hapa bento

It’s a special Meatless Monday Bento!  Today is Halloween as well as the last Monday of the month!

What’s so special about the last Monday you ask? Read the rest of this entry →

Can you believe it’s Monday already?   And that means it’s time for another meatless meal.

So without further adieu…insert drum roll… Seitan Katsu!

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First off, look how cute and tiny those potatoes are!  They’re smaller than even the cherry tomatoes!  Baby (extra baby) red potatoes.

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Monday is almost over….gotta post this now!

Today’s Meatless Monday bento contains:

Tofu burgers.  I made myself for the first time! I’m so proud.  No recipe yet because they’re not perfect and I have to tweak some ingredients.

Edamame.

Baked kabocha.

Fried scallions.

Enoki mushrooms.

Umeboshi.

Sprounted rice.

Sesame seed and salt furikake.

Yes, that is a lettuce leaf.  I broke my boycott.

2 more minutes…

Gotta post!

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After taking a short break from posting bentos, I’m feeling revitalized with many non-meat and fish recipes to share with you.  If you’re a carnivore, please don’t leave.  I’m not being preachy, just providing ideas!

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Today’s bento features white rice with red umeboshi which symbolizes the iconic Hinomaru, (日の丸) the Japanese flag.  

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On the day of Japan’s earthquake I was stunned, just stunned I tell you.  I could not believe the destruction taking place on live television.   Unspeakable devastation.

The next day, I fell into a slump of helplessness and sadness.

“What are these poor people going to do, what’s going to happen, how can anyone bear this catastrophe?”

I wanted to help, but how?  Yes, like the officials declared, “money is the best way”, and so we gave what we could.   But I needed to do more.

Then one evening while on twitter , a fellow bento maker Mils announced that she was going to do something!  But what?  How can a group of people, who only know each other on twitter, have any impact?

There’s no surprise that bentoists, a creative group of folks who celebrate Japan’s beautiful bento box culture,  came up with a doozy of an idea!

And so…  bento4Japan was born!

The donations and participants came pouring in and thus the bento4Japan ebay auctions began.

Taking action is good for the soul, the mind, and for the people of Japan!

Short post.

Saba Man’s bento is filled with shoyu chicken, broccolini, sprouted rice, beni shoga (pickled ginger), takuan (pickled radish) and nori (toasted seaweed).

Notice that I ran out of lettuce?  Also, I couldn’t find my camera so I took the photo with my phone which didn’t turn out as well as I like.

I also feel a little awkward posting a bento without mention of the Japan earthquake.   But I can’t find the words.  It’s all so shocking. 

If you are on twitter, I recommend following @makiwi (Maki of Just Bento) as she has been translating Japanese news for us.  Her efforts are incredible; timely and succinct messages that are nothing short of amazing.

I applaud her tireless efforts to pass along factual information along with personal notes.  What an incredible woman.

She recently tweeted ” for bento fans: scenes of tons and tons of onigiri being handed out to survivors…” 

That tweet really touched me.

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You know what they say, ” don’t fix it if it’s not broken!”  And that’s exactly what’s going on in my kitchen of late.

Chicken and rice. 

Packed in stainless steel box.  Sound familiar?

A winning formula that doesn’t need improvement.

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Definately not a bento but I want to share this awesome dessert that I created for our latest  #twitterfoodparty which took place yesterday on Twitter!

The theme was squash hence the hashtag was #twittersquashparty!  If you’re a tweeter go on and check out the other mouthwatering photos!

The next one is #twitterhotdogparty which sounds like a lot of fun don’t you think?   Won’t  join in with your own hot dog photo?

See you on Twitter!

Oh…this scrumptious looking treat is  a simple  pureed butternut squash with honey, mixed with plain Greek yogurt, then topped with cinamonon, sugar and a crisp kabocha squash chip!

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Woot!  Introducing a new bento box.  Two-tiered stainless steel!   I loves this box.

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I was admiring the bentos that were submitted to last month’s B.O.M.B. challenge and realized that I hadn’t packed any squash  for my own lunches in a while.

But it’s not because I haven’t tried…it is because we eat it all before the bento has a chance!

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