Bento Corner

Inari bento with nimono and cherries.

Had some left over gomoku sushi with unagi mixed in. I think I made this 2 weeks ago and froze the left overs. So I defrosted it this morning thinking I would just pack it as chirashi, but my daughter woke up earlier than usual and said she would rather have inari...I think this is why I end up so rushed in the mornings since I don't stick to my original plans...*note to self: work on time management skills*

Also had left over nimono from last week (lotus root, shiitake, and carrot) and the edamame from the freezer. Since I didn't make it to the farmer's market this weekend, I just used the maraschino cherries from the fridge.

My daughter will be on summer break as of Friday afternoon, so we are all (well, really, mostly I am) looking forward to a bit of a break from shuttling her to and from preschool for a few weeks. Not to say that this would mean I get any rest since we are all busy running around nowadays...

Anpanman umeboshi onigiri with niku jyaga, tamagoyaki, and apple.

The Anpanman looks a bit scary, but this is the best I could do with the time I had. The red is all umeboshi, mouth and eyebrows are made of kizami konbu, and the eyes are made of nori. The niku jyaga was made with the thin beef we had from the weekend. It turned out pretty good so I will post the recipe later. My daughter currently loves the tamagoyaki with kanikama so I'll keep making it until she decides otherwise.

I showed my daughter this bento this morning and she said "Anpanman! Wow! Take out the apple please I don't want it." It's b/c she doesn't like the peel of the apple. I kept it in the bento and ignored her request and she had finished it all with no problems. She said she thought the peel would be bitter, but since it was sweet she was able to eat it all.

This weekend the weather should be nice so we have outings and birthdays to attend. Hope it's a great weekend for everyone!

Beef skirt steak sandwich with fruit.

This weekend my husband made tacos with a type of skirt steak -- I forgot what the exact cut is called, but it is super thin and we purchased it from the local tortillas shop. We made too much since we were expecting more company, so we will be using this meat for days...

In any case, I was going to make niku jyaga with the steak, but had no onions, so decided to make a sandwich instead with English muffin, lettuce, and jack cheese. I was trying to shape the sandwich as a car, but was unsuccessful so I just made a window and had the girl (supposed to be my daughter) peeking through a window. The carrot sun is very, very (grossly) disproportionate to the girl, but it looked much better as the sun rather than tires to a car like I had originally planned.

I showed this bento to my husband and he started cracking jokes like, "Is the girl supposed to look like she is drowning...as in drowning in quicksand?" *heavy sigh*

Tulip bento with shrimp fried rice, croquette, and fruit.

The shrimp fried rice is made from the package seasoning and I just added shrimp, egg, and rice to it. The quail egg tulips were a last minute effort -- I was trying to make something else, but it was taking too long and I was running out of time.Croquette left over from the last batch I made and fruit. I found organic cherries at my local farmer's market for $5.00/pound! What an incredible deal!

It is so hot today! Taking the kids to a nearby park for some water play after school! Should be fun! Hope you all have a great weekend!