I'm Biggie: avid cook, speedy lunch packer, mom in San Francisco, & former expat fluent in Japanese. 
Pork sopes
Contents: Homemade pork sopes with refried beans, pork with chile verde, monterey jack cheese, salsa in the little sauce container and Greek yogurt in the squeeze bottle shaped like an egg (we’re out of crema). The portion to the left has a boiled egg shaped like a fish, cheese triangle, sugar snap peas, carrots and watermelon.
Prep time: 20 minutes total for three lunches (making just one lunch would probably have taken 10-12 minutes). I made the sopes with all leftovers, so the most time-consuming part was frying the thick tortillas with thick edges (store-bought in sope form) and assembly. I ran them under the broiler to melt the cheese, making them more stable for packing. You can use all kinds of toppings for sopes — they’re quite versatile. Get creative! The shaped egg was the last of a batch I made earlier this week, so that was in the fridge in a mold.
Packing: I packed this large lunch (actually dinner) for my husband in a 940ml box, and put the juicy watermelon in a tiny lidded container to contain juices that might get on the sopes and make them soggy. Basically, packing this meal was an exercise in gap-filling, using sauce containers and hard veggies.
My meal is in the 810ml container to the left, and Bug’s meal is in the 580ml container to the right (with the sopes cut up and a little pick for the watermelon). The sopes aren’t densely packed, so this was just about right for all of us, even though the boxes ran large according to the bento box size guidelines.
Lunch in a Box is nominated for Best Food Blog in the Blogger’s Choice Awards. If you’d like to cast your vote for speedy lunch packing, click here (you can vote for multiple blogs in the same category).
RELATED POSTS:
- No egg or onigiri molds? Use ice cream sandwich molds instead
- Need for speed: A mommy’s lunch manifesto
- How to pack a bento lunch and use “gap fillers”
- Choosing the right size bento box
- Biggie’s list of top speed tips, tutorials and equipment reviews
May 17th, 2007 | Categories: beans, bento, corn tortillas or masa, for kids, glutenfree, meat | 
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May 17th, 2007 at 8:36 pm
Apologies for not being relevant to the sopes, et al. but I’ve been wistfully browsing your shop. My food processor needs replacing, see. How did you decide on that particular KitchenAid for inclusion?
May 17th, 2007 at 9:03 pm
Thanks for the sopes link. I wasn’t familiar with Marc and The Ethicurean, Eat Local Challenge, and Growers and Grocers sites he’s on. Those Slow Food, eat local topics are much of interest to me.
May 17th, 2007 at 10:18 pm
I’ve never heard of sopes before but they look delicious - almost like little pizzas
May 18th, 2007 at 4:37 am
They were tasty — and very versatile (great finger food for parties, nice delivery vehicle for leftovers as well).
May 18th, 2007 at 4:38 am
Me too! Maybe ironic for someone who writes about speedy lunch prep, but still — I love slow, local food.
May 18th, 2007 at 4:57 am
Of course there’s a reason — you know me! It (KitchenAid® 12-Cup Food Processor
, $168-$188 on Amazon) was Cook’s Illustrated’s top rated food processor, and it’s what I have. Surprisingly, they didn’t like the wide-mouth models as they won’t turn on without the pusher in place (and a block of cheese won’t fit, so needs to be cut lengthwise anyway). They rated it tops for vegetable prep, which is my main use. They write: “What, then, should you buy? If you are partial to Cuisinart, it turns out that the classic (and somewhat cheaper) model, the Pro Custom 11, is a better value, clearly outperforming the newer Prep 11 Plus in the vegetable tests and slightly outperforming its successor in the pie pastry test. Bread bakers, however, might want to go with the newer, more expensive model, which mixes bread dough superbly. And what about the KitchenAid, priced an eye-popping $280, a full 40 percent more than the top-of-the-line Cuisinart? First off, it is the hands-down winner with vegetable preparation; the Cuisinarts really don’t measure up in this regard. But the KitchenAid was only second-best compared with the two Cuisinarts when making dough.”
