Feisty Bento #184: Back from Stay-cation

Today's bento.  There was supposed to be meat in there but I opened up my turkey slices and they'd gone slimy and bad.  So... no meat.  Haha.

Cucumber slices; whole grain bread with cucumer slices and basil leaves (fresh picked from my plant!); dipping sauce for the cucumber slice (actually I probably won't use this, it just fit so perfectly and was a good gap filler...).

Anyway, it's almost time for lunch and I'm starving.  Will probably have to get something to eat in addition to this, but ah well.

Happy bento!!!

Feisty Bento #183: All veggies, but not vegetarian

Got a package yesterday... squee!!! 

Can't tell you what's in it... Let's just say, I spent a lot... and hopefully these things work!

Today's bento, all veggies: top tier is the remains of the green beans with ground pork, and the bottom is sauteed mustard greens or something..

I will probably need to get something to fill in the gaps for protein, but yummy!!!

Happy bento!  I'll be off next week, so don't expect any bentos till I come back.

Feisty Bento #182: Back to Bento for Me

I have been super remiss in bento'ing. Guess why? Oh, irony.

I think I've mentioned before that I started bento'ing when I was really depressed. Life was wearing me down, I'd made a bunch of huge life choices extremely recently, and I needed something to lift my spirits. Well, bento was it, and it worked!

... except now, I've stopped bento'ing because I'm a bit depressed again. I don't really like to share the more intimate details of my life here, but, just there are a lot of life changes going on again, and everything is just that bit too much stress for me. I've stopped sleeping and though I continue to eat (I'm not sure I'll ever be able to stop...), I've just been eating super crap that I pick up nearby. Loathe, loathe, LOATHE doing this, but...

Anyway, hopefully this may make up for it a bit. I've been taking pictures of what I've been eating instead.

Niko Niko on Wall and Pearl Streets - zaru soba (cold and plain soba), eel/avocado half roll, and a beef onigiri I didn't eat. It's awful how much food prices have risen; shrinking portions, higher prices, ugh.

Sophie's Cuban on Fulton Street - Spanish rice with black beans; pernil and onions. Way too oily and kind of bland - though the meat was super soft, it was pretty much tasteless, so unfortunate, and may have been the cause of my stomach issues before attending this :(

Random street meat from cart on Wall & South Streets - lamb kebab, fries, onions, lettuce, extra white sauce. This is the first time I've ever had street meat, which is kind of amazing considering I was born and raised in NYC and have worked in the city for 6 years now... went to high school in the city... hung out in the city... lived in the city... I just never ordered any! I don't know why, this was really delicious and soft, not gamey at all, and very tasty! Though the lack of fries kind of annoyed me. Next time I'm getting rice.

Yesterday's lunch... yummy sandwich! At $8.50, dang what a steal (there's still a half left in my fridge, waiting to be eaten as dinner)...

And... surprised? Today's bento!

Despite having walked 5k last night in the pouring rain for this year's Corporate Challenge, and waking up sore, miserable, achey, and wanting nothing more than to turn over and go back to sleep, I forced myself to rummage in the fridge and whip this up. So it's not pretty but at least I ate much less than I've BEEN eating for lunch...

Top: sliced chicken fingers (served with oh-so-bad-for-me KFC dipping sauces that I found in my fridge) Bottom: sauteed mustard greens (I think?) - I sauteed them in a spoonful of um, bacon renderings :D

Happy bento!!!

Edit (7/29/08): Entering this into Bento Pet's competition! :)

Feisty Bento #181: Local Bento

As local as you can get for me! 

My Basil plant.  If you look closely, you can see a few places where I've been tearing the leaves off.  (In the bottom of the pic, you can see part of the Mint plant, and to the right, you can see part of my Tomato plant, which, as someone pointed out, means those tomatoes are definitely safe.  Except there are no tomatoes and probably will never be...)

Small container of hummus for veggies
Baby carrots; celery stick (tucked underneath); smoked almonds
15 whole grain bread; mayo; smoked chicken breast slices; homegrown basil

Woohoo, I'm eating up my basil like mad.  I hope it all grows back!!!  Next time: homemade pizza :)

Happy bento!!!

Feisty Bento #180: Tenmari Bento

This is a completely ridiculous picture that BF made me take last night.  I'm faking the smile (although I do actually look quite happy) because I'm actually quite grumpy.  It was 7:35 and our movie was at 8:10 but we were still waiting for a seat.  We got to the theater at 8:21 and managed to only miss the teensiest bit.  I don't think it hurt our enjoyment (or lack..) of the movie, either.

I look so farking tan, though...

Yet another new bento set.  This one is in an insulated bag- well, so they said, but the bag is pretty thin, just seems to be lined with tin foil looking material.  We'll see later if it kept my warm pasta warm and my cold hummus cold ;)

What's inside...?  Too bad I don't have the matching fork for this.  Oh well.  Yes, I'm a sucker for matching things; it means I don't have to think!

And here's my bento for today.

Top tier: Hummus; baby carrots; smoked almonds tucked along the side
Bottom tier: green beans; more pasta

Yep, I made a huge container of the beans and pasta, so expect to see it a few more times.  I haven't been eating dinner at home, so tons of leftovers solely for bento :)

HAPPY BENTO!!!

Feisty Bento #179: Calming bento

My lunch from the cafeteria yesterday: marble rye, pastrami, mustard, lettuce/tomato, and cole slaw/mac salad with a small root beer.  $5.15 for all of that.

See why I bento?  If I didn't, I'd eat so much on a daily basis, I'd be about 20 lbs. heavier than I am now!  Or more, since I just lost that by bento'ing

My pathetic dinner.  Inside the bag is some onion rings, no burger for me.

