This Week in Bento: August 3-7

Hey kids, sorry it's been a whole week since I posted!  I have some friends in town and they've been staying at our place (more specifically, in the room with the computer!) so I will use that as my excuse!  It's been a lot of fun having them here, but alas, no time to post.

So here we are at the end of another bento week for me... here's the wrap-up!

August 3

I started the week off with a bang, I think!  I was pretty happy with both the look AND the taste of this lunch!  In the front are some sushi rolls I made... I was going to make California rolls, but then I realized we didn't have cucumber like I thought we did.  I improvised and made a roll with crab stick, avocado, asparagus, and red pepper.  My friend and fellow bento-er Carol thought it should be named the "Megg Special." Awww.. thanks Carol! ^_^

Behind the sushi are some green beans with sliced inari skins.  There's a quail egg that the little turtle is sitting on top of, a pineapple agar jelly, and dried persimmons.  Then there's a couple of pork and veggie gyozas, with their dipping sauce.  Finally, one of my pairs of reusable chopsticks; I usually just keep them in the bag I transport my bentos in, but I decided to let it get into the photo this time.

August 4

I got a new bento box this week!  It's a Lock & Lock box, nothing special.  I know Lock & Lock makes actual bento sets with dividers and such, but I found this guy at the supermarket we frequent for only a couple of bucks, so I couldn't resist!  It's a tad bigger than the Leaflet bento (from the sushi bento shown above)... actually it says it's 650ml, just like my Bento Colors box, but it seems smaller.  I had Steve be my tester for the new box.  Here's the cod he made for the dinner the night before which had a horseradish crust that was to die for!  It's served here with blue cheese mashed potatoes with chives, cucumber slices, and grilled asparagus.  In the front left are champagne grapes, which are teeny tiny grapes with lots of flavor!  We finally got them in at the store I work at, and I grabbed some right away!  They're only here for a month or so, but they're soooo good.. not to mention perfect for bento given their small size!

Here's mine from the same day in my Bento Colors box.  There's the cod on the right with grilled asparagus and roasted corn.  Rice with that ebi fumi furikake that I'm addicted to in the middle.  On the left there's champagne grapes, red pepper slices, and diced avocado.

August 5

Remember that caprese skewer bento from a couple of weeks ago?  Well I just couldn't resist doing it again.  As I've mentioned, caprese salads are one of my favorite things to eat!  Also, one of Steve's coworkers gave him some tomatoes from their garden, which was the perfect excuse!  So those guys are in the front, with sliced shallots beneath to add a little bite.  There's pig-shaped bottles of balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil to dress the salad in the compartment behind.  We're trying to clear out some room in our freezer because it's packed to the brim, and while taking inventory I found a spicy Italian sausage, so sliced it up with some red pepper and fresh Italian parsley.  Mmmm! In the back, garlic bread and more of those champagne grapes!

August 6

So years ago I found a recipe for a mango radicchio caprese salad, made it, loved it, and have been thinking about it ever since.  I have always been meaning to make it again, and somehow never did.. until now!  It's a twist on the classic caprese... mango instead of tomato, and the added bitterness of radicchio with the fresh mozzarella and basil.  It's dressed with white balsamic vinegar and olive oil . To the left is what I made for dinner the night before: shrimp with a tarragon-shallot cream sauce, served over wilted spinach and egg noodles.  In the back, champagne grapes and chocolate-cherry Almondina cookies.  A very refined-looking (and tasting!) bento if you ask me. Hehe..

August 7

Ahhh.. the end of the work week bento!  It's always more than welcome!  We had some leftover chicken breast pieces in the freezer, and, continuting our effort to get stuff out of there, Steve made a fantastic dish with it.  He lightly breaded the chicken in flour and ginger and sautéed it with red pepper and andouille sausage (the sausage was another freezer find), adding some herbs, spices, and aged white wine vinegar... I can't remember his whole recipe, but it was damn delicious, I'll tell you that!  I've got it here with some pearl couscous.  There's a baby spinach salad with cave-aged blue cheese and red onions, with little bottles of red wine vinegar and olive oil.  There's some cucumber slices hiding somewhere.  You've probably recognized the champagne grapes that made it into every lunch this week, and next to it is some amazing shortbread.  One of my friends who's been staying with us knows the folks at Mado, a great Chicago restaurant I've yet to get myself to.  He went there the other night and came back with some lovely samples for us, including this, the best shortbread I've ever had.  I thought I'd tuck some into my bento as a special "it's-almost-the-weekend" treat!  So good!

Well there you go, another bento week in the books (and in my stomach!).  Thanks for reading... I'll really try to get back to posting more recipes more regularly!  I've got enough photos waiting to be posted, that's for sure...

Thanks for reading, everyone!  Leave a comment while you're here!  I'm still rather new at this and love to see who's reading and what you think!