Bento #110: Chutney and Cheese

Nothing exciting to see here.  Sandwich on Kingdom bread, carrots, apple.

The sandwich innards are chutney and cheese.  Mmm, chutney and cheese.  One of Our favorite combos, to be sure.

We are so overcome by Our love of chutney that We meant to give  you the recipe for the plum chutney, but We cannot find it!  Oops.  So instead, We give you the most common chutney We make for sandwiches: Tomato-Pear chutney.

Tomato-Pear Chutney:

• 2 1/2 cups large chunks of tomatoes
• 2 1/2 cups diced pears.  Diced here means like 1/4" cubes; larger than that and your chutney might be sort of chunky.
• 1/2 cup golden raisins (can use regular, but won't be as attractive in color)
• 1/2 cup green bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 cup chopped onion (We sometimes use more)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup vinegar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon dry ground mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne (this will not make the chutney spicy.  For spicy, use 1/2 to 1 tsp.)
• 1/4 cup pimiento or other similar mild pepper (optional, or can use more bell pepper, etc.)

Put everything in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Simmer 45-60 min, or until fruits and veg are softened and chutney is thickened.  This chutney tends to be a little on the chunkier side.  If using pimiento and using canned, add this in right at the end.  For immediate use, pack in a jar and place in fridge.  If wanting to store, pack in sterile 1/2 pint jars and process. Makes 3-4 1/2 pint jars.

Now you, too, citizens, can make your very own chutney and cheese sandwiches!

Bento #107: Squash Soup

Hello, citizenry!  Here is today's delicious soup-and-a-sandwich lunch!

The soup is a roasted-squash-and-apple type of soup.  It is crazy delicious.  Basically, you get a squash, an onion, some apples, and then you cube everything, throw it in a roasting pan with olive oil and anything else you think will make for delicious, and then you roast it.  Put it in a soup pan with some stock, hit with an immersion blender, season, and call it a delicious day!

On the side is bread with cheese for sopping up every last bit of delicious soup.  Then there are carrots.  Must always have carrots.

Bento #105: Shamewich

Here you see a veggie burger on shame bread, with ketchup, deli mustard, and, if We recall correctly, smoked cheese. Holy crap, that's a lot of processed food! Not a single unprocessed ingredient in there. Yikes. Check it out:

Backing up the shamewich is an apple, celery, and dried apricots. At least the fruit and veg is unprocessed.

We know, We know, that eating lots and lots of processed foods is bad for Us. But dang, those veggie burgers are hella tasty.

Bento #102: TMT on Shame

Here, citizens, is the first part of this lunch: TMT on the end of what appears to be whole wheat shame, carrots, celery, and apple.

And here is the second: yogurt and frozen blueberries.  Well, not frozen anymore.  Ah, delcious yogurt.

Dearest citizens, We are sorry that it has taken Us so long to post more springtime lunches.  What can We say?  We were busy. 

In this semester, We stupidly assigned Ourself way more grading than We could keep up with.  We also went to Vegas to visit the Royal Family, We picked up running again, and We have been trying to nail out this prospectus so Our advisor does not light Us on fire.  All of which is to say, that Our dear little lunchtime parade has been neglected.  But this is good for you, as it means We now have a backlog of lunches to show you.  And this is the first.

Bento #101: Burger Time!

For this post, today We have a delicious burger-based lunch!  Along with the burger, which We will detail shortly, We have the eternal apple and carrots.  The water in Our bottle is cloudy because We have a shameful weakness for the Propel packets of powder that you chuck in a bottle and thus produce sports drink.  However, We put them in a full liter of water instead of the ridiculous 16 oz. they recommend.  That would produce a hideous thick syrup. 

Every now and then, We get a craving for a burger.  However, do We want actual animal product?  Clearly not!  So what is it We are missing?  The device, naturally!  So here is a stunt meat burger--We believe it's one of the Amy's ones, but We are not certain--on shame bread.  Underneath the burger is a nice thin layer of Rhinegeld, one of Our favorite grainy mustards.  On top is cheese that failed to melt, ketchup, and sweet pickled daikon radish.

