persian herb omelet bento

Hi bento pals! Today's bento includes some treats and culinary inspiration from the Mash Hassan Bakery and Persian Market, a nearby emporium of Persian specialties including delectable pastries, breads, nuts, conserves and hard-to-find spice blends.

I love the prominent role fresh herbs play in Persian cooking, infusing it with aromatic freshness and health benefits. Some essential herbs for sale at the market:

Cookies and sweets of many types are made here...

Persian teas, spices and more...

The sweets I brought home: flaky pastry fingers dusted with pistachio

 Pistachio nougat

Saffron rock candy

 For lunch, a Persian-style omelet made with dill, onions, basil, fenugreek and turmeric shares the bento with a yummy spinach pastry from Mash Hassan bakery, fresh mint and dill, a yellow pepper filled with tangy white cheese, romaine salad with green apples and pistachios. Dessert is a flaky sweet pastry with ripe raspberries alongside:

Have a wonderful week!

baby bok choy bento

Happy Friday! Lunch is a bento of gingery baby bok choy prepared with a wonderful recipe from the Steamy Kitchen. The baby bok choy is layered over brown rice and accompanies ginger-scallion crab salad and avocado. For a sweet finish, ripe raspberries and cute little strawberry candies from Meiji:

Wishing everyone a lovely weekend and a joyful start to the New Year of the Rabbit!

vietnamese fennel salad bento

Hi bento pals! Today's lunch features a light bright Vietnamese fennel salad and a mini banh mi with five-spice chicken to celebrate that we've left January behind and are making progress towards spring! I added wheat grass to this yummy fennel salad recipe (the accompanying five-spice chicken recipe is a must-try, too) and decorated the banh mi with two types of vibrant pickle. Avocado and basil accents:

This weekend we visited with kitties at a Pet Smart adoption fair...I'll probably adopt eventually from the local animal shelter, where kitties do not have foster families to care for them until a permanent family is found...but it is fun to meet the sweet felines at Pet Smart right next door to our fave Asian/International supermarket on Saturday afternoons.

Here's Jamison and a darling girl called Audrey. She was super friendly, had a constant purr and the cutest neat white mittens...

Don't these two look beautiful together? This young lady was just visiting with the kitties, like us, and mentioned that she had a cat at home who was happy to be an "only child."

Afterwards we were on to H-Mart for great mushrooms, pickles and other foodie fun. I always leave with more than I intended to here! Love this beautifully packaged tea:

Bento boxes!

Cute radish and eggplant shaped graters

Bright Korean pillows

Sunny bags of citrus

Have a great week, happy bentoing!