And bento!  I used this box!

Top tier: green beans sauteed with ground pork; more pasta
Bottom tier: grapes, lots of grapes

HAPPY BENTO!!!

Feisty Bento #178: More Leftovers

Last night's food blogger potluck was a lot of fun... people seemed to like my salsa... so that's good... I only snagged one picture of a dish, but then gave up as I just decided to eat... food was good of course !!!  I hope everyone posts their recipes soon !

The one dish I managed to take a picture of, which I also surprisingly really liked.  YUM.  (Beet salad)  I was surprised because, well, I'm not a huge fan of beets...

Yet another new bento...

Pink again...

Top Tier: Gemelli with fire roasted tomatoes, ground beef, etc.; sauteed green beans with ground pork
Bottom Tier: Golden Rainier cherries; grapes; grape tomatoes; baby carrots; cucumbers and tzatziki

Have a FANTASTIC WEEKEND EVERYONE!!!  I know I will, tons of good food this weekend, hehe!

Feisty Bento #177: Cherry Pink Bento

Dinner last night... basil so fresh, I'd literally just picked it off my plant!  A creamy pasta made possible by the addition of ricotta, coating each piece, along with ground beef, tomatoes, peas... yum.  Perfect on a rainy, cool night. 

Homemade ice cream sandwich.  Well, not really homemade, since I bought the cookies, and I bought the ice cream, but I put them together.  And damn were they good.  Admittedly I first saw the idea on Rachael Ray - whom I like - but when I took a bite of the store bought cookie yesterday, the first thought that came to mind was, "Hmm, texture and taste like an ice cream sandwich cookie... Think I shall do that tonight." 

My local supermarket is so ghetto that the ice cream was half melted and they didn't have coffee (a favorite of the BF's), but I had no choice.  Anyway, I was going to have to thaw it a little in order to make the sandwich, so whatever. 

Photo of the bf enjoying the cold treat.  He was hot, I was cold.  Oh well.  Blurred at his request - he's not a fan of being exposed on the internet.

Homemade salsa for tonight's food blogger potluck... unfortunately I was so tired that I kind of fucked it up... I don't really know, my stomach was hurting so I couldn't really keep tasting it to figure out what was wrong.  Oops.  OH WELL.  I AM TOO TIRED TO CARE DAMMIT.  I hope they like it anyway!

Today's bento!  Another new bento - Ooh, pink... pretty... yes, my favorite color.  Impractical for bento though ... boo.

Dunno what's wrong with the color in this pic... sheesh.

And... today's bento!  Yay!

Top tier: tzatziki sauce; baby carrots; grape tomatoes
Bottom tier: sauteed green beans with ground pork; leftover pasta with extra meat "sauce" added on top

Mmmm.... tasty!  HAPPY BENTO!!!

Feisty Bento #176: Smaller bento

Ordered a ton of stuff from Ichiban Kan online and it arrived.  I was so happy, digging through the box, though not so thrilled with the stupid foam peanuts.  Come on!  That's not environmentally friendly... grrr. 

One of the many boxes I bought...

The box itself

And my lunch!  This box is substantially smaller than my red two-tiered box.  I'm still hungry afterwards, which is good for losing weight, though not so good when I finish eating, am like "I'm still hungry!" and then go get a snack that blows the whole diet thing out the door.  HOWEVER... I also recently switched to one tier of veggies/fruits, so that might be what's causing the hunger pangs as well... who knows?!

Top tier: some sort of tomato ground beef stewish mixture, it's not that salty so it tastes great by itself (recipe to come); sauteed green beans with ground pork; curried salmon orzo
Bottom tier: two golden rainier cherries; 5 seedless red skinned grapes; grape tomatoes; baby carrots; cucumber slices
Not shown: small cup of tzatziki for the veggies

That wasn't really the last of the curried salmon orzo, but I wound up throwing out the rest.  It wasn't much left, but partially to make room in my fridge, partially because I was tired of it, and honestly, it was over a week old.  Maybe 10 days.  Seemed to be past its prime, even if it was made with dehydrated salmon. 

Happy bento!!!

Feisty Bento #175: BBQ galore, for real

Wow, that looks so awesome, I kind of want to cry from joy knowing I'll be eating that in about an hour.

Top tier: "Healthy Tier?" cucumbers, carrots, tzatziki, and grape tomatoes
Bottom tier: UNHEALTHY tier... no quesion... brisket MOIST, oh yum, bourbon mashed sweet potatoes, and baked beans with burnt ends

*swoon* I can't wait for lunch!!!

Happy bento... cuz mine sure is ;)

Feisty Bento #174: So much goodness, so little space

Obligatory pictures of the weekend!

Oh my delicious pork ribs. Dinner on Friday night.

After dinner drinks.

Brunch on Saturday.

Ping pong after brunch.

Snack after ping pong.

And my Sunday night. (The day was spent cleaning, grocery shopping, running errands, as most Sundays are.) (I realize the ticket says 1 pm but they changed game time to 8.)

And yet another shot of my baby at bat. He did well last night. The whole team did. But him... oh damn, I was seriously getting goosebumps watching him. Sigh. If only he liked Asian girls. Wait a second, who DOESN'T like Asian girls?! Hahahaha

And... bento.

Top tier: marinated squid; two gimbap; Woorijip "spicy" chicken (the Korean tier, as you can see) Bottom tier: sauteed mushrooms; sauteed cabbage; kickin' chicken

As always, happy bento everyone! YUMMY!!!