2/7/2011- green noodles bento

Actually, the stuff in the noodles is green. The noodles are white rice noodles. I am super-pleased with how this bento came out. Not particularly decorated, but definitely a real "bento's" bento. Lots of colors, lots of little things, and an asiany main dish.

I started with the leftovers from dinner: rice noodles with baby bok choy, edamame, shiitake and white mushrooms, turnips, onions, cashews, garlic, celery--a pretty simple south-east-asian-type stir fry.

Then I had to hunt around to fill the other tier. I decided that I wanted a big portion of stir-fry, so that went in the larger top tier. HB and I chipped up and shoveled the HUGE amount of ice that was in the driveway yesterday. Yuck. So today, something substantial and protein-rich for my aching body.

Contents of bento: Asainy stir fry on right, local awesome cheese in the yellow silicon cup, a dried cranberry, some pecans, sugar snap peas, and a whole row of baby tomatoes.

But what to go in the other spots?

Some clementine segments and a spicy fake chikin wing-a-ling with a carrot heart. awww. I also put in a flower pick to eat the tomatoes with--I think it sort of looks like a flower with a sugar snap pea leaf/stem.

Everything was delicious at room temperature, even though I made this bento last night after dinner and it spent the night in the refrigerator. I was thinking about it: my bentos are made usually 15-20 hours before I eat them, not exactly the fresh experience that someone would get from a bento made at 7am and eaten at noon.

What do I lose by making them ahead? Probably some textural things. My noodles were a little dried out, not bad. The wing-a-ling's breading was also not crispy. It wasn't mooshy either, but the texture was a little diminished. My carrots and cheese were also a little dried out, again, not badly so.

For me, however, what I gain by making them ahead more than makes up for these minor losses. I can make them the night before, thereby streamlining my morning. I can also put leftovers directly into my bento box, saving an intermediate dish. My food only gets heated once, rather than twice (if one were packing leftovers). And I can also cool everything down all the way before refrigerating--which means I don't have to worry too much about food safety.

If I had to make a bento lunch in the traditional, morning-of, Japanese style, I think I wouldn't. I think that bentos, certain kinds of bentos particularly, can be very successfully made the night before. If anyone out there (does any one read my blog? oh well, maybe someday some one will...:D) thinks that bento-ing is not for them because they are not a morning person, it's just not true. :D