Mochiko Chicken Bento

A lovely visit to the Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market yesterday means I can now fill my bento lunches with local veggies and fruits. This bento has items from a few different local farmers.

In this bento: lime mochiko chicken, a hard boiled quail egg, slices of armenian cucumber from Redwood Empire Farm, orange cherry tomatoes from Ridgeview Farms, padron peppers and a mini Pink Pearl apple from Triple T Ranch and Farms, and a yakionigiri rice ball from Trader Joe's.

I was super excited to try these gorgeous apples from Triple T Ranch and Farms. The interior has a bright blush of pink extending from the skin towards a white interior. Larry of Triple T helped me pick out a few small apples perfect for bento. Some of the apples in this photo have apple scab, which is just an outer flaw on the apple, it doesn't extend into the rest of the fruit. These are tart, juicy little apples. I just love them!

Pasta Bento with Lychee

I made this pasta dish last night for dinner, and the leftovers are perfect for bento. You'll also see something I rarely include in bento: fresh lychee fruits! I found them at Trader Joe's. Yum.

In this bento: pasta salad with red onion, tomato from The Patch, basil and armenian cucumber from Redwood Empire Farm, carrots, and shredded chicken. Also a hard boiled quail egg, a mini Gravenstein Apple from Redwood Empire Farm, edamame, and lychee fruit.

Bruschetta Bento

I realized that despite having a farmers market open almost every day of the week in Sonoma County (it's true!), I wouldn't be able to attend one until Sunday. So yesterday, I swung by a farm stand in Rincon Valley. Redwood Empire Farm has their own farm stand on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, and so I scooted out there for some zucchini, armenian cucumber, basil, and mini gravenstein apples. It was fun to see Jeff and his sister Theresa selling their products right next to where they are grown. Here's my bento made with lots of local produce.

In this bento: bruschetta with tomatoes from The Patch, basil from Redwood Empire Farm, and fontina cheese, a fresh fig, a hard boiled quail egg with nori face details, slices of armenian cucumber from Redwood Empire Farms, a mini Gravenstein Apple from Redwood Empire Farms, and two baby carrots.

Here is the face punch that I picked up at Daiso on my recent trip to Seattle. I do like it, but I still want to get the awesome face punches for sale on J-List. Sigh... we'll see.

Here's a pic of the cucumbers for sale at Redwood Empire Farm stand. There's a mix of both slicing cucumbers and armenian cucumbers (which are actually an asian melon). If you can find the aremenian ones, give them a try!

Easter Egg Bento

Hello Bento Peeps! (Ha ha, I said peeps!) I thought I would sneak in one last Easter themed bento. I tried my hand at dying these quail eggs, and the ratio of food color was a bit strong, so the egg turned out more mauve than the pinkish purple I was going for. Oops!

In this bento: udon noodles tossed with a soy vinaigrette, two little quail eggs from Triple T, orange cauliflower, slices of cucumber, baby carrots, two teriyaki chicken meatballs from Aidell's, snow peas from Triple T, two french radishes from Ortiz Farms, and a few green grapes.

I don't normally use picks, but these little chick picks were perfect for an Easter themed bento. They are soooo cute! The soy vinaigrette has: soy sauce, mirin, rice vinegar, freshly grated ginger, lime juice, toasted sesame oil, sugar, pepper, and Persian Lime Olive Oil from Stonehouse Olive Oil. Really yummy! 

Happy Easter weekend, friends!

Mother Daughter Bento-ing Part Three

We had a really stormy weekend in Sonoma County, and my step daughter and I were stuck inside all day on Saturday. My hubby had to work, so it was just us girls. We decided to make some fun bentos and work on decorating her new bedroom. We didn't have all of the supplies for her bedroom, so I had to finish it up on Sunday. The bentos turned out great though!

My bento has easter egg-shaped pink onigiri (one decorated with nori, the other plain), greens from Earthworks, baby carrots, a chicken drumstick, hard boiled quail egg and red carrot from Triple T Farms, small tangerine from Schletewitz Family Fruit Stand, pepper jack cheese butterfly, and a few slices of red pepper.

My daughter's bento includes: more pink onigiri, chicken drumstick, pepper jack duckie and butterfly, baby carrots, greens from Earthworks, tangerine from Schletewitz Family, and hard boiled quail egg from Triple T.

And this is her room! We are still looking for a different bedspread to go with the underwater theme. We did the 'waterfall' of tulle, ribbon, and fabric together. We also worked on the fabric wall stickers together (with an idea that I saw posted by ChantaleP ~thanks!), but the fusible web I got initially didn't work so well. I had to go back to the craft store and get a different kind.

