happy year of the rabbit bento

Hi bento pals! Finally getting back to bento after the holidays with what I hope will be a trend towards lighter, less caloric meals...are you also feeling the need to detox a bit?

For lunch today: soba with ginger dressing, asparagus with ikura and fish cake accents, pan-fried kabocha and a sheaf of refreshing ohba. Red currants, a lady apple and seasonal shimizukage/bean jelly for dessert. In honor of the incoming (on February 3rd, in fact, but I wanted to get a head start on the new year!) Year of the Rabbit, a new bunny accent:

Happy New Year, may it be full of creativity, sharing and culinary fun!



korean-style spicy octopus bento

Hi bento pals! We've had our first snow of the season this week, about an inch of icy white that has stayed as on the ground amid near freezing temperatures. This radiant pink camellia has remained in bloom...amazing!

While I enjoy authentic Korean anytime, it seems so well suited to chilly temperatures... last night we visited Goong Jeon in Glen Burnie, Maryland. Crispy Korean-style pancakes with seafood and scallions are a weakness of mine...really good version here:

Nakji bokeum was lovely with an abundance of octopus in a mellow, lightly spicy sauce served with fat, chewy noodles, peppers, carrots--perfect dish for a cold night:

Marinated cuke banchan:

 Soju...!

Monday's bento includes nakji bokeum tucked into an avocado half and a wedge of scallion pancake. It gains vibrant color from stir fried purple cabbage, pink radish pickles, scallion, romaine leaves, purple potato slices, orange pepper, green apple and a lavender foil-wrapped chocolate...a little gold bird ornament on the right looks ahead to Christmas, which is coming up so quickly, lots of last minute preparations to attend to this week!

Hope you are enjoying the season and its spirit of love and warmth...

dreaming christmas kitty bento

Monday's bento features a peaceful (goat cheese) kitty dreaming under an asparagus holiday tree...her gift may well be some salmon, like the spicy salmon salad that lies underneath the multigrain pilaf layer of this bento!

In the upper small compartment, fig and orange slices dusted with coconut. Also for lunch: a slice of a rich casserole of pumpkin, Gruyere cheese and bread cubes from this fun recipe. Cooking the savory elements (garlic, shallots, thyme and Gruyere are such a lovely combination) inside the pumpkin works beautifully--after long baking, the bright orange pumpkin flesh tasted sweet and delicious and we were transported by the aromas of this dish to the French countryside...

Stuffed pumpkin, hot from the oven:

With asparagus, at the table...

Images from a twilight walk after a misty, rainy Sunday...

Have a great week!