May Swap on Flickr

This is my awesome swap from KWAB on Flickr - Thanks!
This swap was boy themed, as I seem to have pink bento gear coming out my ears, and I loved it.


This gorgeous little monsters set is stunning and ever so cute IRL. Can't wait to start packing bentos in this set.


These are some hilarious monkey containers, cute seasame street themed containers, and loads of cute accessories. Love it all. Thanks again KWAB!

Bento #13

This is the last of the leftovers from the 'great...' yeah you get it.

Today we had whole prawn spring rolls, a dinner roll, and salad. The little food containers in the side car had butter for the dinner roll, and dipping sauce for the spring rolls.

Bento #12

The second of the 'great leftover series'; This had spinach and ricotta triangles, some crumbed potato bites, and more salad. Yum!

Bento #11

Ok, so no excuses, this is what I've been up to in the last month.

This bento is the start of the great 'leftover' series. Had heaps of food leftover from a weekend 'thingy', so we've got leftovers for the next few days.

Today I have three crumbed squares of baked lasange, on a salad of lettuce and cherry tomato, with carrot stars and strawberries.

I'm trying a new background out, just for variety, and to make the photos more uniform [yeah I have OCD] but people on flickr have been telling me they like the white background better.

I guess I'll keep playing around.

April Swap on Flickr

This is my April Swap from my Flickr Bento Swap group. Loads of fun goodies, and an awesome HK bento with the most unusual shape I’ve seen to date.
The swap came with some silicon muffin cups, which I may or may not pass on to another swapper, as I have quite a few of these now [It’s one of the few things I can get here in Oz that are bento related], some really cute side dish containers, food picks, an awesome collapsible Keroppi cup, some cute HK sauce bottles and mayo containers, and some Norweigian candies. One of the things that excited me most was a cute magic towel. I know that sounds funny given all the other cool stuff in the swap, but seriously, I have wanted one of these since I was a kid, and always told – it’s just a little towel, don’t waste your money. I don’t care what it is – it’s magic! Sometimes parents don’t get that feeding curiosity is more fun than ‘a toy that you can actually use’. Haven’t opened it yet – want to keep enjoying that fact that I have a magic towel for a little while longer, cause let’s face it, once I open it, it’s no longer magic, and it’s just a little towel [which is less fun]

I did make a bento today from leftover dinner last night, but as boyf had football training, and I was quite busy too, all I made was a quick chilli & coconut curry chicken to throw on rice, which tasted great, but unfortunately didn’t have the cute bento appeal [as it somewhat resembled ahem, well, anyway] no pic of that today.[I know I’ve been naughty this week, cause I keep promising bentos, but they will come, it’s just a matter of getting more organised.]

Tupperware gear

Forgot to post earlier…The SpongeBob sandwich keeper from Tupperware is a new fav – great for when I only have time to make a sandwich, but come lunchtime, still brings a smile to my face. The SpongeBob side dish containers in the pic on my Jlist post below are actually not from Jlist, but from BentoTV’s eBay shop [thanks Sarah][Actually bought the sandwich keeper for the boyf cause he’s in love with SB, but I like it so much, I have kind of claimed it back. Lol]

JList order

Here is a pic of my JList haul. It was so exciting rifling through all the cool new bento gear. Can't wait to start using it all. We don't get this stuff here, so it was totally thilling to show off my gear to anyone who would listen. [My friends and family are sort of like "you play with your food? really? aren't you a bit old for this?"]

Will hopefully be bentoing tonight [provided the chicken I pulled out of the freezer this morning has defrosted] so hopefully can start uploading yummy pics again.

That being said, I am going to start tracking my calorie intake too, to get rid of my current ‘muffin top’ situation, so that’s going to take some creativity. Will note the cals in each bento at the bottom of each post if I can manage it. [that way I’m held accountable, no excuses]

Hopefully it’s not too hard come up with good looking, healthy food, without having bento after bento of nothing but green salad.

