It’s time to say, “Goodbye,” and not just because I haven’t posted for the last few months.  It’s a thought that has been on my mind for the last year.  I started Not Exactly Bento on a suggestion from a friend and as a way to teach myself to cook and to stop eating out so much.

The blog has brought many great things: a passion for photography, new friends, and support from an online bento community that has been wonderful.  Readers come and go, leaving comments that make me think and continue on the path of adventure and discovery that this blog started.  Fans stay and have supported this blog in so many ways. <3

What’s gone though is the passion to take pictures and post it all online.  My focus has shifted.  I still pack lunch.  I still cook for myself.  But the hours I once spent in front of my computer processing food photos and writing my thoughts about my cooking journey are now spent on a variety of other tasks.  I’ve learned what I wanted from Not Exactly Bento, and I hope in some small way through that journey, my readers learned something too.

I have thoughts for a new blog, one that focuses more on what catches my attention at this time: knitting, reading, photography, and the occasional food photo.  I just haven’t decided where to continue my chattiness.

At the end of May 2013, Not Exactly Bento will close its virtual doors.

Thank you for your readership and support over the last 5+ years.  It has been, and continues to be, a wonderful adventure.

And never forget to BE THE BENTO!

~Jenn

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I chose carefully for once, not just thinking about veggies but what I needed for my whole week. $40 brought home a whole chicken, 3 pounds of sausage, kale, brussel sprouts, strawberries, hydroponic lettuce, meyer lemons, blood oranges, fresh organic eggs, and two brioche sticky buns for my breakfast.

This morning, I washed some of the baby romaine lettuce, chopped it up finely and added thinly sliced strawberries on top. Balsamic vinaigrette will top it for what I’m hoping to be a quick tasty salad. One blood orange that nearly refused to peel and give up its sweetness to my bento box rests in the upper right corner. Stop here and you have a tasty vegetarian bento.

However, I didn’t stop there because I know that salad and orange isn’t enough to keep me going the whole day.  As well, I had the last of a pork sausage and apple recipe I made this weekend that tastes amazing. Packed with one slice of cheese toast, I’m ready for lunch!

It’s a beautiful lunch day! How’s your lunch shaping up today? Be the bento everyone!

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Wee Biscuits at Cafe Burnside, Houmas House

I’ve talked before about Houmas House on this blog. It is one of my absolute favorite places to go. When I need to relax, I think of its gardens and immediately I smile. Regardless of the time of year, they are lush and beautiful. And when I want an excellent meal at a reasonable price in a beautiful environment, I steal away to Cafe Burnside at Houmas House when I get the chance (which isn’t nearly often enough).

The most delicious butter at Cafe Burnside, Houmas House

It’s been a little while since the last time I visited, and I’ve been holding on to these pictures waiting to tell you about it once again. As I sit here on a chilly, damp, rainy week in Louisiana, I think about this meal and how much I want to share it’s deliciousness with you. If you live in the Greater Baton Rouge area and have yet to try Cafe Burnside, plan a day trip. You won’t regret it.

The first thing to come to the table is also a small basket of housemade biscuits or bread. This time, the butter served was a compound butter with toasted pecans and cane syrup in the butter. I am not a fan of cane syrup, always passing it by on the dinner table as a kid. However, Cafe Burnside uses it in two applications that I find mouthwateringly good: their vinaigrette and this butter.

Catfish Wade Hampton, Cafe Burnside – Houmas House

I’ve tried many of the items on their menu. The lump crab and mango cakes are something I dream about. The red beans & rice are creamy and just what I expect from such a classic southern dish. The turkey and brie sandwich with fig spread has that touch of sweet wonderfulness that makes your knees buckle.  And the Catfish Wade Hampton, pictured above, is the sort of deep, satisfying meal you want when you’re really hungry and want to leave a place feeling very full and extremely content. Crisp fried catfish, cleaned well with no fishy taste, rest atop a bed of andouille sausage rice pilaf and crawfish etoufee. People, this is why you come to Louisiana. For the food. This is why you stay in Louisiana. When you have the food, you just can’t leave.

