041 - Reds

We had recently moved our offices and I am still adjusting to waking up earlier. My drive used to be 4 minutes... now, it's 20 minutes at least! The earlier wake-up is making me tired earlier, thus making me less inspired to make anything crazy for dinner and pack a cool looking lunch. I still try to stick to bringing lunch to: 1. save money and 2. eat healthier (vs. fast food and such). My go-to recipe when I feel lazy is pasta, specifically linguini with homemade spaghetti sauce. =) Here she is, all packed for lunch with a side of organic baby carrots.

037 - Chick on the fly

The bf's eye is finally healing and he can see clearer each day. It has been almost two weeks since the surgery, and he should be close to 80% in another two weeks. In the meantime, I have been playing nurse/housekeeper/chef/lawn doctor/gf... *whew* With all the beautiful weather, we've been golf junkies at the local course. Good thing that we can always count on whole rotisserie chicken! I had mine over spring mix salad with some organic carrot sticks for dinner (bf had it over rice). Bento? An instant replay with jasmine rice.

I have been slacking with my posts mainly because I have just been throwing leftovers into random tupperware. It was not arranged nicely and too embarrassing to post. =\

a rotisserie chicken leg and some breast; jasmine rice with
furikake; organic carrot sticks, D'Anjou pear

30 to 36 - Playing Catch-up

I am alive! *whew* It has been a crazy two weeks here in the House of Tsang... haha, get it? (It's a brand of sauce... and my name...) I am seven bento posts behind and feel so guilty for not posting even though I have been browsing other fellow bento-ees. Before I start the massive food post, below is part of the reason I have been MIA (besides my long weekend trip to NYC last week)...

The boyfriend woke up on Monday morning with spots in is eye and by nighttime is missing half his vision in his right eye. By the time he made the appointment for Tuesday morning, he had lost about two-thirds of his vision from the top down. Scary! The doctor determined his retina somehow detached and he had emergency surgery to re-attach it. I know this is not necessarily food talk, but I have been taking care of him (in his patched state, see pic) and am quite exhausted. His vision is coming back slowly, but it'll still take some time to heal completely.

And without further delay, here are my bento's!

I forgot where I found this recipe, but it is labeled "Grandma's Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup" and is the best soup ever! The recipe will be posted on another day as this post is probably longer than an average person's attention span... =\

#30 left: homemade chicken noodle soup
right: organic carrot sticks, cantelope

#31 beef & mushroom melt (to be sandwiched between a
whole wheat english muffin), grape tomatoes, cantelope

Chicken Marsala is one of my bf's comfort foods, so that is what he got on a rainy dreary Rochester day. There is something about mushrooms sauteed in butter that just makes me drool. <=D

#32 bottom tier: chicken marsala with linguini
top tier: organic carrot sticks, dried wild blueberries, garlic/herb swiss, grape tomatoes

#33 sauteed chicken and potatoes with arugala, organic carrot sticks

I got dragged out to shop on a Monday after work to hunt for suits at S&K's crazy two-for-one sale. After traveling to two malls and trying on about 7 suits (the bf, not I), we bought a nice any occasion black suit and a gray pin-striped suit. He looked good.. *wink*. =) It was late, so I convinced him to eat at Biaggi's (an italian style restaurant). We started with Mussels Pomodoro, as always, and lapped up every last bit of the white-wine butter sauce with bread. Just thinking about the sauce is making my mouth water! After polishing that and the bread basket off (we were hungry!), we barely touched our dinners. Got to love leftovers *smiles*

#34 baked penne with prosciutto and shrimp, organic carrot sticks, cucumbers

#35 fruit bento, courtesy of a get-well "Edible" fruit blossom arrangements. They arrange
fruit like a flower bouquet and it was such a nice surprise! Here is the bouquet:
*big cheesy grin*

#36 pineapple fried rice (w/ shrimp and pork), shanghai bok choy sauteed with garlic

27 & 28 - snow, snow, melt away...

*yawn* Moving the clocks ahead one hour last night has completely thrown my schedule off today. I woke up later than normal because of the lost hour, and I feel tired already even though it isn't that late! It is probably just all in my head, but I'm sticking to my story... for now. We went to watch 10,000BC today and it was one of the better movies that I've watched recently. Without giving any spoilers, I have to say that parts of the movie are neither geographically or historically correct BUT there is not a dull moment in the movie.

