My First Bento Box (tm)

[constance]

I had a post all planned, a profound entry about blogging and motherhood and friendship and such, but I got my new Bento Box ^(TM) in the mail yesterday, and it was good, and so today's entry is all about lunch. Which in its way is also profound. Anyway, I will keep that other post in mind for a later date.

First of all, my Bento Box ^(TM)! It's black and shiny, and it has iridescent pink butterflies and waves of golden grass, which is frankly in itself enough to make me happy; but also, it's a miracle of good design, both stackable and nestable. And so I felt compelled to make my first lunch right away, despite the fact that once I wrote out my shopping list and went to the grocery and made the lunch--and friends, I had a most specific lunch in mind--it was going to be, like, midnight or so. But you know those compulsions. Or maybe you don't! And if you don't, how lucky you are!

So I did go to the grocery, and bought most everything on my list, and mastered my compulsion enough to make a couple of substitutions because (1) the seafood counter closed at 8pm and there was no lobster to be had and (2) there were no cherries in the whole store unless I was willing to eat pie filling with a spoon which I was not and (3) I really am not a fan of pudding. And came home and assembled my lunch with reckless abandon, and here it is:

Frances the Badger's lunch, from Bread and Jam for Frances



The next day, when the bell rang for lunch,
Albert said, "What do you have today?"
"Well," said Frances, laying a paper doily on her desk
and setting a tiny vase of violets in the middle of it,
"let me see." She arranged her lunch on the doily.
"I have a thermos bottle with cream of tomato soup," she said.
"And a lobster-salad sandwich on thin slices of white bread.
I have celery, carrot, sticks, and black olives,
and a little cardboard shaker of salt for the celery.
And two plums and a tiny basket of cherries.
And vanilla pudding with chocolate sprinkles
and a spoon to eat it with."
"That's a good lunch, said Albert.
"I think it's nice that there are all different kinds
of lunches and breakfasts and dinners and snacks.
I think eating is nice."
"So do I," said Frances,
and she made the lobster-salad sandwich, the celery,
the carrot sticks, and the olives come out even.

A few more notes:

• No doilies. No violets. I thought briefly about searching them down, but I think I'm going to have enough to explain at lunchtime without the vase and the violets.


• No extra salt. The tiny shaker does appeal, but do I really need extra salt in my diet? No.


• The sandwich is salmon salad with cream cheese and dill, cut out using a tiny apple-shaped cookie cutter.


• The pudding is not pudding at all but vanilla yogurt, with grated semisweet chocolate on top.


• The soup is tomato basil with a dollop of sour cream and grated parmesan cheese. No thermos; I do not own a thermos.


• Two plums is a hell of a lot of fruit. What you see is not even two plums--it wouldn't all fit in the box, and so I had three or four slices tonight for dessert.


• In fact, even with the soup and the yogurt in little four-ounce containers, this is altogether a veritable truckload of food. That Frances, she was a furry little bottomless pit.


• Also, Mrs. Badger must have done nothing but make lunches all the freaking livelong day, because Good Lord. I predict lots of leftovers in my future as a bento-er, or maybe nice little pre-made sushi rolls, because I can't be staying up every night till all hours making my lunch, no matter how satisfyingly purty it is when it's all done, and no matter how much extra time I have on my hands with my internet connection (temporarily) gone away.

Comments

[submarine.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOODNESS I'M SWOONING ALL OVER THE PLACE

[tofty.livejournal.com]

:D:D:D:D:D My lunch makes me so happy that I think there is seriously something wrong with me.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

I remember thinking even as a kid that that was a hell of a lot of food. It's even stranger looking at it as an adult; I mean, I have an active seven-year-old, and her dinner last night was four strawberries, four cherry tomatoes, and half a cup of cottage cheese.

There are a lot of different kind of plums; I wonder if the ones Frances ate were those little tiny green ones that aren't a lot bigger than grapes? And her "basket of cherries" could have been only three or four cherries. One of those tapas- or dim sum-style lunches, just one or two perfect bites of each thing.

