Bento Challenge Week 5: My Report

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Wow, where did the time go? At the beginning of the Challenge, I was a little worried that 5 weeks was a bit too long. But now that it’s over, it was almost too short!

Although I was nominally the leader of this challenge, I learned a lot of things myself. And I’m so happy to see, from the posts in the forum as well as what people have been writing on their blogs, that it’s gotten a lot of people into the bento making habit. All in all, I think it was a great success!

So, to look at the bentos I made this week first:

Day 1 was a bit uninspired, though tasty: leftover and reheated chicken and vegetable stir-fry, rice, and Chinese cabbage that had been massaged with salt (in the same way as this fennel salad [6].)

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Day 2, Tuesday, was better. The very quick chicken skewers [7] were so tasty, and although they are imported, I really enjoyed having asparagus again for the first time in months. This bento is described in more detail as Bento no. 63 [8].

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For Day 3, I assembled a sandwich with the miso marinated eggs [9] I’d made on Sunday, with the middle-stalk parts of the asparagus leftover from Tuesday. Delicious!

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On Day 4, I made a vegan bento with mochi-tofu (yes I need to post this recipe!), a simple stir-fry, more of that Chinese cabbage (it lasts for a few days), and rice mixed with frozen green peas and carrot bits.

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And on Day 5, I finished up my week and the Challenge with some of my favorite things: shrimp tatsuta-age (I’ll post this recipe soon), miso egg, orange juice carrots [10], asparagus again. And rice with homemade gomashio [11].

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Some things I learned from the Challenge

• As much as I preach the important of organization to everyone else, I need to get a lot more organized myself! It didn’t help that we are packing up the house for moving, but when I am settled in my next house I will be streamlining not only my bento gear, but my kitchen equipment as a whole too.
• Making a proper sandwich actually takes almost as much time as assembling a simple rice + 1 protein + 1 vegetable bento, and vice versa, for me anyway.
• Rice or whole grains really make me feel better, compared to pasta or bread. Pasta for bento makes me a bit sleepy. (I need to ponder this a bit more…)
• I am inspired every day by the bentos posted in the flickr pool [12] and on the , as well the comments advice and recipes!

How was Week 5, and the Challenge in general, for you? Share your thoughts in the forum [13].