breakfast, lunch, and dinner

I cooked last night! Like, a lot, actually. I had stuff to use up so I ended up making two separate entrees, which meant something heftier for breakfast than my usual. Hence two of the smaller boxes for a full day of meals instead of a larger box for lunch and a sidecar for breakfast.

Paris slimline box:

• bottom tier is a breakfast scramble made with cheese and some spinach and leek that needed to be used up in the crisper
• top tier (to go with lunch) is kiwi slices with orange sections underneath, and on the other side, rainbow carrots and a teensy handful of dark chocolate covered raisins

I actually made a HUGE scramble in order to use up all the spinach and the leek, which worked out well because A) the aforementioned hefty breakfast and B) breakfast for Sal, who had to go in earlier than usual today, OR C) leftovers for my dinner tonight, if he decided not to eat them for breakfast. I am so clearly awesome.

pink "Natural Lunch" box:

• pork chop, cut into strips for easy eating with chopsticks -- this ain't no puny 1/4" thick cut that I used to think is what a pork chop is (in my pre-New Seasons days), this is a nice 1" thick center cut that was done in a good, hot pan with a bit of sea salt and ground peppercorns and is therefore yummy
• green beans sauteed with onions (I made these after the chops and deglazed the pan in order to get some good flavor and color on the beans and onions)
• honey-glazed roasted sweet potatoes (OMG I COULD EAT THESE AS A SNACK SO GOOD)

I brought my camera today in order to do better justice to this lunch than the cameraphone would. Because it's kind of stupendously tasty, if I do say so myself, and I knew that it wasn't going to look nearly as great as it actually tastes, and that wouldn't really be fair to the food. YES I PONDER THE PHOTOGENIC QUALITIES OF MY FOOD AND HOW THAT MIGHT AFFECT ITS SELF-ESTEEM DON'T JUDGE ME.

sick day bento

I'm not going to have a lot of time to eat today, hence the slimline with no small box or sidecar. But if I play my cards right, I may actually get home before 8 PM! So...yay?

ETA: Nope, sick today. (And if you're confused about the above in relation to this -- I write up these posts the night before, then add the pics and update if necessary; I'd never have time to write these up from scratch at work.)

I had a bit of a throat tickle late last night, and within an hour, a sore throat, aches, and congestion. Woke up this morning and knew I wasn't going to have the energy for work today, but I had a meeting that I absolutely could not miss this morning. So I got up a little later than usual, threw on jeans and brushed my hair, then headed down there to gather up my folders and then head into the meeting. Came home afterward and I'm headed to bed right now, but figured I should still post today's lunch. Not hungry right now but it'll be nice to have something already made up and ready to go when I'm hungry later.

Paris slimline:

• top tier: asparagus sauteed in a bit of olive oil with salt and pepper, carrot sticks, dried cherries, and dark chocolate raisins (since that's what I dumped over in yesterday's lunch and never got to actually enjoy them)
• bottom tier: 4-flavor radiatore pasta (beet, spinach, carrot, regular) with carrots and peas; smoked sausages

Taken with my new camera! On a "cuisine" setting, though it was low-light and had to use the flash instead of natural light, so I don't know if that setting really did anything. Anything looks better than a pic from a cameraphone, though....

Low on fruit in the house -- pineapple and raspberries and grapes gone, there wasn't really any room in the box for enough pear to make it worth cutting them up, and the last two Marcott tangerines and the last Sierra Gold tangerine were all moldy on the bottom. That's one thing about buying fresh and organic, is that you pretty much need to eat your produce right away or into the compost it goes. I hate waste, especially wasted food, so that's always kind of a bummer to have to pitch something that was perfectly fine a day or two before. Incentive to eat the fruit and veggies on hand before defaulting to other (less healthy) things, I suppose.

An American in Paris with a Japanese lunch

We made sushi last night. Well, Sal has experience making it, but I don't so it was a learning experience for me. Turns out, it's pretty easy, actually. We're thinking we'll do it more often, because it's simple and quick and healthy, and we can use up things from the fridge. And of course, works great for bento. ;)

The last of the new boxes today, the Paris slimline box and the plain Natural Lunch. And since they're both pink, I'm doing a pink theme, using the pink sidecar, pink mini spoon, and pink silicone cup. So cute it kind of makes you want to barf, huh?

pink Natural Lunch box:

• plain yogurt in the pink sidecar with a dollop of blackberry jam to mix in
• Fremont tangerine
• wee sandwiches of peanut butter & honey on 9-grain bread
• soy sauce (for lunch)

Paris box:

• top tier: sushi rolls (includes cucumber, carrot, asparagus, and cream cheese) in one half, steamed broccoli and asparagus in the other with shrimp (sauteed in a bit of butter and garlic and a dash of lemon juice and a few sesame seeds sprinkled in at the end to toast) on top
• bottom tier: repeat of the fruit tier from last week -- no need to fix what ain't broken: pineapple, raspberries, green grapes, dark chocolate covered raisins

bento glee, baby!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA YOU GUYS YOU ARE SO GOING TO HATE ME LIKE FOR REALS OMG.

GUESS WHAT CAME IN THE MAIL TODAY HMMM I WONDER WHAT IT COULD POSSIBLY BE??????

I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS DAY FOR TWO WEEKS BUT ALSO FOR MONTHS AND MONTHS IT IS LIKE BEING SEVEN YEARS OLD ALL OVER AGAIN I AM PROBABLY GOING TO BREAK MY CAPSLOCK KEY JUST FYI.

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