a taste of the south: part two

I guess you could say I'm 'half-Southern' since my dad is from Louisiana. I even lived in New Orleans for a while, though I was too young then to remember it now. I think some of that influence inherently crept its way into my tastes.

Today's bento was a bit of comfort food for me. One of my favourite things about food is that there are so often memories attached to certain dishes. In this case, red beans & rice and smoked oysters...

red beans & rice, tangerine
green beans, tomato wedges, smoked oysters, lemon

Red beans & rice always reminds me of visiting my dad's mom, Ma Bliss. For one thing, every time we drove down to visit, we'd stop at a Popeye's not too far from her place and eat fried chicken livers, fried okra and red beans & rice. Back then we didn't have any Popeye's in the Midwest, so it was a treat. (Even now that we have a Popeye's, ours doesn't have livers or okra... boo.) Of course, every visit to Louisiana was sure to include at least one homemade dish of red beans, too!

Smoked oysters evoke fond memories of living in Virginia. I can remember trying them for the first time when I was about eight years old... up til that point I'd only had oysters in my mom's family's traditional Christmas oyster stew (from which I generally discarded the pricey oysters in favour of the milky broth, to be absorbed by handfuls of oyster crackers... but that's a different story, for Christmastime). I found I actually liked the ugly little tidbits. (Yes, I do know they're godawful ugly.) Anyway... still love 'em. And I found out they're a good source of zinc! So every time come down with a cold I have an excuse to eat a can of oysters. :P

One thing I really like about bento-making is the challenge of presentation, which usually ends up producing a more rounded meal. For example, had I not been plagued in conscience about the five-colour rule, I wouldn't have added the tomato wedges to my lunch... which turned out to be a really nice addition. So...

Always try to incorporate at least five colours into your meal! 

Well, it's getting late, and I've got to get up in about seven hours to get ready to head to my favourite place in this silly state: Iowa City. Heads up on a post about the inspiration behind my bentos!

noms ^_^

pre-gaming: summer

Living in Iowa can sometimes... well... suck. When, for example, the temperatures in early April are 20 degrees warmer than in mid May, I can't help but curse the Midwest weather gods. But occasionally they dish out a gift. Today was pretty nice - the second sunny day in a row, upper 60's, albeit a little windy (you can't have everything). And - perfect timing - I had the day off. Of course I spent a good part of it cooking - and even fired up the grill! So even though I didn't make a bento, I decided I'd blog a little out-of-the-box. Everything was a bit too good not to share. :)

black beans w/ orzo, tuna steak, green beans
...perfect with a good ol' can of Miller, by the way ;)

Green beans are, to me, one of the great things about summer. I can remember snapping the ends off freshly picked beans from Grandma's garden when I was a little girl, and to this day the sound and smell of snapping beans reminds me of warm, sunny afternoons. 


My all time favourite green bean 'recipe' is simply sautéing them in bacon drippings (ohhhhh yeah). Today I changed it up with a drizzle of sesame oil, a splash of rice vinegar and a bit of coriander, salt and pepper - then into a veggie basket on the grill. They were the perfect complement to my Major Grey's chutney marinated tuna steaks.


Following the outdoor feast, I walked to the shaved ice stand with my bestie, Mindy (whose blog, by the way, you should check out - she's putting this English major to shame!). It was my first time (awwww) and it was DELICIOUS. Totally worth freezing our butts off walking back home with the sun going down. I have a feeling Tro Sno will become a biweekly habit at least.


As if grilling out and walking to get shaved ice wasn't summery enough, we went to a couple of friends' softball games tonight. Nothing says summer like a ball game! Even if it's in the 50's and super windy and feels more like football weather... ah, like I said. Iowa.


In case you hadn't gathered it by now, I'm a little piggy, and so after the game I was craving a snack. Something summery. Something bright yet comforting. Something like... lemon curd.


I LOVE lemon curd! And once I figured out I could make it at home instead of paying $4 for a jar at the grocery store, I shamelessly succumbed to addiction. If you think it sounds difficult or fancy (as I did not long ago) - prepared to be amazed. And please, please, please try this because IT IS FANTASTIC. :)


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Lemon Curd

4 egg yolks

1/2 C sugar

1/4 C + 1 T lemon juice

(I squeeze my lemon juice fresh; usually this takes about 3 - 4 small cocktail lemons)

for lack of a good written description, here is a picture of that point

Stir together and heat in a double boiler over medium heat until the mixture coats the back of a wooden spoon. At this point I always start thinking to myself, what the heck does 'coat the back of the spoon' mean?? And then I keep stirring and checking and then somehow some kind of kitchen magic starts working and it looks right. 

Remove from the heat and stir in 5 tablespoons of cold, cubed butter and a pinch of kosher salt.

Stir until the butter has completely melted.