Now wait a minute, you may say.  Sweet pickled daikon?  Isn't that stuff stinky and thus bad for burgerdom? Yes, dear citizen, it surely is stinky.  And it is also delicious, with a nice bitter/sour/sweet edge that, strangely enough, is perfect against ketchup.  As you will no doubt remember, there is a vast and abiding love of pickled items in the Sneaky Kingdom.  Frankly, if you soak anything in either salt or vinegar or both, We will probably eat it with joy.  And so We do indeed make many of Our own pickles, because honestly, the store thinks the only thing that can be pickled is cucumber.  Fools!

Bento #98: PB&J

We were a bit pressed for time at this point.  Here is an almond butter and jam sandwich on kingdom bread, a banana, and carrots.  There is tea in the cup and honey in the tea from the little bear.

Sometimes, it's hard to get out the door in the morning.  We explain this lunch thusly.

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 #64: P, B, & PB sandwich

This sandwich was great.  It was a peanut-butter, blackberry preserves, and mooshed banana sandwich.  It's excellent.  You should try doing this, seriously.

Bento 62: Mystery Sandwich

Here you see an ordinary bento.  Plum, check.  Baby carrots, check.  Mystery sandwich, check.  Seriously, We have no idea what kind of sandwich this is.  Feel free to guess.

Bento #59: They Taste Good to Her

Okay, so let's dispense with the basics: We have a sandwich of almond butter and blackberry preserves, a few sticks of celery, a hard-boiled egg, some grapes for packing material, and a plum.

Look at it!  Look at it really hard.  Look at the deep, rich, red color.  Look at the beautiful dark, thin skins,  Look at the way that, even in this low-res lunch photo, the juice glistens, a sweet wet promise.  Look at the way the flesh lightens inward where the stone has been removed, an almost solar-eclipse-like effect, making the plum both absence and presence at the same time. 

We bought a huge sack of these plums and ate them all week, letting juice run down Our arms and chin, staining fingers and lips a rich violet red unusual in a plum.  We must tell you, We are a little weak in the knees.  No kidding, W.C.W., these plums were so good that Our desire for them was nearly sexual in its intensity.  Solace of ripe plums, indeed.

Bento #47: Not Quite a Burrito

If We had had tortillas, this would have been a burrito.  This sandwich, on Kingdom bread, is refried beans, tomatoes, and spinach.  Tucked alongside is a carrot and some grapes. 

If you haven't tried putting refried beans on every kind of savory sandwich imaginable, you must do it.  Use it instead of mayo for Enhanced Savory Effects.  It's particularly good if there's sprouts on your sandwich--but We did not have any.

Bento #44: Endless Parade of Sandwiches Continues

And it's green!  Here's an egg-salad sandwich, some celery sticks, some green grapes, and a little green jar of peanut dip.

In the background, there's a teeny thermal jar of coffee and a water bottle.  Both came from the same place--our friend B!  Thanks, B, for supplying our beverage needs--hydration is important in the Kingdom!

Yum; innards.  What's the preferred egg-salad mix in the Kingdom, you ask?  Why, mayo, grainy mustard, and smoked paprika, of course.  With a water-based vegetable element to sort of loosen things up.  Here, We have chosen tomatoes.  Lettuce is good, too. Both is best, but unfortunately, the King rarely has lettuce on hand due to its low nutritional content.  Crunchy water, while delicious, doesn't pay the vitamin bills, it seems.

This is the last sandwich for a while, We promise!  (Trust Us; We're sick of 'em too.)

Bento #43: The Lunch Formerly Known as Sandwich

We plead the 5th.

