Bento #106: Everybody's Favorite Lunch

That's right.  It's fried rice. 

This appears to have been a fridge-cleaner.  We see bits of carrot, leftover greens, and--bell pepper?  Peas?  Something else green.

Exciting times in the Kingdom, citizens.

Laziness Roundup #2: Bentos #85-97

Citizens, let's talk lunches.  Here's another slacker roundup--all the lunches since the last roundup, actually.  Again, organized by device for your convenience.

First off, because it is cold outside, the Soup Device:

We believe this is borscht, with sour cream and carrots.  In the back, notice Gary Snyder, a poet who We have a love-hate relationship with.  No nature, indeed--but less in the way you mean it, and more in the way Timothy Morton means it.

This is chili, with what We believe is shame bread and an orange.  Behind Our shame is the Thirsty Bat of tea or something, and behind the orange is the rose bowl of chocolate eyeballs We had on Our desk all Halloween and post-H season.  Hooray bowl of eyeballs!

Here is lentil soup, kingdom bread, and the awesome power of pineapple rings.  Meanwhile, there's a cup of tea from Starbucks with a coffee-cup-protector-warmer-thingy We made on it.  The tea was a disaster.  The obviously-new barista charged Us the  tea-latte price, even after We told her that tea was usually around $2.  She argued that Starbucks only sells tea lattes, not just regular hot tea.  So We had to physically make her turn around and look at the price of tea on the board above her head.  And then she was all, "We don't have black tea."  So what do you have?  "Green, mint, Earl Grey, blah blah blah."  Rather than fight, We took the Earl Grey.  Someone else can see to her education.  We do not mean to be mean--but We were polite at first, and then when she told Us vehemently that We were wrong, We gave up.  The moral: the tea came out too strong and was some sort of super-bitter tea concentrate when We got here, so that We took about a half-cup of tea sludge, cut it with water and honey, and reheated it in Our microwave.  Not shown: the 8 Advil We took over the course of the day while drinking the Tea Disaster.

As an aside, in Our attendance book, you can see all the student absences.  Blue highlights are absent days.  So much missed class!

Next device: Pie!

Here is veggie quiche, with leftover sweet potato hiding behind it.  Just peeking out there on the right is a bottle of water.

And more quiche, with the omnipresent carrots and apples.  Dunno what We'd do w/out carrots and apples.

Next, Crackers and Sandwiches!

Beloved rye crackers, apples and carrots, and hummus.  Woo.

PB& with apples and carrots. Woo.  At least it's kingdom bread.

In case you do not know what the inside of a PB&J looks like.  (We suspect this was so We would remember the sandwich contents.)

Man, We are boring sometimes.  Desk, desk, sandwich, putter.  Gah!  New device, quick, before We are suddenly 75!  Bring on Salads!

Ah.  Salad, yogurt, and apple.  Love yogurt.  We know We bitched and moaned about the 0% stuff--and it is indeed still not as tasty as the other kind--but 2% only comes in pineapple.  We can only eat so much pineapple yogurt.  In fact, We are going to go eat a yogurt right now, while We finish this epic post.

Horrors!  It's back.  And in low-res.  Cottage cheese, frozen peas, tomato, and cucumber.

Some Miscellaneous stuffs:

A baked potato with hard-boiled egg and sour cream, with steamed carrots on the side.  We believe that there is coffee in that Thermos.  Which, don't expect to see it again.  We forgot it for some time, and the incredible funk that was in there meant We just chucked it out.  We felt bad, yes, but some things can't be saved.

This is an amazing stir-fry: cabbage, chickpeas, garlic, popped mustard, turmeric, and cayenne.  Yum!  With brown rice.  And an apple.  And tea.

This was, We believe, the last active class day of the semester, hence Our cobbled-together lunch of instant ramen, apple and peanut butter, carrots, and a donut.  The donut was purloined from the grad lounge, as many people bribe their students for good evals.  Or get good evals b/c people are happier w/ high blood sugar.  Either way, there are a lot of snackies going spare in the department on the last few days.  The ramen?  Was pretty bad.  Sorry, Senor McDougall.  Those noodles were unpleasant. Also, as you can see, I was too busy to wash a proper water bottle, so I'm using a mason jar--which I brought to school w/ breakfast in it, which was about 2 cups of soymilk, 2 cups of coffee, and a couple tablespoons of sugar.  Oh, the health, it practically exuded from my pores.

Later, I also ate Common Room Oreos. 

And finally, your friend and Ours:

What is life without fried rice?  Not worth living, We say.

Hope you enjoyed the roundup, and We'll be back soon w/ more entries.

Fall Roundup: Lunches #65-82

It's been a busy time here in the Kingdom, kids.  Your faithful King has been editing, teaching, grading, running, singing, and just generally trying to keep Her bizniz going.

As the lunch photos stacked up on Our camera, the process of pulling them off became, for some reason, a more and more daunting task.  Each additional photo meant We wanted to do it less.  For some reason, while We love taking the photo and We love posting the photo, the in-between process--the finding the camera cable, the sorting, the tiny bit of editing, etc. became too much.  We despaired.

