The Naked Truth: the salacious secrets of Bento presentation

Hello Ladies, Gentlemen, Dames, and Dollfaces everywhere!

Now, to me, it’s part of the human animal to read into everything – and I mean everything, for some hidden meaning. We’ll analyze an offhand comment or an email to death, or agonize over an outfit, wondering what something ‘really means’.

It’s an obsession. An unhealthy, totally fruitless endeavour, undertaken in the hopes of seeing what we want, and reading past what we don’t. And I, my dears, am here to thoroughly enable this addiction.

Whether you’re a plain-jane, a sensible-sally,  or a cutesy- chloe with your bento box, there’s more to the way you dress it up and take it out than what meets the eye.

 Plain-Jane

(credit: Freeimagefinder.com)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I don’t want to shock anyone, but in my experience, Plain-Janes tend to actually be Plain-Johns. Usually, these bento boxes are filled with left-overs slopped in from the night before, with little care in terms of arrangement, health, or portion sizes. With Plain-Janes, let’s just say it’s a wonder there’s a bento at all. Now, let’s be honest – everyone has been Jane at one point or another, rushing around in the morning after a whirlwind night, trying to put something – anything, really – together. So let’s not knock the girl (or boy), for a less than stellar arrangement, but give them a hand for attempting it instead. Bento can be daunting!

Slightly scatterbrained, Plain-Janes are not what their name describes – in fact, generally, they’re anything but. Partying, playing sports, participating in volunteer activities, pursuing their dreams – Jane’s enthusiasm is shown in her (or his) love of life – not left-overs. Their adventurous personalities and driven nature might mean their bentos tend to leave a lot to be desired, but in all other things, Plain-Janes tend to be powerhouse players, willing to go to the edge.

Sensible-Sally

(Credit: Justbento.com)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Folks, this girl is busy. She is too busy for your nonsense, too busy for your chit-chat, and certainly too busy to spend an additional half hour cutting rabbit ears into apple slices or specially molding Onigiri (rice balls) and punching faces into nori for her lunch. This doesn’t mean that Sally doesn’t care – or that she doesn’t like nice things.  Sensible-Sally Bentos are still remarkably healthy, colourful, and portioned, with a few easy embellishments to set off the delicious meal manufactured by her.

A Sensible-Sally is the Katherine Hepburn of the Bento world,  snappy, bright, and sassy, without being overdone, because this girl works hard, and plays hard, and doesn’t need you to approve of her capability or her choices. Especially not when it comes to her lunch. You could take her on, if you felt brave enough, but with this girl, it’s best to have her as a friend, rather than an enemy.

Dependable, capable, snarky and smart, she’s no show-off, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t shine.

Cutesy-Chloe

( credit: http://www.aibento.com)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where you looking for Audrey Hepburn? Well, you’ve found her. Adorable, polished, and charming, Cutesy-chloe’s take joy in the whimsical side of life – and it shows in their Bentos. From Hello-kitty Onigiri, panda food-picks, and flower-shaped food-cutters, this is a girl who goes all out. Whether on bento or a birthday party, this girl is devoted – some might even say a little obsessed. But, she’s got energy to burn, and is easily bored, so time-consuming, detailed tasks keep her mind sharp and her hands busy. Cutesy-Chloes are, more to the point, creative chloes. They love composing their bento so it looks just right – everything beautiful and appealing.

And, maybe, just maybe, they’re a little bit ‘look at me!’, but, if you made a work of art, wouldn’t you want to show people? A Cutesy-Chloe may be a little extravagant, or a little wierd, with an addiction to andy warhol-style pop art and anime, but nonetheless, they’re warm, caring individuals with addictive personalities – watch out, because you might just get hooked.

 

 

I know me, I tend to be a little bit of all three, depending on the day – though I’m deffinitely leaning towards 60% Sensible-Sally and 40% Cutesy-Chloe, on average. That’s right, I bento and tell. So which kinda girl are you? Let me know!

XOXO,

Betty.

Guest Bento: A lesson in traditional Chinese cooking

Hello ladies, gentlemen, dames, and dollfaces everywhere!

Now, I am as averse to domesticity as the next feminist – My floor remains unvaccuumed in the presence of cat hair, and my baking skills are spotty
( pies, yes – cake? only if the Betty making it happens to have the last name of Crocker) – but in some things, I concede.

When it comes to the decadence of a home-cooked meal that can out-stripe anything bought in a restaurant or by take-out – That kind of domesticity is divine.

If you, like me, think there’s something adventurous about foraying into the wilds of a cookbook, then you’ll be thrilled with the first in a new series of Bento posts – Guest Bento – and the inaugural post featuring the amazing talents of my friend Diane.

We all have friends we’re jealous of – be it for their looks, their talents, or their killer dress-sense – and Diane is one of those people for me. I love her with about 95% of my heart; the other 5% is reserved for the green-eyed monster of pure jealousy over her amazing cooking ability. Normally, I consider myself a cut above (maybe even two…or three) when it comes to cooking, but Diane is a whole other animal in the kitchen. She has a way of taking the simplest of ingredients and elevating them beyond conception.

Also, she multi-tasks like a boss.