No bento :-(

Arrrggggg!!!! Have been so totally slack of late. [Well, to be honest, the last month or so. oops]
Got back from my trip and really meant to jump back into it, but, well, have been lacking inspiration. I was waiting on my J-List order for a little while, so I could have some new bento toys that would make things more exciting, but I haven't even taken photo's of all my new gear to upload to flickr yet. sigh. Will do that tonight, and then move them over here.
I really have to get back into it as of tomorrow, because I have put on 4 whole KG's since I stopped making them!!! Canteen food not good [and also expensive].
Upside is, my fav jeans fit a little better now, but really, who wants to be fat just so they can wear their fav jeans? Gotta get rid of the tum, and then with the money I save from not going to bad canteen, I will find myself new fav jeans to wear.
Have quit Curves - got boring - and will be joining normal gym soon. Plan on going to morning classes before work to keep things interesting, only prob is that our gym only run 6am classes 3 mornings a week, so will have to come up with something else for the other mornings. One of the morning classes is 'spin' - enough said. Wish me luck.

Bento #10

This is yesterday's bento. After the swap post, I didn't get another chance to post again. I thought I would try making a breakfast bento this time; because of my new gym routine, I have been getting to work a lot earlier, therefore having lunch earlier, so I thought it time that a breakfast bento made a show. Along with the main breakfast tier, I also have a snack tier for mid-afternoon.

This is my snack tier. I have lots of yummy blueberries, and apple and peanut butter 'star sandwiches'. These were really nice - I pinched the recipe from BentoTV, and I'm sold. Under all the lollies are more apple slices that I didn't cut into stars, basically just to save time.
The mini MilkyWay and the gummi stars are just gap fillers - I know boyf will probably end up eating these, so that is fine.
I had run out of fruit to fill this tier with, as I'm going on haitus for two weeks starting Saturday, so I had been running the house out of fresh food to avoid throwing too much away.

This is my breakfast tier. I have a dyed, car shaped [thought I'd tell you, because you can't tell this from the photo] devilled egg, some mini tofu hot dogs, a baby bel cheese, and in the silver foil, my toastie wraps [explained below].
In the HK mayo cup I have tomato sauce for the tofu dogs.

These are my toastie wraps. Basically I just got a tortilla wrap, spread some tomato pizza sauce on it, layered sliced chicken and ham over the top, and then sprinkled over some cheese. Then I rolled it up, and cut it in half.
I have wraped them in foil so that when I get to work, I can just toast them on the sandwich press as is, without having to worry if my darling co-workers have cleaned the bloody thing! [Well, I'll have to remove the stickers, and wrap them up a bit better obviously, but you get the point]

Anyway that will be the last bento for a fortnight; as mentioned earlier I'm going on haitus, but will be back! No bento today or tomorrow as there, once again, is no food in our house, so really I'd just be artfully arranging McNuggets or something, in a box, which doesn't actually sound all that appetizing...

Bye for now :-)

Bento Swap on Flickr

This is my bento swap from bentolunches on Flickr. How insane is this swap! I am so thrilled, everything was so perfectly put together. BL got me a complete set of one of my favourite bento collections, and started me off with another of my favourite bento collections, and then, colour co-ordinated all the accessories she included with it. I was over the moon when I unwrapped it all - it was better than Christmas.

This is the gorgeous grape Putifresh bento set - I don't think there could possibly be another item that belongs in this set - I got it all! It came with a bento box and belt, a snack box, chopsticks and cutlery both in a case, a regular bento bag, and an insulated bento bag, and the matching drink bottle bag! OMG in love! I can't believe how lucky I was.

This is the rest of my haul, including my fav - the clickety click bear snack box and bento bag. Also, the egg moulds are great - they finish off what I already had, so I've got the whole set now, and the picks and food dividers were just divine - we can't really get that stuff here, so it always excites me. BL included colour coordinated side dishes, food cups and mayo containers, and I also got that really cool blue face bento. It was such a great surprise - sorry I'm gushing everywhere, but this is exciting stuff you know.

