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!

 

10,000 Hits Winner and Black Eyed Peas

Congrats to.... PATRIZZIA! Out of the 50 entries (I went through the comments to make sure everyone got their correct number of entries), Patrizzia of iCreate was selected as the winner of my 10,000 Hits Giveaway. I hope you enjoy your bento goodies, and that you get them in time to make some fun Halloween themed bento creations. Thanks to everyone who entered and to all of my followers for your great comments and your interest in Sonoma Bento. It really means a lot to me! And I loved your Halloween stories. :)

Patrizzia is getting a blue bento box, a handmade Jack O'Bento bento box strap (made by yours truly, Sonoma Bento!), a pumpkin ice cube tray, sauce and furikake seasoning containers, and a starburst shaped craft punch.

And the hits keep on coming! I am so happy that bento blogs are popping up everywhere and people are really getting into this healthy, fun way to have lunch. There are so many reasons to love bento: they're economical, environmentally friendly, good for watching calories, nutritionally dense, and KAWAII!

Today's bento features some delicious local items from my favorite farmers. I cooked fresh black eyed peas from Jill at Crescent Moon Farms, and included some chopped Black Pig Meat Co Bacon from Duskie Estes and John Stewart of Zazu and Bovolo Restaurants. They only took about 20 minutes to cook and no soaking! Jill has a variety of fresh shelling beans each year. Be sure to search her out at the markets. I also have a Crescent Moon Farms hard boiled egg. There are tiny cherry tomatoes from Nancy at Middleton Farms, and a few baby carrots and cucumber slices.

10,000 Hits Bento

It looks like sometime last week the Sonoma Bento blog reached a milestone. 10,000 hits since I started the blog in April. Woohoo! Thanks to everyone for following my blog, or even just stopping by occasionally to see what fun things I am putting into my bento boxes. I really appreciate your comments and your interest in bento.

To celebrate, I am doing a fun GIVEAWAY! Are you interested in bento, but don't know where to start? Are you a bento blogger who needs more bento supplies? Do you just like to win stuff? Anyone and everyone (even outside of the U.S.) who would like to enter this giveaway is welcome to enter. Here's what one of you will win:

A blue double tiered bento box. It has a lower tier, and an upper tier with a fitted lid, and finally a top that goes over the two tiers. It will hold about 500ml. The word "pastel" is on the wrapper, not actually printed on the box.

A pumpkin ice cube tray! This is fun for making polenta pumpkins (see below) or ice cubes, or jello molds, or whatever you want to turn into a pumpkin shape!

Cute apple containers for sauce and a furikake seasoning container, plus a starburst shaped craft punch, perfect for cutting nori (toasted seaweed) into fun shapes.

And finally, this cute handmade bento box strap. I call him Jack O'Bento! This felt bento box strap will fit most two tiered bento boxes. Look for more fun felt bento box straps (made by yours truly) in my Sonoma Bento Etsy Store. I just added a kawaii Skull felt bento box strap!

To enter the contest, follow these steps:

1. You MUST be a follower of my blog. To follow my blog, click on the Follow with Google Friend Connect button on the right side of the page. Let me know in a comment that you are a follower and what your Google ID is.

Additional Ways to Enter:

2. Leave a comment telling me about your best Halloween costume. I LOVE Halloween! Update: I realized that not everyone celebrates Halloween, so you can also post about any Carnival or other costumes you wear for your own holidays.

3. Blog or tweet about this giveaway and post the link here in the comments section.

That's it, please leave a seperate comment for each entry. Good luck! The winner will be selected randomly from all entries on Friday, October 8th, 2010 at noon, Pacific Time.

Here's the bento I made today, the first of many Halloween themed bentos I am sure. I used my own pumpkin ice cube tray (not the one you might win) to make polenta pumpkins!

The polenta pumpkins are resting in a pool of tomato sauce. I made this quick sauce this morning with two early girl tomatoes from The Patch. I used nori to make a Jack O Lantern face on one pumpkin and added a few basil leaves from Middleton Farms. In the upper compartment: baby carrots, red bell pepper slices, cucumber slices, tiny cherry tomatoes from Middleton Farms, raspberries, and green grapes.

Beverage Pairing Suggestion: I added a tiny splash of Syrah to the tomato sauce as I was cooking it this morning. The Syrah I used would be a great fit with this bento box. Acorn 2007 Axiom Syrah picked up a Gold Medal at the 2010 Harvest Fair this year. It's spicy and fruity, and big enough to work well with the garlic tomato sauce and creamy polenta.

50th Sonoma Bento Post and Giveaway!

