crab ginger noodles bento

Hi there! Summery weather has arrived in Sonoma County, so I've made a cool and refreshing bento with chilled noodles, minced ginger, crab and avocado. Asparagus spears and Vietnamese rice flour sweets (from our recent trip to Oakland's Chinatown) round things out and cool things off.

 

Excited to report that my Pasta Primavera bento placed 10th in the Bento & Co 2013 Bento Contest finals! What a fun event, rich in wonderful bento ideas to be found from contestants around the globe...international "bento love" and creativity in abundance. Happy bentoing, friends!

spicy salmon banh mi bento

Pink salmon blended with lime, Vietnamese chili garlic sauce, mayo and cilantro, layered in a roll with avocado. Underneath: green papaya salad, mint and a sweet section of blackberries and watermelon.

 

Happy weekend!

curried rice bento

 

Happy Monday! Starting the week with curried fried rice with baby shrimp and mixed veggies, chive blossom and yellow pepper decoration. Watermelon is so refreshing on warm sunny days (mid to upper 80's this week) along with sweet-bright tangelos.

 

Little silk elephants are bento lunch companions...I wonder how much they remember?

 

 

cali roll and baby daikon leaves bento

 

Hi and happy almost-weekend! A 'speed bento" with California rolls, spicy daikon leaves, assorted ginger pickles and wasabi, and two cute mango "butterflies."

 

Oh--my new tea tin from SF:

 

 

Some roses to share:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

70's snacks bento

 

Hi there! Today's bento is a nostalgic trip down memory lane, to some healthy light bites I recall from being a child in the 1970's. Under the mango heart is a whole grain sammie with crunchy peanut butter, banana slices and sunflower seeds, and to the right, cream cheese filled celery is dotted with golden raisins and walnuts.

 

Vanilla yogurt with berries and mango in there, as well. This bento conjured some delightful sense-memories of being in the kitchen and experimenting with the simple recipes in children's cookbooks of the time. Here is the granola-recipe page from the cookbook "Love at First Bite." This was a favorite of mine at around age six...my greasy fingerprints can be found next to the recipe for Homemade Potato Chips!

 

 

The garden is so vivid right now, mostly with iris...roses are all in bud with the pink rambler offering the first blooms...