Cheesy Tamagoyaki

Had a rush/harsh morning yesterday, so besides having what should be considered the worst of nightmares for a hydrophobic and being super late (I was getting dressed at the time I should've been leaving the door), I grabbed what I thought would be my container with fried rice. Nope. I grabbed the wrong one and didnt even check it, so come lunch time (I had been starving since Tuesday for no apparent reason), all I had was unseasoned, white rice. And crackers. I take my 'lunch' break at 3PM, but I normally eat lunch at my desk between 12 and 1, depending how hungry/unbusy I am. I was too hungry, but was not gonna eat white rice, so I got some crackers, a piece of candy from upstairs and held off until 3pm. My stomach was calling me names all afternoon. And morning. Mean names.

Anyway, at 3, I went for pizza at the local pizzeria. That pizza is awesome, especially their veggie Chicago style pizza... have you ever had Chicago style pizza? It's like a regular pizza covered by another layer of dough and sealed. I might experiment with Chicago style pizza next time I make the dough... I've been thinking about it, but havent got around to it.

Now, here's today's lunch: some dirty rice, tamagoyaki and carrots. The tamagoyaki has some melted cheese in the middle. Yum. I still havent conquered the round shape... mine seem to plop down. Maybe I need a bigger pan?

On other news, one of the orders for bento supplies got delayed YET again. :( First two times, they were out of certain items. Wish they had checked them all at once! Then there was some issue with my card... the card I use whenever I do have to pay for something that is not cash. So I gave them another card. Hopefully by now, nothing else will be out of stock and they can ship the order! I shall keep you updated. Till then!

Stew and dirty rice

Well. Lunch for Monday was sancocho (a type of Dominican thick soup/stew) and rice. Super yummy. Oh, and stole some yogurt as snack. Was at my parent's house over the weekend. No way I'd have the patience to cook that... takes ages to be done.

Up next, we have today's lunch. It was blindingly sunny outside, as you can tell. We have red peppers, strawberries and broccoli above, fried rice with grape tomatoes. Messy messy, I know. The rice was a big mess... it had a ton of carrots (made into matchsticks), sliced onions, peppers, asparragus, broccoli, green onions... and I forget what else. Cabbage and something else. Yes, that is more than enough for my 5 servings of veggies, thank you very much! I can't call it fried rice because it was more of a "let's clean the fridge!" rice.

Hearts and pasta

On this lunch: Whole wheat pasta with tons of veggies, broccoli, carrots and tomatoes.

This was another attempt. The would've-been theme for this bento was hearts (hence the tomato halves). The heart is because I'm missing/am sad because a friend of mine went through surgery to repair a broken arm from Wednesday. So he was out last night, and I suppose he'll be out most of today. :(  The fracture also looked rather severe (and painful!), so I'll just worry about his recovery for a bit.

I actually like whole wheat pasta a whole lot more than I thought I would. Though the sauce for this one didnt came out quite as good, the pasta was pretty good. I was running out of time too, so... I think I'm going to start giving myself a full half hour to get lunch ready instead of my usual 15min.

Carrot fields and extra containers

Here we have scrambled eggs (with cabbage, onions, red pepper and paprika) and two more potato croquettes. Despite me hating on them, they are actually quite decent. On the lower tier, we have red peppers, broccoli and too many carrots. I got lazy. The white stuff behind broccoli is just dressing.

Next to them is a chopped apple covered in yogurt, granola on one of the smaller containers. Yesterday I just threw it all together, and although the granola was good, it was mushy. So I am separating it today for a bit of crunch. The other small container has ketchup for the eggs and potatoes. Not that they are bland or anything, but I like ketchup. :p

Cant wait for my 1-tier bento box! I am getting jealous BIG time about how people set their 1-tier bento boxes... they look like they hold so much food. And that it can be arranged a lot better than my experience to two tiers so far. We shall see. :)

Potato Croquette Attempt 1

In the box: grape tomatoes, broccoli and red peppers with dressing for dipping on the side. Below, we have potato croquettes, boiled egg and more broccoli. Not in the photo, diced apple with yogurt and granola.

