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

024 - my bf can cook!

Yikes, i am so behind with my postings! Last week was a mix of frustration at work and excitement for my short weekend trip. I had these pictures of bento lunches on my camera, but no time or patience to post them. My trip to Virginia was short but definitely sweet. It was planned nearly two months ago to rendez-vous with my best friend from college (a.k.a. drinking buddy). We hadn't seen each other since our trip to Ireland almost two years ago! There was a lot of catching up, a lot of eating, a lot of drinking, and a lot of laughing. It's quite funny because no matter how long it has been since we've seen each other, it seems like just yesterday and there is zero awkwardness. I love our relationship! =) Saturday night was spent at an Irish pub (we are trying to relive our trip) for dinner and a looooong night consisting of Guinness (the best beer ever)in all possible combinations. Guinness straight up... baby Guinness (Bailey's floated on Khalua shot)... Irish car bombs (Bailey's shot dropped in Guinness)... <=) I don't do this often, honest! Now... back to reality... This was yesterday's lunch, which was made by my truly! He had made a huge batch of his famous homemade meatsauce to last through the weekend. I absolutely LOVE his sauce, more so than my own. Yum-mo!

lunch box: penne with homemade meatsauce
side box: cole slaw with wasabi mayo

by the way, my valentines day rose lasted until yesterday!!! this is it on its last leg...

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)

22 - Breaking habits

Do you sometimes find that you fall into a food rut? I don't mean bad food by any means, but I mean when you keep falling back on the "safety" foods. It wasn't obvious until I realized I couldn't stop craving things left and right. Ack! In an attempt to "freshen" things up a bit, our goal this week is to think outside the box. A quick inventory of the fridge found some sweet italian sausage, hot italian sausage, bell peppers, and shredded sharp cheddar cheese. The light bulb goes off... baked penne! I sauteed the sausage, peppers, and sliced baby bella mushrooms with some white wine, cilantro, sundried tomatoes and a bit of tomato sauce. This was tossed with cooked penne, layered with some shredded cheddar and baked until cheese melted. Yumm! The only thing I would change next time is eliminate the sundried tomato and use less hot sausage. =)

sausage, pepper and mushroom baked penne, plain cole slaw, thai peanut sauce

snack: rasberries and seedless red grapes

organic carrot sticks (not shown)