Bento #101 was another ‘ordinary’ workday lunch. Or was it?
Top tier
- Deviled (curry) eggs
- Salad of tomato, gherkin, celery stalk, red bell pepper and fresh Italian herbs on a bed of Romaine lettuce and corn salad
- Freshly made lemony houmous
Tier on the right
- Thin wasa crackers
- Cashews with garlic and rosemary
- Puff pastry with goat’s cheese, spinach, chopped pine nuts, honey, chives and thyme on Romaine leaf
- Dried cranberries
Below
- Fruit mix of apple, pear and kiwi in lemon juice
- Plumtomatino on a skewer with a balsamic pickled onion
(I’m so lucky to have received these food picks as a present!)
Does the contents of my bento in any way look or sound familiar to you? Probably not, but there is something special going on…
Bento #101 is a make-over of my very first: Première Bento! Here’s what it looked like.
Much more bland-looking than today’s lunch, isn’t it?
Bento #1 came along on a hike on June 16th, 2007. Yesh, you heard that right: I will be celebrating my 3-year bento anniversary next month! In the years and exactly 100 bentos that have passed, I have obviously learnt to pay more attention to colour. And although my composition may still be somewhat cluttery — that salad doesn’t allow your eyes a rest, does it? — it is not messy. Look at the way I presented my houmous the first time… Different, right?
My arrangement is neater and I’ve put in more veggies. I just think more about packing a balanced meal.
Now I hope you haven’t forgotten that I’m not just comparing bento #101 to #1. I actually took the same box and ingredients I used at the time! Cool idea, isn’t it? Yeah well, it’s not mine…
Bento goddesses Gamene, Sheri, Debra and Susan have been re-inventing their initial bentos in the previous week, to see how their skills have improved. I couldn’t resist doing the same for bento #101; such an appropriate number! I hope I’ll have a similar brilliant brainwave for my upcoming bento-anniversary ;)
Check out the posts that inspired me!
- ‘Before and After’ Bento on Bento Zen (Did you know Gamene won the Japan Society’s Virtual Bento Box Battle?!)
- Before and After Bento Project on Happy Little Bento
- Mini Tuna Burger Bento Redux on hapabento (actually Debra’s 1 year anniversary bento; she’s so much better at it than I am!)
- Chicken Katsu Bento: Past and Present on Hawai’i’s Bento Cookbook
I did not feel like making the same puff pastry dish and egg-filled tomato of bento #1, but really: all original ingredients are there. I just translated cherries (which are not in season at the moment) into ‘fruit’, La vache qui rit into cheese and reshuffled a bit ;) Boy, did I have fun! Although I’m a tiny bit frustrated that I forgot to include my usagi bento box lid in the picture to prove it’s the same box :(
I’ll end today’s post with a little secret. Look at another picture of bento #101 to see how I prevented my houmous from spilling..!
Organic: bell pepper, pickled onions, apple, chickpeas, tahin, honey, plumtomato
6 reacties
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woensdag 5 mei 2010 bij 02:53
Bentobird/Jenn
Haha, I loved bento number one with its luscious textures, would never have thought it was such an early one! I enjoyed the “updated” version, too–you’ve got that same yummy texture thing going on but with a bit more color. A delicious journey!
woensdag 5 mei 2010 bij 04:48
sheri
They are both FANTASTic to me, and I like the alternating crackers effect. Your foods are exotic and filling, and look delish! Congrats on your 3 year bentoversary and your 100th bento! Double celebration for you!
woensdag 5 mei 2010 bij 13:09
Lia Chen
Lovely! Your bentos look so yummy and well prepared. Wow! 3 years … you are my senior in bento making. I am sure you enjoy it so much and hope to see more great bento in the future (^.^)
donderdag 6 mei 2010 bij 02:35
Kuusou
Wow, great make over on your first bento. Of course, your first bento look really good, too!
vrijdag 7 mei 2010 bij 18:40
gamene
gnoe i think both of your bentos are lovely! it is so interesting to see how your mind lets you use the same ingredients differently, right?! i agree with sheri, the alternating crackers are very cool – reminded me almost of shingles or wing feathers.
thanks for linking to my before and after post — glad other people are doing this fun project too! and congrats on your bento-versary :-)
dinsdag 11 mei 2010 bij 16:04
Esme
These boxes look quite appetizing.