Well, there are two things to be learned from yesterday's meal attempt: First, have a plan! Second, have a plan! This whole week (it's only Tuesday, though...) has been a disaster thanks to the lack of planning. Didn't buy the right foods, if any. Didn't know what I would eat at any given night. In comparison, three weeks ago I made the first full meal plan for the week, and I liked it quite a bit. I need to repeat that again... though it takes time I apparently cant spare. :(

Anyway... I bought parsley just to make these croquettes from a recipe I had seen. I didn't even use them! I forgot about it. At least I did use green onions... I had *glanced* at several potato croquette recipes, so I had the gist; potato, eggs, panko, cheese. And flour. Well, let's just say that they were a mess that ate up about 2.5hrs of my time on that single dish! (Well... I did prep some peppers and cut broccoli florets, but still!). The result was not a croquette. It was fried mashed potatoes. With panko. Sooo not pleased. I didn't even write down the recipe, so I am not even sure it came out right. I was sure that flour had to be mixed in with the potatoes, but it didn't occur to me at the time. Yeah... On the flip side, I got to use the leaf picks! So cute. So yeah, happy Tuesday, everybody!

Getting creative with rice, Pt. 1

This was yesterday's meal: rice, broccoli, boiled egg, strawberries and carrots. I also included some granola with cinnamon and raisins as snack/sweets.

In this lunch: Rice with pasta sauce*, carrots, broccoli and dipping sauce in the container. I also added some strawberries.

This is today's. I know it was going to have rice, but I've been tiring of white rice... so I noticed yesterday, while reheating some ravioli, that I had made WAY too much sauce. It was yummy savory sauce too. So I saved it and mixed the rice with it this morning, and ended up like some sort of risotto. No doubt it will taste awesome, and I kind of like the addition to that. That, plus I didn't want to cook anything new yesterday. Today, I might have two goals; potato croquettes and mini empanadas. Or cheese sticks of sorts. It'll be fun what I try and do just so it fits in the smaller bento boxes, haha.

Am I the only one that has issues closing a bento box after preparing it to find that things do not fit right?
(And yeah, I promise I'm working on getting a camera...)

Fruit cup!

Sort of. Sorry for the barely there bento. I was late this morning. I am also done with two things; banning leftover from lunches and shopping only once every 2 weeks. It's impossible (or very very hard) to keep fresh veggies for two weeks, or to keep a good stock of food, even for 1 person, while only buying once every two weeks. So you'll see some better attempts at food next week on. I've missed my broccoli...

On this lunch: Fruit salad*, rice, edamame (extra on the cover, plus cheese) and a boiled egg I didnt even have time to peel. (*about the fruit salad, this was the VERY CHERRY from El Monte. As you can see, there are two halves of cherries in this half cup. Sad. I also rinsed the fruit salad to get rid of the syrupy thing.)

A confession: I still havent bought my bento supplies. I've casually looked and re-looked on FITJP and Allthingsforsale.com, but haven't committed to much yet. I said I'd told you why I was abstaining from buying supplies before 'the goal' was met. The goal was to go to the gym for 30 days. You'd think that'd be crazy easy during the winter, where it is too cold to exercise outside. But between undrivable roads, slush, and near misses, driving was the last thing I wanted to do. Either way, I met the goal on 3/5/11. I will try to buy the bento supplies over the weekend... since most will not get here for another 2+ weeks, anyway.

Hope everyone had a good week!

Happy St. Patrick's day!

Wow, am I pleased with how this turned out. I am still battling the no-leftover meals, and this one is definitely a good one. I still have the pasta-that-will-not-die (I guess that's the problem of cooking big portions for yourself only). But that's dinner, and I didn't want to have that for lunch as well.

On this bento, we have (top) last of carrot stirfry, edamame, carrots and a boiled egg. Below it, we have rice, carrots, and dumpling filling. I still have a LOT of that stuff, and it freezes beautifully. So I took some out yesterday and it was nice and thawed today. I used some as confetti for the rice for added appeal. Pretty, no? My attempts at adding green sans broccoli were of parsley, edamame and lettuce.

Have a fun day!

Just another lunch -Rice and eggs

I dreamed I went to my parents house for one of my weekend visits, and that there was a camera available, and working. They have tons laying around in the house, but they don't work. Can you guess I'm obsessing a bit too much about getting a new camera?

Anyway, for lunch today, I have some rice with a boiled egg, cucumbers, carrot/asparragus stirfry and some edamame. I'm pushing the envelope, since I'm really running out of foods... that don't include leftovers.

I have come to realize there's a few "cute" items that should stay in a fridge at all times; broccoli, baby carrots, rice, boiled eggs, grape or cherry tomatoes, peppers (red, yellow, orange), cucumbers... this would be so much easier if meat could be somewhat included (maybe soon...). Looking at other blogs, I need to start including fruit IN the bento boxes. I often have strawberries, apples or oranges loose in my bag, but I do think they'd add some color. Any particular items that come to mind for you?

