Purple Potato Salad Bento Box

Another fun farmer's market find were these purple potatoes. They have black skin and a very deep purple flesh. How cool is that? Anyway... I am very used to preparing Okinawan Sweet Potatoes, (OSP) for bento boxes; steamed or baked then cut up into cute little shapes. These black beauties however, gave me pause. Hmmm... I could give them the same treatment right? Yes, but only by lending their valuable color to the design. No flavor. They taste like regular 'ole potatoes which I would normally embellish with the usual butter, salt or sour cream. Nope, not in the mood, so I decided to make potato salad. It should work... Right? Uh uh. The result was not visually appealing. Sure, it tastes as expected, like I'm on a picnic, but the purple bled into the mayo and created some weird, lavender colored, mystery salad.

I used it anyway, but covered it with some sliced figs. And after all that... I ended up cutting up the leftover bits into cute shapes anyway. Pass me the butter.

Seattle's Pike Place Market

I visited this iconic farmer's market in downtown Seattle, Washington before boarding the ship. Here's one of many photos which will be posted after the announcement of the bento box contest winner.

The Hunt for Red Tomatoes

The rain continued yesterday which put a damper, pun intended, on my trip to purchase tomatoes at the farmer's market. Not only did it rain, but it was so windy it pummeled my owl kite, which I hang on my deck to scare away the squirrels. No matter... the squirrels were undaunted and brave, the cat was not and is probably very relieved.


Okay, back to the tomato quest। I ended up at the grocery store, Central Market to be exact; they have pretty much all my usual bento ingredients and they keep a well stocked, self serve, bakery case. In fact they have so many yummy things I almost forgot the main reason why I decided to leave the comfort of my computer to drive in the pouring, windy rain. TOMATOES!!! And wow, did they have them. Heaps of organic, beautiful tomatoes. Now some of you know that I have a habit of packing Insalata Caprese in my bento boxes. Well, with all these beauties my addiction to this Italian summer salad will surely continue way beyond Labor Day.

Today at the Summer Market

It rained. It rained hard. My plans were teetering on "weather" or not to get wet walking over to the market or staying in, cranking up the PC (now fixed) and watching the sneak peak of "Dexter" Season 4, episode 1. When the rain stopped, I still wasn't convinced that I needed to leave the house until I spied my empty pantry. My eyes went from my computer and back to my large market bag. Sigh...to market I go with Saba Man in tow. Now today's farmer's market is usually a hub of fresh vegetables and baked goods, but most of the vendor's today brought their flowers. Not that I don't like flowers, I love them and so do my cats. But I needed bento items. Yes, I did find some purple carrots, berries and squash, but why was there only one booth with cherry tomatoes? Did the rain keep the usual farmers at bay? Not likely. Perhaps everyone is out of town for the long holiday weekend. Could be. I'll get another chance tomorrow to restock when I visit our neighboring farmer's market. Keeping fingers crossed that the farmers decide to forgo their holiday and sell me some tomatoes.

Hummus is a Great Bento Item

I like adding hummus to bento boxes because 1. protein source and 2. allows many dipping options. By dipping options, I mean carrot sticks, celery, crackers... you get the idea. Featured in these two boxes is the Red Bean Merlot grapeseed oil hummus and the Garbanzo Riesling grapeseed oil hummus. I used to daydream of making my own hummus, but after tasting these, why bother?

Other items in the large square bento box are carrots, lettuce wrapped veggie burgers, insalata caprese, haupia, strawberry and lychee medley. The small box contains yellow carrots (a dipping option), insalata caprese and some olive garnish.

"No, if anyone orders Merlot, I'm leaving. I am NOT drinking any f*****g Merlot!"

That funny line from the movie "Sideways"crept into my mind when I read this hummus label. It's locally made and being sampled, (I love samples, but I digress) at the Farmer's Market yesterday. I savored a small square smeared with this purple-brown goodness and wondered, "Why would anyone have objection to Merlot"? Confession: I've never tasted Merlot. So what's the problem? Confession: I don't drink wine. All right... last confession: I don't drink any alcohol. I'm happy just to be blissfully ignorant and munch this yummy merlot flavored hummus which will be featured in tomorrow's bento box. BTW, I have no affiliation but I have to say all the hummus from Sound Bites tasted delish and I bought a couple different varieties.

Nope, not a Tomato.

It's an eggplant. How cool are these? I don't know the variety and neither did the vendors. They were so beautiful; how could any bento maker resist? They lost their color a bit after cooking but not their taste! Yummy with curry sauce and placed in the square bento box. Along with the eggplant is a 2 egg tamagoyaki, namasu made with those carrots in the photo, figs, saturn peach and those ubiquitous champagne grapes.

Today's Featured Veggies

Quick post to sneak peak the items to be packed for tomorrow's bento lunches. Take a look and see if you can identify some of these wonderful "just picked today" vegetables. Some of them are not what you may think. Hmmm.....

I'll post the answer later with the completed bento box.