Archive for the 'tips' Category

(Chronologically Listed)

Meatball lunch for toddler

When I made meatloaf for dinner a couple of weeks ago, I also made up a batch of miniature hamburgers and meatballs for lunches and froze them. This is the first of those: ãƒãƒ³ãƒãƒ¼ã‚°ãŠå¼å½“ã€‚ Made as finger food that little hands can manage.

puchi onigiri with furikake and Korean seasoned seaweed
homemade meatballs and ketchup for dipping (with Dokinchan and Anpanman picks)
rabbit egg, cheese and grape tomatoes

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Published by Biggie on February 1st, 2007 tagged bento, for kids, freezing, meat, onigiri or sushi, rice, tips | Comment now »

Yellow shrimp curry and somen

Somen two ways: it can either be dipped into the warm curry, or eaten as is with the somen tsuyu sauce. I packed the curry in my small 300ml Nissan Thermos food jar, and the rest in my two-tiered 600ml bento box. Lighter than the full-on thermal lunch jar, and this should fit nicely into my husband’s messenger bag.

Thai yellow curry with shrimp, broccoli and red pepper
two layers of cold somen noodles curled into bite-sized nests for easy eating
somen tsuyu (sauce to be squeezed over the cold noodles)
English cucumbers cut with a wavy slicer
the last of the cherry tomatoes
little pudding with a tiny spoon tucked below

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Published by Biggie on July 14th, 2006 tagged bento, curry, fish or seafood, food jar, pasta or noodles, tips | 1 Comment »

Somen: mother and son bentos

An outing to the children’s museum called for bentos for me and my toddler. Hot weather means cold noodles! I curled the somen into bite-sized nests before packing, making them very easy to grab and dip into the sauce. I poured the somen tsuyu into the upper left container in my box, added the green onions and karashi, and dipped the noodles into that. Very convenient to eat!

cold somen noodles curled into bite-sized nests, with kizami nori and karashi (hot mustard)
somen tsuyu (bottled dipping sauce for speed)
green onions for the dipping sauce
pan-fried shrimp and chive dumplings
cherry tomatoes
homemade Cajun creamed spinach (my son’s favorite)
snack bento of blueberries and cherries

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Published by Biggie on July 12th, 2006 tagged bento, dumplings or buns, pasta or noodles, tips | 2 Comments »

Williams Sonoma for egg molds?!?!

How did I make this barnyard snack bento for my son without a traditional rice ball mold or egg mold?

So my bento fixation is getting worse, and I’ve been browsing shops all over San Francisco looking for bento accessories in unexpected places. I wandered into Williams-Sonoma seeking inspiration. Usually I walk out empty-handed because of their prices, but full of ideas of things to buy somewhere cheaper. And then I saw these ice cream sandwich molds in cute shapes.

At first I thought, $14 for three molds that you’d only use a few times a year? Uh, pass. Then I realized that they could do quadruple-duty as cookie cutters, onigiri (rice ball) molds and boiled egg shapers for a child’s lunches. Perfect!!! Maybe even Alton Brown would approve — not a uni-tasker!

This is what the finished ice cream sandwiches are supposed to look like with the molds:

Each mold consists of three pieces, with a cookie-cutter portion, little cap for the bottom, and a shaped plunger with a raised plastic design to create the pattern (giving you the cow face, etc.).

I figured they’d work just fine as ice cream sandwich molds, cookie cutters, and onigiri molds, but I was most curious about how they’d do as hard-boiled egg shapers. You may have seen these crazy gadgets before (photo below): you hard-boil an egg, peel it while it’s hot, pop it into a plastic mold while it’s still hot and pliant, and click the lid shut. Dump the whole thing into cold water for 10 minutes, and you’ve got an egg that looks like a rabbit head or a star. Only thing is, they’re hard to come by outside Japan, and they don’t seem to have many other uses. (July 2008 EDIT: You can get the egg molds below cheaply at Ichiban Kan’s online store for US$1.50 per pair (US shipping only), J-List starting at $3.20 per pair (international shipping), and from eBay sellers. Check out my list of online bento stores for additional sources.)

I boiled three eggs, peeled them while they were still very hot, and plopped them into the wet molds. But because these molds weren’t originally designed for eggs, they don’t have little latches to keep everything closed tightly around the egg while it chills in water. I improvised by looping a thick rubber band around the plunger & mold to apply even pressure. Here they are taking a cold bath:

Fresh out of the mold, this is what they look like:

The star and pig shapes turned out okay, but the cow shape would have been better had I used extra-large or jumbo eggs instead of large. Had to be careful removing the plunger from the face of the egg. Next time I may spray the face of the plunger with a little Pam (vegetable oil spray) before putting the egg in the mold.

Deciding to dye the star and the pig eggs, I filled a couple of ramekins halfway with cold water and mixed in a little food coloring (blue and red). Left them in for a few minutes until they got to a color I liked.

Voila! Dyed, molded eggs from an ice cream sandwich maker!!!

I looked around on the web for other places to find them, and found Tovolo ice cream sandwich molds on Amazon.com slightly cheaper, and in additional designs. Mission accomplished! (July 2007 EDIT: Evidently WalMart is now selling the cow/pig set for US$5, and Williams Sonoma has the three-piece set back in stores on sale for US$10. Full update here.)

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Published by Biggie on June 22nd, 2006 tagged bento, eggs, equipment, for kids, onigiri or sushi, recipe, rice, tips, tutorial or how to | 139 Comments »

Shrimp and snow peas, a new way

A new way to pack lunch. Rice packed separately in a 300ml thermal food jar by Thermos Nissan — kept the rice soft and warm for five hours. Shrimp and peas in a 350ml Asvel bento box (with clear lid).

* shrimp in chili sauce with onions (recipe from berry_mix’s mom)
* Chinese quick-fried snow peas
* rice

From Thermos Nissan: a 300ml small thermal food jar for hot soups, stews, curries, rice, etc. (or cold items like yogurt, cold soup, salads, etc.). Dishwasher-safe. This has excellent heat retention: better than all thermal lunch jars I’ve tested, and better than all-plastic thermal food jars because it’s metal. They make a larger version as well for bigger appetites, and I’ve seen this sold at big stores like Target.