May 27th Bento

Today I started with a diamond in the center and then filled in the corners. I think it turned out pretty nice and it was definitely yummy.

I tested out my rice cuber for the first time. The yellow rice is coloured with tumeric, the purple rice is flavored with shiso furikake and the white rice is plain with salt. I purchased the cuber from this ebay seller along with some other rice molds a few weeks ago.

In the top right corner there are a couple of gyoza. Bottom right is breaded pork cutlet pieces and asparagus bites. The other corners are foods that are in season here, fiddleheads and rhubarb.

To make the rhubarb, I took 1 chopped stalk of rhubarb, and 1 chopped strawberry, chopped and simmered them in a pot with about 2 Tbsp water until everything was soft and mushy. Then I added 2 Tbsp sugar, stirred until dissolved, removed from heat, and finally added about 1/2 tsp cornstarch dissolved in a little water to thicken it up. Rhubarb to me is just one of those tastes that brings me home, I love it.

There are also some sugar snaps, carrot flowers and broccoli floating around in there.

For fruit, there are a few slices of fresh pineapple, raspberries, blueberries, a little more strawberry, and a couple of slices of kumquat. The kumquat was so tart and tangy, it's a great way to cleanse your palate between bites. Dessert was a date square.

May 20th Bento

BF said he thought today's bento was 'particularly tasty' so I consider that a success.

There was some leftover stuffed porkloin (it was a huge cut of meat) from yesterday's bento, so we had repeats today. To add a little more protein to the bento, I made a rolled omelette with three eggs, chives, chicken broth and a little soy sauce and sugar and included a few slices in each bento.

In the top right we have soba noodles. I was really surprised at how yummy these were, I thought they would be plain. Buried underneath them is a small container of dipping broth (a sharp, salty combination of chicken broth, soy sauce and mirin). I couldn't figure out how to twirl them around chopsticks to make a nest, so instead I just laid them in the silicone muffin cup by hand. It only took a couple of seconds.

For veggies there is a mixture of corn and red pepper (leftover from fajitas last night ), asparagus, broccoli, sugar snaps and fried plantain butterflies. I learned a new way to cut carrots yesterday, so I included a few of those to practice my cutting skills.

There are blueberries, strawberries and persimmon bites for fruit. Dessert is some homemade baklava. I made a batch last week and froze it.

BF was taking the pictures this morning and he's more creative than me when it comes to that stuff, so here's another shot of the bento. Ooh, angles! Fancy!

Oh yeah, and there's a coconut onigiri star and a few slices of gouda cheese hidden under some of the stuff in there. Secret bento foods :)