The first picture below was actually Friday's bento that I forgot to post on Thursday night. Most of the contents were just in the fridge, so they were neatly arranged as my snack/veggie tier. The cole slaw is the second last bit of my batch earlier in the week (made with a bit of wasabi mayo, salt, black pepper, white pepper, lime juice). One of my coworkers commented that the pastrami wrap looked like sushi from the way it was displayed. haha... it does, doesn't it? It must be subliminal, but I craved sushi after work and we went out for dinner to cure my craving. YUM!

top tier: seedless red grapes, organic carrot sticks, happy cow swiss, dried wild blueberries bottom tier: cole slaw, pastrami & swiss cheese wrap (1/2 spinach tortilla wrap)

This is my bento for tomorrow! I made tuna salad on Saturday with: 1 can chunk light tuna in water (drained), celery, carrot, wasabi mayo, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder. I think I am addicted to the wasabi mayo... that little kick is just so good! Ended up using only half for my lunch wrap on Saturday, so here is the other half for lunch. I will be spreading it on the 1/2 tortilla wrap with some swiss cheese slices on top, then throwing it in the toaster oven for a minute to melt the cheese and toast the wrap just slightly. Oh, my company has a break room that has both a microwave and toaster oven that comes in mighty handy! I tried this on Saturday and it was so good. It's a nice alternative to the typical cold wrap, especially on these cold days. By the way, we got hit with a foot of snow yesterday. I opened the garage door this morning to find 1.5 feet of snow banked against the door! =O The bf shoveled while I made dinner... he's so good.

clockwise: 1/2 spinach tortilla wrap (in saran wrap), cucumbers, tuna salad,
red bell pepper, dried wild blueberries, granny smith apple, swiss cheese

026 - getting creative with my beta-carotene

As I was peeling the carrot, my lightbulb went off as I looked at the peeler. Instead of the same old boring carrot sticks, I peeled thin carrot strips and rolled several to create my spirals. To secure them and keep from unraveling, I put a single wooden toothpick through the three carrot twists. The corn chowder is not the traditional type of chowder recipe. I sauteed some onion and minced garlic, threw in one can of sweet whole kernel corn, one can of creamed corn, and a half can of water. When the mix came to a boil, I added salt, black pepper, white pepper and stirred in two beaten eggs. Simple soup/chowder that is full of nutritional value. =)

Oh! Before I forgot (sorry yvo), here's a link to the grocery totes on Amazon. They look a LOT nicer than the pictures show, and the plastic bottom insert helps keep the bag from sagging when full. I used it for the first time this past Monday and loved it!!!

http://www.amazon.com/Reusable-Grocery-Assorted-Colors-Printed/dp/B000XSEZFU/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=miscellaneous&qid=1204737098&sr=8-1

top tier: seedless red grapes, green bell pepper, organic carrot spirals
bottom tier: chicken, carrot and bell pepper fried rice
side box: corn chowder

23 - cleaning out the fridge

Well, it's a good thing I made a decent sized batch of baked penne last night! Had a late meeting tonight, so I didn't make dinner. The bf made some chicken and rotini pasta dish for himself, but I will leave that for him for dinner tomorrow night (my bowling league night). I had a wee bit of baked penne left from last night, so it just took some veggie fillers to finish off tomorrow's lunch bento. =) Our weekly lunch meeting has been cancelled until we move into our new office in about one month, so I will most likely have bento's every day unless I have a lunch date with the girls. This lunch is the last of my rasberries... it's ok, they weren't really in season. The only time I had out-of-this-world rasberries was when I picked them myself! There's an apple/berry farm about 25 minutes from my home that we went to last year. It took me about 2 hours to pick two pints worth (I was very picky!... might also be the pick two, eat one that slowed me down...), but they were SO GOOD! I have to remember to go again this coming season.

By the way... I got my reusable grocery shopping totes!!! The pictures on Amazon does not do them justice... they look so much better in person! Super excited to use them on my next grocery restock, which probably will not be until Sunday since I am going away this weekend. Two more days until I'm in Virginia visiting my college girlfriend/drunken partner! =D Oh oh, can't wait. *smiles*

top tier: plain cole slaw mix, organic carrot sticks
bottom tier: more leftover baked penne, steamed broccoli
snack box: rasberries, seedless red grapes, thai peanut sauce (for cole slaw & carrots)

21 - primavera

The work week started off slow due to server technical difficulties. We are moving to a new office in about a month and everything is getting moved to a new server... but things didn't go all too smooth with the transition. During our downtime today, my food-lover side came out and I was inspired to try a new recipe. First thing that came to mind was... SEAFOOD! The bf is a true asian... meat and rice, that is all he asks for. But I was drooling over something other than chicken or beef... shrimp it is! I went to the market after work to pick up some fresh shrimp and other groceries for the week.

Oh oh, before I forgot this... I can't wait until the end of this week! I ordered a set of five reusable grocery shopping totes from Amazon. They come in five different colors, plus a thermal hot/cold tote as a free gift!!! I felt kind of guilty for not buying them sooner, so I tried to buy only the absolute necessities until they come in. =D

For dinner/lunch, I know I had some coconut milk and broccoli at home. Do I smell primavera? *smiles* A little bit of onion, carrots, broccoli, shrimp, and coconut milk with a hint of lime over fresh spaghetti. I didn't follow a recipe, but I kind of wish I did. The outcome was good, but I wish I had a recipe nearby just for reference on spices and such. I need to remember that for next time.

I leave you with a pic of the world's cutest kittens...

Nimmie & Nikkie
darn that flash! pardon the scary glowing eyes, they are very cute!

lunch: shrimp primavera with coconut lime sauce
snack: organic carrot sticks, rasberries