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 #99: Split-Pea and Garlic Cheese Bread

Here We have a delicious soup lunch!  Every now and then, We get a freakishly intense craving for split pea soup.  And no surprise.  It's a delicious, protein-and-fiber heavy, warm food to eat during the sticky-cold FL winters.  So here is a thermos of homemade split pea soup, which We make in the Crock Pot, some of the ubiquitous carrots, and a super-delicious bread that We made when We and Our friends had a Sherlock-viewing party. 

Have you seen Sherlock?  It's this fantastic reboot of the Sherlock Holmes stories, but the gimmick is that it's not set in Victorian London, but modern-day London.  So instead of sending Watson aggravating notes, Sherlock sends him aggravating texts.  Ha!  It's charming.  Watson is the dude that was Arthur Dent in the Hitchhiker reboot, which is very pleasing; We love that actor's attention to body language.  And Holmes is played by--wait for it--Benedict Cumberbatch.  Isn't that the Best Name Ever?  Benedict Cumberbatch.  It's absolutely unreal!  And the dude does indeed do a wonderfully creepy/endearing Holmes, which We think is one of the benefits of the newer Sherlock versions--in the stories, Holmes is an utter jerk. Says the most awful, condescending things, besides being an addictive personality in about four different ways--which alwyas produces charming folks.  It's why House works so well--they demonstrate the jerky side of Holmes and the enabling side of Watson.  The Sherlock plots are new but full of fun easter eggs for people who are well read.

Here's the bread We made for that party: Garlic-Cheese Bread .  It was really, really tasty.

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 #39: Soup and Bread? Madness!

New lunch toy time!  For Our birthday, from Our friend B, we received a cute l'il soup thermos!  Awww.  Adorable!  We love it mucho.  Thanks B!

Because We very much wanted to use Our new toy, We had crock-pot split pea soup for lunch, with some homemade whole-wheat bread.  It was as delicious as you might imagine it to be!

Why, then, was this an exercise in being a crazy person?  Because We live in Sunny FL, and because it was 98 degrees outside where We ate our lunch.

See?  Cute park, nice shrubberies.  Far, far too hot for this meal--espeically as the thermos does in fact do its job, and the soup was nice and warm six hours after it went into the jar.  Ah, the things we do in this Kingdom for lunch.

Bento #14: Lentil Soup in a Mason Jar

Because We do not have one of those fancy soup lunch thermos devices (though We covet it!), We brought our soup to work today in a Mason jar, because it will go in the microwave safely if the metal lid is removed.  We also have a slice of homemade wheat bread, halved, with hummus spread on thinly, apple slices and dates, and a mug of tea.

The soup is crock pot lentil soup, which is absolutely the best way to make lentil soup.  Everything goes all extra delicious in the slow cooker. 

Re: the tea, it is Tazo Zen.  We have a sneaking suspicion it might be something We do not like.  Because last week on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, We had horrible afternoon headaches that forced Us to lie quietly on the couch and avoid thinking heavy thoughts (or indeed, moving at all).  Bad news!  When We thought about what could be occurring, the only new variable We could think of was that the tea bags We bought for the office might be giving Us troubles.  Naturally, everyone We know suggested allergies, but as far as We know, We're not allergic to anything--and We don't have headaches anywhere but the office.  While it's true that the office might have moldier carpet or something, We don't think that's the right answer.  We think it's the tea.  We are considering giving the tea away to someone else who won't be overcome.

Anyone want about ten packets of Potential Headache Tea?