Love, love, love my wooden boxes. I'm using my two-tiered cedar box here and the furoshiki just folds beautifully around it. Here, the tab peaking through has two frisky little rabbits leaping along. Very joyful and cute!




What has these rabbits so ecstatic is obviously the contents: homemade shrimp stirfry, apples sharing their space with a sirracha pig, and piping hot rice. Yum! My only regret is that the glorious stirfry which I had put up earlier in the week has lost most of its beautiful color. Maybe it was the reheating, or maybe it was the refridgeration process, but as you can see, it's no where near as vibrant as the original pic below (taken shortly after making).

Today's bento was a hit! A delicious szechuan stirfy I made from a Cook Do ready-made seasoning mix. All I did was add shrimp and some onions. Of course, it helped that I know a local seafood place that has some lovely wild-caught jumbo shrimp that are just divine if a little costly.



All packed away snugly in my new bento bag...which I believe is the cutest one I've ever purchased and a definite new favorite. It fits the square usagi bento box perfectly and the little applique rabbit design is too cute for words.



And since today seemed to be a celebration of new additions...I thought I'd show off my latest set of hashi. Chopsticks to go. Aren't they just darling? I've alway had the worst problems with finding chopsticks small enough to fit into my bento bags without being too small to use. While the occasional bag will allow for a case or two to be tucked away smartly, most look out of place sticking out at odd angles from an otherwise nicely coiffed bag, so these are just ideal. When not in use, they neatly nest within each other until they are little more than the size of a small pen. When assembled, they fill out to full size and are sturdy with hardwood tips for those who don't like the slippery grip of metal chopsticks.

Actually it was this morning. So here it is: shrimp pad thai (sauce and noodles courtesy of Taste of Thai)...stirfried with egg and shrimp and tossed with chopped cilantro and peanuts. I garnished with some more cilantro, peanuts, and a wedge of lime. The mango sticky rice recipe I got courtesy of Cooking Cute. I garnished with some chocolate mint I have growing on my front porch. My only complaint (and it's a small one) was that my bento isn't microwaveable and since I have to wait five hours until lunch, the noodles got kinda sticky and cold. I shared a few bites with some co-workers and they all really enjoyed the flavors...plus it all looked adorable in my new rabbit bento box.

Tonight I made my first attempt at shrimp stirfry. I love shrimp with chinese vegetables, and I've always wanted to try and reproduce a version at home. I tried to recall my days of working at the House of Hunan and remembered that the majority of the sauces were a simple mixture of stock and thickener...so here's the results of a morning's experimentation. I'd post a recipe, but I really didn't measure anything. All I can do is describe the steps.

First I peeled the shrimp. You should de-vein them, but I forgot to this morning (ick). Then I heated up my non-stick "wok" and drizzled in some olive oil. When that got hot, I added my shrimp, cooked until firm, and removed from pan. The shrimp didn't soak up that much oil so I didn't need to put in more. Keep the pan hot and then drop in your cut veggies. I used bok choy, baby corn, mushrooms, and sugar snaps...but to each their own. I tossed continuously, but I don't know if that's the canon or not. After some wilting, I added chicken stock. And because I'm a lazy singleton without a large family to feed, I used canned stock. Let it reduce some more depending on how you like your veggies. Season with spices if that's your thing...I used just a little bit of pepper and maybe a touch of salt. Mix together some cold stock and corn starch *not too much here or you'll end up with clumpy Thanksgiving gravy* and add to the veggies. Toss, then put shrimp back in, toss some more...then plate. Viola. A far cry from the sumptuous fare I experienced at the House of Hunan, but a very tasty first attempt if I may say so myself.