So finally, in an effort to remedy the problem, We pulled all the photos from the past month and a half.  At once.  Right here.  So, We proudly present you with the Awesome Fall Roundup Extravaganza!

First, the Identical Salad Photos:

This is a delicious salad that We ate frequently while the weather was still hot.  Its basic components are cottage cheese, tomato, cucumber, peas, salt, and pepper.  Delicious and protein-y.

This lunch also had an apple!  So much fiber, so little time.

The gold standard.

Just the peas, please.  We believe that Our fridge was very empty and that We were in a serious hurry that morning.  This is not enough lunch, We know.  Still, better than nothing.

Our friend, M, was having a rough day this day so We walked over to her building and brought her a Diet Coke (which We do not usually drink) and some Combos (which We do not usually eat).  Naughty!  So We finished the Coke with Our lunch.

This lunch, taken at home because transit would surely have shaken up the pretty little pattern, is in a new box the Queen sent Us in the mail!  What a great random gift, Queen!  We love it.  We used it four times in the first week We owned it.  It's a Fit and Fresh sandwich box, with the gel-cool in the lid--but it really comes into its own as a bento box, b/c it's the perfect size.  Hooray!

And now, the Parade of Sandwiches:

Fried egg on Kingdom bread with a banana.  Not very much lunch, but at least it's got protein and whole grains for staying power.

Tofurkey on Shame bread with mayo, mustard, spinach, and tomato.  This was part of Our Vegan-Except-For-Eggs-And-Also-Only-Whole-Grains-Plus-No-Caffeine-But-Tea Cleanse.  It was very effective, and We felt much better about two days into the program.  Sandwich is backed up by apples and carrots.

 The innards!  Gosh, looking at that makes Us hungry.

Just can't get enough stunt meat.  Another Tofurkey on Shame.

We were particularly pleased with this lunch.  The salad is spinach and tomato with a little orange tulip of Newman's Raspberry Vinaigrette.  The sandwich is a fried egg on Kingdom with mayo and mustard.  Then there's an apple.  The cup is green tea--We were at Starbucks, grading.  We were suprised and pleased that the baristas did not get all up ons for Us bringing Our own lunch.

Here is a peanut butter and blackberry preserves on Kingdom, with baby carrots, blueberry yogurt, and a banana.  There is tea in the Santa mug.  Because We are on a serious running training program now, We find that We need food almost constantly or We start to fall down.  So some of the beefier lunches are a result of that.

Now, Rice is Nice!

Ah, rice is nice.  Here's brown rice w/ ebi furikake, tamagoyaki, apple slices, and instant miso soup.  Oh, and a BC Powder, because We had things to do.  And Our head was bad. 

Check out Our not-very-good rolling skillz.  Who cares?  It was delicious.  Check out the Thirsty Bat hovering over the lunch.  Bat want nomz?  Well, too bad!

This lunch was so good it was almost unholy.  Spinach, onion, and tofu stir fry with brown rice and green tea.  Why was this so delicious?  We do not know, but it was one of the most satisfying lunches We had made in a long time.  Bonus: vegan!

Ah, what would the Sneaky Kingdom be without fried rice?  Also, check out Our homemade daikon pickles.  We think We did an okay job.  We will tweak the recipe later.  We also made some righteous pickled garlic, but that is far too pungent for lunch!  It is available only in the Royal Castle, where We will not offend the citizenry with Our Fire Breath of Doom.

Fried Rice and Fried Rice Alone day!

And, the Lunches of Less-Commonly-Used Device:

That's right.  Lentil soup.  Yum!  With a homemade biscuit, apple slices, and coffee candy.

More of the same!  But also with some carrots in there.  We love how the little mushroom guy on the lid of this bowl is so enthusiastic.

This was a weird choice.  We made a squash stuffed with apple slices one day during the Vegan Cleanse.  It was good, but would have been better with butter.  To back it up, there was a hard-boiled egg and some carrots.  This was a little awkward to eat at Our desk, and We got olive oil on Our pants, and then had to teach with Conspicuous Crotch Blots.  The shame!

Okay, there you go, citizens: the King's Fall Lunches.  We hope that you have enjoyed this glut of lunch, you hedonists!  We hope to resume regular posting soon, now that this backlog is no longer hanging over Our head, so please do not think that We have abandoned you!

Bento #30: Another "Oh no, what's for lunch?" Lunch

Oh, where would the Sneaky Kingdom be without fried rice?  Hungry, that's where.  The Ubiquitous Fried Rice, some strawberries, and the interested l'il Learning Walrus that We made when We were learning to make stuffs out of clay.  Learning Walrus would like some noms?  Then who are We to deny him!

Man, We tell you, this was the first day out of the prelims closet, and it was a struggle to get this lunch made.  If fried rice weren't basically as easy as making a sandwich, We would have been screwed. Our royal brain was so completely toast.