I still adore this project, though, and am so happy you posted photos.

[tofty.livejournal.com]

One of those tapas- or dim sum-style lunches, just one or two perfect bites of each thing

I think you're right, actually; even though in all cases there's not really a complete serving size of any one food, I think keeping it to bite-sizes would've been better. I did think of this after putting it all together (apart from the plums, which I didn't know there were plums that size!), but then, everything was already done, and I figured I might as well eat it.

In many ways, this is the best lunch I've ever had. :D

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

How on earth will you follow it up? You've set a pretty high lunch standard for yourself here.

Did everything taste OK?

[tofty.livejournal.com]

Well. Is it the hindu faith which talks about everyone being on earth for one specific purpose, no matter how tiny, and once you achieve your purpose you can be content and coast till you die? That is how I feel. I may never achieve a better lunch, but that's okay: I've achieved that one.

Everything was good! Thank goodness.

[laurelwood.livejournal.com]

It's even more beautiful than I anticipated! And yes, a veritable truckload of food. The sandwiches- so darling! Is it a different box from the one you mentioned before? I somehow got in my head that that one was red.

I mailed you something commemorative yesterday, never imagining that your E-bay source would be so speedy and beat me to the punch. And arrgh- I don't have Bread and Jam for Frances, and when I googled the lunch, my source neglected to mention the thermos of soup, but oh, well. I got the rest right, anyway. /cryptic ;)

It's amazingly time-consuming, isn't it? I'm dying to know what your coworkers think/thought of it!

[tofty.livejournal.com]

Oh! You must not have seen my comment to you the other day! I lost the auction for the red box, because my intenet was down and one of those last-minute bidders swept in and stole it from me. :/ But I found this one; it's not quite as satisfyingly decorative, but it does stack and nest, and really, if I'm going to have trouble eating two trays of food, I'd never have been able to make it through three, so I guess it all works out in the end. (Although they do sell those boxes with the handle carriers new, and I'm eyeing them as well for a splurge, if I really take to this lunch thing permanently.

How are you doing on that front, by the way? Are you still having fun with it? Planning on sticking to it for a while? Because I was thinking that maybe it'd be fun to set up a casual community and post occasional photos. What do you think?

And! Package! Package! :D:D:D:D:D

[aubrem.livejournal.com]

Community! Community!

I probably wouldn't participate yet but I'm thinking I'm going to get bento boxes for all three kids for school lunches next year. I'd participate then. Meanwhile, I'd love to see yours and Laurel's creations and anyone else you can rope in!

(also, I love your icon)

*overdoses on exclamation points!*

[tofty.livejournal.com]

Yay! Kid bento! There are the prettiest boxes imaginable for kids. :):):)

And the more I think about this community idea, the more I like it--I hope lots of people will want to play!

[laurelwood.livejournal.com]

Boo to the last-minute bidder! (How did I miss that comment?) You did get a lovely one, though, and you're probably right about having trouble filling it. Frances might have no problem, but not all of us are furry bottomless pits.

I'm still having a blast with mine, even though it isn't as decorative as yours is. I joined the Mr. Bento community on Flickr so I'd have someone upon whom to inflict my daily pictures, but they're, you know, strangers, plus they don't talk much, so I'd love to have a community amongst ourselves. Sounds like aubrem and amelia_eve might be up for it, too!

It's just so cool that you're interested in all this. My family and friends were making me feel like perhaps I was devoting too much enthusiasm to this. (Although I just got a note from my stepmonster- she's jumping on the bandwagon, too!)

[tofty.livejournal.com]

I'd think anyone fundamentally interested in aesthetics and in food would be interested! Fie on your family and friends, man.

they're, you know, strangers, plus they don't talk much

Yes, exactly! I love looking at people's boxes in various communities and blogs, but for posting my own stuff, especially as a beginner, I'd just be more comfortable with people I know, and I'd rather look at the efforts of people I know as well. :)

[jossish.livejournal.com]

Your lunch is perhaps the most beautiful lunch I have ever seen. And I am dying of bento box envy. So pretty!