Bento #9

This is a sick day bento, and my brain isn't functioning at the moment so I'll leave it at that. Will update tomorrow - maybe. This is a wrap style tortilla taco, made in under two minutes using leftover dinner.

EDIT: I forgot to mention also, that I had organised a couple of bento swaps through Flickr, which excited me no end. Well anyway, my first swap arrived last Thursday! OMG, so much cool stuff, it was like Christmas - will upload photos later on.

Things have been a bit crazy this week, I've been a little unwell, and have not been able to sleep at all. Between Wednesday last week, and Sunday this week, I have had no more than 8 hours sleep in total. I am absolutely exhausted, but for some crazy reason, my body just won't give up fighting sleep. Anyway, I'm headed of on a holiday this Saturday for a fortnight [so no bento's] so hopefully it will give me just the relaxation I need to catch up on some zzz's.

Bento #8

Today’s bento feature one of my favourite meals: meatballs made mini for bento!
I use the following recipe, found on Taste.com.au, modified using lean pork mince and lean beef mince instead of the pork and veal mince suggested in the recipe.
For bentofied meatballs, I just roll them in balls about 2cm in diameter.

Meatballs in Rich Tomato Sauce

Ingredients (serves 4)
500g veal mince
500g pork mince
1 onion, grated
1 lemon, rind finely grated, juiced
1 cup fresh white breadcrumbs
1/3 cup basil leaves, finely chopped
2 x 400g cans diced Italian tomatoes
1 cup chicken stock
Method
1. Combine veal [or beef] and pork mince, onion, lemon rind, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, breadcrumbs, basil and salt and pepper in a large bowl. Roll tablespoonfuls of mince mixture into balls. Place meatballs on a tray lined with baking paper. Cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes or until firm.
2. Combine tomatoes and stock in a deep frying pan. Bring slowly to the boil over medium heat. Drop meatballs into tomato mixture. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 25 to 30 minutes or until meatballs are cooked through.
3. Serve with pasta and more fresh basil.
Notes
To freeze: Spoon meatballs into single-serve airtight containers. Freeze for up to 8 weeks.
I line a large Tupperware container [something like a slice and store, or similar] with silicon cups, and fill each cup with just one bento sized serve of meatballs. That way, I can just grab one of the cups out of the the freezer the night before, and it defrosts perfectly in the fridge overnight. All I have to do for preparation is boil up some pasta – too easy.

Original Recipe Source: Super Food Ideas - June 2005, Page 80

Back to the bento; to go with my meatballs and pasta, I have a nice fresh fruit salad with apple wedges, nectarine halves and you guessed it – blueberries.
I did try to liven up the pasta a bit with ham and nori flowers, but the colouring wasn't right and it blended in with the background a little too much for my liking. Would normally have used carrot for this, but I still haven't gotten around to buying any!
Anyway, below is a pic of my frozen mini meatballs stash.

Just stuff...

OK, so the rest of last week kind of got away from me there. Wednesday night was MILTB’s birthday, so we headed over there laden with flowers and ended up staying till late.
Thursday night was BILTB’s birthday, and we ended up having pizza over at in-laws house again. Got home late. Again.
Kept up my gym routine, so that was good, but alas, missed it this morning – didn’t get any sleep last night [neither did boyf] was very annoying, though I suspect we will both sleep heavily tonight.
Friday night, boyf and I went to see comedian Danny Bhoy at our local theatre. Boyf had got me the tickets for Valetines Day, as I’m absolutely in love with him. Was so good; now I want to be a DB groupie, and follow him around the country. [Think this upset boyf a little, but to be fair, I wouldn’t actually do it – I just wanted to :-)]
Saturday night [yep, still going – told you I had a busy one] we took boyf’s 4yr old nephew to the Monster Trucks. Was actually really good; didn’t expect to enjoy it much, but it was really entertaining, and something new to experience.
Sunday I mulled about at home – can you blame me? I ended up making a tomato and bacon quiche for dinner, of which we have the leftovers for lunch today. Not the best looking meal, so didn’t take any pics.
Blueberries were on special this week at supermarket for about $4, so I eagerly scooped them up - who can afford $6 for what they call a punnet [personally I would call it a handful – measured by a baby] So anyway, blueberries will feature heavily in this week’s bento. I’m stuck for ideas on what else to pack though…Will have to check out some blogs for ideas.

