Nurturing my inner... bento

Every December, I buy a new calendar for the up and coming year.  I've taken a particular liking to the Moleskine products.  It doesn't hurt that Matisse, van Gogh, Hemingway, Brenton and Picasso were some of their more famous patrons.  I find inspiration in that.  As if I'm somehow connected to their brilliant creativity through our shared use of these little calendars and notebooks.

A fresh start.

The weekly notebook diary/planner is a close companion for me.  I use it every day for work and I also track my social outings as well as my running/walking/workout activities.  It's slim, easily fits in my purse and the paper is the perfect weight and texture.

It's always exciting to open it for the first time and dream of all the possibilities the year could hold.  This year, it also seemed to beckon me to continue trying new things and expand my creative interests and efforts.  (Oh, and I'm certain it wants me to make LOTS of lists as well.)

For work and play. Which is what life really is.
A bit of both.

I'm not sure where it started, but my guess is that I was searching around on Amazon for who knows what food related item, in my quest for new things, and stumbled upon this book: The Just Bento Cookbook.  "Bento?"  I said to myself.  (It would be interesting to see how many of you know what that is.)  I quickly learned that meant a small meal in a box or a set of compartments with a variety of different food items in them.  Let me not get too far ahead with that information though.  First things first.  The bento in a restaurant setting.

Hama Sushi in Herndon, VA.  I didn't want to take a picture of the interior because the owners were looking at me strangely when I busted out the camera.  I nonchalantly placed it on the table and took a quick snap of the drink I had while I waited for my friends to arrive.  (Locals know what NoVa traffic can be like.  Waiting is just what we do.)

It was a choice between beer and sake and
I just wanted something light.

I'm a complete weirdo I do realize, but I studied the Hama Sushi menu at home so I knew what I was getting as soon as I walked in the door.  (These kinds of complicated decisions take time.)  The Captain Perry Bento: Chicken Teriyaki and Shrimp Tempura. Teriyaki: Char-grilled skinless chicken breast. Tempura: Crispy shrimp and assorted vegetable tempura. Chef special, bean sprout salad, California roll and fruit.

I took this picture quickly before the waiters
 gave me the stare down. (Again, that is to say.)

It was a lot of food.  I had to take some home.  Everything was tasty though.  What a great variety of textures and flavors.  I wish we had more bento places nearby, now that I'm obsessed with them.  (I will say that Teasim, we have locations in DC, has bento boxes, so that's on my list of additional places to try them.)

Back to the book.  I orded The Just Bento Cookbook from Amazon.

After all, one should learn
from the experts.

A day or two after my book arrived, I had a car service appointment that Saturday that was going to take at least three hours.  Without family nearby, I just go to the dealership and hunker down with a bag of activities (and snacks!) to keep me busy.  (I've always been the model self-entertainer since childhood.  You can ask my mom.)  I decided to use the time that day to study my new book in detail.  Page by delicious page.  (It has lots of photos which make it even more interesting.)

Lunch can be way more fun than you realize. You just have to know how to make it fanciful.  (That doesn't have to translate to time consuming.)  An easy way to do that is to take a little lesson from the ever adept at putting a lot of stuff into a small space Japanese.

After reading the bento book, I could see that I needed to order a few things to really do it up right.  The author, Makiko Itoh, uses silicone cupcake forms for salads and softer or juicy items.  So I ordered some square, round and heart shaped ones to act as dividers.

Never know what you might need. Best to
be prepared. Plus, I could use them to make
cupcakes too. Very versatile.

Another set of tools Makiko uses are small, metal cookie cutters.  The ones in the back are from Japan and are different kinds of flowers.  The front container has a variety of other common shapes.  She showed us that we can make fun shapes from ordinary food items like carrots and cheese.  (I didn't do that this time, but you can bet I will in the future.)

They just make food more playful. Doesn't
have to take a lot of time either.

