It's a hot night tonight so I kept the foods cool.

Left: Noodles with mixed veggies and chicken chunks.

Right: Bing Cherries, Cantaloupe, Daikon radish, Green Onion, Tomato, Baby cut corn, Garlic pickle, and Sweet pickled ginger.

This one's Fresh!

I just finished making this bento for my husband's lunch tonight! (my husband works nights if that confused anyone) I loved the colors here, very fun.

Top: Coconut shrimp, Sticky rice, garnished with yellow bell pepper/carrot/green onion.

Bottom: Mini carrot sticks, Sauteed walla walla and red onions, puzzle cut Daikon radish, Green onions, Yellow bell peppers, black olives with carrot in center, Sweet pickled ginger, and Pineapple mango chutney sauce with green onion garnish.

~Child's Bento~

My 3 year old son requested that I make him a bento. Why not?!

Heart shaped PB&J sandwiches, Bear shaped riceball (green onion face), Banana peppers, Black olives, Mushrooms, Baby garlic pickle, and chedder cheese cubes.

And yes he did eat everything. He especially loved his "winnie the pooh" riceball.

Sharing Bento's with friends!

So some friends of ours loved seeing and hearing about these fun bento's that I make. We were meeting for lunch one day and I offered to bring the lunch. My husband did a lot of the putting together on these, joint effort always gets things done faster yay! So there were two individual bento's made and one larger size for our friends to share. So rather then point out where each item is in each bento I'll just list what was used in them.

Sticky rice of course! Green Onions, tomatoes, black olives, banana peppers, baby corn, Mushrooms, Tomagoyaki, Fresh grated ginger, Pears, Tori Misoyaki (chicken marinated in sherry and miso), and of course the cute little soy sauce bottles... Bear, Lion, Panda, Chicken, and Bunny.

More Orange flowers!

Top: Green bell peppers and carrot sticks, Mushrooms and Bamboo shoots with carrot bits on top, Green onion stalks, the shredded looking stuff in the middle is green onion as well, Baby garlic pickles, Tomatoes, banana peppers.

Bottom: Sticky rice, carrot flowers with green onion stem/leaves, chopped polish sausage.

You don't need a fancy Bento box from Japan to make a nice looking lunch!

On the left hand side you have the sticky rice topped with green onions and very thin carrot slices. On the right hand side there is leftover rib eye steak, the green onion bottoms, more thin carrots, Chopped tomato, sliced radishes, a small bunch of green grapes, and of course the little pink bunny soy sauce bottle lol.

Hokay...
Left: Tamagoyaki, Green onions, thin carrot sticks, Bing cherries, and Chopped baby garlic pickles... Hidden under the green onions are mushrooms.
Right: Sticky rice with banana peppers over top and Dinner sausage.

Angel Themed Bento!

I had some fun with this one. I had some extra time while preparing my husband's bento this night so why not?!

Top: Garlic and herb Angel hair pasta, Angel shaped three layer Tamagoyaki with cheese, Daikon radish angel on top, and two yellow bell pepper stars.

Bottom: Fresh mushrooms, some sweet pickled ginger, Tomato slice with Daikon radish Angel cut out on top, thin carrot sticks, Daikon radish angels, Baby corn, Garlic pickle, Black olives, and another yellow bell pepper star.

I really loved the way this one turned out, it was so much fun and a neat surprise for my husband. Who said food had to stop being fun just because we grew up?! LOL.

Okay back to the bento's lol... Playing with more shapes.

Top: Sticky rice topped with tree shaped lettuce and banana pepper sunshine rays, shredded seasoned pork, Lion soy sauce bottle and parsley garnish.

Bottom: Tomagoyaki with green onions, Angel shaped cheese pieces, Asparagus spears, Banana peppers, Radish men, cut baby corn, more parsley for garnish.

NOT A BENTO! LOL

This is the birthday cake I made for my baby's first birthday! My boys were part of a Pirate themed summer reading program at the local library. So we made a pirate cake! The frosting on the small personal cake to the right was suposed to be gold (as it was a gold coin) however I don't do well with those cheapy liquid food dyes.

However my baby enjoyed it, and that's what matters. Just for fun I've added in few pictures of my little pirates and the birthday boy enjoying the bootie!

Spring flowers @-->----

Top: Fresh mushroom, thinly sliced carrot sticks, black olives, baby garlic pickles, Tomato slices, Lion soy sauce bottle (placed inside a black olive), garnished with fresh parsley.

Bottom: Sticky rice with carrot flowers and green onion stems/leaves, Meat loaf (told you he requested it again lol), water chestnuts, sprinkled with carrot bits.

Faces!! 8-P

Top: Bamboo shoots, Garlic baby pickles, Mushrooms and black olives, pinapple chunks, pink bunny soy sause bottle, baby corn, and some freshly grated ginger.

Bottom: Sticky rice with raddish skin laughing faces, Dinner sausage alternated with Raddish slices.

Simple yet yummy...

Top: Mushrooms, a cheese divider, sliced kiwi, a cheese divider, and ripe red tomatos!

Bottom: Meat loaf (I didn't have a recipe for this so I just started putting things together with the *this might taste good* attitude, and hubby loved it so much he requested it again yay!) , Sticky rice with a little pink bunny soy sauce bottle tucked in.

This is actually a Bento made for me by my loving husband. It was so very yummy!

Left: Tomato slices on a bed of lettuce with a few sprigs of green onion, Tamagoyaki with chives, Oreo "coral reef" cookies, hot dog crabs, and a bit of sticky rice.

Middle: Sticky rice topped with green onions, sunflower seeds, and cheese.

Right: is the lid to my bento with the little chopsticks to finish the set lol.

Sea Themed Bento!

Top: Little hot dog Octopi, Peanut butter and Jelly Dolphin shaped sandwiches, on a bed of shredded lettuce.

Bottom: Pickles with sliced beets, Sticky rice, Mandarin oranges.

I had just purchased some fun sandwich cutters for my son and couldn't resist making a bento with them lol.

Left: Tamagoyaki alternated with Dinner sausage, Sticky rice topped with carrot pieces.

Right: Cottage cheese with almonds, Mandarin oranges, Banana slices, and Kiwi slices.

My husband has recently started having a fascination with the oriental culture. In particular the Japanese. It started off harmlessly watching Japanese Animation. My husband being the curious person that he is saw the cartoon characters doing certain things often. So that led him to question "why do they always say this?" "why do they always do that?" and TADA! He's now actively learning all about their culture, traditions, and of course food! I love to learn how to cook new dishes, and styles. So one of the fun things that the Japanese do particularly are decorative Bento Boxes. "Bento" is the the Japanese word for "Lunch box". As a gift to my husband for his birthday I purchased a few of these neat little boxes and promised him "Bento's" for work. He's loved them and I've had lots of fun creating them. The picture here is of my very first attempt at Bento. It's not traditional Japanese food, but it was what I had on hand and was lots of fun. Most of my pictures which will be posted here are of the Bento's I've made for my husband.

Okay! So I'll describe what's in this bento, keep in mind it was my first attempt lol...

Top: Tomagoyaki (fried sweet rolled egg), Sticky rice with green onion stars.
Bottom: Chicken nuggets, Spinach rolls, Sliced beets with mushrooms.