Bento #7

Ok, so I didn't get to upload the photo last night, but here it is now.
My bento looked fairly bland yesterday because I ran out of time; Fall back plan was a quick and simple salad of cucumber, capsicum, olives and some fetta cheese in the top tier of my bento, and some pre-made salad from the supermarket, in the bottom tier. The pre-made salad is spinach ravioli and egg and potato salad. For snacks I have coconut and wasabi peanuts, a packet of Ovalteenies and a Babybel cheese.
The lack of colour is also due to me forgetting carrots and tomatoes in my mini shop on the weekend :-(
Have decided that I don't have enough time in the evening to hit the gym, make dinner, and make our bento lunches [amongst other things], so am going to try the gym thing in the mornings.
Got up at 5.30 this morning to get there for the 6am workout. I know this isn't early for all you bento fanatics who are up at 4am lovingly whipping up darling bentos for hubs and the kidlets [no I am not being sarcastic, I actually applaud you for it], but for me it is crazy - I usually roll out of bed at 7.50 to be at work by 8am!
Anyway, can't believe how great I feel right now; instead of my usual grumpy, sluggish, 'gimme the coffee before I slap you' attitude, I actually feel really energised. Woot!
Haven't got bento today. Sorry. Went around to MILTB's house [Mother-in-law-to-be] last night and hung out with boyf's brothers and SIL, so time kinda ran out for cooking up a storm. Will be back into it tomo. [Hopefully...]
BTW, Sorry about the photo - am still working on my photography skills. Have to try and figure my camera out.

Just stuff...

Have been really slack on the bentos of late, but it's a long story [and it’s not at all to do with me being lazy – this time] so I'll try to cut it down by omitting all the drama.
Last week we had absolutely no food whatsoever in the entire house. The Monday bentos were the last of it. Meant to go shopping on the Tuesday but didn’t get to; blame it on the Vics [OK that’s a bit harsh, seeing as I’m an ex-Vic myself, but keep in mind, I'm going for a light and breezy post, sans drama - I'm not here to upset anyone by my glib attitude]
There have been horrific fires in Victoria in the last week, causing much damage and destruction - not to mention the incredibly sad death toll that just seems to keep rising.
*Much love to the victims of the Victorian bush fires, we’re thinking of you, and doing all we can.*
Anyway, Coles announced last week that on the Friday they would donate all of their profits from all of the stores in Australia to the Bushfire appeal. Wanting to do my bit, I decided to put off the shopping until Friday. All week we were eating absolute garbage – ie, packet pasta with crackers and tins of yucky soup [where does that stuff come from? I don’t remember buying it…] – just so we could support the cause. The week was hellish [well nothing compared to those in Vic, but pretty bad food wise] Anyway, Friday rolls around, and we forget to go! Completely FORGOT to do our shopping!!! So mad at myself. So anyway, Saturday I’m thinking, just gotta get this shopping out of the way, and someone tells me Woolies is doing the same thing as Coles for a day, only they don’t know when.
I’d had enough of eating crap by that stage, so I went and did a mini shop to get us through, until Woolies has their special day. [Am feeling so helpless, I just want to keep giving]

Enough ranting; back to the bentos. I finally got to make a bento today, albeit a very speedy one, cause I ran out of time, but I haven’t uploaded the photo yet. Will do that tonight, and fill you in on all the details.