However, the main part that pulls the meal together is the bento box itself.  I ordered mine from a little shop online, straight from Japan, called Bento & Co.  (You can also find a ton of bento boxes and related items on ebay.)  The one I decided on was called the Iro Iro Argyle Set and came in a rainbow of colors.  It was hard to choose just one color, but I decided on the lime green.  (Though I was *this close* to getting the orange.)  It seemed like a good size for a woman.  Men can get bigger containers for their bigger appetites and there are also child-sized ones.

The pieces are the bottom compartment, the top compartment, the lid and the top of the container.

Stackable. Good use of small space.

They also come with matching chopsticks.

Keeps getting better.

One of the most appealing things about the bento is simply this: portion control.  You can only fit so much in the box, so it helps you to exercise some self-control.  (Goodness knows, I could use a helping hand in this endeavor.)

I made some lovely salmon.  I took a 1/3 ounce strip of thick salmon, skin side down, and put it in a baking pan.  I rubbed fresh grated ginger on all sides and then drizzled with soy sauce.  A sprig of fresh rosemary on top and into a 400 degree oven for about 18 minutes or until done.  I don't have a rice maker, yet, so I use Trader Joe's frozen Jasmine rice, which is excellent and takes only three minutes in the microwave.  Comes out perfectly.  When the salmon was done, I took it off the skin and flaked it into large chunks.  Then I put it into one of the square cups.  (Because I haven't bought any fake grass dividers yet and didn't have lettuce handy.)  I surrounded the cup with rice.

Already like art. Only it smells better.

Makiko also used a few other fun items.  Some little containers for sauces and plastic picks.  I ordered them from the same place I got the bento box.  (Seeing as I was already shipping this package from the other side of the world, what the heck.  Do it right.)

All the fun stuff. Too adorable to stand.

I used one of the containers to hold some teriyaki sauce for dipping.

Who doesn't love to dip.

Into the bottom compartment it went and that layer was finished.  This already looked incredibly appetizing.  But I was only halfway done.  On top of this, I put the top compartment.

It was hard to not dive right in.

It's always good to have a fruit or sweet element.  I chose some lychee.  I would have used fresh, but there aren't any this time of year, so canned would have to suffice.

Light, sweet flavor. Try them!

I couldn't resist a close up of the adorable leaf picks.  They are good for many purposes.  Spearing meatballs, olives, fruits, vegetables.

You may think they are a silly extra, but I
would argue they are vitally necessary for
convenience and smiles.

Into the top container I put some steamed asparagus and in a heart shaped cup went a few lychee and some fresh blueberries.

The fruit and veggie layer.

These top items were more liquidy than the bottom ones, so the lid came in handy to seal it up tight.

And that layer was now done as well.

On went the top to the entire bento box as well as the elastic band that holds it all together firmly.

Compact and ready to go.

Since I did the cooking the night before and not that morning, I put the entire box into the fridge.

The following morning, I put the box into the bag.  Bentos are meant to be able to take on the go and not necessarily have to be refrigerated (or heated).  I live in a modern world, so mine was going in the fridge at work.  (Why rough it when you don't have to.)  But if you were going to be out in the field or on a picnic, you could always put an ice pack in there.

In you go, my precious two-tiered,
complete meal package.

I cinched the top, tied it up and it was ready to come with me for a hard day's labor in the fields.  (Aka, sitting in my cube staring at a pc for eight hours.)

Ready? Let's go!

It's hard to be humble on this one.  I thought it was a super fun lunch and I was kinda proud of myself!  It was visually appealing, flavorfully diverse and perfectly proportioned.  I will be featuring more bento creations in the future, this I know.  I did have three hours at the car dealership to make quite the list of combinations.  Once you start thinking of meals through the filter of the bento, your mind will go crazy with ideas.

Oh, and go to Makiko's website and get some Japanese, and not so Japanese, recipes.  I like when she deconstructs something like a French salad niçoise or makes an Asian take on meatballs.  That's the fun of creating a bento.  There really is no end to the possibilities and you can make them as exotic or as American as you want.