This once was an egg-salad sandwich on Kingdom-made bread.  It was so beautifully huge it had to be cut in half and then rearranged in order to fit in the bottom of the box.  But We were so very hungry that We ate it all up, om nom nom, before We remembered to take a photo.  Oops!

To compensate, We offer you this photo of fruit salad: mango and blueberry. 

The Kingdom is so excited that it's mango season!  We love mangoes.  Unlike some others, We are not allergic to mango peel, so, after cutting off the big cheeks of flesh, We get the joy of stripping the remaining bits off the skin with Our teeth, and gnawing on the pit until Our teeth are jammed with threads of mango fiber and we are a sticky, fragrant mess.

All Hail the Fragrant King of Summer!

Bento #42: Second Verse, Same as the First!

...a little bit louder and a little bit worse!

You are not mistaken.  That is an almond-butter and blackberry-preserves sandwich you see before you.

You also see a metal shotglass from Epcot's Mission: Space full of blueberries, some celery our friend S did't want, and some peanut dip.  Then there's the Unattractive But Spacious Office Mug full of green tea.

People are consistently amazed that We drink our loose-leaf tea...loose.  As in, "You just put it right in there?'  Well, er, yes.  It sinks right to the bottom--and sometimes, the shortest distance between two points, blah, blah.

Bento #41: PB&J--Or Rather, AB&P

Hooray!  Faithful subjects, rejoice; the King is back at work!

Let Us say that a paycheck cannot come soon enough.  Your Faithful King?  Is broke.  It is a poor Kingdom lately.  An impoverished Kingdom.  A Kingdom of No Bizzles.  The flow has ceased; the lettuce has died; someone has moved Our cheese. 

We thought about petitioning the UN for aid--but then realized that We must lead by example--and fortune helps Those who help Themselves.  Therefore, We are now doing some freelance editing.  Lo, it is tedious.  Lo, it is time-consuming.  But King gotta get paid, son!  So We are now back to packing a lunch.  But be warned: Our lunches will not be extravagant until that flow starts to come in.  Prepare to see Poverty Lunches.

To wit: Exhibit A.  Here is an almond-butter and blackberry preserves sandwich.  Kingdom-made bread.  Alongside, We have half a nectarine, some blueberries, carrot sticks, and a container of the ubiquitous spicy peanut dip. 

You know, We find that so many sandwiches benefit from being made on pre-toasted bread.  A little warmth, a little more stability--brilliant!  It must be said, Our love of toast is undeniable.  Fresh, hot toast, with sweet butter and perhaps a little jam?  Marvelous!  Hot toast points dipped in the yolk of a sunny-side up egg?  Citizenry, take note: this is the way to your King's heart.  And many sandwiches benefit even if the device is not put to its use until several hours later.  For example, it's a rare egg sandwich--fried, egg salad, it's all the same--that isn't better on toast, even hours later.  Even something that relies on crispness in all its aspects--the hallowed BLT, all three of whose letters must be crisp and perfect--will generally keep, if properly toasted and not overburdened with mayo, for at least an hour or two.

However.  We somehow erred in the construction of this particular sandwich.  We have found in past encounters that making a PB&J with toast contains the wet innards, preventing the premature soaking of the bread and the oozing of the vital fluids.  Meanwhile, said fluids generally help the toast retain a freshness, a vitality.  This, however, was not the case here.  The toast somehow dehydrated the inner workings of the sandwich while not actually getting any moister itself, with the result that the sandwich was a bit cumbersome to the teeth.  And what's more, the edges were positively stale.  How?  We are mystified.  Perhaps the fault lies with the preserves, which definitely do not have the soothing wetness of, say, strawberry jam.  It's not the bread--this is the Kingdom's daily, gold-standard whole-wheat bread, moistened with oil and sweetened with molasses--which also have a humectant quality.

Clearly, more research is indicated.

Bento #38: Egg Salad

Aren't you all proud?  Posting a lunch on the same day We ate it!  Many Kudos to Us.

