Natto et al Don

I love being able to prepare bentos like this once in a while... Don't they look pretty?

Takoyaki has some fried winged beans, while Roast Meat has a peeled cucumber salad.

Steak on MultiGrain

A very simple one for DH (yay!) consisting of planned over thinly sliced ribeye steak on buttered country bread from the store.

The sandwiches look horrible wrapped like that, but I had no choice because otherwise the meat would all fall out.

Caesar Salad and Tuna Mayo Croissant

New bento item - Caesar salad! Consisting of mini Romaine lettuce, some homemade sourdough croutons, tomatoes and cashew nuts.

Salad usually takes up a lot of space even though there's so little actual matter, that I'm glad to have my new Zebra SS bowl to hold a substantial portion for RM's 10 min snack time in school. I put the dressing into a plastic disposable container and snapped the lid on, so even if the plastic container leaks, the dressing will not leak out of the box. Oh how I love my new box.

The Totoro box holds a croissant with tuna mayo and cucumber. That's for his recess.

New Bento Boxes - Zebra lunchbox set

I'm growing ever increasingly disillusioned with the SG50 La Gourmet set from last year. I only realised recently that the gap in the top lid where the gasket fits, leads to the inside of the hollow lid, which there is absolutely no way to clean, especially if oily soup or sauces get into it. Yuck!

So, when I saw this on sale at the supermarket last week, I couldn't help myself.

Stainless steel round lunch bowls with leakproof, airtight lids and seals, yes please! The bowls stack up and fit (with room to spare for ice packs I suppose) inside the thermal lunch bag.

Each bowl has a plastic lid, with a blue silicone gasket and a colourless silicone seal, both detachable for thorough cleaning. The lids are really tight because of the seal, and airtight so that even if you turn the bowl over, the lids do not budge at all. The kids have reported that to get the lid off, they have to first open the blue gasket to let air into the container. Awesome!

There is a mesh pocket on the outside back of the lunch bag to hold cutlery. I haven't used the bag yet, as the bowls usually go separate ways (haha), but DH has started to bring very occasional bentos to work (so far only sandwiches) and these two bowls (12cm in diameter and approximately 500ml capacity each), should be just right for him. 

Meantime, as long as I'm packing oily foods for the kids, read - noodles, rice with gravy, it's these boxes I'm turning to. Hurray for stainless steel!

Mille Feuille Nabe

I learnt to make this dish from JustOneCookbook (click for link to recipe). It's quite fun to make, requires some work but nothing elaborate, and cooks up within 15 min. And it looks awesome!

I've made this two times, and this time I was even able to fill two Dutch ovens with what I had (one and a half large napa cabbage + 2 trays of belly sukiyaki). Our family of five polished off the first pot within 15 min so the other pot had to be put on to cook.

Thankfully, we had some left over for RM to bring to school the next day. Hmm... if I recall this right, this is the first time he's bringing hot soup to school. He's always resisted bringing a food jar, no idea why. But he couldn't resist the mille feuille nabe d:)

Roast Chicken Somen

Yum. New bento box. Yay! One each for RM and Takoyaki.

Jap-Kor Don Bento

Delicious, healthy, filling.

Menu:

Beef soboro (Jap)

Kimchi (Kor)

Steamed rice (Chinese)

虾仁蛋炒饭 (Shrimp & Egg Fried Rice)

A very easy and common dish found at Chinese restaurants. I added edamame. Oh, and some kimchi.

Baked Cajun Chicken Rice + Winter Melon Soup

Delicious, juicy chicken thighs, baked the same way as my Roast Chicken, deboned. Hot steamed rice tossed with the chicken drippings. Crunchy vegetables to add some freshness to the meal. And hot, stewed soup to warm the palette and moisten the mouth... Aaahhh... my kind of meal. Takoyaki's lunch.

And here's the no-soup version for RM.

Inarizushi Lunch

I went out for lunch at a Japanese restaurant with some old colleagues to celebrate someone's birthday, so to make up to RM who loves Japanese food, I left him a lunch bento of Jap foods. Oh, there was some leftover for Takoyaki as well.

What a beautiful box! I finally got to use this lovely Ojyu Picnic box I'd bought a few months back.

Now to get my hands on a furoshiki (cloth for wrapping a bento box) AND to get myself invited to a potluck so I can bring this gorgeous baby out for a trip!