Koreanese Bento #26: Just enough time for a snack
Potato-and-pea baked samosas with tamarind-date chutney, fresh strawberries and Asian-flavored financiers and madeleines by SweetMue.com.
Not much of a bento …. More like a glorified snack box. But I’m sharing it anyway because it’s not about perfection, right?
For a while I was making bento that were rather time consuming. There’s nothing wrong with that unless, of course, higher standards keep you from making a portable and healthy lunch when you have less time.
I tossed together this snack of leftover samosas, fruit and pastries in less than five minutes, and they’re in a re-used Chinese take out container to boot. So here’s one for the imperfectionist in all of us. Cheers! And happy snacking.
PS: The madeleines and financiers were made by my dear friend from SweetMue.com. She’s been blending Asian flavor favorites, such as taro, red bean, green tea and black sesame, into traditional French pastry recipes. Her green tea cream puffs (not pictured) are a personal fave. I am also a big-time fan of her black sesame puffed pastry balls! You can follow her baking adventures on her blog, sweetmue.wordpress.com.
Koreanese Bento #25: The remains of the other day
Garlic shrimp over fried rice. Baby lettuce salad with tomatoes, cucumber and carrots. Balsamic vinaigrette dressing. And a two-cookie finale!
Went to Tahoe this past weekend and had, by far, the best snow of the season. Of course, it hasn’t been much of a season this year. But it dumped from Saturday night all the way through Monday afternoon, when we headed back down the mountain.
Got home late in the evening, and it’s been go, go, go ever since. Haven’t made it to the grocery store, much less cooked up a decent meal. So this bento was all about improvisation.
Had some leftover rice from the week before, and the remains of the salad ingredients we brought up to the condo, including a vinaigrette I’d hauled there and back in a mason jar.
With the help of some vegetables and ginger out of the freezer, the fried rice got a little color and a pop of flavor. I cooked the frozen shrimp in leftover bacon fat and fresh garlic and then squeezed lemon juice over them at the end.
The cookies, I confess, are not homemade. But the oatmeal raisin cookies I made for the trip were too big for bento fare. Overall, not too shabby for the remains of the other day. 
Look at all that snow! Kirkwood was adrift in white, and no crowds to boot!
Happy as a clam in the cold, windy weather.
Koreanese Bento #24: So starts the dragon year
Dragons lair: Three pork and water chestnut dumpling dragons perched on a red-leaf lettuce salad; a flock of carrot birds atop sauteed cucumbers and beef with rice. Fresh berries for a happy ending.
I haven’t made bento in a long, long time. While there are numerous joys of working from home, such as the irrelevance of kimchi breath, it doesn’t make much sense to pack your lunch. In addition, when you do work “out,” it’s usually at a cafe, where toting in your own food would be highly frowned upon!
That said, I’ve been cooped up in the apartment all week with a nasty cold. It began Sunday night and grew worse with each passing day … Finally, with the aid of magical antibiotics and a whole lot of tea, I am just now released from my self-imposed quarantine.
Thought I’d celebrate with a little bento-making. Year of the Dragon, this one’s for you. Hope you are healthier moving forward.
Koreanese Bento #23: Mushroom rice and mozzarella men
Mixed mushroom rice, salad with mozzarella, a hardboiled egg and berries.
While making my lunch, I realized that my fresh mozzarella balls had little nubs that would make perfect “noses.” So I used black sesame seeds and tiny slivers of red bell pepper to finish out their faces. One face is happy and the other a bit on the cranky side. Men—mozzarella and otherwise—can be so moody! 
Koreanese bento #22: Stinky bento yum
Teriyaki mushrooms over rice next to fruit and mini chocolate chip cookies; assorted panchan of seasoned spinach, bracken, black beans, spicy fish cake, marinated perilla leaves and dried anchovies.
I normally make my own Korean side dishes, but April has been a crazy month. I’ve been finishing up my master’s project and had little time to belabor my many loves, including cooking. So I went crazy in the pre-made section of the Korean market last week and have been happily transforming my purchases into kim bop, bibim bop and now a bento. Fly out tomorrow to defend. What a relief! I can get back to cooking after that … At least I made the mushrooms from scratch! Happy bento days ahead.
My checkout haul at Kukje Market in Daly City. It's amazing how far $84 can go at the Korean market versus at Whole Foods. I go crazy whenever I shop there, though I have to say their miyok guk tastes sadly nothing like my mom's.
