For your lunchtime pleasure, I'm presenting a series of my favorite bento boxes. Bento are Japanese home-prepared meals served in special boxes, usually eaten for lunch at work or school. The boxes can range from austere lacquered trays to multi-tiered Hello Kitty confections of neon pink plastic. The meals themselves are anything from rice and leftovers to elaborate themed affairs of Pikachu-shaped dumplings with sesame seed eyes and carved radish trees. These days, bento enthusiasts from all over the world share their creations on Flickr.
Today's lovely bento, from Mimisimos, is a minimalist work of art. There are two onigiri (rice balls) with tuna salad and bits of nori, a line of cherry tomatoes, a nectarine with a blackberry in the center, and some extra tuna salad on lettuce with some sliced cucumbers. Lovely, highly edible, and healthy.
For your lunchtime pleasure, I'm presenting a series of my favorite bento boxes. Bento are Japanese home-prepared meals served in special boxes, usually eaten for lunch at work or school. The boxes can range from austere lacquered trays to multi-tiered Hello Kitty confections of neon pink plastic. The meals themselves are anything from rice and leftovers to elaborate themed affairs of Pikachu-shaped dumplings with sesame seed eyes and carved radish trees. These days, bento enthusiasts from all over the world share their creations on Flickr.
Today's bento has the color and textural balance of a painting, while appearing to maintain its essential edibility. The creator, Wonder Zdora, notes that this is a bento made for hot weather - lots of juicy fruits and veggies and few heavy proteins. It includes rice noodles with shiso and umeboshi (pickled plum) and tahini dressing, radish flowers, cucumber salad with wakame seaweed, carrots, grapefruit and fresh medlar fruits.
For your lunchtime pleasure, I'm presenting a series of my favorite bento boxes. Bento are Japanese home-prepared meals served in special boxes, usually eaten for lunch at work or school. The boxes can range from austere lacquered trays to multi-tiered Hello Kitty confections of neon pink plastic. The meals themselves are anything from rice and leftovers to elaborate themed affairs of Pikachu-shaped dumplings with sesame seed eyes and carved radish trees. These days, bento enthusiasts from all over the world share their creations on Flickr.
Today's bento is from the blog Cooking for Monkeys, where a very creative mom displays her ultra-adorable kiddie bentos. This safari bento is from her three-year-old's birthday party. Each kid got a box containing a PB & J jeep, an alligator carrot, cheese lions and giraffes and a blueberry elephant, all atop Veggie Booty "grass." Beats the heck out of the floppy slices of pizza from my own childhood birthday party days.
For your lunchtime pleasure, I'm presenting a series of my favorite bento boxes. Bento are Japanese home-prepared meals served in special boxes, usually eaten for lunch at work or school. The boxes can range from austere lacquered trays to multi-tiered Hello Kitty confections of neon pink plastic. The meals themselves are anything from rice and leftovers to elaborate themed affairs of Pikachu-shaped dumplings with sesame seed eyes and carved radish trees. These days, bento enthusiasts from all over the world share their creations on Flickr.
Today's bento comes courtesy of Cooking Cute, a bento resource site. Our penguin onigiri is stuffed with salmon and wasabi and dressed in a a fetching nori penguin suit. His beak is made of bell pepper, as are the initials above his head. On the side are Trader Joe's chicken drummetes and some stir fried broccoli.
For your lunchtime pleasure, I'm presenting a series of my favorite bento boxes. Bento are Japanese home-prepared meals served in special boxes, usually eaten for lunch at work or school. The boxes can range from austere lacquered trays to multi-tiered Hello Kitty confections of neon pink plastic. The meals themselves are anything from rice and leftovers to elaborate themed affairs of Pikachu-shaped dumplings with sesame seed eyes and carved radish trees. These days, bento enthusiasts from all over the world share their creations on Flickr.
Today's bento take food art to potentially dangerous heights of cuteness while appearing to retain its essential edibility. The rice kitty reclines contentedly on a bed of seafood and veggies, her whiskers tiger stripes rendered in nori (seaweed), her paws and ears in what appears to be lunch meat. Dig into this with a fork, and PETA will be be at your door faster than you can say "mink coat."
For your lunchtime pleasure, I'm presenting a series of my favorite bento boxes. Bento are Japanese home-prepared meals served in special boxes, usually eaten for lunch at work or school. The boxes can range from austere lacquered trays to multi-tiered Hello Kitty confections of neon pink plastic. The meals themselves are anything from rice and leftovers to elaborate themed affairs of Pikachu-shaped dumplings with sesame seed eyes and carved radish trees. These days, bento enthusiasts from all over the world share their creations on Flickr.