The Bento4Japan eBay auction is still going on with new items added! Please bid or put up your own items for auction to help.

Mother Daughter Bento-ing Part Deux

I have made bento box lunches with my daughter, and she loved it. During my recent trip to Seattle, I decided to try making bentos with my sister and my mom. It's Mother Daughter Bentos!

My sister Sarah and I headed to Southcenter Mall to find a cool bento box for her, and to get ingredients at Seafood City. We tried a place called Tokyo Lifestyle, but their selection of bento boxes was not great. The one she got was at Borders, made by Paperchase. It's four separate boxes for 10 bucks, such a deal, and they are really cute, with images of little smiling fruits, veggies, and other food on them.

My sister works on her two tiered bento here. We had soba noodles tossed with a homemade sauce, ground turkey soboro, hard boiled quail eggs, carrots, sugar snap peas, oranges, scallions, lettuce, and red pepper.

Sarah is choppin red peppers! We also bought some edamame, but used the sugar snap peas instead. They worked really well.

Me and my sister with our bentos! We made enough food for dinner for the three of us, and stowed the filled bento boxes away for lunch the next day.

Me and my mom (who finished her treatment for breast cancer and looks great!) with our completed bentos. I had given mom this bento box a while ago, but this was the first time she used it.

Here's a closer look at mom's bento. Very nice arrangement! We had to smoosh the ingredients down a bit, but she had a bento box strap to hold the tiers together.

My bento box, which is actually just a food storage container I got at Daiso. But it's so easy to use and has a great tight fitting lid, so it doesn't spill. I used this as my in flight bento on my flight back to Sonoma County.

All of our bento box lunches tucked safely away in the fridge. I know it is not 'oishii' to make bentos the day before, but I was leaving too early in the morning for us all to do this together.

 

Of course, the main reason I was in Seattle was to visit my brand new niece, Molly Ruby. She's the first baby born to any of the siblings in our family, so it's a pretty big deal. Here's a video montage of some pics from my visit with Molly. I can't wait to make her some baby bentos!

Year of the Rabbit Bento

Happy New Year! To celebrate the beginning of 2011, The Year of the Rabbit, I made a very bunny bento. Technically, The Year of the Rabbit will not start until February 3rd. We are actually still in The Year of the Tiger. I am looking forward to this less aggressive year, myself.

In this bento: creamy polenta (I used Martha Stewart's easy baked polenta recipe), a rabbit quail egg, nori flower, steamed edamame, stir fried carrots and purple cabbage topped with lotus rootlets, cucumber slices, and an apple rabbit made with an Arkansas Black Apple from Walker Apples.

I made the quail egg rabbit by hard boiling a quail egg, then slicing a small section off of one side. I cut that section in two pieces, then inserted those slices into an angled slit on the top of the egg. The nori eyes were punched out with a tiny hole punch.

I found these lotus rootlets in brine at Asia Mart on Guerneville Road in Santa Rosa. They have pretty much no flavor, but such a cool shape. A few little slices of rootlet make small snowflake like patterns.

Happy New Year!

Food Ninja Bento

Today's bento is my entry into the Food Ninja contest. Three bloggers (La Fuji Mama, Salty Seattle, and bell'alimento) have put together a fun contest in which we get to show off our mad ninja skills. I chose to make a video with a trip to the Farmers Market (naturally), a stop off at Asia Mart, and then a big reveal of my Food Ninja Bento. It's quite silly with Japanese subtitles, ninja poses, and a (forced) cameo by my husband. I'll reveal the video soon. Heather of La Fuji Mama asked me to do a guest post about my Food Ninja Bento, and I was delighted to comply. Check it out here.

In this bento: a star onigiri, a quail egg ninja with radish weapons, slices of boiled lotus root, steamed yellow beans from Orchard Farms, edamame, cherry tomatoes from Middleton Farms, boiled purple potatoes from Orchard Farms, steamed broccoli, teriyaki chicken meatballs from Aidell's, and a few fried padron peppers from Crescent Moon Farms.

A special shout out to the AMAZING Sheri of Happy Little Bento for her ninja egg inspiration. I am sure many bentoists like me admire Sheri's crazy Food Ninja skills. You too can enter the Food Ninja contest! Entry deadline is October 24th at 10pm PST. There's awesome prizes, too!

Creepy Quail Eggs Bento

I used Martha Stewart's special Halloween magazine as inspiration for this creepy quail egg bento. In her magazine Martha (or rather, Martha's minions) illustrates how to make marbled hard boiled eggs. They are fresh, but look like they have been moldering around the bottom of the basement for a while. The effect is quite easy to produce, and is stunning!