Koreanese bento #21: New day, new box
Chicken nuggets, grape tomatoes, olives and donkatsu sauce over baby spinach; spring potato, carrot and cucumber salad next to assorted fresh fruit
LunchBots stainless steel series uses no plastics and is dishwasher safe. This is the Duo model, which has, duh, two compartments.
Koreanese bento #20: Making do
Chicken and apple mini sausages and cucumbers over white rice with peas; cilantro tamagoyaki (omelette roll), steamed cauliflower, grape tomatoes and veggie flowers on a bed of baby spinach leaves.
After an action-packed weekend of friends and family, academics and a capella, my fridge is looking pretty bare. So between my last few eggs, some cilantro on the verge, leftover rice and an old bag of frozen mini-sausages, I cobbled together this bento. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself, though I’m looking forward to going to the grocery store tonight.
Koreanese bento #19: Bento redux
Steamed pork and shrimp balls on sticks with plain onigiri, blanched orange cauliflower, cherry tomatoes and spring lettuce; assorted fruit includes apple bunnies, blackberries and a tangerine
In a nod to my busy day, yesterday’s pork and shrimp balls have resurfaced in another bento today. This time, I paired them with finger foods and items you could eat by stabbing them with my cute little wooden picks!
Koreanese bento #18: If I could only bento all day
Steamed shrimp and pork meatballs with steamed asparagus, baby tomatoes, radish flowers and a fruit cup; a bed of multigrain rice sits below.
Koreanese bento #17: There’s no place like home
Fried tofu and edamame nuggets with baby lettuce, radishes, cucumbers and multigrain rice; bell pepper kinpira and a berry-citrus fruit salad for dessert.
Ft. Lauderdale! The Everglades! The Keys! Napa Valley! A bevy of beautiful places and faces in a whirlwind week and a half.
I could never get enough of dolphins, anhingas, stingrays and miniature deer. Sleeping in a suite is all the better for having slept under the stars. And I love drinking beer at the No Name Pub on Big Pine Key, Fla., as much as I do sampling the wine pairings Ad Hoc in Yountville, Calif.
But have to say, I am so happy to be back home and making bento on this most beautiful of San Francisco days.
Koreanese bento #16: No-time-for-bento bento
Slices of broiled miso pork tenderloin with bell pepper bits on multigrain rice; baby arugula, kumquat and kiwi salad with a chocolate chip cookie for dessert
Change in plans, no time left, need lunch …Tossed this sucker together in a hurry. (Ate it in a hurry too!)
Koreanese bento #15: Keeping it simple
A ring of blanched broccoli florets and bell pepper "spare parts" lines my oyakodon (chicken and egg donburi). A bed of multigrain rice sits below.
There are some lessons that you are supposed to learn again and again. I think keeping it simple is one of them. I tried cutting out all sorts of fun shapes from bell peppers: dolphins, whales, flowers … But, really, I’m feeling more somber than that.
So instead, this simple bento brought just enough sunshine into my cloudy day.
Thinking of all the folks in Japan …
Koreanese bento #14: Bento brunch
Fried egg, ham and fruit salad; mini waffles with strawberries, pecans and maple syrup. (Extra layer of waffles hidden below.)
Got a Nordic Ware silver-dollar waffle pan at a thrift store on Fillmore Street a few weeks ago. Woke up this morning and decided it was time to give it a try. One batch of batter from Mark Bittman’s “How to Cook Everything” app goes a long way with mini waffles! So I packed a few of the extras into a bento. I will be eating waffles for days and days …
This bento is a bit busier than I would like. Think I got carried away since it’s Saturday, and time was less of an issue than during the week. I used a flower-shaped cookie cutter for the egg and rolled the ham into a “rose,” My baby spinach leaves, however, kind of got lost in the mix.
Dressed up the waffles with cheese and ham flowers and tossed in a “bottle” of real maple syrup. Plan to sprinkle the pecans and fruit on top. It was silly but amusing to cut my strawberry into a strawberry shape with a cookie cutter. Very meta, no?
Most excited about the pint of kumquats I picked up this week. They remind me of Florida, of sunshine and of being a kid. All things I miss right now …
Koreanese bento #13: @KoreanHapa(imitation) / @justbento = flattery
Chicken kara-age, tomato and shallot salad with sesame vinaigrette and rice with carrots and peas
So I’ve been getting bento inspiration from all over … But I must give credit where it is due. I first fell in love with the idea of bento this January, when I spotted “The Just Bento Cookbook” at a bookstore in Santa Cruz.
