Copycat Bento

Originally uploaded by dicentragirl

Look at the cute little bunnies!

I got this box at Daiso last weekend when we were visiting Santa and doing giftmas shopping at the mall. I also picked up two other boxes and a few more bento toys too – rice shapers and cutters. Fun!

Today’s bento is the same as yesterday’s. Rice with salmon furikake, pork chops in bbq sauce, carrots, pineapple and pomegranite. I included an apple today because eventhough the content is the same, the portions are a tad smaller.

Little Yellow Bento

Originally uploaded by dicentragirl

Yesterday’s Bento. I basically raided the fridge and tried to put something interesting together…

There is pork chops in bbq sauce, onigiri with vegetable furikake, pineapple and pomegranite, carrots and a small container of green goddess dressing for dipping.

It looks like a tiny lunch, but it was just the right amount of food and I was appropriately hungry for dinner.

havent kept up with the obento blog lately heres todays!! mmm gyoza!!

最近お弁当ブログをやってなかった 今日はこんな感じ！！う～ん、餃子！！

and reading this and that of the SFI…

そしてＳＦＩ規格のなんやらかんやら読んで…

and found two cops outside. it did get me nervous. why? its not like i did anything wrong… lol arghh police. hate them.

そしてパトカーが二台外に居た。なんでだろう、緊張した。なぜ？悪い事したわけでもないのに…笑。どうでもいいけど嫌いだわ。

Mexican-themed! Except all three avocadoes were off, apart from a little tiny bit of one, so there was much less avocado than I thought… so it was a little bit bodgy. Tasty though…

This is the last one of these for a little while. I’m still making them here and there, but have been lazy with getting the camera out. Plus, the year’s nearly over. So we’ll start fresh in the new year.

White rice with paprika (we were out of cayenne pepper)

Meatballs with sliced baby roma tomatoes

A tiny squish of guacamole (invisible to the naked eye) with… cherry tomato!

Shredded lettuce

Steamed beetroot greens with lime

And some extra lime for good luck

Bento Greek-O

Originally uploaded by dicentragirl

Hey! It’s vegan too! I didn’t even do that on purpose. Bonus.

I’ve been wanting to do a Greek-themed bento for a long time now. The only thing it is missing is some pita bread. Oh well.

Dolmates from the deli, hummus from a mix, olives, grapes, pineapple and veggies. Yummy lunch!

Dinner Leftovers Bento #56

Originally uploaded by dicentragirl

This is a much nicer bento than yesterday, even if it is just dinner leftovers.

The box on the left is snacks/dessert. Veggies, herbed chevre and some chocolate truffles. Nom!

The box on the right contains rice with salmon furikake, sauteed mushrooms and sweet-and-sour pork broccoli stir fry. There’s a little fishy of soy sauce for the mushrooms (they were not seasoned when I cooked them.)

I tried to make a flower pattern on the rice with the furikake, and failed miserably, so I made a funky design instead.

Bento Rush-o

Originally uploaded by dicentragirl

I didn’t have any leftovers from dinner last night to put in my lunch today. So today’s bento is whatever I could scrounge up out of the refrigerator.

On the left is pomegranite and green grapes. Snap peas and quail eggs. Beneath that is some sauteed greens (like bok choy, but not. I forget the name). A little fishy full of soy sauce for the greens.

On the right is sauteed mushrooms, carrots and two plain onigiri with egg/sesame/seaweed furikake.

Not terribly exciting, but it will do. I have an apple for a snack too.

Back to both of us, and with a bit more time. Getting much better at putting a few things aside during dinner to pop in the obentos.

Obviously NOT getting better at taking photos in the dark of the morning. I’ll work on that.

White rice with gomashio

Tamagoyaki

Steamed cauliflower

Beetroot greens with sesame dressing

Eggplant pickle

Cherry tomatoes (soon the harvest will be over and we’ll be on to something else, promise)

Parsley (just because we got a big bunch in the CSA box and the bento needed some green)

Sliced roast potato (the Architect)

Finally! I’m back to my blog and back bento-ing! It has been too long. I spent the last couple of days looking at all of the fabulous bentos on Flickr.

Got inspired.

 The back contains miso chicken, lentil-tomato-basil salad abd applesauce. The front contains rice pilaf and veggies. More lentil salad under the rice.The flowers are made of purple potato and japanese yam. Pomegranite centers. Fun! I think the dragonfly needs a head though, don’t you?

