The anti-everything: banoffee pie

Condensed milk ==> dulce de leche. Just heat and stir, right? Well, yes...if you have the patience to sit and stir continually for nearly 2 hours! 

(The alternative was to dunk the entire can into a vat of boiling water for about 3 hours, but I wasn't about to risk combustibles in my apartment. Maybe I'll try the slow-cooker method next time).

Regardless, the result? A sinfully delicious banoffee pie:

I used the cheaper Burton's -- tastes fine.

Ignore my "double boiler". At the start, the condensed milk was pale and soupy

This is about 2 hours in. It needed about another hour to get a nicer golden brown caramel color, but it had already lost a lot of liquid via this method. A pressure cooker or slow cooker might yield better results, if you don't want to boil the sealed can.

DULCE DE LECHE = SIN.

Layered in a extra bananas -- the dulce de leche is quite sweet

I don't own a springform pan, but this 9x9 worked reasonably well

Not very photogenic, but thoroughly made up in taste!

Last but not least, a non-banana version, for the allergic M

In the future, I may add a hint of confectioner's sugar to the whipped heavy cream, and a teaspoon of vanilla. I think coffee or dark chocolate dusting on the top would be nice as well, especially if crunchy (like oreo cookie crumbs). One version called for chocolate IN the whipped cream, which would likely be delicious as well... and with that, we're well on our way to diabetes and clogged arteries!

Last but not least, I don't like the dulce de leche to be chilled when serving this dish (it hardens a little, like caramel). It should be chilled enough to set, then brought out to near room temperature. The bananas should be chilled and sliced immediately before serving, along with the whipped heavy cream.

[recipe modified from Food Network UK]

Banoffee Pie

1 can sweetened condensed milk (about 400g)
12 crushed digestive biscuits
1/2 stick butter, melted
2+ large ripe bananas
1 pint double cream
Ground cinnamon
Dark chocolate, grated

Method

1) Pour condensed milk into double boiler and cook over low heat for about 1.5 hours, stirring frequently. Be careful not to burn as it sticks to the bottom of the pan.

2) Crush the digestives (I hammered the biscuits in a plastic ziploc, but the original recipe called for a food processor -- pulse the butter in). Pour crumbs and melted butter into pan (knead until mixed, if you didn't use the processor) and press with your hands or a measuring cup to evenly distribute on the bottom of the pan.

3) Chill to set for about 15 minutes in the refrigerator.

4) Pour the dulce de leche over the digestive biscuit base. Spread evenly. Slice the peeled bananas and arrange over the top covering the entire surface. Whip the cream until firm and spread over the top. Sprinkle top with cinnamon and grated chocolate. Serve.

A twist on an old stand-by...

PBJ...sushi! Used sunflower seed butter rather than peanut butter. It tastes OK, but I prefer peanut butter. Next time we'll try cashew butter...I'm sensitive to almonds.

A snowy morning.

Bottom tier (330 mL): Onigiri (pre-packaged; reheated from frozen). Didn't have lettuce, so I lined the tier with leftover parchment paper.

Top tier (270 mL): Canned greens, Southern style; basil-tomato-provolone chicken balls.

The frozen onigiri and chicken balls are from Trader Joe's. I've had the chicken balls before, which are great -- we can pretend they're grilled on a stick, street-stall style! I'll edit when I can comment on how the onigiri fare.

[Edit]
Pretty good for reheated rice -- a little on the chewy side, but I rather like it. Tastes like they brushed La Choy all 'round the outside, though, so in the future will avoid pairing with the highly flavorful/salted chicken balls.

Personal criticisms? This bento lacks color, personality. It only appears appetizing if you're really hungry!

Random sentimentality.

Yesterday, Maki at Just Bento (the Queen of bento blogs) wrote a post explaining the differences between "bento" and "lunch box". At the bottom of this wonderful post, she included a Tokyo Gas commercial -- one of a few "sentimental food-and-family-love" style adverts from the company. I like to say I'm not generally one for sentimentality, but man, all the ones I saw really hit home.

And then I had a craving for tamagoyaki, which I don't even like. Go figure. Here's today's bento:

Bottom tier (330 mL): Brown rice (reheated from frozen); umeboshi; a sprinkling of gomashio.