[tofty.livejournal.com]

Oh, you need to get one too--you'd look so pretty carrying it around!

[gmth.livejournal.com]

Heh, I see that and all I can think about is Molly Ringwald in The Breakfast Club. ;-)

[tofty.livejournal.com]

*laughs and laughs!*

TOO TRUE. I had totally forgotten that scene! With her tiny bottle of soy!

[aubrem.livejournal.com]

It is a thing of beauty. I hope we get many lunch pics from here on out.

Can we also get a pic showing how it fits together? Where do the round containers go - are they part of the Bento Box?

[tofty.livejournal.com]

Oh! I'll gladly take pictures of how it fits together! I'll try and remember to do it tonight, so that I can post tomorrow morning.

The round containers aren't part of the box, they're just those little disposalble condiment cups. This box isn't airtight like Laurel's, and I didn't fancy spilling tomato soup everywhere when I tripped, which definitely would've happened if I'd had uncontained soup to deal with.

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

Pretty food pictures! And the lovely Bento Box is almost enough to make me wish I wasn't a telecommuter.

[tofty.livejournal.com]

Oh, but I 've heard that telecommuting has its compensations. :) You are living the dream, really.

[amelia-eve.livejournal.com]

This is a thing of beauty. I am eating a half-squashed pear at my desk as I read this, and beginning to think I need a Bento system of my own (as long as it can go flat into my briefcase). Actually, I think it also needs to contain my favorite RubberMaid sandwich boxes that I had to import from Arizona, because I could not find them in New York. I love that the Spanish name on the label calls this box a Sandwichero.

I am all up for a Bento comm.

[tofty.livejournal.com]

Yay, another convert! You know, if you like your sandwich boxes, there's absolutely no need to get something else. I've seen plenty of pictures of bento-style meals packed in Rubbermaid and Tupperware.

Besides, Sandwichero sounds very swashbuckling and glamorous.

[amelia-eve.livejournal.com]

You know, if I ever give up "Merry Pseudonym," I may adopt "Sandwichero" as my alternate user name.

[laurelwood.livejournal.com]

Sandwichero! If there isn't a catchy jingle for that, there certainly should be.

There's one really neat flat system that I know of- it's here: http://www.laptoplunches.com/ It doesn't look as though it holds a lot of food, but I saw one up close once and it's deceptively roomy. Not sure if it'd contain the Sandwichero, though. :) Oh- and while I've got you here, it was indeed more Limpopo music that I found. What a cool group they are!)

[amelia-eve.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, that lunch system is interesting, but somehow to pat and, I dunno, masculine or something. And definitely will not accommodate the Sandwichero, which is pretty much the cornerstone of my food management system. I use them to store almost all leftovers, as they stack easily in the fridge, and make anything into an instant lunch when I shove it in my briefcase of a morning.

I'm half tempted to start haunting eBay to find a good condition version of my childhood favorite, the Mary Poppins Lunch Kit. I will, however, skip the thermos jug full of reconstituted powdered skim milk that Mom always lovingly prepared. (http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Mary-Poppins-Metal-Lunch-Box_W0QQitemZ6268690238QQcategoryZ7270QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting)

[amelia-eve.livejournal.com]

Ugh, my HTML shame at 6:00 am. Sorry about that.

And glad you are digging Limpopo!

[somniesperus.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOSH do you remember the Frances story when her unscrupulous friend got her to change her real beautiful china tea set with pink roses for the crappy plastic set with blue roses???

Also, that is one gorgeous lunchbox.

[tofty.livejournal.com]

♥ I do remember! A Bargain for Frances! ♥♥♥ Frances got back her tea set and her self-respect in the end, though.

[leestone.livejournal.com]

So. excellent. My Cam is a true artisan. ♥ If I had a culinary bone in my body, I'd be all over this project.

Barring bento boxes, however, I am satisfied with my innumerable Zatarain's Red Beans & Rice boxes.

[tofty.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, the true connoisseur (connoiseuse?) will always go for Zatarain's. You have excellent taste in beans-and-rice mixes!