So my next post was going to be the rest of the clothing for the Ultimate Christmas List, but I got distracted by Hello Kitty and J-List.  So, all of the gifts you’ll be seeing today are compliments of J-List.  Please note that all of these items can be found in a wishlist of mine on J-List for your shopping convenience.  (Okay, really, it was more for mine.  Do you have any idea how tedious it is to collect the pictures AND their individual links?!) There will be more items on the wishlist, so for “additional content” as it were, CLICK THAT LINK! (And maybe buy something for your friendly bloghost as a thank-you for all the hard work. ^.^ I’m just kidding!)

Let’s start in the Hello Kitty department. (Considering that was my first search. You all should be grateful, I’m doing all the hard parts of your geeky Christmas Shopping for you. ) The first thing I found after toothbrushes, forks, and toilet paper with Hello Kitty’s face all over them was this:

This Hello Kitty Bath Set comes complete with three packs of “bath powder” a Hello Kitty shampoo bottle that you can fill and keep behind the shower curtains, and a bar of too-adorable strawberry soap. *squee*

Considering I had been talking about going back to school and such, let’s look at a couple of school-oriented Hello Kitty items. >.>

Who loves Japanese snacks? I LOVE JAPANESE SNACKS!! This official Sanrio knit bag comes stuffed with a sampling of Hello Kitty themed snacks!

Oh my gosh. Would I love to start making bento for lunches next semester? You bet I would! Would I like my rice to be Hello Kitty shaped? WHY ARE YOU ASKING?! You can find this and many more Hello Kitty bento accessories on the Wishlist.

This bowl is shaped in the image of a sakura (cherry blossom) petal and decorated in Hello Kitty. Get five of them, and I can just see them sitting on a table filled with chips and other snacks at my next (note: first) anime viewing party.

This book is so awesome. It’s a crafting book full of Sanrio characters, Hello Kitty included. The book teaches you to make your own Hello Kitty themed bags and other neat crafty things. While it appears to be completely in Japanese, I think it would be a great motivator for me to both learn to sew better and speak/read better Japanese.

Had enough Hello Kitty?  That’s okay, J-List has MUCH more to offer than just Hello Kitty paraphernalia. ^.^  Let’s see what else we can dredge up.  Ooh!  Looks like it’s time for some calendars.

Now, as J-List Reviews are quick to note, Eastern Calendars are not quite like Western calendars.  Most are quite large, equating to a poster-sized item here in the States.  They also often begin the week on Monday as opposed to Sunday, so if you can’t read the Japanese, try not to get too confused. ^.^

The first calendar I’d like to showcase is from one of my favorite anime movies by one of my favorite artists — My Neighbor Totoro by Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli.

Ohmigosh, Ohmigosh, Ohmigosh. I would seriously KILL to have this as my planner for the upcoming school year. It is SO KAWAII! EEEEEEEE! I love Totoro, and this would make an awesome planner. (You absolutely must check out the J-List listing for this item to appreciate how expansive it is.)

Lucky Star is one of my new favorite animes. It is far too cute for it’s own good. See the calendar.

Would you like to wish someone you love good luck in their new relationship venture? Have a wedding to go to and want to take something personal and uncommon? Just want to impress your parents/grandparents/newlywed friends this Christmas? Why don’t you try this adorable owl statue? Owls are a traditional symbol of good luck, and the little heart is pretty dang universal.

I’ve always wanted a very impressive, expensive, painted anime figurine. Right now, I have an itty-bitty one that came in a capsule. While adorable, she is quite obviously mass-produced and small enough to stuff back into the capsule from whence she came. Now, this particular figure isn’t ridiculously overpriced, and it’s Konata, my FAVORITE character from Lucky Star!

This is a popular New Year’s item in Japan known as a Lucky Bag. It’s full of random items valued at much more than what you pay for the bag. But it’s a surprise. This particular bag is full of cultural items as well as supplemental Japanese learning materials. I would love this to show up at my front door. ^.^  (Note: There are also these types of grab bags in anime/gaming goods.  I’ve wishlisted that as well.)

This figurine is Aru Majutu from the Good Smile Company. The detail seen within is so typical of the worksmanship I admire so much in these figures and showcases why I want one so badly.

And then I almost had a heart attack. I’ll have to do a blog post on Touhou coming up soon so that my readers who aren’t familiar with the amazing game series understand why I nearly fell off the couch.

