Sandwiches: multigrain baguette, mustard, turkey, cucumber, bell pepper, spinach leaves. Carrots. Bell pepper. Hard-boiled egg. Assorted mini heirloom tomatoes.

Kuroneko Bento:



Simple & hearty おいしかった~
Website: nekoblog.ch

I was under the weather this weekend and didn't get to the store, so the cupboard was pretty bare this morning.





Mini bagel with sun butter. Carrots. Assortment of mini heirloom tomatoes. Peas. Shaped hard-boiled egg.

Broccoli. Bell pepper. Grape tomatoes. Rice and nori swirls. Pork chop. Soy sauce in the little bottle.

Emergency chocolate cake. Grape tomatoes. Broccoli. Tamagoyaki. Rice ball with nori decoration. Soy sauce in the little pig bottle.

A simple bento with Korean mixed grains (different types of rice and barley, and millet) decorated with a cherry tomato, chili cheese tops from the freezer, sliced sugar snap peas, spring onion, radishes, oregano sprigs and olives on a large basil leaf.

The 15-grain mix I got from a Korean store is expensive but delicious! I do think it is better fresh though - quite a bit of the delicious nutty flavour got lost when I rewarmed the bento.

My bentoblog: http://wererabbits.wordpress.com

Mini animal-shaped sandwiches (cream cheese on wheat bread). Bell pepper shapes. Cucumber and ricotta salad. Grape tomatoes. Mandarin.

I got my new box on Friday along with my 2 other bento items.  I definitely need to come up with a better storage method than shoving it all in one area of the pantry.  A lot of the stuff I have doesn't get used because it's buried under the stuff that is used regularly.

On the left is the veggie box.  There's a lot of empty space in there it looks like, but the radishes aren't all nice and round so it's hard to stuff things in there and not bruise the cherry tomatoes.  I know I can fit more veggies in there if I removed the Ranch container, but putting it in there helps keep it upright and the ranch out of the groves in the lid.  The smaller tier in the middle is from my new box and contains a couple of strawberries and grapes on my new picks.  I don't know that I'll use the picks all that often because it doesn't really lend to a lot of grape usage, but I've wanted them for awhile now so I finally got them.  I think there's 5 'logs' of grapes in there.  In the larger tier on the right is chicken strips, another strawberry and a little silicon 'bowl' of Panda cookies.  The bowl thing is new, too.  It came in a pack of 3 and each has a different design on the bottom and are different sizes.  I like the kitty design on my new box and look forward to using it often!  I told my mom that I buy the cute boxes because they're fun and they make packing my lunch daily a more enjoyable task.  I don't like packing lunch daily, even though it means I don't have to try to decide what to eat and that sometimes leads to skipping a decent lunch entirely and foraging in the snack machines, but if I have fun containers to put the food in then it makes it a little more tolerable.  :)

She loves dinosaurs.





Cream cheese on wheat bread. Cucumber spikes down its back. Bell pepper spots "pinned" on with thin spaghetti. Carrots. Strawberry. Tamagoyaki.

She has leftovers from yesterday's dinner today.





Rice. Veggie curry (with potato, tomato, and garbanzo beans). Mandarin. Cucumber. Grape tomatoes.

It wasn't quite what I planned because I'd wanted to take left-overs from dinner last night for my lunch today, but I was afraid that if I waited until after dinner to pack my lunch then I'd just end up saying forget it and not do it at all.  If I don't force myself to pack a lunch I end up eating out and that ends up costing way too much money.  And since I'll be eating out tomorrow on my day off from work I figure it would be best just to go ahead and pack it, which is a bummer because last night's dinner was quite tasty.

We also had a nice little storm sweep through the area last night.  Rain.  Thunder.  Lightning.  Wind. It was great!

So, onto today!

In the bottom tier, which is actually the top of the photo, is 2 frozen chicken strips.  Sorry.  I probably should have brushed off the frost.  Just don't think it's salt.  I wouldn't put that much salt on something.  Not in one spot, anyway.  It'll be defrosted by lunchtime.  In the one below it is some green!  Yay!  Not green veggies, no, but I'm sure you all will agree that fruit is much better than chips.  I like grapes.  I had to stop at the store for eggs on the way home from work and I saw they had some nice-looking grapes.  They were kind of pricey, but that's okay.  I sampled a couple when I was packing my lunch and they're yummy.  With the grapes are some chocolate covered macadamia nuts.  YUM.  Sorry.  hehehe.  In the blue box is the veggies and Ranch.  The white 'orb' at the bottom of the cutting board is the bottom half of my Panda container.  He didn't get used this time.  Bummer.  Hehehe.  I can't wait for lunch!

Today's lunch isn't all that much different from yesterday's.  I need to get more creative, for sure.  The mixed veggies are in the blue box with a container of Ranch.  Yes, I can eat veggies without Ranch, but they taste better with it.  ;)  Doesn't everything taste better with Ranch Dressing?  Mostly, yes.  But I'm getting off-topic.  The smaller tier in the middle has a panda head with 3 microscopic rectangles of solid chocolate from Dars.  The Japanese market near my house NEVER has them in stock so when I was at Mitsuwa last month I had to grab a couple of boxes.  4?  I don't remember.  I know I got some Dars and some chocolate covered macadamia nuts.  Those, though I can get here, but a different brand.  Sometimes.  As you can see, I filled that box a little better, although not healthier, with some potato chips.  I found the strawberries I was looking for and promptly tossed them as they looked like some kind of scary science project.  For tomorrow's lunch I'll do something better.  I'm taking Friday off from work so I at least won't have to worry about that day.  In the larger tier on the right I have a cut up natural peanut butter and strawberry preserves sandwich.  I've never had 'natural' peanut butter before so we'll have to see how it tastes.  You can't quite tell, but my panda box has a better smile than the original face the box has.  I thought it looked too sad so I took a sharpie marker and made him look a little happier.  I've never done very well with coloring inside the lines, which is a bit evident in this photo.