“And what, then, have we learned since our last rating of food processors? Seven years and about a thousand dollars later, we have concluded that KitchenAid and Cuisinart are still the machines to beat. If vegetable prep is important to you, buy the KitchenAid. If you don’t care too much about vegetable prep, the Cuisinarts perform all other tasks as well as (or better than) their pricier competition.”
May 18th, 2007 at 5:27 am
But of course there was a reason! I merely awaited enlightenment.
I tried to look at CI’s equipment reviews, but it’s all subscribe-subscribe-subscribe, blast it. If they like it, that’s major points for me.
Also, aside from the actual performance (and the fact that it comes in red), from the Amazon reviews, it appears that KitchenAid’s customer service is 20-league-boots ahead of Cuisinart’s. I’ve become rather pickier in that direction of late….
I’m more likely to use it for veg, as I tend to hand-knead bread and make cookie dough in my beloved KitchenAid mixer. This is all good information, thank you. The critter I’ve got now is still running, the motor’s still good, but the pulse is dead and the bowl’s delaminating. I’m pretty sure it’s too old for parts and not worth the expense of theoretical repair.
(new icon!)
May 18th, 2007 at 6:12 am
Hi. First time posting a reply here but I’ve been reading your wonderful & yummy posts for some time now. You really do a terrific & appetizing job on your bento and I have learned a lot so thank you for sharing your ideas.
The reason for my sudden reply is that my daughter just recently discovered the wonders of eating eggs. And when I saw what you did to the hard boiled fish shape egg I was surprised. How were you able to make it shape into that? May daughter enjoys my octopus shape mini hotdogs but that’s the most I can do with presentation LOL! So I’m sure if she see this fish egg she’ll be amazed again.
May 18th, 2007 at 8:02 am
My daughters love raw snap peas in their bentos, but have been complaining that they are fairly dry by lunchtime. Do you have this happen as well? I pack them that morning, not the night before. I’m wondering if I should soak them in water for a bit before closing the lid on them.
Rather silly question I know, but I’m desperate to get them to eat more vegetables! =)
May 18th, 2007 at 11:40 am
Hi mackymac, and welcome! Thank you for the kind words. If you click on the phrase “egg shaped like a fish” in the entry above, it’ll take you to an old entry with a step-by-step walkthrough on molding eggs (with ice cream sandwich molds there, but of course there are special egg molds you can get on eBay — there’s a link in that entry). The special egg molds are faster/easier, but they’re unitaskers and not commonly available. I hope your daughter enjoys shaped eggs!
May 18th, 2007 at 11:55 am
I finally broke down and got a CI online subscription at Thanksgiving when a bunch of us were cooking at my in-laws house — they’d sent out an e-mail to their print subscribers a week before with a discount on online subscriptions. Gee, you’d *almost* think they’d figured out that people would be travelling and cooking without their trusty books/magazines!
I’m quite happy with the KitchenAid. Much more solid than the Braun that I’d used for years, doesn’t move around on the counter, and the mini prep bowl is a plus. Comes in white, black and blue too, I think. (Nice icon, BTW, but I love your Alton Brown icons the best!)
May 18th, 2007 at 12:14 pm
Your watermelon are so neatly cut!
May 18th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
[gets up and goes into kitchen to check] My old one’s a Waring, with some extremely dated-looking graphics on its front panel. Gotta give them props for the longevity of the motor, especially considering I push
my luckthe envelope with my gear often enough.KitchenAid: Yes, but it comes in red.
Icon: Ah, just the one, really! Even with expanded icon space, I still have to spread them very thinly over my fandoms and suchlike. [uses Alton just for you]
May 18th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
I just found another bento-accessories eBay shop that has star and heart egg moulds in; first I’ve seen those offered since I started looking. Since I still don’t quite have the hang of the larger moulds, I think I’ll get them because despite redundancy, unitasking, etc. (wait, I bet they can mould gelatin…hmm) they’re less fuss.
