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.