I was making my annual New Year’s pilgrimage to the coast and contemplating ways to bring new joys into 2011. And there it was, this book that I just couldn’t put down.
Since then, co-workers have gifted me books on bento, and I’ve found so many amazing bento-makers on the Web. It has been a pleasure cooking, learning and eating my way down this road.
So thank you, Makiko Itoh, for the inspiration. This bento’s for you!
Koreanese bento #12: In/out of shape
Sliced teriyaki beef, asparagus spears with roasted sesame dressing, hardly heart-shaped hard-boiled eggs over multi-grain rice with strawberries and strawberry-shaped kiwis
Just came back from a long weekend in Utah. I had made a few molded hard-boiled eggs before I left. My hearts, however, didn’t turn out quite as nicely as my star. One heart, with a yolk so off-center that it poked out the side, was so unattractive that I had to eat in on the spot! The other one wasn’t quite so bad, but it still didn’t look much like a heart … Still, why waste food?
So I rolled the misshapen sucker around in some soy sauce, sugar and ginger until it was nicely coated, cut it in half and then popped some asymmetrical nori hearts on top before tossing it in the bowl. If you’re going to be misshapen, might as well be proud.
The kiwis I bought at the Ferry Building after my run today took to their strawberry cookie-cutter shapes much more nicely. (Though you can’t really tell from this picture.)
And speaking of being shape … I had thought, after a three days skiing downhill and one day cross country, that I must be in pretty descent condition. But then I stepped on the scale this morning and found myself four pounds heavier than when I left. (And I wasn’t happy with my weight then either.)
Guess, like my bento, I am both in and out of shape.
Koreanese bento #11: Paul Oakenfold tribute
Hardboiled egg and bell pepper stars, carrot flowers and a fresh fruit over a bed of shitake mushroom rice
In light of yesterday’s crab roll disaster, I decided to keep it simple today. Besides, I’m about to get on a plane. So I prepped the mixed mushroom rice and eggs last night, and then all that was left this morning were the fun bits — making stars.
This was my first time using a “bowl” as a bento. Kinda liked the simplicity of one round space to work with …
Starry-eyed surprise: Mixed mushroom rice hidden beneath fruit cup, revealed
The pink silicone liner was the most I could cough up for Girls’ Day. Pink has never been my favorite color, unless you count magenta. I need something bold.
Koreanse bento #10: Red crab, blue crab
Koreanese bento #10: Badly formed California roll made with real Blue Crab unrepentantly hidden behind fake Red Crab (bell pepper); asparagus in roasted sesame dressing, strawberries and ImoJeane Mayes' awesome, Colorado-baked chocolate chip cookies. (Secret layer of cucumber scraps and celery strips beneath.)
I confess: Today was not one of my better bento days. I’d been so psyched about making something with my lump crab stash, and debated between mini curry crab cakes and California rolls for way too many days. Then finally, fixed on the latter, I proceeded to make the ugliest inside-out sushi roll you’ve ever seen. So like any newbie bento-maker, who is running late to an appointment and potentially facing embarrassment at work, I carved up a big haphazard “crab” to cover my wonky rolling results. At least it has a theme …
My roomie noted the funky crab-shell-like texture of the bell pepper. “How did you do that?” she asked. Truth be told, it’s just puckered from being in the fridge too long. But sometimes, things do work out. And it’s OK to make mistakes.
Off to the Utah slopes for a long weekend. I’ll be making bentos out of snow.
Oh, yeah. And that’s supposed to be a pickled ginger and Italian parsley rose. Ha!
Koreanese bento #9: Butter shrimp and happy flowers
Koreanese bento #9: Butter shrimp, radish tulips, bell pepper flowers, celery stems and parsley leaves over rice; baked parmesan tomatoes and fresh berries.
Koreanese bento #4: Oceanography 101
Salmon and cucumber roll with braised lotus root, pickled ginger and bell pepper whale and shark.
Koreanese bento #3: The basics
Grilled salted salmon, tamago (egg), baby spinach salad with roasted sesame dressing and rice with black sesame seeds.
Koreanese bento #1: Square One
Grilled chicken with donkatsu sauce, Oee moochim (cucumber salad), shitake burdock gohan (mixed rice), with edamame beans and flying carrots.
My very first bento in my very first bento box!