Top tier (270 mL): Canned greens, Southern style; tamagoyaki-wanna-be omelette.

Also in the bag is a little container of plain organic yogurt topped with triple berry granola for breakfast, now that I've shifted my work hours an hour forward. The box-and-bag set also came with a water bottle, and was purchased from Loft in Bangkok all together for about $22.

Other tidbits:

As I was riding the train to work this morning, I attempted to peer into the various lunch arrangements folks had made for the day. The styles ranged from tupperware unceremoniously stuffed inside a plastic Wal-Mart bag to an insulated lunch bag to a neatly-packed clear plastic tote with lunch for 2 inside.

Obviously, the only one I could see inside was the plastic tote, which contained a sufficient but somehow unexciting lunch of a sandwich, bag of chips, large soft cookie, and a granola bar. This is pretty standard fare if you consider what a "normal" American lunch might include, or what a caterer might offer in their boxed lunch menu (...albeit for 3x what it should cost). The only discrepancy, in my opinion anyway, is the lack of 1 piece of whole fruit.

I was also struck by the fact that this lunch, despite seeming so standard, is not very healthy! (M made an observation yesterday that I'm strangely quite health-conscious. Well, can't say I don't think about it or don't try, anyway...)

Chicken Cornbread Pie

Happy New Year!

Today marks the first day of the new semester, and tomorrow it's back to work for me. I've been exceptionally fortunate, having taken a long stretch of vacation in November, followed by a few weeks working remotely prior to and following the holidays since our office is undergoing extensive renovation.

Without any new bentos to post, I did write a new year's resolution to start preparing/consuming more complex carbohydrates/grains this year, along with more fresh produce. So far we've been doing pretty well. We'll see if we can keep it up, though -- it's going to be an exceedingly busy/stressful next few months.

In the meantime, here's a fantastically easy recipe modified from Food.com:

Cornbread Chicken Pot Pie (Food.com #97946)

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 (10 3/4 ounce) can cream of chicken soup

1 (8 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained

2 cups cubed cooked chicken or 2 cups cooked turkey

1 (8 1/2 ounce) package corn muffin mix

3/4 cup milk

1 egg

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. In 9-inch pie plate mix soup, corn, and chicken.

3. In a separate bowl, combine corn muffin mix, milk, and egg.

4. Pour over chicken mixture.

5. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden.

Poka poka win!

Remember when I first received the Poka Poka set in the mail? I had definite misgivings, since I'd purchased the set with the intention of using the thermos to hold soups and other similarly liquidy dishes, and of course the thermos part of it wasn't actually intended as a thermos. 

But! the silver lining (pun not intended): it does what it was designed for quite well. And that's to keep rice nice and warm, in a easy carry-case with 2 side dishes. It doesn't matter that the interior isn't wipe-able, because with 2 watertight side containers, there shouldn't be any leakage in the first place!

So here's what it looks like (exterior; interior 1; 3-pc-thermos; interior 2; meal):

Note: Comes with chopsticks, but I didn't feel like eating curry w/ them. Also, by way of explaining how the thermos works (at least, as best as I could figure from the diagrams, since the instructions were all in Japanese): the black part is metal, which you fill with very hot water to heat it up while youre packing piping hot white rice into the plastic inner part. Dump out the water, wipe it dry, slide the inner part in and top it with the thick lid. Works!

Thermos: White jasmine rice

Side 1: Pav bhaji... the kind from the vacuum envelope sold on store shelves. Don't judge. (Container is lined with plastic wrap to prevent staining (and for easy clean-up))

Side 2: Grape tomatoes

Now for a brief hiatus -- trip to Thailand -- during which I shall take plenty of photos and have no way to upload them until I return home to the US. So, see you in a few weeks!

Feeling uninspired on this cold, rainy November morn in which I also forgot my phone.

You might ask: how can you feel uninspired with such magical, glowing feta cheese in your bento? Well.

Bottom tier: Organic mixed greens, grape tomatoes, fat-free feta, and a little drizzle of really old Italian dressing

Top tier: A slice of spinach quiche and about 1/2 a cup of yams, both from Wegman's.