hypothermya
Spring Picnic Bento
This was entered in the Bento&Co/JustBento/French Bento Spring Bento Contest.
All entries here: www.flickr.com/photos/tbky/sets/72157623603015334/
This entry here: www.flickr.com/photos/tbky/4471522191/
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I'm very honored and happy that this bento made the top fifteen finalists and the top ten contest winners. Thank you to everyone who participated in the voting and the contest itself.
There were several challenges I had to deal with while making it:
It was one of the first big cooking projects I'd taken on since breaking my right wrist a few months ago. I still couldn't quite lift and drain pots of water on my own. There were a few tasks in the kitchen where I simply had to wait and ask for help from my sister or boyfriend.
On top of it, we'd had car trouble all week long. My radiator had split in two earlier in the week; then the repair shop didn't replace it even thought they'd told me it was replaced, and they let me drive out of the shop with a still-broken radiator, which meant I had to have it towed back to the shop and had to have it spend another two days in the shop. And the night before I made this bento, my boyfriend's truck broke down. As a result, most of the grocery shopping for this bento happened the morning it was being made, and this caused me to fall behind schedule in the kitchen. By the time I was finished, everyone was very hungry and ready to eat. Because of that, I just didn't have time to work on small details that I would have wanted to work on.
But despite all of that, I'm happy with the bento that I made -- and I was really happy that my family liked it so much, and that my sister enjoyed her birthday lunch.
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Entry details:
In my area, summers are dry and golden-brown; our winters are wet and gray. This last winter was more dramatic than usual -- every time we thought there would be a turn in the weather, the clouds descended from the mountains, bringing more rain to slog through and more cold air to chill us. When the first days of spring weather came back, the difference was noticeable -- the sun spilled out from the sky onto the trees and tender, young grass.
Shortly after that first day of spring weather, it was my little sister's birthday. To celebrate her birthday and to remind us that we have a brief few weeks of green grasses and blossoming trees, I offered to make a picnic bento for my family. My goal was to provide a vibrant and colorful spread, which was both healthy and flavorful. Additionally, I tried to include as many organic, fair trade, and local ingredients as I could, since my family (and my sister especially) places a lot of importance on being conscious of our planet and our health.
This picnic bento served four people and included the following:
-Ginger-lemon-soy chicken
-Steamed broccolini, sprinkled with red pepper flakes
-Watercress salad, valencia oranges, oven-roasted golden beets, avocado, and a home-made orange-shallot balsamic vinegar dressing
-Plum-blossom shaped onigiri, made from a mixture of purple jasmine rice and short-grain glutinous white rice. Each onigiri had a plum-blossom shaped golden beet pressed into its center, was sprinkled with black sesame, and was wrapped in a shiso leaf.
-Fruit cups with fresh raspberries and blackberries
Spring Picnic Bento
This was entered in the Bento&Co/JustBento/French Bento Spring Bento Contest.
All entries here: www.flickr.com/photos/tbky/sets/72157623603015334/
This entry here: www.flickr.com/photos/tbky/4471522191/
-------------
I'm very honored and happy that this bento made the top fifteen finalists and the top ten contest winners. Thank you to everyone who participated in the voting and the contest itself.
There were several challenges I had to deal with while making it:
It was one of the first big cooking projects I'd taken on since breaking my right wrist a few months ago. I still couldn't quite lift and drain pots of water on my own. There were a few tasks in the kitchen where I simply had to wait and ask for help from my sister or boyfriend.
On top of it, we'd had car trouble all week long. My radiator had split in two earlier in the week; then the repair shop didn't replace it even thought they'd told me it was replaced, and they let me drive out of the shop with a still-broken radiator, which meant I had to have it towed back to the shop and had to have it spend another two days in the shop. And the night before I made this bento, my boyfriend's truck broke down. As a result, most of the grocery shopping for this bento happened the morning it was being made, and this caused me to fall behind schedule in the kitchen. By the time I was finished, everyone was very hungry and ready to eat. Because of that, I just didn't have time to work on small details that I would have wanted to work on.
But despite all of that, I'm happy with the bento that I made -- and I was really happy that my family liked it so much, and that my sister enjoyed her birthday lunch.
--------------
Entry details:
In my area, summers are dry and golden-brown; our winters are wet and gray. This last winter was more dramatic than usual -- every time we thought there would be a turn in the weather, the clouds descended from the mountains, bringing more rain to slog through and more cold air to chill us. When the first days of spring weather came back, the difference was noticeable -- the sun spilled out from the sky onto the trees and tender, young grass.
Shortly after that first day of spring weather, it was my little sister's birthday. To celebrate her birthday and to remind us that we have a brief few weeks of green grasses and blossoming trees, I offered to make a picnic bento for my family. My goal was to provide a vibrant and colorful spread, which was both healthy and flavorful. Additionally, I tried to include as many organic, fair trade, and local ingredients as I could, since my family (and my sister especially) places a lot of importance on being conscious of our planet and our health.
This picnic bento served four people and included the following:
-Ginger-lemon-soy chicken
-Steamed broccolini, sprinkled with red pepper flakes
-Watercress salad, valencia oranges, oven-roasted golden beets, avocado, and a home-made orange-shallot balsamic vinegar dressing
-Plum-blossom shaped onigiri, made from a mixture of purple jasmine rice and short-grain glutinous white rice. Each onigiri had a plum-blossom shaped golden beet pressed into its center, was sprinkled with black sesame, and was wrapped in a shiso leaf.
-Fruit cups with fresh raspberries and blackberries