Wednesdays blog. Be sure to check out the fun lunch ideas posted there!

This bento post also happens to be number 80 for me, which means another donation to the Redwood Empire Food Bank! Yay! Every 20 posts, I make a donation to my local food bank, because I think everyone deserves a healthy lunch. Food banks and other charities are suffering because of our tough economy, but if we can all commit to donating just a little, we can help feed the hungry in our neighborhoods. I am donating one dollar per post, so today marks another $20 donation. Special thanks to Susan Yuen of Hawai'i's Bento Box for her great inspiriation, and shining example.

Bento Fights Hunger

I am really excited about my 60th Bento post, because with it I am introducing my new pledge to fight hunger in Sonoma County. Susan Yuen of Hawai`i's Bento Box Cookbook donates a dollar to her local food bank every time she makes a bento blog post. She makes that donation each time she hits a twentieth post to make it easy to keep track of her donations. I LOVE this idea, and I am starting it with this post. Since it is my 60th bento blog post, I made a donation of $60 today to the Redwood Empire Food Bank. Redwood Empire Food Bank is the largest hunger-relief agency in Sonoma County, providing food to 75,000 people every month.

We are so lucky to have the luxury of farmers markets and cute food for our bento box lunches. Every kid, every mom, every dad should be able to enjoy nutritious lunches. I encourage you to support the Redwood Empire Food Bank, and to also find the food banks in your own communities who are working so hard to feed those in need. You can click here to donate, and I have also added their link to the right side of my blog.

Today's bento features a green zebra tomato from The Patch, cherry tomatoes from Ridgeview Farms, french radishes from Ridgeview Farms, leftover steak, homemade spaetzle, figs from The Patch, two chunks of Point Reyes Toma cheese, cucumber and basil from Crescent Moon Farms, and slices of charentais melon from Ridgeview Farms.

Charentais melons taste so amazing, they have more subtle flavors than cantaloupe. These are melons from Reenie at Ridgeview Farms. The charentais are the smaller ones with the green ridge along the outside.

I am also really excited today because I just got the pictures from a photo shoot I did with my buddy Candice Caballero. Candice is soooo talented. You really have to check out her work. She was asking for people to model for an upcoming photo exhibit so I volunteered. We headed to a local golf course with my scooter and did what I jokingly refer to as a "Scoot Shoot" - ha ha! Here's a few of the fun shots she got.

Probably no bento posts this weekend, since I get to head to the Taste of Sonoma on Saturday. It's going to be so much fun! Have a great weekend bento buddies!

Muffin Man

This mini bento was inspired by some recent bentos created by Susan Yuen of Hawai'i's Bento Box. She uses biscuit dough to create little bento creatures and cute little faces. Inside, she hides bits of yummy filling. I decided it would be a fun and quick way to make a bit of bento stash: ingredients that you can keep in the freezer and just pop into a bento for quick assembly. Plus, I thought it might be a good way to use this new spice blend I got at the Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market.

In this bento: a "muffin man" biscuit filled with Fra'mani Rosemary ham and Duqqah spice blend from The Handmade Pantry (face details are provolone cheese, nori, and beni shoga pickled red ginger), some arugula and green amaranth leaves, a few slices of cucumber, a baby carrot, blueberries, and some leftover fresh corn salad.

Duqqah (also spelled Dukkah, or Duqqa) is an Egyptian condiment served with bread. You dip a slice of bread in olive oil, then in the Duqqah. Ingredients vary, but the main parts of Duqqah are sesame seeds, coriander, cumin, salt, and pepper. Other nuts are often used, and some versions include hotter spices. Jane from The Handmade Pantry says you can use it with fresh veggies and olive oil, try it as a rub for grilled meats, in soups, and salads. Combined with the buttery biscuit dough and fragrant ham, I think this turned out really good as a bento ingredient! You can find The Handmade Pantry at the Wednesday Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market.

On a side note: using the right tool is essential for quick and safe bento making. I tried to avoid using one of my smaller, sharper paring knives for the detail on the carrot, because I didn't want to get another knife dirty. Well, the bigger, more awkward knife slipped in my hand, and whoops, I got a little boo boo. Luckily it was not a deep cut and I had these devil duckie bandages on hand to make it all better.

I have included this bento in Shannon's What's For Lunch Wednesday Blog, a great way to see what other bento bloggers are up to, and to share ideas.