Miso Chicken in a Gorgeous Bento Box

I have oodles of stuff to post today! For starters, I submitted my Dharma van bento to KITV just before I went to bed on Wednesday night and they actually did play it on the news the next morning, woo!

Next, I’ve got a product review of what is arguably the most beautiful bento box I now own, the 2-Tier Lacquered Cedar bento box from Life Without Plastic.

I made miso chicken just for the use of this box because I wanted something that would do the box justice. Somehow the leftover lasagna and pizza from Pizza Hut we ate last night didn’t seem up to the job, haha!

The first thing I noticed about this box, which was packaged very nicely by the way, was the smell. The aroma of the cedar wood was a heavenly smell to greet me when I opened it up. After the romance of that wore off I began to worry that the smell would go into the food, but after washing the box, the smell was barely noticeable. I lined the bottom of the box with plastic wrap as I’d read online that the Japanese do this with wooden boxes. The box is coated with urushi though, so I’m not sure it’s necessary to do so. Obviously I just wanted to feel all cool and trendy.

The box, while very pricey, should be looked at as an investment. This box is sure to keep for generations with the proper care. If you’re not like me and have an obsessive compulsion to buy oodles of bento boxes and only really need one, definitely take this one into consideration.

As I mentioned, the box has two layers. The top layer comes with a removable wood separator, which is basically a separate T shaped piece that you can add to either layer. It works great for keeping pickles and fruits apart. In my top layer I put sliced takuan (pickled daikon) and some cucumber kim chee. Next to that is a strawberry, three slices of mandarin orange, and a small piece of parsley for garnish.

In the main section I have steamed broccoli, sliced miso chicken breast that I marinated last night in a ready-made marinade and pan fried in olive oil this morning, and an ume. In my bottom layer I have some shrimp and cucumber sushi, something that I made for our Easter luncheon. I made a smaller, fresh batch this morning with the leftover sushi vinegar mixture and some rice I cooked. The inside is chopped shrimp and cucumber mixed with mayo. Very yummy, though I think I used too much rice! I wrapped the box in a cute brown furoshiki that Erika gave me after she came back from Japan. I’m really looking forward to lunchtime today!

I had drawn another winner for the Stainless Steel bento box before, but got no reply. *hmph* I removed her name from the list and drew another random number from 185 names and came up with……

Christine pledges to replace her drinking bottles with stainless steel ones. Congrats girl! I hope you reply to my email… I’ll be so sad if you don’t.

In other exciting news, LiveJournal contacted me asking for permission to use my Miss Octopus bento in their 10 year Anniversary Anthology. They’ll review all approved submissions and decide who makes it into the book and who becomes honorable mentions. Miss Octopus may be immortalized in print! Cross your fingers for us!

**SURVIVOR SPOILERS AHEAD**

I am livid over what happened last night. Seriously, I was so mad that I texted Jenn as soon as I got home and we exchanged a series of “Coach SUX!!!” type texts for a bit before muttering ourselves to sleep. Brendan, you idiot. You don’t announce you have the idol and then NOT play it just in case. Now all us Survivor fans have to endure that stupid Dragon Slayer grin. AUGH!!!