Puff Pastry with Champagne-Berry Topping at Cafe Burnside, Houmas House

Though full, I couldn’t resist a special dessert they had that day: a puff pastry topped with various berries (mainly blackberry and strawberry it seemed) that were steeped in champagne. I can’t even describe the delight while eating this. Each bite was savored, spaced with sips of their house coffee and great conversation with friends. The only thing that could make the experience better is if one day I can finally figure out their vinaigrette.

It’s my pleasure to share with you one of the special places in my life. If you can, visit Cafe Burnside. However if you do go, plan to sit back, relax and enjoy yourself. At times, service takes on that slow, Southern way (it’s not quick people). Enjoy the gardens that surround the glass walls of the cafe and remember that your problems can wait a day, or at least a few hours.

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Seafood stuffed pork chop, runny egg rice, and balsamic vinaigrette cucumbers.

I left work last night a bit tired, a bit harried, and quite a bit later than I had planned. Amazing how time slips away from you when you’re focused and forgetting to look at the clock. As I was driving home, I was mentally convincing myself to grab a bit of something on the way home to eat. I had eaten the last of the chicken and wild rice soup for lunch that day, and nothing I thought of appealed to me. Finally, I decided instead of eating something mediocre, to stop by the grocery store and see what they had to offer. I decided that eating late would be better than take-out.

Scalloped potatoes fresh from the oven.

Russet potatoes were on sale for $1.18 a bag. So, I picked a bag of those up. Cheese was 3 packages for $5 (can you say hello cheese crackers this weekend!). Hmmm, scalloped potatoes sound good. The meat section of the grocery store always has fresh, seafood stuffed offerings. Two large pork chops were found with crawfish cornbread stuffing. I’ve only had these one time before and they were delicious. The chops are large enough that I cut them in half after baking, making for 4 meals. Not too bad. Dinner that night was half of the stuffed pork chop, the last of the wild rice with a runny egg on top, and de-seeded cucumbers with balsamic vinaigrette dressing. Though I didn’t get to eat until fairly late, this meal was amazingly good.

An amazingly good dinner means an awesome bento for the next day. I have a scoop of scalloped potatoes, crawfish cornbread stuffing, pork chop slices, and balsamic vinaigrette cucumbers. Not pictures are the items with which I am finishing my day: Chobani blueberry yogurt and sliced almonds for breakfast, homemade cheese crackers for an afternoon snack, and a small blueberry muffin if I need something sweet. I also still have a banana at work.

And so begins my bento day, and it is going to be an excellent one. Be the bento everyone! What are you having for lunch today?

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I woke up at the beginning of 2013 determined to find a way to like oatmeal. Honestly, I’m not a fan. But I figure that I tackled broccoli and yogurt in the course of this blog, so oats should be a snap right? I’ve had several people tell me to try steel cut oats, but I’d had yet to do so. Nothing I’ve tried in previous years with rolled oats seemed to work, so steel cut oats found there way into my grocery basket. Hello new-to-me food item!

I went simple for my first steel cut oats try: overnight in the fridge soaking in milk. The end result is the oats soften and the whole thing tastes quite a bit like regular cereal, which is okay by me. I threw in some sauteed apples, cut banana, almonds, and cranberries. It was like having fruit salad and cereal for breakfast.

This is definitely a good start on the oatmeal front. Oatmeal is something I really want to incorporate into my eating life. A 2013 goal is to eat breakfast everyday, or at least more often that I currently do. I’ve been in search of quick breakfast recipes and items to make this easiest on myself. This steel cut oats thing has great potential.

My next step will be to try to cook them. I found an Alton Brown recipe I might like to try. If you have a favorite way to eat oats, let me know below. Suggestions are welcome.

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Lately, I’ve had a real craving for cheese crackers. It all started with my wanting to make some chicken and wild rice soup this weekend. For whatever reason, I wanted to eat cheese crackers with my soup.

I looked around at the usual culprits found at my local grocery store and none of them seemed appealing anymore. You see, I think I’m ruined. Around Christmas time, someone gave me this box of cheese straws that were made of a wonderfully strong and sharp cheddar, but had a kick of cayenne in the mix. I loved their taste, but not that after bite of heat. You all know I’m a spice wuss. I ended up giving the rest of them to a young cousin whose delight in ultra spicy food defies logic.

