My favorite online bento resources:
Lunch in a Box -- the emphasis on food safety, healthy cooking, and speed-packing are ♥
Just Bento and Just Hungry -- same owner, similar excellent material; special emphasis on diet/healthy bento
Cooking Cute -- one of the first sites I found; sadly inactive for more than a year now, but still full of useful info, some neat recipes, and lovely pictures
Freakin' Tasty Bento -- this is actually a link to a specific entry: "Bento for Cheap Bastards"; it's a nice little reality check with practical advice :)
all links in food item names go to recipes~
Bento 1!
Top (actually it's the bottom compartment, haha~): white rice (sprinkled w/ green onions post-photo)
Bottom: mini banana-choco muffin; dried mango slices; mock-Italian hamburger halves; balsamic-stir fried bell peppers
(sad story: I flipped it off the table while I was eating, so the mini-muffin and some of the mango slices became not-edible ;-; oh well.)
Bento 2!
Left: Curry-fried rice -- heat leftover curry in frying pan, add rice, heat thoroughly and stir until fairly dry; there was a layer of plastic wrap b/t the rice and the container so it wouldn't be as smelly :P
Right: Trader Joe's gyoza over spinach; one slice of dried mango; chocolate mochi squares; fruit jelly cups
Bento 3!
This is the triangular onigiri case~ :)
Top: Soboro-stuffed onigiri (soboro is easy! awesomely tasty! eat it with plain rice for dinner!)
Bottom: Hard boiled egg (not cut very cleanly..>_>;;), blanched snow peas
the persimmon is table decoration :P
Bento 4!
Left: blanched bok choy stalks and leaf-rosette; tamagoyaki w/ nori filling; leftover pasta and sauce
Right: gingersnap halves; dried mango slices; fruit jelly cup; frozen-then-reheated curry-flavored beef and potato croquettes
Bento 5! BIG (3-person) picnic lunch~
Top: Soboro-stuffed (rounds w/ seaweed wrap), plain rice onigiri (triangles); chicken; zucchini
Bottom: dessert tray; balsamic green beans and red bell pepper pieces
Lemon Chicken Nuggets and Pan-fried Zucchini (used Country Crock margarine--ahahaha yeah i know i said i never use it in baking, but i do use it in sandwiches and stuff--instead of oil)
Dessert: Coconut jello (from a packet; I added less water than recommended so they'd be a little firmer) and blueberries
And then, because this meal was just too healthy, we went and ate $1-a-scoop ice cream. :]
Pumpkin flavor = oooomgsh good. Next time you come to Berkeley, we're going!!
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