Hello Again

It has been quite a time ago I've made Bento for myself or my daughter. Now I have another hobby, baking cakes, it looks like very hard to combine making bento and baking. I've noticed al my freetime is going into baking cakes, cookies and cupcakes.

But now I was just looking for inspiration for lunch and found out some amazing things I made before. hahahaha... :P

So, I think it is time to do something about this. This weekend we will be shopping for bento supplies to... hope to let you see what I've made next week. ;)

What to do if you don't have anything at home?

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Originally uploaded by mamaofmelissa

This week I've forget to buy salad. Stupid of course, since I like to put salad in my Bento. After a long inspecting the refrigerator I found I didn't have any fruits except apples and grapes ( and a kiwi wich seems to be to hard, read sour) So although I've already cooked my rice for the onigiri, I had nothing to put in my bento!!! I didn't even had nori, how could I be so stupid!!!

So, I had to improvise. This is the result of my quest to Bento ingredients.

In the upper layer, red and green grapes, and three onigiri in the lower layer. At the left, a Hello Kitty onigiri with bonito flakes furikake, In the middle Onigiri filled with tuna and sesameseeds and kimchi-nori and at the right a My Melody onigiri with bonito flakes furikake.

I found out bonito flakes furikake is much to salt to me. So, I have 2 options. Option 1, use more rice or option 2, never buy bonito flakes furikake anymore. ( I think I will go for option 2. )

Sushi lunch and pickles

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Originally uploaded by mamaofmelissa

It looks like a bit odd combination, sushi and pickled cucumbers, a bit Asian and a bit Western style. This Western-Asian (or Asian-Western) Bento was my lunch of last week.

Although it seems weird to have sushi and pickles, it was just yummy.

This Hello Kitty two-layer Bentobox also contains a pair of chopsticks, so you don't have to worry about your cutlery and although it seems weird using chopsticks for your salad, it's just as easy as eating with a fork. (of course you should know how to use chopsticks first)

Upper layer contains sushi with surimisticks. Lower layer, salad with corn and red bellpepper and sweet pickled cucumbers.

Microwave cake

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Originally uploaded by mamaofmelissa

My sister in law found this in the supermarket. Ready in 3 minutes cake with a lot of different flavours like mango and pineapple.

I was really curious to how this works and especially how this will taste...

It's quite easy to make ik, (that's why it's called "Easy cake") just put in some milk, oil, an egg and the mix, then mix it and put it in the microwave...

My daughter was really smiling when she saw the cake, unfortunately it was too sweet and we didn't really taste the mango, so.... not really something to recommend you to try...

Leftover potatoes

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Originally uploaded by mamaofmelissa

Normally I don't have much left from dinner what we can use for in the bento. But last wednesday my daughter and I had boiled potatoes with vegetables and veggieburgers...

So when I saw I had some boiled potatoes left, I thought about an apple and potatoe salad my friend used to make us on parties. And since there were enough potatoes left for a lunch, I've tried to make an apple and potatoe salad with the ingredients I had in house...

Apple and potatoessalad:
- some boiled potatoes, cut in bite size
- an apple, cut in the same size as the potatoes (anykind, just as you like it sweeter of more sour)
- a boiled egg, also cut in the same size
- mayonaise (I normally us light)
- dried cives
Just put all these ingredients together and mix.

I've garnished it with lettuce, cherry tomatoes and some dried and sliced bacon...

And really, it tasted very nice...

quicky bento

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Originally uploaded by mamaofmelissa

So, I've told I have been very busy lately, but I still wanted to have a nice lunch. I've made this bento in less then 20 minutes... so, it's possible to make a bento when you're busy...

The round box contains a beefsalad with corn, cherry tomatoes and grilled sausages. This was for my colleague. Yes, my picky colleague, If I have enough ingredients, I'd like to make him a treat too.

For myself, a fruitsalad with grapes, strawberries, and melon, a salad with corn, cherry tomatoes and beefsalad with grilled sausages... I've had the fruitsalad as a snack in the afternoon, but the salad was really more then enough for lunch... This was the right amount of food for me... :D

Ballet preformance

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Originally uploaded by mamaofmelissa

Once in the 2 years, our balletschool will organise a balletperformance. During this weekend we need to stay in the theatre for practise and performancing. Normally we won't have to much time for eating, so we'll take something to eat with us.

Because we need to be in the theatre very early, I've made a simple but delicious bento.

In the left box, Pastasalad with corn, in the right box, onigiri with beef in teriyaki sauce, sweet olives and salad.

Besides this bento, I've made a large fruitsalad for al the other girls of my group....

For pictures of the balletperformance, please visit http://www.balletstudiodanspodium.nl/ op the event page there's a link to the pictures.