Life's a Beach

One of the awesome Bento Bloggers out there, Hapa Bento, has a monthly contest called the B.O.M.B. (which stands for Best of the Month Bento). The theme for June's B.O.M.B. is the beach! I tried a turtle onigiri, which worked out okay, but not great. I think this one is better!

The cheese sunglasses with nori lenses are resting on a "sandy" bed of soboro (a.k.a. crumbled cooked meat.) This is turkey soboro. I also have cucumber skin palm fronds, and an orange pepper coconut (it could be a sun, I wasn't really sure), and there are waves of steamed cauliflower washing up on the beach, with a sea of blueberries behind it.

Recipe for Turkey Soboro
4 oz ground turkey meat
1/4 cup minced onion
1 tablespoon mirin (or dry white wine)
1/2 tablespoon rice vinegar
1/2 tablespoon sugar
1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
a few drops of toasted sesame oil
freshly ground pepper

Combine ingredients and cook over medium heat until cooked through and moisture has mostly evaporated. Makes enough for one bento box lunch.

Froggy Bento

No frogs were harmed in the making of this bento. Aaaag! Isn't this the cutest thing evah!?! I picked up this bento box at Uwajimaya in Seattle. And of course, I had to fill it with frog onigiri. This idea came from a wonderful new book that I also picked up at Uwajimaya, called Yum-Yum Bento Box. If you are interested in learning how to do bento boxes, I really recommend this book. It has so many great ideas.

To make the frog onigiri, I tinted the rice with green food coloring, and used my teddybear onigiri mold to make the frog faces. Their eyes are provolone cheese and nori, nori smiles, and black sesame seed noses. There are also carrots, arugula, a radish and sugar snap peas from Crescent Moon Farms, and chicken nuggets.

The frog bento box has an upper compartment with a air tight lid, and I put in some overly ripe mango slices (they kind of turned to mush), and cherries from the farmers market, with a little slice of lime.

Wine Pairing Suggestion: This is a fairly light, and definitely fruity (and completely silly) bento lunch, so how about some bubbly? What could be better with a frog-themed bento box lunch, than a glass of Toad Hollow Vineyards Amplexus Crémant Brut Sparkling Wine? It's toadally delicious. And the folks at Toad Hollow have great senses of humor, which would pair so well with this lunch.

New Magic Round Bento

This is one of the bento boxes I picked up at Daiso in Seattle. It is stainless steel, and has a plastic airtight lid. I have seen round bento boxes on other blogs, and they are often referred to as "Magic Round Bentos," because apparently they are super easy to arrange. I had to try it for myself.

It's true! For some reason, things just seem to fall into place in a round bento. I didn't have to arrange and rearrange things, like I sometimes do with my other bento boxes. Things just fit, and sort of naturally go where they should. I can't wait to try more of them!

In this bento box: steamed broccoli, cherries, slices of white nectaring, sugar snap peas, a pretty spicy radish (whew), arugula, and a cut up lightly breaded boneless pork chop. I made steamed broccoli and the pork chops for me and my hubby last night, and used the leftover chop for this lunch. Yum!

Cherries are in season now, super sweet and ready to be gobbled up. This photo is from the Sebastopol Farmers Market. I like to buy cherries this way, instead of buying a basket, because presentation is such a big part of making a bento lunch. Choosing each individual cherry lets me get the best ones.

Recipe for Lightly Breaded Boneless Pork Chops

4 thinly sliced boneless pork chops
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon aji amarillo ground pepper (or chili pepper)
2/3 teaspoon garam masala spice powder
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Combine dry ingredients in a plastic bag. Add pork chops, seal the bag and toss to coat the meat with the breading. Melt butter and oil in a frying pan over medium high heat. Cook pork chops for about 2 or 3 minutes each side, until golden brown and cooked through. Makes enough for 4 bento box lunches, or enough for two dinner portions. You can sprinkle a little seasoned rice vinegar on the breaded chops for more flavor.

Garlic Scape Pesto Bento

Wow, life sure got interesting! Sorry for no bento posts in a while, I ended up with a new job here at the station, and I am slowly but surely getting the hang of it. A side effect of my new two-hour daily talk show duties, is that I am hella tired, and don't have time to make bentos. But I was determined to get back to it this week.

I made a lovely pesto with garlic scapes, walnuts, and parmesan cheese, and tossed it with this penne pasta. There's also arugula from Ridgeview Farms, and a sugar snap pea and radish "tulip" from Crescent Moon Farms.