I am so excited! This is my 50th Sonoma Bento blog post. Looking back I can see my style developing and my photography skills improving. :) I really appreciate all of the people who have encouraged me to try new things and explore the world of bento. Bento has helped me pack more nutritious lunches that are smaller in size but bigger in flavor. I've made new friends from all over the world, and found a new way to express my creativity. To celebrate, I have put together an awesome giveaway with goodies I picked up in San Francisco Japantown. Here's what you could win (this contest is open to everyone, even outside of the U.S.!):

Friends In The Sea Bento Box! This bento box has three tiers, including the upper utensils compartment. The top tier is 360ml, the lower tier is 280ml. It comes with pink chopsticks, a pink elastic bento strap, and a removable plastic divider for the top tier.

A frog shaped mini craft punch to make kawaii cutouts from nori and soy papers!

Two egg molds for hard boiled chicken eggs. There is a fish shaped mold and a car shaped mold.

A package of jewel-toned bento picks in an array of animal shapes, including fish, seals, and a few seashells. There are 30 bento picks in this package.

Pokemon Furikake Seasoning! Aaaaag! So kawaii! I found this at Nijiya Market in their vast selection of furikake. This package has four foil packets of Pokemon shaped fuikake. 

There are two packets of Pikachu furikake, and two packets of Piplup furikake. There is also a Pokemon sticker trading card. I think I might die from cuteness.

A handmade Sonoma Bento Box Strap! This cutie 'octodog' strap is made of felt, and attached to a blue felt and elastic band that will fit a three-tiered bento box. It will fit bento boxes up to about 32cm around, including this Friends In The Sea bento box. And it's awesome! Check out more of my cool handmade bento box straps at my Etsy shop!

And finally, since I am all about seasonal and local foods, The Farmer's Market Cookbook by Richard Ruben. It has over 100 recipes organized by season, and has awesome lists of what produce is ready during Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. Many of these recipes can be used to make yummy bento fillings.

I loved this Friends In The Sea bento box so much, that I had to get one for myself and one to give away. Here is how I filled my aquatic bento:

In the upper tier: blue tinted rice, a broccoli leaf, an octodog decorated with cheese and nori, cheese bubbles, a cheese starfish, a cheese seahorse, nori seaweed (ha ha), and grapes. In the lower compartment: steamed broccoli, cherry tomatoes, blue tinted rice, cheese bubbles, and a cheese jellyfish decorated with nori eyes, red pickled ginger mouth, and rice noodle tentacles.

I drew the seahorse on paper and used a toothpick to trace around the pattern and cut out the cheese shape. It worked really well!

The jellyfish was a last minute idea. I originally thought I might try a fish made out of a hardboiled quail egg, but this was easier and turned out super cute. I featured this bento on Shannon's What's For Lunch Wednesdays blog, a great place to find inspiring bento ideas.

This is what the cover of the bento box looks like. And don't worry, if you win the prize you are getting a new one, not the one I used to make this bento. :)

Ok, the important part: HOW CAN YOU WIN?

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. For a final chance to win, leave a comment here telling me about your local farmers market and what you like to buy there.

Please leave separate comments for each of your entries. Entry deadline is Sunday, August 22nd, 2010 at 11:59pm PST. Winner will be selected randomly from entries. Good luck!

Fuzzy Wuzzy Wuz A Bear

Thanks to Tona-mama of Kimi's Little Adventure blog, I now know what pork floss is, and have been able to track it down at my local asian market. Thanks Tona-mama!

I used pork floss, which was labeled as pork fu at the Asia Mart in Santa Rosa, to cover these three onigiri rice balls to make a little teddy bear. The pork floss has a kind of carpet like texture. I made the onigiri by hand, then rolled them in the pork floss. The details are made with nori seaweed and provolone cheese, and a little heart pick. The flavor of the pork floss is somewhat sweet, but also has a soy taste to it. It's kind of like those burnt ends of a pork loin or pork ribs.

Also in this bento: steamed corn on the cob from the Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market, edamame, cherry tomatoes, a pineapple flavored jelly candy, a slice of purple sweet potato with a piece of provolone on top, and my first ever "rabbit" apple (it's supposed to look like a rabbit with his little ears, mine not so much). I used a Gravenstein Apple from Walker Apples. Gravenstein Apples are a special treat here in Sonoma County. They have been grown here since the early 1800's. We have a fair to celebrate the Gravenstein Apple each year in Sebastopol and this August 14th and 15th will mark the 100th Anniversary of the Gravenstein Apple Fair! I can't wait!

You may have noticed a few changes on my blog. I now have my own Etsy.com shop! I do a bit of crafting in my spare time and I made these cute little bento box felt straps to hold bento boxes together. This is a smiling onigiri. If you want to see more of my bento box felt straps, and perhaps get one for yourself, check out Sonoma Bento on Etsy.com.