11/16/2010- Hot soup at Work Bento- also some longer musings

Sometimes I like to have hot soup at work. One of the ways I do it is by making my own asiany rice stick or bean thread soup. Yes, I am aware that you can buy such things premade--just add hot water--really really cheaply. That's not the point.

When I make my own, I can put what I want into it. And it's fresher, less salt, and I just feel pretty smart making something like this up.

Here is what it looks like when I take it to work:
On the left is a small bowl of chopped carrots, dried-sweet Thai radish, a little onion, and snap peas. It has about a tablespoon of shoyu poured over it. The middle bowl has cut-up bean thread noodles, a vegetarian boullion cube, a secret blend of spices, and finely cut dried shiitake mushrooms. The sidecar has tamari almonds. This and an apple is a great lunch for me.

Here's a close-up of the vegetable bowl from the side. I layer it because it's easier, but it also looks pretty.


I keep the vegetables separate because I almost always make up my lunch the night before. This guarantees the noodles don't get over cooked or fall apart.

Then, at lunch, I'll pour hot water over the soup, microwave the vegetables for a little bit, then dump them in (with shoyu) and let it sit until it's cooked.

Here's what it looks like when it's in the process of cooking:
The mushrooms float to the top. And by the time it's cooked, it's cool enough to eat. Very efficient.

So, this isn't exactly a bento, per se, but I wanted to post it because it's a great way to think about hot soup and making your own, homemade equivalents to store-bought things. And that's really the way I roll (my bento-philosophy, if you will).

Forgive me some self-centered introspection, but food is really important to me. Making my own food, from scratch, preparing food for myself and the people I love, is really a part of how I define myself as an adult. Part of how I show care for myself and others is by feeding them, from the labor of my hands.

There have been times in my life previously where I have had difficulty "feeding" myself (both in a literal and a spiritual sense). For me, paying attention to literal feeding also helps the spiritual. That's why I make bentos for myself. In many of the bento blogs I read, mothers make bentos for children, but not for themselves. They use their labor and art to send their children off into the world with a physical representation of a mother's love for her child. When I pack a special lunch for myself, I am doing the same thing for myself. Because I *am* worthy of a unique and attractive lunch.

Of course this doesn't mean I never use convenience foods or eat out or whatever, but I do feel that being mindful of what you eat and what you feed your loved ones, however you would like to define "mindful," is a valuable practice.

And that's why I bento, just in case you were wondering.