Kris Awesome

If I really cared that much about presentation, I would not have been happy with yesterday's lunch.

Luckily, I don't think presentation's everything. If my lunch looks pretty, it's a nice bonus, but I'm primarily concerned with how it tastes and how healthy it is. I think I could've done better on both counts for this particular meal, but it was still more than decent.

The main dish this time was lasagna, which is leftover from Sunday night. (Thank goodness this container can be microwaved; I'm not a fan of cold lasagna.) I probably could've done with a slightly smaller piece, which would've helped cut down the fat a bit. Oh well. Next time.

The sides are blueberries, roasted green beans, and sweet pepper and onion confit.

The beans kept this from being a total winner on the taste front. I woke up a little earlier than usual and so I had time to chop garlic and shallots, to roast with the beans. Which would have turned out really well if I hadn't left them in the oven for a little too long. Oops! As it was, it tasted fine, but slightly burnt. Lesson learned for next time! On the plus side, I added slivered almonds after roasting and liked that particular touch.

The main dish in this one falls under the “somewhat questionable-looking, but edible” category.

Said dish is spaghetti with smoked salmon, spinach, and sundried tomatoes. (That's a lot of alliteration there…) This one's kind of unhealthy – hello, sodium and saturated fat! But I'm allowed a couple of unhealthy dishes a week, right? Oh well. Part of the problem with this batch is that I accidentally made slightly too little pasta for the amount of sauce. Also, this would look prettier if I'd just poured the sauce on top instead of tossing them together, but that's too messy for a lunch that gets tossed around in transit.

The larger tier is all produce, to balance it out. Blueberries, roasted asparagus, and Rainier cherries. I probably should've opted for a second vegetable instead of two fruits. But I need to use up my stock of both within the next couple of days, so blueberries and cherries it was. Besides, I think the color contrast is pretty.

This one wasn't quite filling enough for me, but at least that's easy to fix. I think if I put the pasta in the larger tier next time, I'll be all set.

To add some real content to this journal, I'll post my lunch from yesterday.

(I probably should've put this on a table first – my counter doesn't make for the nicest backdrop here. Oh well.)

This is packed in a bento box, the container I use most frequently these days. This box contains more food than you think – until I dumped the contents out on a plate one day, a colleague/friend was worried about how little I seemed to eat.

Anyway, the lunch itself contains some leftovers from the previous night's dinner, so packing this took very little effort. The meal consists of:

• Sushi salad: I tend to use seasoned rice vinegar daily anyway (for example, I often have greens-based salad with just rice vinegar and toasted sesame oil). So when I stumbled upon this recipe sometime ago, I had to try it. And I've made variations on it ever since – you can easily add or remove ingredients to suit your preferences and/or dietary requirements. For example, if you're allergic to soy, you can leave out the edamame and cook the mushrooms differently. This time I left out the almonds and sesame seeds (I had neither) and omitted the nori garnish (which would've gotten soggy as it sat in the fridge).
• “Teriyaki” chicken: This isn't teriyaki in the strictest sense. It's baked instead of broiled or grilled, and the marinade's not exactly traditional (I added pineapple juice because I had some I needed to use up). I didn't add extra sauce when packing because it's too messy. It's also not really necessary.
• Rainier cherries: I like cherries in general and love Rainier cherries specifically, and will happily splurge on them when available. Yes, they are in a silicone baking cup. I don't really bake, so I had to get good use of these cups somehow!
• Roasted asparagus: These weren't leftovers. But they were still pretty effortless, since I let them roast while I was getting ready for work.

This earned an unsolicited compliment from a colleague (the lunch looked better in person). Far more importantly, it was a tasty, tasty meal. So all in all, I consider this one a success!