Bento Box Fever!

[Henrietta23]

Quote:
Buy in bulk! That's too bad that you have to drive for it. Our local stores have it in their "international" aisle.

Luckily, our local food coop has started carrying sushi rice in the bulk isle, but it always seems to be sold out! I think I am peeved about it right now because I am at the bottom of the bag of my last purchase. I am planning on going into town tomorrow, so I am going to call ahead to the co-op and see if they have it in stock. Thanks for mentioning it!!

I love our food co-op! My pantry is full of glass canisters and plastic storage boxes of all kinds of useful things I can get in bulk there. Bread flour, rice, beans, many other kinds of flour. It's the coolest place!

 

[Backyard Buddies]

Thanks, Ninja, for the recommendation of the Susan Miller-Cavitch books for soap making. They didn't have any of her books in my local library, but the next town over has her Soapmaker's Companion book, so perhaps I'll wander over there and check it out. I had already been reading online about the stick blenders, so I'll be sure to pick one up. What do you use for molds?

As for the Bento Boxes, I have two rather large Japanese stores in my hometown, so perhaps I'll wander through there and see what they have in the way of boxes. I should be able to pick up pretty much any of the other needed items there as well.

 

[ninjapoodles]

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I say, give 'em a "real" camera (we bought Bella a Fisher-Price one when she was three, and she used it for a couple of days and got frustrated at the lack of image quality, so that was a waste of money), and let them just take tons and tons of pictures. I'm also really interested in the way she frames and crops her photos--I do NOT edit her pictures for her; she does it herself! Very particular little so-and-so.

 

[SewingDiva]

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I love raw quail egg on sushi!

~Phyllis

 

[ninjapoodles]

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This blogger has a couple of really in-depth posts about making onigiri, and suggests a substitution if you can't get authentic sushi rice--she suggests Italian Vialone or Arborio rice--the kinds used for making risotto. You just have to "polish" it clean first, just like you would the sushi rice.

 

[menageriemama]

Quote:
This blogger has a couple of really in-depth posts about making onigiri, and suggests a substitution if you can't get authentic sushi rice--she suggests Italian Vialone or Arborio rice--the kinds used for making risotto. You just have to "polish" it clean first, just like you would the sushi rice.

Thanks NP! I have a bag of Arborio rice in the pantry

We are Italian, so we love our risotto. I had no idea that you could substitute it for sushi rice!!!

 

[ninjapoodles]

I actually used brown Arborio rice from our CSA basket to make these onigiri for tomorrow's lunch. Inside, they have sesame-ginger chicken, broccoli, carrots, & shiitake mushrooms with tamari. I didn't polish the rice thoroughly before cooking, because I was cooking a different dish with it for our dinner at the same time, and so it didn't stick as completely as sushi rice. I think if I'd done the "polishing," though, it would have.

Brown Rice Onigiri with Chicken & Vegetables
Sliced Homemade Lime Pickles
Mini-Skewers of Canadian Bacon, Chicken, & Homemade Goat's Milk Mozzarella
Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies & Peanut Butter Sandwich Crackers

Black table grapes & homemade mozz for snack-time

 

[NU CHICKS]

We love Bento Box lunches. Although I'm not as creative with recipes as you all. I came across this web site and wanted to share it. I thought they had some great ideas.

http://www.cookingcute.com/recipes.htm

 

[Henrietta23]

I bookmarked both those sites last week when I was researching onigiri! Lots of great ideas. Sent DS off to school with some today, with shrimp in the middle. I'll let you know what he comes home with for left overs.....

 

[SterlingAcres]

Hey, I can post a bento box! YAY

Ian's box came today.

Toasted Tunafish Salad Sandwiches with lettuce and cheese.
Sliced Green Peppers with Catalina dressing to dunk.
Chicken Flavored Snack Crackers.
Mozzarella String Cheese.
Chocolate Chunks and a sprite in the drink bottle.
Hopefully he EATS it.