french spinach salad bento

Hi bento pals! A simple bento for today with a French-autumnal feel: spinach leaves lightly dressed with French walnut oil, topped with butter-sautéd baby pear slices and decorative pieces of Gruyère cheese. Crab salad with Dijon mustard dressing on heart shaped toast and a bright chorus of raspberries for dessert...

Have a happy Thursday!

chicken and ginger pickle bento

Hi bento pals! A simple and traditional bento for today, with brown rice, honey-mustard chicken, Japanese pickled red ginger (beni shōga), crisp broccoli, orange pepper and a bright slice of lemon. Hope your week is going well--we are starting to get some refreshingly cool days here with beginning hints of fall color, can't wait for the maples to turn scarlet and gold...

persian sandwich bento

Hi bento pals! We recently visited a wonderful Persian bakery and market in our area called Nemooheh. They are renowned for a rich selection of Persian sweets, including baklavas in several honeyed nut combinations and refined, golden shapes.

Nemooneh also carries a full range of Persian groceries, including pickles, spices and flavored waters, nuts and dried fruit...

Some luscious pastries unwrapped at home:

 Today's bento was inspired by subtle and exotic items from this shop, including spicy "torshi" or vegetable pickles which I blended with thick Greek yogurt to make a spread for a leg of lamb and tomato sandwich on Barbari bread. Dill and green olives, romaine, dolmeh and scallions also in the bento. Lunch ends on a sweet note with fresh green figs and almond baklava.

Jamison captured this lovely image of a butterfly visiting a bright pink zinnia in our garden. Zinnia have been wonderful attractors of both butterflies and hummingbirds this summer. Have a great weekend, happy cooking!