In this bento: Pillsbury garlic stick "fingers" with almond slice "fingernails" hold on to creepy hard boiled quail eggs. They rest on a bed of penne pasta with fresh mozzarella pieces and delicious marinara sauce from Sonoma County's Pasta Etc. In the upper compartment: steamed edamame, baby carrots, slices of white/purple radish from the Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market, cucumber slices, and cherry tomatoes.

Here's a closeup of the creepy quail egg. It actually had more pronounced crackles on it, but I kept in in the fridge for a day before I used it, so the cracks started to fade.

Recipe for Creepy Quail Eggs

quail eggs

vinegar

blueberry juice or red and blue food coloring

Fill a small pot with cold water, then add about 1 or 2 tablespoons of vinegar. The vinegar will make it easier to peel the shells from the eggs. Add the quail eggs to the pot, then place on the stove. Turn the stove on to high heat and wait for the water to boil. Once the water boils, cover the pan and turn off the heat. Let the eggs sit in the covered pot for 7 minutes. Gently pour out the cooking water and pour cold water into the pan.  Remove quail eggs and tap their shells to create cracks all around the surface of the eggs. Put the eggs back in the pan with the cool water. Add blue berry juice or food coloring to create a purplish brew. Let the eggs sit in the colored water for at least 2 hours to get colored effect. Remove eggs from water and gently peel. Use eggs within 24 hours for best effect.

Think Pink Bento

As some of you may know, my mom is finishing up her battle with breast cancer, and doing really well! When we first found out about her cancer, I made a boobie bento to lighten the mood a bit. It has been tough to deal with, but my mom has done so well, and shown such strong spirit through it all. I love her so much!

Bento bloggers are being organized by a French bento blogger to send in pink bentos to raise awareness of breast cancer, and ultimately to raise funds. The posts are shared on Twitter and tagged with #ThinkPink and #ProjectPink. Here is my entry:

Pink rice with marinated lotus root and daikon shoots, baby carrots, a teriyaki chicken meatball, steamed broccoli, two tiny cherry tomatoes from Middleton Farms, and a hard boiled quail egg.

Save The Boobies! :)

Recipe for Simply Marinated Lotus Root

a few slices of raw lotus root

2 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar

1 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated ginger

Combine the vinegar, sugar, and ginger in a small bowl. Stir, then add the lotus root. Allow to sit for at least 20 minutes or up to 3 hours.

Domo!

I first came across the hilarious character Domo Kun while working at Microsoft in the late 90s. He totally cracked me up, and I about flipped my lid when I saw him represented in bentos. I couldn't wait to try my own Domo Bento, and I thought inarizushi would make a perfect little Domo Kun.

This bento has cherry tomatoes from Crescent Moon Farms, a hard boiled quail egg with nori stars, cucumbers, and an inarizushi Domo Kun with olive eyes, and a sweet pepper/swiss cheese mouth. The rice in the inarizushi is a mix of plain sushi rice and a purple rice blend I got at Whole Foods.

I also got this little Domo coin purse in San Francisco Japantown. :) I added this bento to the What's For Lunch Wednesdays blog. Check it out!

Inarizushi Bento

I wanted to try out some traditional ingredients in this bento, and I bought a few ingredients in San Francisco Japantown to use. Inarizushi is stuffed sushi. It is usually just rice inside of a fried tofu pouch. I added some fillings inside it, and topped it with umeboshi (pickled plum).

Also in this bento: sauteed broccoli (leftovers from a dim sum feast), slices of cucumber from Ridgeview Farms, inarizushi stuffed with bbq pork and topped with umeboshi, cherry tomatoes from the Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market, purple and orange sweet potato flowers, a hard boiled quail egg with nori face, and a mango rice cake.

It was pretty easy to make these inarizushi. Token from Bento Lunch Blog did a great blog post about how to make your own fried tofu pouches, but I left it to the professionals.

These are the fried tofu pouches I picked up at Nijiya Market in SF Japantown.

I also got this mango rice cake at Nijiya Market. Honestly, it was not my favorite. I think the texture made me not like it so much. I can eat ice cream mochi just fine, but this had that chewy mochi outside, but inside it was like mango paste. It was ok to try once, but not something I will get again. :-)

Picnic Bento

Hapa Bento has a great themed bento challenge each month, and this month the theme is Picnic! I thought a lot about what to make, and I always associate bugs with picnics. Bleh, hate those bugs! But a cute little olive ant is a welcome addition to this Picnic bento.

