Bento Box Close Up

I'm occasionally stumped when attempting to present a pleasing bento. Color is important by far, and for me it's the fun part when designing a bento box. The anticipation after buying purple carrots keeps me motivated for sure. The "not fun part" is texture. I have made plenty of bento boxes that are boring, boring, boring and it's not for lack of color, but lack of texture. By texture I mean both visual and touch. This other "bento dimension" is challenging and it's something I'm learning with each attempt. This photo captures a recent bento box that hopefully showcases texture as well as color. Of course, bento boxes are a personal thing, to each his own, as they say and I support every one's creativity. What do you like or dislike about your bento?

Of course TASTE is a priority for me, but what's your opinion or thoughts with regards for bento design and satisfaction? Are you a super artist that easily whips out cute charaben? (I'm envious of these gifted folks) How about practical, no fuss, no muss bento boxes without the Sanrio character? Do you sketch your bento box design beforehand or are you filling each tier "on the fly"? What combinations of food items or accessories make your bento box complete? Is your major focus about health and nutrition?



This box contains Lettuce Wrapped Salmon. It's made with grilled salmon and sliced cucumbers wrapped in green leaf lettuce. The sauce is a combination of kochujang/mayo/honey/sesame. Any fish or meat can be substituted and romaine lettuce lettuce is awesome for wrapping. It's delicious and BONUS... you don't need utensils to eat it.

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.

Back to Bento

Wow, it seems like forever since I packed Saba Man's bento lunch boxes. His first day back to work today so I provided lot's of healthy Omega 3. Salmon and mackerel are accompanying him to the office so if any of his co-workers are reading this; you've had fair warning. Actually, his hours are a little off of "normal" so there's usually no one there to complain about any food smells. He can he eat in solitude... it's his quiet time.

Along with fish, the bento boxes contain brown rice for extra energy. I know, I know... previous posts have said that we are cutting back on carbs; however the open bags of rice won't keep much longer and I don't want to waste. "That's my story and I'm sticking to it".