Today's bento, courtesy of Bhikku, breaks the long-held taboo on panda-eating. The smiley rice panda has nori (seaweed) details and wears what appears to be a carrot flower collar (any Japanese speakers wanna help me out?). He's surrounded by various yummy noshes - mini-sausages, a cutlet of some type, rolled omelet, a maraschino cherry and an unidentified pink object with a nori face.
Each day, I pack up some food to bring along with me to work. Some days it's a complete meal, whereas other days, I just bring a snack (knowing that either we're having lunch at work or I'm going to run out and grab something). One consistent thing about my to-go food is that it nearly always includes a whole piece of fruit. However, I rarely feel comfortable just tossing an apple, pear or nectarine straight into my bag, for fear that it will get punctured or smashed. Instead I walk to work, clutching a piece of fruit. It's an effective protective measure, but not very convenient if I have other things to carry.
Lucky for me, Jennifer McCann of Vegan Lunch Box fame has devised a clever way to keep your lunch time piece of fruit unscathed. She has whipped up a pattern for an apple cozy and is making it available on her blog (she's also got patterns available for orange and banana cozies). So get out those crochet hooks and dress your fruit in style.
For your lunchtime pleasure, I'm presenting a series of my favorite bento boxes. Bento are Japanese home-prepared meals served in special boxes, usually eaten for lunch at work or school. The boxes can range from austere lacquered trays to multi-tiered Hello Kitty confections of neon pink plastic. The meals themselves are anything from rice and leftovers to elaborate themed affairs of Pikachu-shaped dumplings with sesame seed eyes and carved radish trees. These days, bento enthusiasts from all over the world share their creations on Flickr.
Today's adorable creation, courtesy of Aylanah, is a seascape where a kumquat fishie swims atop a dried plum-filled rice ball, blowing sesame seed bubbles. Below, a ginger root fish wriggles past a colorful reef of blueberries, raspberries, squash and cucumber.
For your lunchtime pleasure, I'm presenting a series of my favorite bento boxes. Bento are Japanese home-prepared meals served in special boxes, usually eaten for lunch at work or school. The boxes can range from austere lacquered trays to multi-tiered Hello Kitty confections of neon pink plastic. The meals themselves are anything from rice and leftovers to elaborate themed affairs of Pikachu-shaped dumplings with sesame seed eyes and carved radish trees. These days, bento enthusiasts from all over the world share their creations on Flickr.
Today's entry, by Vingt Deux, takes the bento to delightfully geeky heights with a re-creation of the scorched sand and double suns of planet Tatooine in Star Wars. The sky is purple cabbage and the sand is pita and hummus, hiding a nutritious pile of cherry tomatoes underneath. Our Jawa wears a robe of Philly steak Tofurkey, with nori ammo belt and hands, and a black rice face with carrot cube eyes. Utinni!
For your lunchtime pleasure, I'm presenting a series of my favorite bento boxes. Bento are Japanese home-prepared meals served in special boxes, usually eaten for lunch at work or school. The boxes can range from austere lacquered trays to multi-tiered Hello Kitty confections of neon pink plastic. The meals themselves are anything from rice and leftovers to elaborate themed affairs of Pikachu-shaped dumplings with sesame seed eyes and carved radish trees. These days, bento enthusiasts from all over the world share their creations on Flickr.
Today's bento is a rather quizzical-looking owl, rendered in turkey meatloaf with carrot sauce details, on a background of parsley rice. Our feathered friend is accompanied by a green curry dumpling and several sesame fish cakes in similar tones of rust and green, giving the tableau a rather 70s rec room vibe. Let's hear it for our artist, Los Dragónnes.
A few years back, my pal Tom introduced me to the delicious, sweet taste of "Kaba-yaki," broiled eel served with a sweet sauce. As I'm always game to try new things, I scarfed down the piece that he offered me. As soon as I tasted it, I forgot about the fact that the meat came from a slithering, snakelike creature and began to focus on the flavor. It was tender, moist, and perfectly delicious. I was hooked.
Although time, geography, and economics have kept me from regularly partaking of the delicious Kaba-yaki, I can certainly understand why it is Japan's official summer food. I can even understand, to a certain extent, why Japan Tobacco, Inc. recently came out with "Unagi Noburi," or "Surging Eel," an eel-based carbonated beverage. Made from (among other things) the head and bones of eels, the soda contains several of the vitamins that are contained in the fish. The company is marketing it as a sort of energy drink, designed to extend its drinkers' stamina.
According to reports, the drink tastes more or less like Kaba-yaki. While the idea of a broiled, barbecue-y eel drink initially nauseates me a little, I have to admit that I wasn't all that hot on eel itself when I first heard about it. Given how the Kaba-yaki turned out, I may have to give the soda a try!
