This Week in Bento: July 27-31

Well, it's been a pretty long week for me, with lots of exhaustion involved, so I wasn't able to get any more posts up since Monday.  Still, I've been making bentos as usual, and I'm back with my weekly bento update!

July 27

On Monday night we ordered out from a local Chinese place called Friendship.  Before I discovered Friendship, it had been years since I'd had Chinese food.  I truly thought I didn't like it.  Turns out I just hadn't had good Chinese food.  Friendship prides themselves on bringing quality back to Chinese food, and you can taste the difference. Most "Chinese food" that you find in the U.S. lacks the authenticity, flavor, and integrity of true Chinese cuisine, and thanks to Friendship, I now realize that I love Chinese food!  So anyway... in the right container is my leftovers: Cantonese Style Mixed Seafood Chow Mein.  Yum yum yum!! Isn't it beautiful as well?  In the center is some steamed kabocha squash (also known as the Japanese pumpkin), seasoned with honey and black sesame seeds.  There's also sugar snap peas and cucumber stars.  To the left is a pineapple cultured drink, maraschino cherries, and a chocolate fortune cookie.  In case you were wondering, the fortune told me to "Be patient.  Good things come to those to wait."  That really is good advice for me, since patience is not my strong point. ^_^

I also made Steve a lunch using his leftovers: Beef Peking.  It's crispy beef with a spicy red wine sauce, which was so wonderful! (I've only had red wine sauces that were Italian or French, so it was cool to try one from a different cusine!)  It's over rice, with more squash, cucumber, and snap peas on the side.

July 28

The next day, we switched leftovers!  Steve got the seafood chow mein, along with a mix of edamame and roasted corn, and a pork gyoza.

Here's the Beef Peking with rice in my Ms. Bento.  In the back is some egg drop soup that Steve made to go with our Chinese takeout.  There's edamame and corn, and what's that purple stuff, you ask?  It's Okinowan sweet potato, which is naturally that crazy violet shade.  I just whipped it up with a little milk and butter and man, was it tasty!

July 29

Kale chips are one of my new favorite foods to make!  So easy, so tasty, and they're not even bad for you!  I'll get the recipe up here soon!  The chips are served over farfalle with a pepper jack cheese sauce.  The heart is made from chipotle-BBQ pork that Steve made (the heart shape was actually a happy accident.. I was just slicing it to fit better and realized if I flip-flopped on of the sides it was a heart!).  There's sugar snap peas, tomato slices, cucumber (that I had cut the stars out of earlier in the week) and raisins.

July 30

Mmm.. just looking at this lunch makes me want to eat it again!  On the left is tabbouleh, except instead of mint, it's made with shiso.  For those unfamiliar, shiso is an herb from the mint family that is commonly found in Asian cooking.  It has a strong flavor that does have some minty-ness to it, but really, is unlike any other herb I've come across.  It's also known as perilla, or at the Korean market where I buy it, sesame leaf (although it's not related to sesame).  I got the tabbouleh recipe over at Just Hungry.  We had it the night before with goat cheese stuffed chicken breasts and a "two hearts" salad (artichoke and palm hearts), seen in the middle.  On the right are some cherries, pistachios, and the last of the sugar snap peas.


July 31

And here's today's bento: Quail egg kittens!!! I had some quail eggs that I'd hard-boiled and I was going to make little chicks out of, but I've done that a few times before and wanted to try something new.  I remembered that my sister just rescued a kitten, which she named Willow.  So I made quail egg cats using red pepper for the ears, black sesame seeds for the eyes, and shredded nori for the whiskers.  The little noses were drawn on with hoisin sauce using a toothpick.  They're nestled in a bed of edamame with a shiso leaf, with more of that great Okinawan sweet potato mash on the side.  Way in the back is the last of the Beef Peking leftovers with rice and scallions.  In the front are dried persimmons, and more cherries and pistachios because I was so crazy about it yesterday I had to do it again!  

By the way, my quail egg cats are not nearly as adorable as their inspiration, Willow.  It wasn't until after I made the eggs that I saw this pic... WOW is that a cute kitty! I can't wait to meet her (after taking my allergy meds, that is)!  

Picture credits go to my sister for this one.  She is the one trying to kill you with cuteness by taking this adorable photo... though I guess I'm her partner in crime by posting it here.  ~_^

Hope you all have a great weekend!! Thanks for stopping by!