hapa bento

I have a new bento box— compliments of our friends from JaponMania!  They asked me to review their new “Keep Cool Palette” boxes and I of course I agreed.  As a bento-nerd, I love talking about anything that has to do with bento boxes, bento-gear and bento shopping!  Bring it on.

The  first thing you probably noticed is that I did a charaben or kyaraben.   I know, right?  It’s not my usual approach for packing lunches… I’ll tell you more about this along with a special JaponMania discount later in this post.

Read the rest of this entry →

Something very different for Saba Man via one of his long-time friends and co-workers.

We don’t fish but luckily we have many outdoorsy friends who kindy supply us with locally caught salmon, shrimp and trout…like this one in today’s bento lunch.

Freshly caught and smoked too!

Saba Man is saved from yet another tuna burger bento. Heh…

Complimenting the heady flavors of smoked trout are sweet teriyaki lotus root, sesame egg omelet and asparagus.  The hapa- rice (half brown, half white) is topped with furikake.

There seems to be an overflow of cherry tomatoes at the market and I think I found the most perfectly round, ripe and luscious orb…just for this lunch.

Enoki mushrooms are more than garnish.  Their non-flavor will mellow out some of the stronger items.

And that’s it for a Fish Friday bento!

Have a fantastic weekend.

Be safe and have a marvelous Independence Day celebration!

We are going to check out some fireworks…how about you?

———————–

For more bento tips, information and recipes subscribe to hapa bento via your email or newsreader

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!

—————————-

For more bento tips, information and recipes subscribe to hapa bento via your email or newsreader.

The weekend flew by without catching a breath.   So while I have a moment  to catch my own breath,  I thought I’d better post a bento before you think I’ve stopped packing them.   

Today’s bento features herbed baked salmon, sesame long beans, sprouted rice and a giant kakimochi. 

Just kidding.  That’s not a giant kakimochi.  It’s a piece of tofu jun wrapped in a piece of nori!

Garnishes are furikake (rice topping),beni shoga (pickled red ginger), kaiware (radish sprouts), shiso (perilla leaf), and enoki mushrooms.

Have a fantastic week everybody!

—————————-

For more bento tips, information and recipes subscribe to hapa bento via your email or newsreader.

It’s a  double-whamy of love today!  A meatless bento for heart-healthy awareness plus a Valentine theme.   A very subtle  tribute to love with a heart-shaped radish slice. Read the rest of this entry →

No I’m not drunk.  I realize it’s not Monday, but this is the bento I made on Monday…late Monday.  I ran out of  awake time and so it’s a day late.

Saba Man exclaimed…” why do we need meat?”  after his first bite!  That’s a good sign don’t you think?  Maybe someday he will be a full-fledged veg-head like me. Hehehe…

But I seriously doubt it, as there’s one thing that this island guy can’t resist…

Read the rest of this entry →

An odd but tasty combination for today’s bento lunch.  I started in one direction…traditional Japanese then veered off towards Italy!   Read the rest of this entry →

Not very scary but for this year’s Halloween party, Hello Kitty  donned her black wig and transformed herself to Aloha Kitty!

A hardboiled egg is Kitty’s head with nori for hair, flowers are watermelon radish, tomatoes, and takuan.  Thai black rice, romanesco (my first time!), enoki mushrooms and shiso leaf recreate her tropical paradise!

Happy Halloween everyone!

Another quick post… I need to call it a night!   This bento box lunch is a  simple “dry” oyakodon.

It’s just  eggs and chicken over rice.   To disguise these common ingredients, I’ve added green onion, nori, renkon, and enoki mushrooms.

Hmmm, the  splash of pickled red ginger —beni shoga, furthers the  deception don’t you think?

Adding this to “What’s for lunch Wednesday?”

This bento happened by accident.  Well, not the act of bentoing itself, but the ingredients.   The mishap is the ham-salad stuffed aburage!  What?!

Read the rest of this entry →

I usually don’t add sweets to Saba Man’s bento lunches but with the overflow of  butter-mochi…I had no where else to put them. Read the rest of this entry →

I’ve been hearing and reading a lot about the health benefits of Forbidden Rice!  “It’s the new blueberry!”

Read the rest of this entry →