Bento # 52 : Quick dinner bento for AiO

• Buttered dark rye sandwiches with ham
• Emmenthaler cheese flowers
• Broccoli bits (hardly showing)
• Piggie container with Newman’s Ranch Dressing
• Mozzarella bites and cherry tomatoes on skewers
• Apple slices
• Sesame-honey bar in the lid

I decided to make a bento for a night at AiO (“Anime in Odense” which is the city where I live). It’s a club of sorts for people interested in Japanese culture and everything that entails. We have your typical nutty anime fans, asian ball-jointed doll collectors, manga readers, Dance Dance Revolution lovers and so on. ^_^; I think it’s really exciting to be around enthusiastic people like that.

Anyway, I emptied my fridge and this is the result. I hope to be posting more but I can’t make any promises. My bentoing is rather irregular these days.

Bentos # 50 & 51 : Super light coleslaw & shrimps

• Coleslaw in smaller tier
• Shrimp salad in larger tier
• Thousand Island dressing in HK container

Yesterday’s bentos weren’t quite what I had imagined. I had purchased shrimps, lettuce and an avocado and thought I’d make a nice filling shrimp salad. Except the avocado kept staying hard and unripe… so in the morning rush we simply ended up with just shrimps and lettuce. Quite boring and not very filling. I’m always concerned with how filling my meals are ’cause I want to avoid snacking between meals.

Anyways, the coleslaw made up for it. Kamma from my class shared a neat and light recipe for coleslaw. It’s pretty easy so I’m passing it on to you.

Kamma’s Super Light Coleslaw

• Quarter of a green cabbage
• Couple of carrots
• Large dollop of greek low-fat yoghurt
• Splash of Dijon mustard
• Optional: Splash of white wine vinegar

How to

1. Chop up the cabbage. I guess a food processor can do it easily and quickly but using a knife is just as good. Make sure it’s finely chopped but not “cabbage paste”. You want it to still have a bite.
2. Peel and grate the carrots as finely as you prefer. I like to do a fine grate since the cabbage will have enough chew in them.
3. Add the yoghurt and mustard. You don’t have to mix it beforehand since you’ll be mixing it in with the veggies quite well. Everything needs to be evenly coated and have an even taste.
4. Optional: I like my salads (any kind of salad) a bit bitter so I add vinegar to the mix. If you like it sweeter, leave this out.

I’ve always considered coleslaw a bit of a greasy “non-salad” salad. Especially storebought coleslaw may have tons of mayo and sugar in it but I promise you: This tastes just as well if not better! And you can have seconds without the guilt.

Another happy update: I’ve ordered my birthday gift from my parents online. A digital camera! It’s either gonna be delivered today or tomorrow, but looking at the clock I’m guessing tomorrow. I’m sad to say that I don’t know how many bentos I’ll be making in the next weeks and months but at least I’ll be ready to snap some pictures. I WILL however surely be updating my new blog Beatie says with all other types of projects.

Bentos # 48 & 49 : Koka saves the day

It was raining when I woke up and for a minute I was considering NOT going to class. That was a minute I should’ve spent cooking so when I got out of the shower and it was time to put together the daily bentos I was kinda in a hurry.

• Koka Instant Chicken Noodles with peas
• Koka Wasabi Noodle Snack
• Apple bits
• Yellow cherry tomato filler
• Castus Mixed Nuts Fruit Bar for me
• Pink lollipop for Martin

I feel a bit awkward bringing a bento to class. My classmates are always peeking and asking what it is and why there’s grass in my lunch. Most of them just buy sandwiches at the cantina or bring dark rye bread with leverpostej or salami – which Danes are apparently famous for.

In our marketing class we’re always discussing how people do and buy certain things to signal certain messages to the people around them. But I genuinely feel that my bentos aren’t a statement at all. In fact I’m a bit embarrassed that I respond to bentos and cute Japanese kitchenware the way I do… but I guess there are worse things to enjoy than that.

Hello Guilt!

I went and did it again. During my Easter free time I went online and checked eBay for the latest bento stuff. I found the cute Hello Kitty bentos I’ve seen on bentolunch So many times. I didn’t think I’d ever get ‘em though sice they’re only available at Dollar Tree in the US, to my knowledge.

Well, I went, I bid and I won. Even though I had promised not only myself but also Martin that I wouldn’t buy any more until we move to a bigger place. We can’t even fit my current bento collection in our teeny tiny kitchen as it is. It’s all stashed under my sofa in shoe boxes and on top of my cabinets in old cereal boxes (to avoid dust)

So I feel a little guilty… but to my defense: Those are some rockin’ bentos. And they are, according to the eBay seller, pretty scarce.

I’ve started embroidering pixel art images just for fun. I’m considering making a more personal blog soon aside from this one.  Maybe link them together in a clever way. For now I’m just holding my breath – waiting for b-day to arrive along with a Canon Ixus 75 that I wished for. Just you wait and see! I’m SO looking forward to sharing good quality pics with you.

Long time, no bento

I wanna return to bentoing. I miss it…

Yes, it’s me Beatie – alive and breathing. Sadly I’ve been taking quite a break from bentoing for a while. I’ve even come as far as getting sick of buying lunch already and making a plan for shared lunches with a friend from school. It’s alright but it’s not bento.

