I had a lovely Memorial Day weekend filled with the best types of marathons. Harry Potter marathon, Disney Channel original movie marathon (Zenon <3), and of course, a cooking marathon! Okay, I guess I didn't cook that much, but it felt like it took forever. This time I made spicy honey baked cauliflower, kinpira with the cauliflower scraps, and froze 3 servings of rice.
I had a cooking marathon last night. Right after work I went to the grocery store, picked up ingredients, and immediately started cooking all the way until 9 PM. Didn't even sit down. It was crazy. I ended up making 3 separate dishes, but I'll just be focusing on the kinpira for this post. I was just really stuck on the thought that I haven't been terribly adventurous with my bento, so why not go all out and make a bunch of Japanese food? I'm really glad I did, actually, because it all turned out to be way more delicious than whatever I was eating before.
Yesterday was an interesting day for me! I posted a picture of my honey soy baked chicken bento on Reddit, and apparently lots of people liked it because it made the front page and got 1.2 million views on imgur! I really didn't expect it to get that much attention, honestly, considering it was last night's leftovers straight out of the fridge. But it did drive quite a bit of traffic to Bento Basics and to the bento subreddit -- it gained about 4,000 new subscribers! It's really fantastic that so many people are interested in bento!
However, one of the main questions that came out of my Reddit post was how an everyday bento is any different from just packing a normal lunch. It's a valid question! Here are some of my favorite responses from the comments:
I got a laugh out of these comments because, while there is a very small ring of truth around them, they're also indicative of a general misunderstanding of the purpose and usefulness of bento! This must be the most bento bento I've made so far. I think I'm getting the hang of the whole "visually appealing" thing. Honey, soy sauce, and garlic are my go to ingredients when I need to whip up some kind of marinade. They just work well together!
This box was kind of put together just because I have 12 more spam onigiri to go through and my grapes and carrots are reaching a week old. Still tasty, though! I got a few new accessories (and a new box!) this weekend and was really excited to use them. I wanted to try doing yaki onigiri because I wasn't really in the mood for just the regular old spam onigiri, and it was actually much better this way! Time consuming, but better.
Salmon pasta has been a staple in my diet for a few years now. This ridiculously simple recipe was first made for me by an old friend, who had learned it from his French friend. (French friend, if you're out there reading this, you have touched my life forever). When I first had this dish, I craved it pretty much always and would ask my friend to make it any time we hung out. Now I know how it feels, because even though Kyle almost never picks out what to eat, this is the one dish that he'll actually say, "I've been craving salmon pasta, can we do that for dinner?" I think this is all the evidence you need to know that salmon pasta is a real winner that even picky eaters love.
So you've decided to get started making bento. Great! Now, where can you buy your first bento box, along with all the fun accessories and authentic Japanese ingredients? There are plenty of online resources to find everything you need!
One thing to keep in mind is that you don't need an actual bento box to make bento style meals. Any container (like regular Tupperware) can work, as long as you follow the typical nutrition guidelines. It should contain carbohydrates, protein, and vegetables (a good ratio is 3:2:1). You also don't need to buy cute molds, shape cutters, or anything like that, unless you want to! These things are all optional, and they're more there for people who want to make truly cute and adorable lunches for themselves or their children. With that in mind, below is a list of online resources to buy everything bento! While this does not include every website out there, I believe these are the best and most comprehensive online retailers at this time. This list is geared towards those living in the United States, but many of these sites ship worldwide.
Related Posts: I really love beets, except for the part where they stain everything purpley-red. But otherwise, they make a great warm or cold salad! Many people don't seem to realize this, but beet stems and greens can also be eaten...don't throw that stuff away! I use the whole beet, stems and all, in my beet salad. The stems have the texture and taste of celery and the greens taste kind of like spinach or swiss chard. Cook it all up, throw in some goat cheese and maybe some bacon (if you're into that kind of thing), and you've got yourself a great side dish for any season!
I finally got to try out one of my new bento boxes! Admittedly, this meal wasn't specifically planned as a bento meal, but I needed to bring the leftovers for lunch and it was just a good opportunity to finally use one of these things. I know, it's ironic that my first post on Bento Basics isn't even really about bento. Just ignore that fact and let me tell you about garlic beef.
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