Egg salad on homemade bread, carrots, a little hidden yellow bear w/ a mixture of plain yogurt and salsa to dip the carrots in (surprisingly good.  Try it w/ a jar of salsa and a tub of sour cream sometime if you do not believe Us), and in the back, two of the shameful single-wrap prunes rescued from Our Cousins.  Water in the bottle.

Not a fancy lunch, but hey, beggars can't be choosers--and in this time of sparse bentoing, you should be glad for any lunches at all!  We are. 

Bento #34: Defense Lunch

So this is the sad little "lunch" We packed the day of Our defense.  We were thinking that maybe We would be too nervous to eat anything at all, so We threw the last of the tempeh in a bun and whipped some grapes alongside it.  Then We smashed it down into an old takeout container--hence the somewhat battered look of the sandwich.  What a crappy lunch! 

But We were really, really busy that AM.  We brought two kinds of homemade cookies and coffee to Our defense for Our committee, and We were way more caught up in all the other stuff than of thinking about a perfect lunch that We might not eat anyway.  So We think this shame lunch is OK.  And at least the bread is home-baked--so there's that, anyway.

(And did We eat it, you ask?  Of course We did.  Let's be honest, it takes a lot to put Us off Our feed here in the Sneaky Kingdom.)

Bento 31: Tempeh Sandwich and Salad

Is this the first use of both tiers since We started recording our noms on this blog?  We believe it is! We had a huge evening workout planned, so We made sure to bring enough food to carry Us through.  But We did not want to bring, say, carbohydrates.  So We brought a ton of fruit and veggies!

In this top tier, We have a tempeh sandwich on a homemade bun.  You'll have to trust Us on this--We know you can't see the tempeh, but trust me, it's in there.  It's cut into chunks and then broiled in a Caribbean jerk sauce.  It's one of Our favorite ways to eat tempeh.  Then there's an apple, half a banana, and some grapes.

In the bottom tier, there's a salad of spinach, tomato, and carrot. The little green bird has oil and vinegar. 

As We recall, We ate the sandwich and salad for lunch, and kept the fruit for a midafternoon snack.  It was delicious.  We love to do this sometimes--pack a huge lunch so We have snacks all day long.  It feels self-indulgent and gratifying and tender.  This lunch was an excellent example of that.  Look how awesome We are to Our own self, this lunch says.  Hello, King Asher; King Asher thinks you're great! 

And We are.

Bento #27: The Easter Reign of Eggs Continues!

At least it's prettier this time!  Here We have an Easter-egg-salad sandwich on Kingdom-made bread, with carrot sticks and four adorable l'il strawberries all nestled in together.  We love cute strawberries!

We like to show you the innards of things.  Is that too much?  TMI?  A little too prurient for all those gentle souls out there?  We have to admit, We do not care.  We are far too interested in seeing.  And We want you to see too.  Rawr!

Bento #26: Egg Salad Sandwich

Now, let the parade of lunches begin!  We have a backlog of lunches from the days before the prelims closet that We did not get posted in Our efforts to cram knowledge in Our head.  So We will move through these dull-ish days in a calm and stately manner and then get back to more interesting (read: more time in the Kingdom) lunch opportunities!

Here is a sandwich.  An egg-salad sandwich, as it turns out, because this lunch was made not so very far after Easter, and while we are pretty much an apatheistic Kingdom, We do love dyeing eggs for Easter.  Thus, egg salad.  On the Kingdom's own bread!  Hooray!  Death to the shame bread! 

With carrots and apples.

Oh, and there's a custard donut in the background.  One of the other TAs brought donuts in for some reason, and when We went to the grad computer lounge, someone had left a box of 'em in there, which is Standard Operating Procedure for getting rid of food you no longer want.  It may have been to bribe students for higher teacher reviews--statistics demonstrate that if you feed students during your teacher evalutations, you get more favorable responses.  We no longer remember the rationale, but We do recall the donut.  It was custardelicious.