Bento – SPAM stars with fried rice

June 4, 2009

in Bento, Home cooking

My bento lunch the next day – with more SPAM to use up, I made SPAM stars and fried rice*. The fried rice was very simple as usual – leftover rice, green beans, garlic and egg, flavoured with soy sauce. I made the stars using a cookie cutter. Feeling somewhat uninspired by what was in the fridge / pantry, all I managed to rustle up for the second tier of my bento box was red seedless grapes. But as uninspired as it was, those grapes were lovely. I fried up the stars and the rest of the SPAM that was left over. I packed the stars in my lunch box and ate the off-cuts for breakfast with a little buttered bread. :)

Bento - SPAM stars with fried rice and red grapes

As I was packing my lunch, Jac wandered by and said, “That fried rice looks good, but is it okay if I don’t have any SPAM in my lunch?”

Bento - SPAM stars with fried rice

So I packed Jac fried rice without SPAM. It looked a little plain, so I garnished it with grape tomato halves. If we’d had some fresh red chilli I would’ve sliced some up and used that, adding a little bite to Jac’s fried rice, but the tomatoes did the job of adding colour. I also packed her red grapes and three slices of frozen pineapple. I don’t even remember when we bought the pineapple, but there was a bag of it sitting in the freezer – I thought it would be a nice inclusion in Jac’s lunch.

Fried rice, grape tomatoes, pineapple and red grapes

For Jac’s bento note, I drew her a cartoon pig (below). That evening, Jac asked me, “So why didn’t anyone come to Petunia’s party?” :) I hope you guys get the joke even if Jac didn’t!**

The bento note for Jac - a sign of the times

About the bento gear featured in this post
I like eating my fried rice cold, which is why I packed my lunch in my yellow bento box, which I purchased on eBay. I don’t microwave that bento box.

Jac likes to eat her fried rice hot, so I packed her lunch in one of our microwave-safe Decor Tellfresh Quarters . You can buy them from many Woolworths or Coles supermarkets, for around AU$7.00 each. They come with four of removable white compartments (hence “Quarters”). Obviously on this occasion, I used two of the quarter compartments to hold the fruit.

Notes
*A variation on SPAM fried rice. I like what I like, after all! :)
**Not that I’m suggesting that swine flu is a laughing matter.

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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Cookie June 4, 2009 at 6:12 am

How cute! I love your Spam stars! Did you use a cookie cutter?

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2 Sarah June 4, 2009 at 7:49 am

I love that you always type SPAM in caps. When I read it I always yell SPAM in my head. Love it! (Although I don’t love SPAM, sadly.)

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3 kaff June 4, 2009 at 10:05 am

dang i know that reference about Petunia – it sounds very much like something out of The Far Side. I wish i could put my finger on it.

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4 Sam June 4, 2009 at 10:50 am

haha Swine Flu! My 17yo has been wishing for it to get out of his TEE exams this fortnight! :)

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5 sy June 4, 2009 at 1:01 pm

haha! i didn’t get the pig joke until you explained it- how funny! i just have to say that i am a daily visitor to your blog, and i LOVE it! your pics are amazing, and they never cease to make my mouth water. and not only do i love your food pics, i love looking at the cute little drawings/notes you make for jac :)

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6 Rilsta June 4, 2009 at 3:09 pm

The spam stars look fantastic! What a great idea to liven up the fried rice! I love it!!

P.S. I have been to Hamilton Island and had a fantastic time. Thanks for sharing your posts!

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7 matt June 5, 2009 at 12:11 am

@Sam: there’s a chance…

http://www.physorg.com/news163315373.html
Australia’s swine flu tally rocketed by more than a third on Thursday to nearly 900 as officials scrambled to contain the rapidly spreading virus.

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