This Week in Bento: September 15-17, 2010

So the saga continues...  They let me back to work on Wednesday and now I'm back off again, so it was a short week.  At least I got to enjoy a few bentos of my own along the way.  Here we go!

September 15

Well here it is, my bento for my first day back at work!  That mountain of goodness in the center is a beef and avocado tostada.  Tostadas are one of my favorite easy meals; great on days when you don't feel like cooking much.  The little bottle with the kind of scary name is a strawberry-flavored yogurty drink.  They're nice and small and really, really cheap at the Mexican market near me.  I've seen Asian versions too but have yet to pick up any of those.  A bright little batch of kiwi in the corner, next to the star fruit (the last of it), and in the front is orange bell pepper which I cut with the teddy bear shaped cutter I have... mostly because I've never used that cutter before (I mean, I'm an adult... kinda over my teddy bear phase) but you know, why the heck not?

September 16

I'm calling this my "Very Green Bento."  It's like Picasso's Blue Period, except green...and with bentos.  Ahead of my time, I know. ^_~

I finally got out to the farmers market this past weekend and found these marvelous little green zebra tomatoes.  And we had fresh mozzarella in the fridge, and a huge basil plant outside so... well, you know I couldn't help myself!  For this green caprese salad I cut the mozzarella into stars, and even left one tomato whole so you could see how lovely it is.  In the center is a brown rice medley with artichoke hearts and more basil.  By this time I had ditched my usual efforts to provide lots of colors in my lunch and instead was trying to create something nutritionally balanced yet mostly green.  So I chopped up another kiwi, threw in some pistachios, and of course, green beans!  And then some little bottles of olive oil and balsamic vinegar for the salad, you know, to bring it all together.  I guess it's a very "PopArtichoke" bento too: it's pop-arty, it has artichokes, and has my favorite kind of salad.  Hehe...

September 17

Steve made these awesome pork ribs the other day.  He took a store-bought BBQ sauce we had lying around and doctored it up into something out-of-this-world!  Hours of slow-cooking later, we had sweet-smoky-spicy ribs that were more than worth the wait!  Nestled next to those yummy ribs is a garlic scape pesto mini- biscuit and another one of those strawberry yogurt drinks.  I threw in a green salad with tomatoes, black olives, and blue cheese... I forgot to put dressing in my bento, and for some reason there wasn't anything I could use in the breakroom at work, so I actually ate this salad as is and it was great that way!  Oh, and giant red grapes (the kind with seeds...always better!) in the back.

Steve had a similar bento that day, I guess a more meaty version of mine.  He had three ribs, a baked potato (or half of one, really) with chives from our herb garden, green beans seasoned with lemon pepper, and more of those red grapes.  Finger-lickin' good!

Annnnnnd then my back flared up again, so here I am, at home again.  It was a good run while it lasted... I guess I just need a bit more rest.  Thank you, everyone, for your get-well-wishes!  I really appreciate it!  

Have a great weekend!!