On a slightly different note...I got an email saying my bento stuff has shipped, but so far it's still in San Francisco, according to the tracking number.  At least it doesn't have far to go!

Spinach leaves. Rice ball with nori decoration. Chicken strips. Tomatoes. Bell pepper. Carrots.

Getting back to bento-ing!


We have grapes, cauliflower, green beans, cheese ravioli, a little container of parmesan cheese and pasta sauce, with a chocolate covered strawberry for dessert.

Was delicious! :)

I haven't posted in a little while because I've been too lazy.  hahaha.  I bought a new box and supplies this morning so in celebration of that I shall post today's lunch packed in my most recent purchase.  I bought this box at Utsuwa no Yakata (inside Mitsuwa Market) in San Diego last month and the little container with the yellow lid came from Mitsuwa itself.  There were two in the package.  The other one has a blue lid and just one dog on it.  I like the 3 dogs better.  I probably could've gotten a few more things while there (I did get some chocolate treats I can't get in Phoenix), but I needed to be careful with my money.  The cat on the right looks like it has a black eye or something so I gave him a little slit to match the left 'eye'.  Sorry for the gross cell phone picture.

On the left, in the blue box, is the ever-present veggie mix of carrots, cherry tomatoes and radishes.  I've been having such a hard time finding cherry toms lately.  My mom and I shop based on who has the best ads in the weekly circular and all last month we alternated between Albertson's and Basha's because my favorite Fry's didn't have anything really worth going for.  Well, Albertson's seemed to not have any cherry toms in stock for, like, 2 weeks in a row.  When I asked the produce dude about it he tried to steer me towards cherub toms and grape toms.  I don't like those and I didn't like his insinuation that I didn't know what I wanted.  Finally, this last Sunday, we went to Fry's and they had cherry toms.  YAY! 

In the middle box (top half of cat box) is a container of Ranch for the veggies and some 'mushroom' cookies in the panda head.  Now that I have the yellow container for the ranch (the lid fits better than the panda head), I have to try to think of ways to use the panda so he's holding my mushroom cookies.  The lower tier on the right has a ham and cheese sandwich with mustard on generic white bread.  I was surprised the box was able to hold a whole sandwich after slicing it in 3 pieces.  That made me happy because it's difficult to get sandwiches in a bento box.

Now can we address the pink elephant in the room?  The smaller, upper tier in the middle has a lot of unused space.  Any ideas on what I can use as fillers?  I thought we had strawberries, but I couldn't find them.  I'd like to keep my chocolate consumption down to a minimum and veggies go in the blue box.  I imagine I could put more carrots or something in there.  Anybody have any other ideas?

Mini heart-shaped sandwiches (wheat bread with sun butter). Cucumber and cream cheese salad. Bell pepper. Grape tomatoes. Carrots.

Homemade four cheese pizza (wheat crust, sauce, mozzarella, colby, havarti, parmesan). Cucumber. Grape tomatoes. Bell pepper. Carrots.

Tamagoyaki. Carrots. Cucumber. Grape tomatoes. Rice and nori swirls.

She came bouncing out of her bedroom this morning, excited to see her lunch, and she giggled when she saw that her bento has Geo from Team Umizoomi today. I'm not quite as pleased with Geo as I was with yesterday's Millie, but it'll do.





Geo is wheat bread with tinted cream cheese for his hat and hair. The edge of his hat is a slice of havarti. Raisins for eyes and a piece of grape tomato for a mouth, "pinned" on with short pieces of spaghetti.

For sides, grape tomatoes, cream cheese/cucumber salad, bell pepper.

She also has a string cheese and a side box of carrots & bell pepper for a pre-test snack.

I decided to make her a charaben of Millie Measure, from the Nick Jr. show Team Umizoomi. My husband said she was so excited about the bento that she chattered about it all the way to school. Hopefully it gives her luck as she takes her test today!





Millie is a rice ball filled with smoked salmon. Her face is egg sheet tinted with soy sauce and diluted red food coloring. Additional plain egg sheet for the borders of her hat. Her bangs and ponytails are smoked salmon. Her eyes are nori (cut out freehand). Her mouth is a piece of grape tomato. I "pinned" on the various elements using short pieces of dry spaghetti.

For side dishes, spinach leaves, grape tomatoes, carrots, cucumber, and some leftover egg sheet.

I also packed a string cheese and some more carrots for a pre-test brain focus snack.

She has Standardized Tests tomorrow (and the day after, and three days the following week, and one day the FOLLOWING week...in SECOND GRADE OMG WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE THEY'RE JUST BABIES. ahem). I want to make her lunches extra-special those days...any ideas for "you're smart and you'll do great!" charaben?

Today's:




Mini bagel with cream cheese. Spinach leaves. Carrots. Bell pepper. Grape tomatoes. Mandarin.

Grape tomatoes. Carrots. Raisins. Tamagoyaki. Spinach leaves. Foccacia (dill, sea salt, garlic).

Bottom Tier: Rice with ume flavor sesame seeds and steamed carrots
Top Tier: Vegan mock chicken strips (they were interesting but I would not purchase again), tamagoyaki, carrots and pickles. Soy sauce in the bear bottle.


( one more and some pictures beneath the cut )