A stormy Friday means… bento!
I’d planned to buy lunch last Friday, but the weather forecast was for a day of wind, rain and storms. I watched from my window as the day grew darker and at lunch time it looked like it was evening! See the news report and photos from Perth Now.
I’ve mentioned Jac’s love of sandwiches before – I’ve wanted to make Jac a selection of dainty sandwiches for a while now, and Friday morning seemed like a great time to do it!
We hadn’t gone shopping specifically to buy stuff for making sandwiches, so on Thursday evening I went to bed thinking about sandwich filling combinations based on what we had in the fridge (some of you may think it’s not good that I went to bed thinking about what to make for lunch, but I didn’t mind – in fact, since I’ve been doing the bento thing I have been going to bed at night thinking about what I’ll make for lunch the next day. I’d rather dream about bento than work any day!)
On Friday morning I made four different sandwiches for us:
- hard-boiled egg, mayonaise and French mustard, with very thinly sliced cucumber and shredded cos lettuce
- ham, cos lettuce, sliced sour gherkins, mayo and Dijon mustard
- tasty cheddar, sweet pickles and corn relish
- good old Vegemite and cheese (I used Kraft Singles!)
I packed my sandwiches in a small Sandwich Keeper and used a giraffe food pick to hold the first sandwich together, which stabilised the rest of the stack.
I’d boiled three eggs – I used one to make the sandwiches; the other two I sliced in half, seasoned with cracked black pepper and put in our lunch boxes with a little bottle of soy sauce. Before she met me, Jac had never eaten hard-boiled egg with soy sauce. Now she loves it! :) I used a panda headed bottle for Jac’s soy sauce and a panda food pick to keep her sandwiches together. So it seemed fitting to draw a panda on her bento note. :) I packed Jac’s lunch in the big Sandwich Keeper.
I forgot to mention that my younger sister Juji went to Sydney for a week recently. She brought back a present for me – a cute little bento box from the Japan Store. It’s a little small for lunch on its own, but is perfect for holding side dishes, as you can see!
I used my vegetable cutter to make the carrot flowers. They really perked up an otherwise boring selection of vegies. I am so in love with the little animal sauce bottles. They came with a dropper, but I don’t know how easily I’ll be able to wash it, so I poured soy sauce into the little bottles using a funnel I made out of paper. I filled the bottle three-quarters full, and that was a perfect amount for the egg, with a little extra for my cucumber. I think my love for cucumber and soy sauce is a by-product of my love for Hainanese chicken rice.
And before you ask – yes, making carrot flowers created off-cuts. I didn’t throw them away – I put them in a container in the fridge – they’ll make an appearance in a couple of posts soon. :)
My new bento box reminds me of a beetle. I love it!
