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 #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 #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 #8: Bibim bento
Koreanese bento #8: Bulgogi, shigumchi namul and oiee moochim on a bed of rice; (misshapen) seaweed heart roll with yellow bell pepper; salad and fresh fruit.
Koreanese bento #7: Under the sea
Fried panko shrimp and roasted sesame dressing float on a sea of somen noodles; fish-shaped hardboiled eggs swim by a colorful reef of cherry tomatoes, shredded carrots, celery sticks and baby arugula.
Koreanese bento #6: Lucky charms
Chicken and bell pepper stirfry, celery sticks, fresh berries, daikon and assorted onigiri (black-sesame star, roasted-sesame heart and kimchee-furikake encrusted triangle)
Koreanese bento #5: Invasion of the octopi
Chicken sausage octopi invade unsuspecting bento box, feasting on the kimchi omu rice, edamame and fresh berries inside.
As I’m going through a Japanese cuisine cooking phase, I’ve been studying up a lot on the subject, watching video series on YouTube, like Cooking with Dog, and pouring over my favorite Japanese cookbooks in the tub (favorite pastime).
I’ve realized that sometimes I’m not sure if something is Japanese or Korean … For instance, the above-mentioned omurice. Now, I first ate the omelet-over-fried-rice dish while studying abroad in Seoul. We would slather ketchup all over the tasty egg and then dig in with one of those long, wide Korean spoons down to the steaming rice below.
But then, I look in my Japanese cookbooks, and there it is: omurice. So which one is it?
And then there’s the matter of rabbit-shaped apple slices. My mother made these for me my whole childhood. It was the only way I would eat apples, which I never much cared for … Even today, I never eat apples (thought I do love apple sauce, juice, pie, etc.) But I guarantee that if you slice an apple up like a bunny, I will finish the whole thing!
Then, earlier this year, I discovered the apple bunnies in the pages of The Just Bento Cookbook, which states that all Japanese kids grow up knowing and loving these tasty treats. What? They’re not Korean? How can that be?
A plate of apple bunnies, just like my mom used to make. I ate the whole thing.
But I guess growing up where no one else’s mom packed apple bunnies in their lunches, much less roasted seaweed squares and stinky kimchee, I had no one to compare with … There wasn’t another Korean kid in my class until high school and certainly no Japanese!
I guess in the end, it doesn’t matter whether apple bunnies or omurice originated in Japan or Korea. They’re still a part of what I see as my amorphous and ever-changing Asian-American culture/identity. But I’m still curious who invented them.
Here’s a video on making omurice on “Cooking with Dog.”
Koreanese bento #4: Oceanography 101
Salmon and cucumber roll with braised lotus root, pickled ginger and bell pepper whale and shark.
Bento La La: A reason to sing
Making bento boxes has become my latest hobby. It may seem a bit absurd for a woman in her mid-thirties to be obsessing over her lunch box, but it brings me great joy.
The other night I found myself singing out loud while prepping my latest box. I did a medley of Police songs, followed by what I’m sure was an unflattering take on “You Said.” But I really can’t remember the last time I just found myself singing to myself.
It is cliche, this desire “to be in the present.” It is yuppy and WASPy and so emblematic of the plague of the 00s … But it is needed, I think, to sometimes just be exactly where you are.
If bento-making can make me sing, la la …, then that’s all the justification I need.
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 #2: Kimchee burger, deconstruct
Mini roasted garlic hamburgers, kimchi, baby spinach salad with roasted sesame dressing, cheese and carrot flowers and rice.