In the lower compartment: slices of white nectarine, cherries, carrots, and fresh cucumber from Crescent Moon Farms.

I made a trip last weekend to Seattle for my best friend's wedding celebration, and also to see my mom. Of course, no trip to Seattle would be complete without a stop at Uwajimaya! I went a little crazy there and bought a few bento books, as well as two new bento boxes. And then as we were leaving Uwajimaya, I noticed that there was a Daiso store right across the street. Bonus! So I spent some time there and got a few fun things, including this cutie-patootie Bunny felt band for my bento box. Look closely and you can see a few strawberry Pocky sticks tucked away in the upper compartment of the bento box. Stay tuned for more of the stuff I scored while in Seattle!
Recipe for Garlic Scape Pesto
1 cup roughly chopped garlic scapes
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup walnuts
2 ounces finely grated parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Combine the garlic scapes and olive oil in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add walnuts and pulse again to incorportate walnuts. Remove pesto from food processor and stir in cheese and seasoning. You can freeze this pesto (I lined an ice cube tray with plastic wrap and froze the pesto in cubes!), or put it in the fridge and use it within 10 days.

Rad Radish Salad

Whoops, where did the time go? I got caught up in a parade and a world class cycling race, and that's my excuse for not posting any new bentos. In fact, I did make a few bento box lunches between last Thursday and this Thursday, but no time to blog about them.

This bento box lunch uses many Sonoma County ingredients. The radish salad has radishes and spring onions from Triple T Ranch and Farms in Rincon Valley, plus Sonoma County walnuts, and even local olive oil from Kendall-Jackson! Also in this bento box: orange cauliflower (raw), a mini chicken pot pie, and carrots. In the lower compartment: cherries (first of the season from the Sebastopol Farmers Market!), a slice of lime, and edamame.

Here I am at the Sebastopol Farmers Market showing off the rad radishes I picked up. I think the lone white radish sealed the deal.

Here is a close up of the simple radish salad I put together for this bento box lunch. The recipe is below. Oh and mom is doing well. Her surgery was successful, nothing in her lymph nodes. She's resting now and will begin some radiation therapy in June. Thanks for your well wishes!

Recipe for Radish Salad

3 radishes, scrubbed and cut into match sticks

1 teaspoon minced green onion

4 walnut halves, crumbled

juice of 1/4 lime

1/2 tablespoon olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients. Serves one.

Wine Pairing Suggestion: Since I am using Kendall-Jackson olive oil in this recipe, I think a Kendall-Jackson wine would be fun to pair with it. How about their new white blend called Summation? It has so many lovely characteristics, from honey to herbs, cream to citrus, that it will really play well with the slighty spicy salad. Plus it would be great with the mini chicken pot pie.

Bentos Gone Wild!

This Boobie Bento Box Lunch is for my mom, who is going in for breast cancer surgery on Monday. She caught it early and that is great news. I have always felt that laughter is good for the body and soul, so here is my medicine for Mom: Jug-a-licious Bento Box! Scroll down for the uncensored version...

In this bodacious boobie bento box are two baloney sandwiches with hot dog nipples (secured with a tiny bit of cream cheese). The baloney boobie sandwiches include cheese, tomatoes, mustard, and sandwich rounds. Also a couple of grapes, baby carrots, and a few slices of radish. For dessert, a couple of tiny mandarin oranges. And a custom made "Save The TaTas" sign! I should have included melons, right?!

This will be a very exciting lunch to eat. (tee hee) Here's to advances in breast cancer treatment and to early detection! I think this is the breast bento box lunch I have ever made... ;-)

Hot Chicks

Hot chicks (made of steamed sweet potato slices) about to kiss! Hotsie Totsie! This bento box lunch also sports garam masala spiced sausage slices, grapes, and garlic scapes cut into claw-type shapes. In the lower compartment are portabella mushroom raviolis with nori flowers, baby carrots, steamed broccoli, and a few slices of red bell pepper.

Hapa Bento is using flowers as this month's B.O.M.B., so this bento box lunch qualifies with its cute nori flowers, although I may go for a more obvious flower themed lunch and enter again.


I put this lunch into my favorite Hello Kitty japanese lacquer bento box. It's so elegant! By the way, the garlic scapes are from Middleton Farms in Healdsburg, and the scape season is pretty much over now, although I am seeing green garlic still available at the farmers markets.