So I stood there in the grocery aisle looking at the cheese cracker offerings and wishing I had those cheese straws, minus the heat. Something really cheesy tasting. Frustrated, I left that aisle and picked up a package of shredded cheese, making a goal to find a recipe this weekend. And I did on a new-to-me website called Joy the Baker, anyone read her blog?

Recipe verdict: super simple, super easy, baked quickly, ready to try again with tweaks. I’d like to get a stronger, sharper cheese next time for a more pungent flavor. I’d like to make the addition of garlic powder and smoked paprika stronger to get a smoky, garlicky taste. And I’d like to try to add a bit of whole wheat to the cracker. But this recipe find is a keeper.

For lunch today, I have chicken and wild rice soup with homemade cheese crackers (!), tamagoyaki, orange slices, and a wee bit of banana.  The Chobani blueberry with almond slices will be for a morning snack. Extra crackers are packed for an afternoon bite. As I look at this picture, I remind myself that I really must write a post on 10 things to do with a roasted chicken, as that is how my eating life rolls these days.

In the meantime, Happy Monday and Be the bento everyone! Let me know what you’re having for lunch today.

~Jenn

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At my first job as a page in a library, my boss (and, incidentally, first mentor) used to bring to lunch what I always thought of as a “mish mash” lunch. She’d grab whatever was easiest to grab from her fridge: a container with the last bit of cottage cheese, a piece of fruit, maybe some bread or crackers, some cheese, etc. Her lunches always fascinated me; I remember thinking what a fun variety of things to eat in her lunch bag.

Today’s bento reminds me of her lunches: a medley of things to eat throughout my work day. Included in this lunch, we have a salad with roasted chicken, croutons, almond topping, chopped lettuce, sliced carrots, and balsamic dressing. It’s been awhile since I’ve eaten anything with balsamic vinaigrette, and today I’m looking forward to the tang. And if I’m going to admit all my lunch woes to you, I must admit I debated about throwing carrots in this salad.

Carrots, I love. Carrots, I find an annoyance in a salad if not cut properly. If they are just chunked, a fork doesn’t pick them up. They all fall to the bottom of the container to be eaten together in a soup of dressing at the end. You don’t get the crunch of them throughout your salad. Bah! So today’s carrots are sliced with a mandoline in the hopes of combating that particular salad issue. (HA! What an issue to have. I laugh at my own self).

We finish up today’s offerings with half a grilled cheese sandwich, Chobani blueberry yogurt (my current fave) with raw sliced almonds, a banana, and a few graham crackers.

My dog Toby, being silly.

Today, I updated the about page here at NEB. As with every year, I hope to post regurlary. Some months I’m more successful than others as the ebb and flow of my job allows time. I also seem to get myself into a pickle, as it were, when I start posting daily. Then work gets busy, and KABOOM!, you don’t see me for months.

So, for 2013, I’m going to try something different. Posts will come out 3 times per week: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Bento posts, if I have one (which I hope I do), will appear by 10:00 a.m. CST those days. Any other posts, including new recipes, reviews, new-to-me wonderings, and bento info posts, will appear by 2:00 p.m. CST if I have something to share that day. The new schedule should give me time to write posts, have posts scheduled well into the future so that, hopefully, I can carry myself through when things get busy. <fingers crossed>

And if you’re wondering what happened this past Monday, well, let me tell you, I realized just how important it is to stick to my schedule/goals. I didn’t set my alarm properly and for once I accidentally “slept in.” When I woke, I thought, “Huh, things seem brighter than normal.” When I saw the clock read 7:15 a.m., I jumped out from the covers and rushed around getting myself and the dogs ready for our day. 30 minutes later, I was out the door on my way to work. “Dang, no breakfast this morning,” I thought, realizing I was going to have a hiccup on one of my 2013 goals. Hmmmm, I’ll pick some up for myself. I also had no lunch with me.

That day’s food offerings left me feeling sluggish, tired, and blech for the rest of the day. I stopped by the grocery on my way home to pick up other bits of things that I can at least grab and go to lunch with: yogurt, fruit, salad, etc.

So here’s to a great January. How is your new year starting up? Anyone out there bringing lunch to work again? Let me know how your lunch and food goals are going.

Be the bento everyone!