For your lunchtime pleasure, I'm presenting a series of my favorite bento boxes. Bento are Japanese home-prepared meals served in special boxes, usually eaten for lunch at work or school. The boxes can range from austere lacquered trays to multi-tiered Hello Kitty confections of neon pink plastic. The meals themselves are anything from rice and leftovers to elaborate themed affairs of Pikachu-shaped dumplings with sesame seed eyes and carved radish trees. These days, bento enthusiasts from all over the world share their creations on Flickr.
Today's featured bento is an impressive spa-themed box from Sakurako Kitsa. The mud-masked face of our turbaned spa lady is made from a turkey slice slathered in green-dyed mayonnaise. Her turban and robe are made from white cheese with fruit leather trim, and she wears diamond-shaped squirts of canned cheese for earrings. Wow!
Looking for a way to make the header of your food blog a little more interesting? Why not use this Value Pack Meat Typeface to give your site a little more meaty goodness? Created by artist Robert Bolesta, each letter was carefully hand-shaped, packed and photographed. I particularly love the details of the font, including the stickers and the fact that each letter includes the price and weight labels.
When I was ten or eleven, I read an article in National Geographic World about foraging for food, and it immediately caught my attention. For several months, I made violet syrup, dandelion root "coffee," acorn muffins, and a wide variety of other bizarre concoctions from ingredients that I found in my own backyard. Some of these foods were good and others were horrific, but they taught me a few things about how to survive in the wild, not to mention the underappreciated joys of maple syrup.
In the years since, I've tried cattails and wild walnuts, ramps and rose petals, burdock, sassafras, and a wide variety of other delightful produce. In addition to saving me a small amount on my food budget, they've also continued to bring me close to nature. Now that I live in the city, however, my days of foraging are largely over. While I love the Bronx, I don't know what they're putting on the lawn in Poe Park and have no desire to find out the hard way!
Unfortunately, just as I've settled down in my new urban home, my friend Jen introduced me to Prodigal Gardens, a site that offers numerous recipes for wild produce and herbs, as well as workshops in foodlore and natural medicine. If you happen to be a resident of the upper Midwest, you might want to drop in at one of their classes in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, or ask them to set one up for you!
Warning: this post may offend people who like cute little furry guinea pigs.
A few days ago, I wrote a post about chicha morada, the amazing Peruvian blue corn drink. Thinking on it further, I am becoming increasingly convinced that Peru produces some of the best dishes in the world; with that in mind, I plan on writing a fair bit more about the wonders of lomo saltado, papas a la huancaina, and other treats. However, in the interests of total honesty, I also have to acknowledge the dark side of Peruvian cuisine, the surreal side, the side that dresses up guinea pigs in colorful costumes then roasts them with cheese.
The twisted tale of the Peruvian Guinea Pig Festival begins in a cute, whimsical way. In the small city of Huacho, located north of Lima, somebody came up with the bright idea of holding a regional carnival to honor the cuy, or guinea pig. Now in its third year, the event features contests for fattest, quickest, and best dressed cuy. People from the surrounding communities primp and preen their top animals, preparing them for the race and dressing them in the height of rodent fashion. It is not uncommon to see the animals dressed in bright silks and taffetas, sporting little hats and crowns, and generally looking like a cross between a fur mitten and the infant of Prague.
While the winners of the fastest and best dressed contests are spared from the final competition, the remainder of the cuy become fodder for the greatest test of all, a battle royale that pits woman against woman, village against village, and cuy against cuy: the fight for tastiest guinea pig. Amidst an orgy of stuffing, roasting, skewering and smoking, the women of Peru demonstrate their skill with one of the country's traditional delicacies.
A jar of honey can become a sticky mess. Next time you're adding honey to another dish or a mug of tea, use a honey dipper to prevent a thick gooey layer from spreading.
.jpg)
A few years back, my pal Tom introduced me to the delicious, sweet taste of "Kaba-yaki," broiled eel served with a sweet sauce. As I'm always game to try new things, I scarfed down the piece that he offered me. As soon as I tasted it, I forgot about the fact that the meat came from a slithering, snakelike creature and began to focus on the flavor. It was tender, moist, and perfectly delicious. I was hooked. 
.jpg)
When I was ten or eleven, I read an article in National Geographic World about foraging for food, and it immediately caught my attention. For several months, I made violet syrup, dandelion root "coffee," acorn muffins, and a wide variety of other bizarre concoctions from ingredients that I found in my own backyard. Some of these foods were good and others were horrific, but they taught me a few things about how to survive in the wild, not to mention the underappreciated joys of maple syrup. 
Warning: this post may offend people who like cute little furry guinea pigs.
Chocolate-stuffed bananas on the grill
Tyler Florence welcomes new daughter
Beware kids' menus!
