No.18 'Berrylicious' bento

This morning I got this great new two-tier bento box from eBay. The quality of the plastic is superb and the layers are quite roomy! It came with a deep spoon which will be ideal for using with leftover goulash, when that makes it back into the bentos. I love the shape and colour of the box and so do the children. We've agreed to share it, with my eldest getting the first use of it for school lunch tomorrow.

I didn't have a theme for today's bento, which is a little disappointing, but the excitement of a new box to fill made up for it. I made pasta for dinner this evening, along with smoked tofu and baby corn in tempura batter. Putting aside some of the pasta, I made a separate sauce for the bento portion with tomato and paprika. I put it into a paper cup in the box and topped it with some  hand cut cheese flowers with cucumber centres. Some sliced cucumber and carrot sticks on a bed of shredded lettuce accompany several pieces of the smoked tofu and baby corn in tempura batter. A very filling bento. For the dessert layer I have a foil cup of chocolate fudge sauce with strawberries, grapes and melon to dip into it. I was a bit hard pressed to come up with title for this one, but my daughter came up with one. She wanted to call it 'Very delicious bento', so I have compromised with 'Berrylicious bento'. Just because.

We've had a short week due to the holiday on Monday, but here I am on Thursday evening feeling as if the working week has been twice as long as usual. I don't think a single weekend is going to be enough to recover!