~Jenn

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Happy new Year everyone! I hope this post finds you enjoying the first few days of 2013 and getting it started off right, whatever that might be for you.  For me, it’s setting what I want to accomplish for 2013. I don’t really make resolutions; I create goals. Some I accomplish, some I don’t. Last year’s goals were to accomplish certain work goals (which I did), go on a trip (I had the opportunities to visit both New York City and Los Angeles!), knit Christmas presents (finished at the last minute!), and have a regular blog schedule (whoops! didn’t do so well there).

This year, I’m working on my 2013 goals and doing that with a little help from a website Kim is always talking about and my best friend Shawn. I have a HUGE list of things I want to accomplish in 2013. The interesting thing will be to see how much I do accomplish, some of which will spill over here on the blog.

Of course, this blog find its way on my list of things for 2013, which means trying to get back to packing lunches regularly. And isn’t it just perfect that my first bento back is a white bolognese spaghetti with biscuit dippers, a homegrown orange from my parent’s house and a piece of chocolate? Reminiscent of that first bento 5 years ago. As I look at this, I realize I forgot to include the steamed veggies and boiled egg. I might have to throw that into a little container before leaving for work tomorrow.

And what’s a biscuit dipper you might ask? It’s what you call it when you try out a new biscuit recipe, pat out the dough too thin, and cut them out small. They turned out light, toasty, and wonderful. And just the right size to eat with the last bits of Bonne Maman Cherry Preserves in your refrigerator.

As I wrap up this post, Gabby & Toby would like to wish all of you a very Happy New Years! Don’t let their expressions fool you. They’ve been fighting over this chair lately and this was the most recent attempt at them trying to share. A friend of mine dubbed it “Annoyed Dog American Gothic,” which made me laugh outrageously.

And with that thought in mind, I hope 2013 brings you outrageous laughs and good times. Be the bento everyone!

~Jenn

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My mom always keeps my brother and I well fed with occasional dinners at her house. One doesn’t miss it when she calls and says, “I’m cooking a shrimp and crab gumbo for dinner.”  What you do is hightail it home, take care of the dogs, and go to her house for dinner.  And since she always makes more than enough, you get leftovers for lunch for the next day or two.

I haven’t had much time for cooking, but the little bit I’ve had I’ve used to experiment with a few things. And they both came out fairly well. This first dish is made of green beans sauteed with local, smoked pork sausage (this stuff is amazing) and toasted pine nuts that were wasting away in my pantry. Honestly, I need to use sliced almonds next time. Otherwise, this was pretty darn tasty.

My long time readers know that I gave up eating tomato based foods last year due to an allergy, and because of this I lament the lack of spaghetti in my life.  Recently, I discovered that Lidia Bastianich’s had a “white” spaghetti sauce recipe.  I gave it a try and was blown away and amazed. This has all the flavors of spaghetti that I love but without the tomato. I used the technique for the spaghetti to make a chili that was divine. I’m so happy again.

I love this time of year where it is a bit cooler, the days are getting longer. Gabby decided to spend fall back day using her extra hour sleeping. No surprise there!

Free time I do have has been spent trying to work on knitted gifts I plan to give for Christmas or upcoming birthdays.  Why do I pick such large projects to work on? Because they are fun, that’s why!

When I want to relax a bit, I doodle while I watch TV. I’m not an artist, so I tend to follow the Vihart or Zentangle routes. They make doodling easy for the non-artist like me.

So, that’s what I’ve been up to lately. How about you?

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Hi all! I hope this email finds all well as you gear up for your holidays and the end of the year. Have you had a good year? I hope so. And I hope you enjoy the heck out of your holiday celebrations.

As for me, you know work life has gotten crazy busy whenever I’m away for an extended period of time. However, this time I am away a bit longer than usual because, <sniff, sniff>, my beloved camera died.  It was old. Well used. Probably coated with a unseen layer of flour as I used it to take many baking pictures.

And I just can’t bring myself to post without pictures. Without decent pictures. My cell phone camera just doesn’t cut it, but it will have to for a little while.  Instagram, here we come! But never fear, I am gonna purchase a new one. I am going to get back to posting my favorite things, being chatty as every, and have lots of pictures to show off as well. In fact, these are some of my 2013 goals.

I’ll have more to say soon. I have one more week of busy work fun, then I’m taking a bit of time off near the holidays.  Talk to you more real soon.

<3 you all,

~Jenn

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