May 18th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
I have a question about your egg molds. Did you get them at ichiban kan in Japan town in San Francisco? If so, which aisle? I went there a week ago for the sole purpose of getting egg molds and I couldn’t find any.
Thank you!
May 18th, 2007 at 4:56 pm
Yes, I got them at Ichiban Kan. They sell out of the molds fast, though — I didn’t see them last time I was there, but they restock. Maybe call them and ask when they expect new ones in.
Someone mentioned seeing egg molds at Soko Hardware, though — try giving them a buzz!
May 18th, 2007 at 4:57 pm
That was the fastest and easiest way…
May 18th, 2007 at 5:00 pm
Deedolito commented on my egg mold photo on Flickr today that she used the egg molds to shape jello and corn bread!!! Awaiting details: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lunchinabox/457145946/
May 18th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
I can kind of figure out how to do the Jell-O, since I’ve molded so many eggs already - could even start with a gel-egg, although it’d manage with Jigglers cut with a knife or cookie cutter.
See, the nature of the beast is that it flows, even set up and refrigerated, which is why finding something to present Jell-O Easter eggs in is a bit of a trial. I tried a styro egg carton once, and they completely deformed. Plastic Easter grass slices them up!
If you lightly oil the mould and plop in a blob of set gelatin and let it sit for, say, a day, it’ll conform to the mould nicely. Just have to figure out how big a blob to start with. Imagine, Biggie - Knox&fruit juice pomegranate fishies!
May 18th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
I think the cheapest I’ve seen on eBay was $5 for both sets (fish&car, bunny&bear); usually it’s a pair for about $3.50 except for one notable exception *cough*.
May 18th, 2007 at 7:09 pm
Maybe we can get together some time at the Ferry Bldg Farmers’ Market. My daughter likes to go occasionally on a Sat. on Oakland/Alameda Ferry.
May 19th, 2007 at 4:29 pm
Ah, I see that the eBay seller in question is still charging $9 for one!!! Plus $2 shipping!! What a ripoff…
May 19th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
Maybe. I’d *really* be up for a Saturday morning outing to the Alemany Farmer’s Market, though — haven’t been there in a while.
May 19th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
Mmmyeah, which is why I do de shopping t’ing. And Watch a lot of items and stuff. *bats eyelashes*
May 20th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
I absolutely *love* your creativity and bento boxes! I voted for you as well. Keep up the great cooking.
May 20th, 2007 at 9:53 pm
Ooh, and I love your blog and photos!!! Beautiful and mouth-watering. Thanks for the vote, and you keep up the great cooking as well! Now, about that white chocolate bread pudding…
May 22nd, 2007 at 3:45 am
I’ve been playing around with snap peas after reading your question, blither. A short soak in cold water does help them (as it does for mini carrots and carrot sticks), and another way is to quickly blanch the snap peas before packing them (dip in boiling water, then in ice water to halt the cooking process — keeps them crunchy). Hope this helps!
May 24th, 2007 at 6:26 pm
Wow! There’s a walk down memory lane. My dad and I used to go there in the 60’s. I haven’t been there in a VERY long time. It was pretty much the only farmers’ market in those days. Glad to hear it’s still going.
May 25th, 2007 at 4:32 pm
Going strong — it’s my favorite. Good ethnic mix of people, very lively.
May 25th, 2007 at 10:54 pm
Cool! Nice slide show here:
http://www.kqed.org/topics/home/cooking/farmers-markets-alemany.jsp
Sounds like a plan. I’m not sure about getting there by bus from the East Bay. I might need to drive.
September 18th, 2007 at 7:26 pm
Ryan Designer…
I Googled for something completely different, but found your page…and have to say thanks. nice read….