But let it be said--it was all in good pursuits.  After all, We passed with distinction, not an easy honor to get.  Our committee said that Our exam and oral defense of it was one of the best they'd ever seen.  They sounded excited about the bits of Our exam that pointed towards Our dissertation ideas, and seemed ready and excited to jump in on that process, which bodes really well for Us finishing Our dis in a year (all the funding Our university is willing to give Us).  Oh, We are so relieved.  So happy.  So grateful to be someone who has the protected little life to let Her think these complicated and fun thoughts. 

Bento #28: Cobbled Together

Man, were We busy that day.  It was 5 days before prelims, and We had to somehow sling together a lunch and rush off to school--gah.  No good.  Stress was very, very high.  Evidence: bringing Our lunch in an old miso container.  Yes, We had not done the dishes in quite some time.  Also note the plastic spoon, for the same reasons. 

Enter a no-brainer lunch: fried rice.  Sweet Jesus.  Meanwhile, one of the the other grad students has a sister who had a Chinese-food-themed birthday party, and he brought a huge box of leftover fortune cookies to school.  Of course, these fortunes were custom-printed and were all about how awesome his sister is, but still, fun to get a cookie to go with Our fried rice.

Hm, does this count as a shame lunch?  Let Us sum up: plastic spoon, weird container, fried rice (not in itself shameful, of course, and yet indicative of a certain je ne sais quoi mais j'ai des soupçons), no sides of fruit or more veggies--not even instant miso or something, scavenged cookie--yes, yes, I think this is officially a shame lunch.

*click!*  Yep, We have now added the shame tag to you, little lunch.

In the background is a Nalgene of tea and the graduate student lounge/computer room.  And Our keys--that's right, keys to the castle, right there.  Such power to be contained in so ordinary an object.

Bento #25: Shocking Mystery Lunch

Aw, a cute l'il lunch, all wrapped up!  What could it possibly be?

That's right.  It's fried rice.  And an apple in the bottom tier.  We don't know if you can see this, but the fried rice is made w/ leftover Easter eggs--so the egg is kind of blue.  Also pictured: Strong Bad.

Bento #18: Yup, you guessed it: the fried rice parade continues!

Oh yes, more fried rice.  Nom nom.  But at least you can see in the lower tier in the back, We've brought a plum, sliced to fit in the box, and two tiny strawberries! 

As a bonus, because We are sure that everyone is tired of watching Us eat fried rice (strangely, We're not yet tired of eating it), here's a bento We made for an amiga.  Here it is, all tied up in its napkin:

We worked out with Our friend M over the lunch hour, and so as to save time for M, who has an Official Office Job, We said We'd pack her a lunch.  So We used a takeout container and packed her some fried rice too!

None shall go hungry in the Sneaky Kingdom!

Bento #17: Can We really have wanted this again?

What could it be?  Here it is, sitting all cutely wrapped up on Our desk...

Bam!  It's fried rice.  How could We want fried rice again after that epic no-dollars fried rice debacle in January, you ask?  Well, We don't know.  But there it is.  It's the same fried rice, except with brown rice instead of white.  And an apple, which We didn't eat right away, but ate as a snack before going to the gym.  And genmaicha.  Evidently, We were so excited to eat our repeat fried rice that We couldn't hold the camera still--all Our photos were blurry (sorry).

Gratuitious close-up fried rice love. P.S.: We put about a teaspoon of fish sauce in this fried rice, making it non-vegetarian.  But, it must be said, extra delicious.

Bento #2: The Kingdom is Bankrupt!

Today we forgot to take a photo of this until we'd eaten half.  This is one of the go-to poverty lunches in our Kingdom.  The beginning of this fiscal year was unstable in the kingdom, so much fried rice was eaten, by royalty and peasantry alike.

Peasant's Fried Rice:

We take a pan and put some canola oil in the bottom--a tablespoon or two.  Then when it's hot we break an egg into the pan and stir like crazy, until the egg is cooked.  We add a bunch of frozen mixed veggies--whatever was cheap at the store (or whatever "fresh" veggies could be found in the scary depths of the Royal Crisper Drawer).  We grate in some ginger, maybe some garlic.  We slice a spring onion and throw the white parts in at this point, but not the green!  Then we add some cold leftover rice, with soy sauce, fish sauce if we're feeling non-vegetarian that day, some sake, maybe some sesame oil.  Whatever's handy.  Then we add in some chopped cilantro, the green bits of the onion, and maybe some garlic chili paste, give it a good stir, and then put it in a box.  Cheap and easy and delicious.

Often, it must be said, the peasants eat their lunches out of common Tupperware--and so does the King. 

You'll also notice that the King sometimes forgets to eat her vitamin at breakfast.  These are also the cheapo nausea-inducing (iron and zinc not buffered for her protection) vitamins.  When the King is richer, she eats fancy vitamins that are OK on an empty stomach, and so if she forgets, she doesn't have to wait until lunch to eat it without barfing.  When the Kingdom is poor, she makes personal sacrifices and so has to wait for a full meal to avoid negative side-effects.  The King sometimes is delicate.

But isn't the King's water bottle pretty?