This is Alice Margatroid.

And this is Flandre Scarlet.

This goes back a bit earlier in my post, but still. ^.^ I would love to learn to make Bento. And here we have a bento cookbook!

While I”m not going to be posting all the pictures here, you can find a wide array of Japanese study aids on J-List, a number of them I’ve added to the wishlist linked at the beginning of this post.

This is the Otaku Encyclopedia. I have heard amazing things about this.

And as always, J-List has a HOST of Japanese snacks to delight the most timid and adventurous of tastebuds. I added a bunch of those to my Wishlist as well, but snacks are a very personal thing, so you should feel free to do some browsing on your own there!

Rice with seasonings

Boiled cabbage

Stir fry beef with asparagus

Boiled broccoli with Satsumaimo(Sweet potato)

Fried Kiriboshidaikon with Renkon(Lotus root)

Apple

Stir fry beef with asparagus : heat the pan and fry beef with boiled asparagus, add Japanese soy sauce, sugar and sake

Fried Kiriboshidaikon with Renkon : soak kiriboshidaikon in water for a while and drain it. fry thin sliced Renkon, Kiriboshidaikon with sesame oil till it is cooked, add Red miso and sugar

This is Today’s Obento!

Rice with seasonings

Egg omelet with asparagus

Spaghetti Bolognese

Radish

Stir fry beef

Nimono

Orange

Egg omelet : beat eggs and pour into skillet, while it is cooking, add boiled asparagus across the middle of the eggs, then roll it up

Spaghetti Bolognese : chop onion, celery, carrot very finely. stir fry ground beef with vegetables and add tomato paste, white wine, salt, pepper, worcestershire  sauce. when it is cooked, add basil, oregano, paprika powder, rosemary and cook for a while.  boil pasta and drain, add olive oil a bit(for not stick each pasta). mix pasta and sauce.

Stir fry beef : cut beef thinner, fry on the pan and add Japanese soy sauce and sugar and sake.

Nimono : boil Shiitake dashi and Katsuo dashi, put satoimo(taro potato), renkon(lotus root), takenoko(bamboo shoot) and carrot. (vegetabled are already pre-cooked)  add Japanese soy sauce and Mirin

This is Today’s Obento!

Chestnuts and sweet potato rice

Egg with spinach

Kabocya

Sausage

Chicken nuggets

Radish

Fried potato with Kanikama

Apple

Egg with spinach : boil spinach. fry egg on the pan and add drained spinach(after boiling), add salt and pepper

Fried potato with Kanikama : cut thin strips potato and kanikama. stir fry that with sesame oil, add parsley, pepper and Japanese dried dashi powder

This is Today’s Obento!

Rice with seasoniings

Boiled egg

Zucchini

Fried shrimp with broccoli

Cabbage hamburger

Radish

Apple

Fried shrimp with broccoli : boil shrimp and broccoli, and then fry with olive oil, add salt and pepper and basil

Cabbage hamburger : chop cabbage finely, mix with ground beef, egg and salt. fry on the pan with olive oil both side. when it is cooked, add ketchup and Japanese worcestershire sauce

This is Today’s Obento!

Rice with seasoning

Egg omelet with mix vegetables

Cabbage with sausage

Kabocya

Spicy chicken

Daikon

Egg omelet : beat eggs and pour into skillet, while it is cooking, add boiled mix vegetables across the middle of the eggs, then roll it up

Cabbage with sausage : cut cabbage thin strips. heat the skillet, fry cabbage and thin sliced sausage and then add salt, pepper

Spicy chicken : cut chicken, coat it with mixed flour, bread crumbs and chili powder, and then deep fry it

This is Today’s Obento!

Rice with seasonings

Chicken nugget

Satsumaimo (Japanese sweet potato)

Stir fry thin sliced pork with asparagus

Egg Omelet with Kiriboshidaikon

Stir fry thin sliced pork with asparagus : heat the skillet and put oil in it, stir thin sliced pork with boiled asparagus, add Oyster sauce and Japanese soy sauce

Egg omelet : beat eggs and pour into skillet, while it is cooking, add kiriboshidaikon across the middle of the eggs, then roll it up

This is Today’s Obento!

Fried rice

Tomato cream sauce pasta

Broccoli

Kabocya(Japanese pumpkin)

Nimono

Chicken nugget

Sausage

Fried rice : fry beaten egg and rice, add Japanese soy sauce and dried parsley

Tomato cream pasta : boil small pasta. stir ham and corn with butter, add tomato-tin, fresh cream and pasta

This is Today’s Obento!