Non-leftover bento

You know those days when you are just way too tired for no good reason? Like, you did everything you were supposed to do. You went for a walk, went to the gym, stayed awake at work, but you can't shake that dragging-feet feeling? But what's worse is, you go to sleep at your normal time (because if you go to sleep earlier, it will mess you up further), and wake up and you're STILL dragging your feet? Yeah. That's me today and yesterday. Hoping it goes away.

I was determined that my lunch would not be leftovers (which would've been pasta). So I made rice. On a side note, being in the kitchen without a plan is such a mess. I spent a good half hour just wondering what to cook, and probably half hour more in between while still trying to figure out what to do to finish. So I boiled some eggs with the pasta, stirfried some carrots and asparragus. Not sure why, but I haven't been able to re-create the first attempt I made at carrot kinpira. I'll keep trying, because I liked them a lot that time, but not sure why I am having such a tough time this time around...

Anyway! Enough of me babbling. Can you tell I'm tired? This bento contains rice (shaped in small portions, so cute and convenient!), carrot/asparragus stirfry, a diced boiled egg and some edamame in pods. I love edamames, and I aint gonna lie. When I bought them, I thought you could eat the pod, but you can't, so next time I buy them, I might just buy them without the pods.

First real bento supplies!

And they come from blogger slovakiasteph over at Bento: Newest Obsession. Thanks sooooooooo much! I love everything! Those picks were right on the top of my list, and I'm so thankful you got them for me! Also, the little containers... they fit perfectly on the two tier bento boxes, and I have no idea where you get them, but they're awesome! Last but not least, the band is adorable. I LOVE the happy onigiri face and now I'm jealous and I want to make my own. Maybe I'll post my rejects/failed attempts at copying yours...

On other news, I went over to my parents' house for the weekend because of my second job. And they didn't really have much food, plus I woke up extra late this morning, so no lunch at all today. Let's hear it for my local pizzeria for their affordable last minute options!

Can't wait to use these wonderful items, and to get/order the rest of my shipments. :) Thanks again, slovakiasteph!! You rock.

Fridge clean-up: Dumplings and Potatoes

This is what I'd call cleaning the fridge... I am going down to my parents' house for the weekend while I work on my second job, so I was getting rid of what was left in the fridge... some dumplings and mashed potatoes. Now, I know the two make absolutely no sense, and actually sound kind of yucky. But I had some mashed potatoes that I was going to throw away at this point, and didnt want to do that...

Either way, this bento contains some veggie dumplings with carrots, two mashed potato 'balls' with a sad/happy face. I've been in a whimsical mood recently (hell-o, homesickness!) so I guess they represent my mood. There's some cheese, water cucumbers and carrots in that tier as well. I 'attempted' at some more carving, but I am nowhere near to getting the hang on it. This bento took me a good 20min to make, but a lot of that time was wasted trying to figure out what to do to begin with... I brought an apple and some almonds to go along with it.

Dumplings

So, yesterday I decided to stop my whining and try to make dumplings... wow, they are easy to make! I made (waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay)  too much filling, and only made half the packet of 48. They were super good, and looked very good too. I just put some shredded cabbage, shredded carrots, diced mushrooms and ginger powder. Very pretty overall. My only complaint would be that I got the square wonton wraps, and those were a bit of a challenge to wrap as per many Youtube videos.

Anyway, what's for lunch: veggie dumplings, rice onigiri, cucumbers, broccoli (almost all gone!), colieflower and edamame. I love edamame on the pods, but they take too much space. So I took them out and they look all pretty.

Another complaint... this bento box took me 20min to prepare from start to finish. This was due to a lot of things that otherwise did not need to go wrong. Like, wrapping the rice in foil instead of plastic paper to give it shape (bad idea, me! Ended up shaping it in my hands), and... carving the cucumber. People make it look almost intuitive... the carving of veggies like carrots and cucumbers. I cannot seem to do it right to save my life. At least not yet. I have half of a cucumber left, and 3-4 smaller cucumbers to use, so all else fails, pickled cucumbers, here we go!

Other than that, the colors were a bit off. By the time I realized this, there was no space for carrots or tomatoes. But oh well. Should be yummy anyway! And is it me, or does the deco lettuce take a bit of extra space?

Smiling rice with salmon

I assure you, it doesn't look half as scary in person.

