my sweet husband surprised me last week with a new bento box (he saw it at a store when he was looking for something else). wanting to use it, and finding ourselves with more time on our hands than usual due to the three-day weekend, we decided to take a trip to edgewater, nj to go to the fabulous mitsuwa marketplace — a veritable wonderland comprised of a full-sized japanese supermarket as well as a food court and a number of specialty shops and stands. more on our trip, after the jump.
bento zen was recently featured in two foreign magazines!
the first is skoda magazine, a belgian publication advertising the czech car company. since this article is in french, i can pretty much read it — it’s a general article about bento-making, and how much care japanese moms put into these creations for their kids.
the second publication is super cool. flow magazine is a netherlands-based crafting and lifestyle magazine, focused in particular on paper crafts. the magazine is currently only published in dutch, and subscribers get cool bonuses with every hard-copy issue (such as pull-out mini journals and stickers). the website has some cool downloadable templates for labels and stuff, too! if any dutch speakers read this site and wouldn’t mind sending me a basic translation of the article, i’d love to know what it says!
i know it’s been over a month since i posted… seems like i was just talking about doing a proper spring bento, and now it’s almost summer! between bananas work travel and some family-related travel as well, i think i was away for 13 days of the month of april. needless to say, there’s been a lot of less-than-formal lunch-packing (think pre-portioned veggie sticks in zip-loc bags, ugly tupperwares of batch-made salad, and LOTS of yogurt)! that said, i’ve been doing well with sticking to my caloric and nutritional guidelines, and i’ve kept off the weight.
one thing about dieting, though, is that sometimes you really need to allow yourself the non-diet foods you love. cheese is a total calorie bomb (particularly the creamy kinds i love), and that was a hard lesson for me to learn as a mostly-non-meat-eater who used to consider cheese a main protein source. but a great way to let yourself have what you crave is with a portion-controlled version of your food vice. after landing at my home airport after one of my recent business trips, i saw these ile de france “brie bites” in the terminal’s snack shop. i grabbed a bunch before heading to the cab line, because these little gems are perfect for fulfilling my cheese craving in a sensible, binge-proof way.
tomorrow’s lunch has a delicious brie bite along with a mock turkey and ham sandwich. i made this with arnold’s new “pocket thins” flatbread (these are really moist and good!), dijonnaise, and butter lettuce. it’s just three slices of tofurkey smoked turkey and two of yves veggie ham, but i cut each round slice in half (forming a semi-circle that matched the shape of the pocket), and then i cut the filled pocket in half to form two wedges. i added two ripe mini-tomatoes on the vine, a mini-paper cup of blueberries, and five cornichons to complete the country picnic feel for this lunch, which i hope to enjoy outside! nutritional info and more lunch product tips after the jump.
i know, spring has sprung, and i am psyched to try some new seasonal recipes… but i’ve been traveling like a crazy person for work, and haven’t had time to put together a blog-worthy spring lunch. until i can get around to doing that, i thought i’d share a lunch from a couple of weeks back. it was made with almost exactly the same ingredients as the pantry-based lunch i posted about here: same cannelini-rice mix (this time, with a quarter-cup of steamed spinach mixed in), same burdock namul (this time, with a purple potato flower garnish), same japanese pickles (the batch of veggies i pickled was a mix of lotus, daikon, and myoga ginger, and i’m still working my way through the jar).
this came together quickly with a bamboo skewer of regular old canned black olives (leftover from another meal). the onigiri are filled with about a teaspoon each of white miso, and wrapped with a red shiso leaf from the pickle jar — these are what give my pickles the pretty pink color, although they go dark purple-ish in the jar after giving off their natural dye.
nutrition info below. Read the rest of this entry »
tomorrow’s lunch has some super-healthy chard wraps (nutrient-rich steamed chard leaves, filled with zuchinni-eggplant-brown rice gratin) and mini lentil-cashew patties. indulging my last winter ingredient cravings before embracing the change of seasons in my kitchen… recipes and nutritional information below.
i am a new, but sure-to-be-faithful, reader of the gorgeous blog 101 cookbooks, which has some really inspiring vegetarian recipes. tomorrow’s lunch includes a few winter rolls from a big batch i adapted from heidi’s “wintery spring rolls” recipe. i’ve also got some wheatberry and cranberry salad based on a dean & deluca recipe; i think this chewy-tangy-nutty blend is a nice compliment. i’m looking forward to this flavorful and nutritionally well-balanced lunch. recipe modifications after the click-through.
today’s lunch (made yesterday) came together quickly — no recipes involved, just soy boy’s carribean tofu, which is spiced so beautifully as to make a tasty meal with the addition of just nutty brown rice and a few garnishes. nutritional info below.