I guess what’s holding me back is… well, there’s two things:

a. I have no room in my kitchen for any creative cooking. Seriously. If I’m making gyozas I have to take all my cutting boards and put on my bed to fit all the dough and stuffing everywhere. It’s a nightmare. I really hope I get an internship very soon so we can move accordingly. My boyfriend has been very patient with me but nothing has been settled yet. *sigh* So until my career moves along we’re stuck here.

b. I don’t really bother making two bentos. Since my boyfriend started at the same school as me I had all these ambitious plans of making us bentos every day. That was really the killing blow. It’s not even that big a stretch but… I dunno. Maybe I’ll be able to do it after we move.

I have steamy fantasies about getting a bigger freezer one day. That’ll definitely help, I think.

Okay, back to business. I’m not posting today to show off any bentos. I’m posting as a warm up. I’ve talked to my parents about getting a digital camera (since I used to borrow my dad’s old broken cam) for my birthday this May. I can’t wait! I SO want to take delicious pics and throw ‘em in Photoshop for touch-ups.

I really really miss posting. I miss my only semi-decent hobby. So hopefully I’ll be back around May with lovely bento creations.

Ps. It seems some of my old pictures aren’t there anymore. I think I uploaded them on an old school server so they’re probably lost. Anyways, I’m not gonna go looking – I’d rather spend my time preparing newer better shots of bentos. Or at least thinking about it for now.

Bentos # 36 & 37 : First day of school

My boyfriend just started school – yay! – and now I’ll be making bentos for both of us. Here’s the first pair of school bentos.

• Ham & cheese sandwiches with a little mayo
• Cinnamon rolls
• Turkey nuggets
• Cherry tomatoes
• Pear slices

Martin doesn’t enjoy sandwiches that much but since I’m making the food I get to decide these things. I just really felt like some sammies instead of the usual warm lunch. This was good but my lil’ man needs more food than what can fit in my “women’s bentos”. So we’ve ordered a bigger one for him and an onigiri box for us both to share. Did I mention we’re going to the same school? :3

I ordered lots of other stuff which I’ll be posting as soon as I get a good shot of it. Stay tuned!

Bento # 35 : It’s a wrap!

• In the lid: Crisp bread with fig spread
• Chocolate muesli, raisins and apples (to be mixed with strawberry yogurt in HK container)
• Wrapped beef tortilla with extra cheddar topping in the other HK container

This bento was SO good. We’ve had quite a few tortillas lately but I’m thinking we’ll take a break from it now. We can’t even get around to eating the last leftovers… *wipes the cheddar off my chin* Phew.

My mom used to give my sis and me fig spread in our lunches when we were little. I had a sort of love/hate thing going on. On one hand I kinda liked it but on the other hand it wasn’t a very cool thing to bring, which concerned me at 9 years old. Luckily I’m over that and a few days ago I found it again in my super market. You’ll be seeing more of it, for sure.

Bento # 33 : Mild curry lunch with extras

• In the Hello Kitty container: Yogurt (no flavor, just naturel)
• Grapes and mango bits
• Boiled rice with vegetable stock
• Curry chicken
• Raisins
• Apple juice box

I poured the yogurt over the fruit. I wish I hadn’t gotten up at 6. am to make this chicken and rice from scratch… I didn’t even have time to put on make-up. It’s always like that. :3

I must be doing something wrong, though. I’m hungry every day when I come home from school. Maybe I could pack more fiber-rich foods?

They’re keeping me busy in school. Got loads to do so I need my filling meals more than ever. However I don’t have the time to plan elaborate bentos. So be prepared for irregular posting and boring bentos.

Bento # 31 : Aloo gobi aur mater

• Cottage cheese with corn, peas and leek
• Grapes on skewers
• Raisins and chocolate nuts/raisins
• Aloo gobi aur mater (Indian dish, cauliflower and potatoes with peas)
• In the lid: Crisp bread
• Multi-fruit juice
• Not in picture: Elephant container with garam masala

Last night Martin made this great Indian dish from a recipe by Sumana Ray. She has written the cookbook “Det indiske vegetarkøkken” (“Indian Vegetarian Cooking“) with lots of mouth-watering pictures and exotic ideas for meals. It’s very simple and very Indian. Lots of the little snacky things look perfect for bento, although I have yet to try them.

Bento # 30: Bento-style Danish lunch

• 3 dark rye bread slices
• Butter in a Yasai spreader container
• Underneath that: Wrapped Rice Krispie treats
• Boiled ham slices on a bear skewer
• Cottage cheese with peas and leek
• Cucumber slices
• Italian grapes

This is the first time I’ve made and tasted Rice Krispie treats. I love ‘em! I’ve the got marshmellows and Rice Krispies to make more. And I will… as soon as I’m not feeling about eating the first batch as fast as I did. :3

This lunch is my Japanese take on a typical Danish lunch. Danes always, always eat dark rye bread with different cold meat on. Open-faced sandwiches. Most often salami (Denmark’s the piggy/bacon capitol of the world), ham or “leverpostej” (which means liver paté). It’s kind of gross, I guess, but we’re all raised eating it.

By the way, I’ve finally gotten a decent shot of this pink Putifresh box so here you go:

Cute, huh? It’s not too wide but instead the boxes are a bit higher so I can fit some things better in there than my other boxes.