At this point, it's up to you whether to call it good or strain it for a smoother texture. I inevitably steal a few bites before straining. :)

<-- Before straining.

It's hard to see in this picture, but...

This is what gets left behind in the strainer. -->

Basically just bits of lemon pulp and egg white.

<-- And this is post-strain, pre-chill. The consistency is quite a bit looser when it's warm; it turns buttery and thick when cooled in the fridge for a couple of hours. Either way, irresistible!

the finished product, on a whole-grain waffle and with a couple of raspberries for garnish

Well - I guess that's that! Bon appetit and, for me, bonne nuit... 

Tomorrow will bring a taste of the South: part two!

noms ^_^

a taste of the south: part one

I'm pretty sure that over the past three weeks everyone (including myself) began to think I forgot how to cook. So it was awesome to bust out my cast iron skillet last night and fry up some salmon cakes! This was one of those recipes that I just knew I had to make. Pretty inexpensive, not too involved, but something different and delicious. And delicious it was! I added some coleslaw on the side and a glass of pinot noir. Excellent dinner.

The salmon cakes and black eyed peas with orzo were really wonderful when piping hot, and they were also really tasty cold for lunch today. I packed up some leftovers in my bento last night after dinner and took it to work with me, which made me feel awesome because 1) I didn't spend any money on lunch and 2) I got back to my bento!

I should've taken pictures of dinner, but at the time I was a little too enthusiastic to chow down... however, I did snap a photo before digging into lunch:

salmon cakes with lemon, the ubiquitous fruit cup
black eyed peas w/ orzo, coleslaw

cheapo bento

Being the absurdly indolent person I am, I sometimes cave to ready-made things. Behold: the rice cake soup 'bento':

...with fruit cup from Panera. the joys of working there. ^_^

Yup. My life is a little lame right now in the kitchen department. The fact that everything in my house is out of place thanks to 'spring cleaning' doesn't help, but I'll be back in the game next week. My Southern bento is still coming! Stay tuned!

noms ^_^

catching up

Apparently it's been 11 days since I last posted... where that time went I honestly have no clue. Sadly it was not spent making bento. There is a bit of bento news to catch up on, however.

But first - I was too lazy to try my nigiri mold (I know, I know... the mold is for lazy people to begin with... that's how abominably lazy I am), but enjoyed the fresh tuna nevertheless:

tekka don and a cali roll

Back to the big news.

Last Thursday, a package arrived at my front door. I assumed it was my My Chemical Romance Sing it for Japan t-shirt, but instead...

all the way from Kyoto :)

Mom's neko bento!!!!! Just in time for Mother's Day! She loved it, of course.

adorable and meaningful - mom once had a cat named Neko

Thursday was also the last day of finals for this semester, and I decided to switch things up a bit with my bento by boxing up leftover falafel fixin's. (Again, laziness comes into play.)

mandarin oranges, falafel, cukes and tomatoes
yoghurt sauce, tortillas

The oranges came out of a can, the falafels were a box mix (eek) and the tortillas were storebought, but I did make the yoghurt sauce myself, and I must say it's delish.

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Yoghurt Sauce

2 C sour cream or plain yoghurt (I used a bit of both here)

1/2 seedless cucumber, chopped fine

1 clove garlic, minced

Dill, to taste (I like lots, so I probably used a tablespoon of dried... fresh would be lovely if available)

Stir it up. Done.

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And with that, I must conclude this poorly written post. I keep telling myself I'll have time and creative energy to craft a brilliant blog, but as of right now, adjusting to the shift from school/working part-time to working full-time and recovering from the Semester of Hell is pretty much sapping my resources. Not to mention that I want to spend whatever free time I get outside, as the weather has finally decided to be gorgeous. Ah, well. Better get to making my rice cake soup for lunch!

noms ^_^

for realz!

Yesterday I had my first real obento!! A great way to celebrate the last day of classes for the semester.

Basically the same combination as Wednesday: rice with sake furikake, 4 gyoza, hard-boiled egg, red pepper strips and snap peas, and a fruit cup (grapes, cantaloupe and honeydew).

I'm looking forward to satisfying and comforting bento lunches next week; nothing gets you through finals week like food! ^_^ I've been using what few spare minutes I've had the past couple of days planning out my meals with Just Bento's weekly meal planner with bento. I have a major weakness for making lists and anything cute like the bento diagram on this workshieet! We'll see how closely I stick to the plan... I know that one day will definitely be a Southern-themed bento (a shout-out to my Louisiana roots).

Tomorrow, since I have 'nothing' to do except write 15 pages of essay, I might have to try out my new nigiri mold and use the lovely piece of sashimi grade tuna I splurged on this week at the grocery store... and, if I'm feeling particularly adventurous (which I usually am) I may even brave spam musubi. Oh my. :)