Rice with seasonings

Yakisoba

Egg Omelet with Asparagus

Pork sausage

Stir fry beef with green beans

Zucchini

Yakisoba : cut vegetables(carrot, cabbage, green onion), fry that with sesame oil, add Yakisoba noodles and Yakisoba sauce, salt and pepper

Stir fry beef with green beans : fry thin beef and green beans, add Japanese soy sauce and sugar, sake

Egg omelet : beat eggs and pour into skillet, while it is cooking, add boiled asparagus across the middle of the eggs, then roll it up

This is Today’s Obento!

Sou apaixonada pela cultura japonesa (alimentação, costumes, vestimentas, músicas, diversão, tecnologia, etc.), e é exatamente por isso que admiro e acho extremamente linda a forma como eles encaram a vida, fazendo tudo ficar mais interessante!

A atenção e o tempo despendido, por exemplo, para preparar um Obentô desses são de um carinho impressionante e talvez seja, exatamente, por isso que aumenta cada vez mais o número de adeptos a esse mundo kawaii ^_^

Encantem-se com alguns exemplos de Obentôs que irei mostrar a vocês! (=^.^=)



Dá até pena de destruir comendo um lanchinho desses, né não?

Só depois de uma foto é que eu teria um pouquinho mais de coragem pra fazer isso rsrsrs ^^

Mas, mesmo assim, quando a fome aperta nem um pratinho Kawaii desses escapa… Lembro que, quando era criancinha dava um trabalhão pra comer, eu só queria “bobagens” de acordo com o pensamento da minha mãe (¬¬ bom… mais até hoje não acho bobagem comer chocolate ou Doritos, por exemplo XD) enfim, ela até se aventurava ao tentar fazer um Obentô desses pra mim… mas, ao invés de comê-lo, eu acabava era brincando com a comida enquanto assistia TV! tadinha… XD

Rice with seasonings

Egg Omelet with corn

Beer sausage

Boiled asparagus

Chicken nugget

Nimono

Nimono : boil Katsuo-dashi and Japanese soy sauce, Mirin. put Bamboo shoot and Satoimo into it, add Shiitake mushrooms.

This is Today’s Obento!

Rice with seasonings

Egg with spinach omelet

Fried Satsumaimo(sweet potato)

Sausage

Stir fry Vermicelli with pork, green beans

Stir fry Vermicelli with pork, green beans : boil vermicelli for a few minutes, fry pork and green beans in the skillet, add boiled vermicelli. stir that for a while, and then add pepper and salt

This is Today’s Obento!

This was a very quick, budget one just for me, on a morning I was running a bit late.

Rice and the last of the noritamago furikake (I wanted to finish it off)

One-egg tamagoyaki

Rocket from the garden

Broccoli stem pickles (in the pickle press) – next time I’ll slice it thinner

Eggplant tsukemono

…and there’s the cherry tomatoes again

Rice with seasonings

Fried noodles

Egg Omelet with kiriboshidaikon

Fish fry

Fried Satsumaimo(Japanese sweet potato)

Egg omelet : beat eggs and pour into skillet, while it is cooking, add kiriboshidaikon across the middle of the eggs, then roll it up

Fried noodles : boil noodles, heat the pan and stir bean sprouts and kanikama, add boiled noodles. add Chicken broth(powder) and Japanese soy sauce

Fried Satsumaimo : steam satsumaimo, heat the pan and add butter, then add satsumaimo

This is Today’s Obento!

Kinoko-Gohan

Sausage

Egg Omelet with green beans, Kanikama

Zucchini

Fried bean sprouts

Fried Potato-Bacon

Egg omelet : beat eggs and pour into skillet, while it is cooking, add boiled green beans and Kanikama across the middle of the eggs, then roll it up

This is Today’s Obento!

Getting into the swing of things now. Got up very early, so the photos were under lights, which makes them worse than usual. We had a bbq on the weekend, so this one is using up some of the leftovers.

The Architect’s:

And mine:

White rice with noritamago furikake

Sausage, mayonnaise (the Architect’s)

Broccoli, carrots, cherry tomatoes

Lettuce leaves

Roast vegetable and couscous salad (much more in mine than the Architect’s – he just got some roast vegies)

Homemade cucumber pickles (just in the pickle press)