Bento #5 & #6

Pretty simple bentos today; plain rice balls, silverside cubes, and carrot and cucumber 'shapes' with capsicum centres in the top tier. I call them 'shapes' because boyf commented that they kinda looked like bums, but with the limited shape cutters I have here in Oz, 'bums' will have to do. There are two olives holding the rice balls in place, and mustard for the silverside in the little monkey container.
A bright pink devilled egg, strawberries and a nectarine half is in the bottom tier.
[I keep giggling every time I look at the 'bums' now - thanks SJ]

Boyf has pretty much the same, except it's been 'butched up' [well as much as I could whilst still using mini picks and sauce bottles] - see previous post on the consequences of making your boyfs lunch cute.
Anyway, boyf has carrot sticks [manly] capsicum sticks [manly] cucumber rounds [not cut into bums - read: manly] and cheese wedge for said 'manly' vege sticks, and rice balls on the top tier.
A green devilled egg [well, more manly than my pink one...] strawberries and a nectarine half takes up the bottom half.
Learned a little from this bento - the joys of working with dye! Note to self: 1 part dye to 4 parts water is a very strong mix - need to dilute more.
Boyf also had a snack box - if you can call a Tupperware Sandwich Keeper a 'snack box' - containing two silverside sandwiches to keep him going.

Bento #4

This is a snack box I made for boyf and I to share. The bottom layer is wombok cabbage, with two sauce containers of dressing, and the top layer containes some babybel light cheeses and fried egg noodles.
I just mixed the noodles in with the cabbage at snack time, poured on the dressing, and we had Changs wombok salad all fresh and ready to go.
The dressing contains white vinegar, castor sugar, sesame oil and soy sauce. Usually the recipe calls for olive oil too, but I prefer it without.

Bento #2 & #3

The red bento is boyf's lunch - mine is the yellow - and boyf got a snack box to go with his bento.
The bottom tier contains hot dog sea themed critters [crabs and octodogs] on a bed of rocket. The top tier had our standard salad of cucumber, capsicum and olives, and a cup of chopped strawberries. Pocky in the lid for dessert.
Boyf's snack box had some crackers and a cup of tuna.

We both work in the industrial mining industry [I'm just in the office; boyf is a labourer type] and after pulling this out for lunch in front of all his work mates and getting a bit of a ribbing for it, boyf casually mentioned later that night that 'his bento lunches don't need to be so cutesy and that I didn't need to put in that much effort for him' lol. And also, 'could I find him a more manly bento box?'
Am trying, but for now the red one will have to do [unless he wants a pink HK box...]

My First Bento - Yay!

Ok, so I think I've got this blog & photo thing worked out, so am catching up on previous bento lunches I have made; and here is the first bento lunch I ever made!

I have spaghetti and mini meatballs in the bottom tier, and some parmesan cheese in the little monkey container. In the top tier I have a salad of cucumber, capsicum and olives, a babybel cheese [yum!] and some coconut roasted peanuts. I also had some pocky in the lid of this bento box, along with the fork.

I loved taking this to work, it made lunch time so much more fun than just unwrapping a regular sandwich. The bento craze has definitely hit on something here...

My First Post

Hi Guys,

Welcome to my bento blog - provided I can work out how to upload photos! [Not very good at this technology thingy]
I am so excited to share my bento lunches with you all. I have been bento-ing for a little while now, and I love checking out all the other bento blogs for ideas, so I thought I'd give this bloging thing a go myself.
A little bit about me, I am 26 and Australian. I love creating a beautiful lunch to take to work everyday, and depending on the mood my boyf is in, I'll usually make one for him also.
A little warning though - I don't always have the time to make a bento everyday [OK sometimes it's just because I'm lazy and need a break] - but, I'm hoping the pressure of a blog will coerce/bully me into doing it more often.
Anyway, hope you enjoy!