bon voyage article, two spring bentos

 

 





Hi friends! I was recently featured in Taiwan's Bon Voyage travel magazine in an issue celebrating  Japan in springtime. I was honored have a selection of my bentos shared with the Bon Voyage audience...thank you, Elsa C.! Speaking of spring, here are two recent lunches inspired by the colors and tastes of early spring (which has arrived in spirit if not yet by date here in Sonoma County). The first holds a crisp mini croissant, curried turkey and asparagus/sugar snap peas:







 

Sweet pink and white camellias:

 

 

Lilacs in bloom:

 







Pink, plum-flavored soba noodles make a pastel base for ginger stir-fried pork. Spicy radish sprouts, daikon "sakuras" and asparagus also for lunch:

 

 

Tiniest fig on our petite fig tree:

 

 

Saki enjoying her sunny morning-perch:

 

 

Happy cooking!

 

 

 

cusp of spring bento

 

Late February is bringing in colored wafts of spring with trees in pink and white petaled bloom and in my rainy yard today, violet iris unfurling. The tight buds on our lilac tree are starting to open:

 

 

 

 





In the bento, a watercress bed for smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwich (with perky green apple Scotty!) endive and fennel frond, cabbage-beet pickle, stir fried asparagus and a crunchy pink radish all taste like the cusp of spring here today...

 



 



meatball banh mi bento

 

Hi there! Spring is in the air here in Sonoma County, with cherry blossom trees in bloom, baby violets emerging, and daffodils glowing yellow. Today's lunch celebrates a particularly beautiful late February day with a meatball banh mi: a savory combination of garlicy meatballs layered with sriracha mayo (combined in 50/50 proportions), sliced avocado and aromatic cilantro. Snap peas and asparagus, along with edible violets keep the spring feeling going. I love this combination of spicy/herbal and cool avocado--it made for a very enjoyable lunch.

 

 

To my friends gritting through a long and snowy winter this year, spring is on the way!