hapa bento

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

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I may have to change Saba Man nickname to Stainless Steel Man if we keep going on like this.

So this is another quick one. 

Nimono (simmered veggies), fried tofu, saba shioyaki (grilled mackerel) cukes, tomatoes  and snap peas! 

Top tier…more hapa rice and stinky takuan just like yesterday’s bento!

Lucky for SM’s coworkers it’s a stainless steel bento—he is not going to microwave his lunch.  Can you imagine heating up saba in a lunch room?

*shivers*

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I’m crazy about stainless steel bento boxes!  An obsession, a passion, a fascination or … a healthy fixation.   Okay, I go with that.

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Lest you thought I had run out of chicken karaage or mackerel…nope, here’s the last of it!

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Today’s bento is a sort of potpourri of foods!  A little of this, a little of that— equals a lot of flavor and a bit of a fragrance.

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Now that Saba Man is back at work I wanted to send him off with one of his faves!

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Saba Man has been a little “under the weather” so we’ve been sans bento box for almost a week!   Here’s one from the back of the bento photo vault.

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What happens when you can’t decide on either the MRB or the M4SB?  Ladies and gentlemen, bentoists and lunch boxers…I present to you the  MR4SB!

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Today’s featured bento contains the roasted miso eggplantfrom the recipe a few days ago.   Also some saba…a surprise for Saba Man!   I hadn’t packed mackerel in a long while  and he began to wonder if I was going to change his nickname.

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When we returned from our trip, I was in desperate need of refilling the pantry and fridge. I made it to the farmer’s market and replenished as much as I could but given that the weather is now definitely in the autumn mode, there wasn’t much to bring home. I miss summer already. Supporting the local resources is something I enjoy and most of my bento boxes these past months were at least 80 – 90 percent locally grown, made or caught.

This coming weekend is the last of the farmer’s market in my area and I’m kinda sad. The organizers announced a couple scheduled fall gatherings and I’m excited to see what the farmers harvest in the colder weather.

Today’s bento boxes contain locally grown tomatoes, basil, and potatoes. Alas, I must admit that I do purchase quite a bit of imported items from the Asian grocers as I just don’t have the talent or time to prepare some of the bento box items from scratch. And in saying that…I get a little twinge of guilt when I don’t shop local. Umeboshi from Japan, dried mushrooms from China, kamaboku from California. I try to be a “green” as possible and shrink my carbon footprint but darn it, I can’t make my own nori sheets. Mea culpa.

Today’s bento boxes are both filled with broiled mackerel (saba). Unlike other fish, I always purchase saba precooked as I don’t like to cook it because of my small house and the very strong saba smell lingers on and on.

Along with the saba, the smaller snack bento box above contains roasted eggplant, brown rice, takuwan, tomatoes, broccoli, string beans and takuwan. The large bento box is holding on to the last remnants of summer with insalata caprese in one section. The other section, along with the saba is brown rice, renkon, yam, and berries.