Another speed post (I’m sorry), exams aren’t over yet:
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Et oui, encore un article abrégé, les examens ne sont pas encore terminés:
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Exams take their toll on students, not only mentally but actually physically as well. Personally, I have to ressort to take-out / fast food / sandwiches just to be able to eat anything (we really have that little time). I really loath this and I feel unhealthy during this period: I’m tired, don’t have much energy and am simply unsatisfied after every meal.
I’m still trying to squeeze in a bento every now and then and I wouldn’t be able to do so without my speed tips:
1. Plan your bento on the way home from work.
When you take the bus or the car to drive back home you probably have a minute or two to yourself. Use that time to plan your bento! Think about what you have in the fridge, what needs to be used, what you FEEL like eating and compose your imaginary bento. If necessary you can even stop by the supermarket and fetch a few ingredients on the way.
2. Cook more or cook in advance.
Once you come home you’ll have to eat anyway, so why not make more of what you eat tonight so you can put some in your bento for tomorrow (given the fact that you make something preservable)? That’s catching two birds with one stone. If you have the main dish already ready for your bento, the other components come together really quickly. There are also great dishes that can be cooked in advance and that preserve really well for up to a week in the fridge. More recipes for such dishes coming soon.
3. The principle of 3.
My bentos mostly have 3 components: Main dish, side dish, additions (decoration/dessert/condiments). If you think like that you are limited in the number of dishes you have to put together, which will prevent you from drifting away too much and cooking up too many things. Try to keep it simple and don’t stuff your bento with too many things, you can always get fancier when you have time.
4. Think about your bentos while shopping.
You can buy great things that are available in every supermarket to stuff your bentos quickly. A few examples: cherry tomatoes, little cheeses, canned foods (say what you want, I don’t find it a shame to use a canned foods once in a while), pickles, frozen vegetables (can be steamed quickly in the microwave), nuts, sweets or crackers in satchets, grapes etc. The trick is, you must stimply think about picking those things up while you shop.
5. Freeze in portions.
When you have rice left over (while it’s still hot) or any other type of food that freezes well, don’t just stuff everything in one bag. Measure 1-cup portions and freeze them individually. This will speed things up greatly because there is nothing more time consuming than trying to chop off one portion from a frozen chunk.
Soon I’m going to be done with exams, then I’ll get to post much more. I really want to include a few recipes for things I posted during this busy period and I’d also like to make more general posts about quick filler dishes for bento that you can store in the fridge and use when needed. For now only the list of contents (recipes coming soon):
This pepper relish is actually something that normally doesn’t go with pasta… it’s a great stand-alone dish that you can prepare ahead of time and use up over the week. Today I tried to mix it with pasta - surprisingly the taste was quite good! I think it mixes really well with rice too. The relish is made by cutting up 1 pepper of each color (green, red, yellow) and simmering them in a sugar/vinegar reduction with onions or shallots. More detailed recipe soon, if I’m still alive after the exams :p
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En français:
La fin des examens approche et bientôt j’aurai plus de temps pour écrire sur mon petit blog! J’aimerais vraiment publier les recettes pour certains des plats que j’ai montrés ici pendant cette période stressante. De plus j’aimerais écrire des articles plus généraux sur des petits plats que vous pouvez cuisiner en avance pour les utiliser tout au long de la semaine dans des bentos. Voici donc la liste du contenu de cette bento (les recettes à suivre très bientôt!):
Normalement le mélange de poivrons ne se mange pas avec des pâtes… c’est un magnifique petit plat appart que l’on peut cuisiner en avance pour ensuite l’utiliser tout au long de la semaine dans des bentos. Aujourd’hui j’ai tenté de combiner ces poivrons avec des tortellinis et en fait c’était plutôt bon! Je pense que les poivrons vont également très bien avec du riz. Pour le mélange il vous faut un poivron de chaque couleur (vert, rouge, jaune) que vous coupez en tranches et puis vous les faites revenir dans une réduction de sucre et de vinaigre avec des oignons ou des échalotes. Je posterai une recette plus détaillée bientôt, si je sors vivante des examens 
I’m sorry for the lack of posts lately, I’m still very busy with exams. I did manage to make this bento today though, so I’m posting it quickly, without the usual wall of text! But fear not, I’m eager to start babbling again as soon as I get a bit more time Oh and I decided to add a french section to my posts as I seem to get a lot of visitors from France lately.
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Japanese rice with salt and toasted sesame seeds
Tamagoyaki
Miss Kitty container with vinaigrette
Cherry tomatoes & mozzarella salad
Tempura fried vegetables
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En français:
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Riz japonais avec du sel et des graines de sésame grillées
Tamagoyaki (Omelette japonaise roulée)
Mini-pot “Miss Kitty” rempli de vinaigrette
Tomates cerises et mozzarella en salade
Tempura de légumes
Just a quick heads up that things got quite busy over the past few weeks, with Christmas/New Year’s Eve preparations. Also we just about entered the stressy period of exams. Still a quick picture of a bento we made not so long ago!
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Best wishes for 2008, may you stick to your resolutions longer than I did. I managed to stay without eating a cookie for about half a day 
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