I made an ant out of olives, nori (toasted seaweed), and a few pieces of dried spaghetti for his antennae. The ant is surveying the picnic spread from his perch on a biscuit filled with ham and spices. The spices are a blend called Duqqah that I picked up from The Handmade Pantry.

In the rest of the bento: blueberries, cherry tomatoes, deviled quail eggs (!), a slice of cucumber, two homemade pickled cornichon, and arugula. I love this arugula from Ridgeview Farms in Healdsburg. It is so spicy and delicious!

I purchased a four pack of small olives at the grocery store the other day, and honestly, I was really sold as soon as I saw them use this scooter image on the packaging. Beep! Beep!

I also included this bento in Shannon's What's For Lunch Wednesdays blog. Check it out to see what other bento bloggers are creating!

Recipe for Deviled Quail Eggs
6 quail eggs
2 or 3 tablespoons vinegar
3 teaspoons mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon prepared wasabi paste
salt
paprika

Rinse quail eggs in warm water to remove any dirt or feathers from the shells. Fill a small pot with water and add vinegar. Add quail eggs and bring water to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes, then remove pan from heat and take it to the sink. Run cold water into the pan and gradually pour out the hot water. Allow eggs to cool then gently peel. The vinegar should make it easier to remove the shells.

Carefully cut eggs in half and remove yolks. Place yolks in a bowl. Add mayo, wasabi, and salt to taste. Blend well. Transfer yolk mixture to a plastic bag and snip a small piece of the corner of the bag off. Carefully pipe the yolk mixture back into the egg white halves. Top each with a little pinch of paprika. Makes 12 teeeny tiny deviled eggs.

San Francisco Japantown

I had SUCH a good time yesterday in San Francisco's Japantown. The last time I went was in April, when I started out on this bento obsession of mine. I used a wonderful guide prepared by Biggie of the Lunch In A Box blog. If you get a chance to go to SF Japantown, I really recommend taking Biggie's review along with you.

This time I was more prepared and focused. I knew what I was looking for, and I also knew what I didn't need. But I still bought a few things that were ridiculous, just because I could. :-)

Today's bento uses a few of the new things I picked up while in SF Japantown. I have this new blue bento box (magic round bento!) from Ichiban Kan that was on sale for 50 cents! The chopsticks are from Daiso, the tomato pick is from Ichiban Kan, and the cherry stem pick is from Sanko Cooking Supply (Sanko is WILDLY expensive, but it was the only place I found these picks and I was dying to get some after seeing them on Sheri's Happy Little Bento blog). Oh, and the quail egg is from Nijiya Market (my first time trying quail eggs!).

The top of the bento box has three little monkeys on it and it says, "Do you like living here? Yes, it's great!" In this bento lunch: a biscuit filled with ham and spices, caprese salad in a silicone cup, cucumber slices (from Ridgeview Farms), two cherry tomatoes on a cherry stem pick, steamed romano beans from Cresent Moon Farms, a hard boiled quail egg, and a bit of arugula from Ridgeview Farms.

I got the idea for the quail egg little guy from a book that I picked up at Kinokuniya Stationery. A little wedge cut makes his mouth, and his eyes are black sesame seeds. I'll post pictures of the bento book soon. It's all in Japanese, so I can't read it, but the photos and ideas are great!

Here are some of the picks I got at Ichiban Kan. I was so excited to see the tree picks after seeing them used in a bento made by Shannon of What's For Lunch At Our House. I think I will have to borrow that idea because those grapes looked so cute!

I didn't take as many pictures as I should have while in SF Japantown, but here are a few of the places I visited. Above is a selection of the bento supplies available at Daiso.

This is at the Sanrio store where I actually showed some restraint. I know! I was amazed at myself, too. :-)

I did pick up a bento box with Kuromi on the front. The sales clerk at Sanrio said that Kuromi is more popular with U.S. customers than Japanese customers, and that is why their selection is so large in the San Francisco store.

I have so much more to share from my trip to SF Japantown. I am sure you will see lots of new stuff in the weeks to come on Sonoma Bento. And... I got some fun stuff for a giveaway. Stay tuned!

How to Boil Quail Eggs

Rinse quail eggs in warm water to remove any dirt or feathers from the shells. Fill a small pot with water and about 2 or 3 tablespoons of vinegar. Add quail eggs and bring water to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes, then remove pan from heat and take it to the sink. Run cold water into the pan and gradually pour out the hot water. Allow eggs to cool then gently peel. The vinegar should make it easier to remove the shells.