Frying tofu in hot oil in one hand, while deftly placing Yu-Choy in boiling water in another, a third hand seems to appear out of thin air as she sauces the tofu, and in a sudden, calm, zen-like move, tosses the blanched Yu-Choy into a colander, all as she tell me chinese cooking tips and secrets from her mother’s kitchen. She likes to joke that all Asians are secret-ninjas, but with her – lets just say I’m pretty sure it’s not a joke – at least not where food is concerned.

Guest Bento: Diane’s Traditional Chinese Lunch

• Blanched Yu-Choy
• Cabbage fried rice
• Grilled Tofu

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Simultaneously ridiculously healthy, economically efficient, and sinfully good, this meal is deffinitely one to slip into the cookbooks.

Cabbage Fried Rice

Ingredients:

• 2-3 cups Dry rice
• 1 egg
• 1-2 cups thinly sliced cabbage
• 1/2 cup green onion
• 1-2 tablespoons of vegetable oil

Begin with dry rice (a day or two old). Using a tip from Diane, place rice in a microwaveable bowl and heat for a minute or two on high to make the rice malleable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

crack the egg into the rice and mix.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coat the rice as much as possible in the egg, breaking up chunks of rice where you find them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, heat your wok or pan on high heat (Diane suggests using a wok because it distributes the high heat evenly), and add oil. When your pan and the oil are hot enough (little bubbles will form in the oil), add the egg and rice mixture into the pan and leave it to brown.

According to Diane, this should take roughly 1-2 minutes, checking regularly for a golden brown coating. When you notice your rice is browning, begin moving it around and adding the cabbage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Toss the cabbage and rice so that the cabbage is easily dispersed throughout.

When you notice the rice is beginning to get dry (the shiny moisture from the egg is disappearing) add the green onion and toss throughout.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remove from heat and set aside.

 

Blanched Yu-Choy

ingredients

• Yu-Choy
• Oyster-sauce

If you’ve never experienced Yu-Choy, I have only one thing to say to you: Get thee to a Chinese Grocery! While it can be a hard vegetable to find, when blanched, it is tantalizingly tender with just a hint of sweetness – It doesn’t take much by way of seasoning to create a delectable dish. A hint  however, for those of you looking to impress your Asian partner (or their parents, grandparents, extended family, what-have-you), from Diane, a Chinese-Canadian:

When you’re feeding Asians, especially Chinese people, don’t overdo the oyster sauce. Just don’t do it – it’s bad news.

Because oyster sauce has a high salt content and is hugely flavourful, a teeny-tiny dollop will do – don’t coat the Yu-Choy (delicious all on it’s own) and hide the flavour of the vegetable under a heavy dose of oyster sauce – you won’t be impressing anyone with your domestic skills then – certainly not your Asian partner (or their parents, grandparents, uncles, cousins – you get the idea).

Because simplicity is the rule in Diane’s kitchen, this recipe is so fool-proof, even the most ditzy dame could pull it off without breaking a sweat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Begin with freshly washed Yu-Choy. Cut off about an inch from the stalk – the ends have a tendency to get a bit woody.

About halfway along the vegetable, the leaves should begin. Cut the leaves from the stalk to ensure that the stalks are given the extra cooking time they need.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Place the Yu-Choy stalks in a pot of boiling water. Another great cooking tip from Diane’s Mother’s Kitchen:

When blanching vegetables, the rule of thumb is that the vegetable should only stay in the water as long as it takes the water to return to boiling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When the water with the stalks begins to boil again, add the leaves to the pot with the stalks. The water will cease boiling. When it re-boils for the second time, remove both the leaves and the stalks from the water.

Drain the Yu-Choy in a colander.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In a bowl, mix Yu-Choy and a small amount of Oyster sauce and set aside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grilled Tofu

Ingredients

• Tofu chunks
• Sriracha (better known as Rooster-sauce to us non-asians)
  
• Oyster Sauce

Tofu can be a pain to prepare. Luckily, Diane will give you a simple, pain-free method to cook it to perfection. As a vegetarian, I never actually enjoyed Tofu until sampling a teen-tiny chunk from Diane’s lunch at work – normally, I find it to be wierdly elastic in texture with a faint plasticky after-taste, something I, on my own have never been able to alter. If you, like me, have trouble coming to terms with Tofu, this recipe is deffinitely for you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The key to this dish, Diane says, is extremely high heat, and enough oil. Heat a wok or pan (again, between the two, the wok is the better option), with oil on high heat. When it’s hot enough (little bubbles begin to form in the oil), lay the tofu chunks flat in the pan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Allow them to sear on each side for about a minute, or until golden brown ( I suggest checking often – with such high heat, you only have a small window of time to go from golden brown to burnt).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When both sides are golden brown and a thin, crunchy crust has formed, toss in a little Oyster sauce and Sriracha (Rooster sauce) to taste – Remember, all of us non-asians, go easy on the oyster sauce – a little will do the trick!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once all the tofu chunks are coated in the sauce mixture, remove from heat, and serve.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Traditional Chinese food, not the westernized stuff you find in a buffet, is simple, clean, and healthy – and now, thanks to Diane, you know how to cook it. So go ahead, make your co-workers jealous with your divine domestic skills, you kitchen goddess, you (or god – we’re equal opportunity ego-boosters here at Bento Betty)!

XOXO,

Betty and Diane.

Hello world!