What's in it: white rice with broccoli and colieflower and salmon (frozen aisle), below it we have cucumbers, tomatoes and some green bean stirfry. And yup. I realize this isnt fully vegetarian. I am not fully vegetarian either. Though I havent had red meat or white meat in months (wow, almost a year, actually!) I still like some fish. Like canned tuna... Salmon was just on sale and I was craving some variety.

You know those days when you have weird/bad dreams, and they make the rest of your whole day be really blah? Yeah. That was me. All of past week. So I decided to fight back that feeling, and the smiling rice was born while I was arranging the bento. From the moment I took the stuff out the fridge to when it was all packed and on the bag, it took me about 15min. Including 5min for the fish to microwave, as well as the rice, wait for them to cool, cut and arrange the cucumber and the veggies.

Mashed potatoes and eggs

Nope. Not pleased at how this lunch turned out one bit... but hey, I did try.
What's in it: Mashed potatoes, edamame, carrots, broccoli and colieflower. And an egg. Then we have strawberries on the bottom tier, and almonds on the top tier.

I had all the right intentions of making a fancyful meal yesterday... if I had gone grocery shopping. But with it raining cats and dogs outside, I decided to stay in. Today, however, I'll definitely go shopping and hopefully my meals will look somewhat... better. Also, I </3 my 'camera'.

On the flip side of things, I've reached my 'goal', so I can start buying up to $40 in bento supplies. Wee. Let's see how well/poorly I do.

Another pasta attempt

Ok, I really need a decent camera. And some decent photo-taking skills, but I think a super cheap, super good and awesome camera will be a few times easier to get than good photo-taking skills...

Anyway, on this bento we have the last of the pasta that wouldnt die (I didnt want to have it again, but they were stored in a container that was taking too much space in the fridge), adorned with broccoli. The upper tier has salted crispy water cucumbers, halved tomatoes, edamame and green pea stir fry. The bottom blue container is just my yogurt with some almonds. I feel the impulse that, because I don't/can't drink milk, I have to compliment it with other calcium rich foods. That's where the yogurt comes in! Besides. It's a great desert/snack.

I am thinking my weekend should be somewhat busy. I would love to get a lot of cooking done, but not sure if that will happen. I want to make tons of potstickers (because they're awesome), and start building a bento 'stash' of stuff. Muffins (sweet breakfast ones and savory lunch ones) sound awesome too. That, and I get to go grocery shopping... wee?

I am liking how this is making me think more about... veggies. Or their aesthetics, anyway. Edamames are GREAT (so tasty), and I'd like to buy snap/sugar peas because they just look so pretty...

Has bento'ing changed the way you see/think about food?

Pasta and veggies

I take back everything I've said about bentos not fitting enough food... well, maybe not everything, but a lot of it. I decided to pack some extra food because I was very hungry at lunch time yesterday (ended up having lunch early too), and I didn't find it extremely satisfying (maybe because I skipped dinner the night before?). I think the variety of this one makes it look like a huge portion, even when it really isnt.

On this lunch, we have edamame, broccoli and carrot kinpira and veggie pasta (peppers, mushroom, onions). On the utensil holder, there are some almonds, and I have forced myself to re-introduce fruit into my lunches, so on a separate container, I have frozen strawberries with yogurt.

Is it me, or is pasta just a very unfriendly bento item better left for dinner time? I am a bit believer of left-over bentos, and I love pasta, but maybe I should avoid pasta in future bentos, if just for aesthetics...

Camera issues

This is the second time I delete a photo of my lunch BEFORE the email sends... but I deleted the email about half hour earlier than I deleted the photo. Why does it take so long? The reason I delete the photos is because, as I mentioned before, my BB (Blackberry) phone is my 'camera'. As a BB phone, it has a bunch of other things to occupy its space, so I try to keep it tidy. Once the photos mount in quantity, it takes me a few months before I do a sweep.

Anyway... I'll post a photo as soon as I can, exclusively from my desk.

It is an overall bland meal. I need to start building a "bento stash" of dishes. I've really liked the stirfry of carrots and peppers, so I'll make sure to make a big sizeable portion of that. Another few dishes I could make... I really don't know, but that'll be my thought-project!

(I swear it looked better before transport!)

What's on it: Tons of peppers, broccoli and cauliflower, some almonds (in the upper utensil-holder tier), rice, and a make-shift tamagoyaki with cheese in the middle. I have discovered that making tamagoyaki does require prep time. At least to scramble the eggs before throwing them in the pan... live and learn!