First Two Bento Lunches

I recently just returned to work, a temp job, and have decided I want to try and make bento lunches again. Years ago I used to make bento lunches for work, it is really enjoyable and so much more delicious than a simple sandwich and bag of chips. I don't know why, but my workday seems so much more tolerable when I have a cute and delicious lunch!

I've been out of practice as far as cooking goes (I'll explain why in a bit), so I was nervous about making my bento lunches, so I cheated and used leftovers for the first few! I know, leftovers are typically what makes most bentos, but I will have to admit I didn't make everything from scratch this time around.

Here is my first bento that I made for my first day of my new job:

I used leftover bulgogi (Korean yakiniku) that my mother-in-law made. MIL's bulgogi is always delicious, this batch I think she used a lot of Korean pear in the sauce, because it was very thick and flavorful sauce.
I made green beans simmered in a broth made of water, soy sauce, sugar, and mirin - I adjusted the ingredients until I got the flavor I wanted, sorry I didn't write it down!
In the yellow container is just salad greens and a side of blueberries (fresh-frozen, they thaw by lunchtime). I love the cute little salad dressing container for my sesame dressing. I packed a fork but ended up not using it.
My co-workers loved my cute boxed lunch, and complimented/teased me for eating small blueberries with chopsticks.

For my second day of work, I attempted to do teriyaki chicken from scratch for dinner, with the idea of using leftovers for lunch. Teriyaki chicken is a staple in my house, but unfortunately I had to toss it and made Hamburger Helper instead, because when I put the lid on the pan to let the chicken simmer in the marinate, I didn't realize the lid was dirty. A film of unknown nastiness had peeled off the lid and incorporated itself in the teriyaki glaze, ugh...

That brings me to my point I hinted at above: for some reason I suddenly became a bad-luck cook. I used to be really good at cooking, but it all went down hill when I became pregnant with my son! I don't know what happened! I think that the clumsiness and foggy-brain that often accompanies pregnancy messed up my cooking skills, and it never really went away even 2 years after baby. Despite that, I still cooked my son's pureed and soft cooked foods for his first year, at the expense of burning the Teflon off of 2 pots from not putting enough water in it for steaming, and melting 3 plastic utensils.

Evidence A: This is why I don't cook more often...

My bad-luck cooking had made me rather discouraged, and I ended up relying on ready made meals, such as those you pour out of a bag and cook in a skillet. I am growing sick of those meals, and I'm determined to get out of my cooking slump and make more meals from scratch. I'm getting there!

So, after the failed teriyaki chicken, I ended up using up the rest of the leftover bulgogi for my second bento lunch. Again the ladies at work teased me for my chopsticks, thinking I was going to use them for my yogurt cup! Then teased me again for using a baby spoon (my son's spoon). What can I say, it fit in my little lunch bag.

Bento number 3. We were having a lazy night and for dinner I just made a family size frozen meal from Safeway for dinner, orange chicken and fried rice, when I got an email from work asking me to come in the next day. I thought "this is perfect leftovers for a bento lunch!"
I added an egg roll, cut in half so it would fit in the bento box. The "fried rice" had edamame and orange and yellow carrots. The rice had no flavor at all, unfortunately, but it wasn't bad with a little bit of soy sauce.
Mandarin oranges and giant grapes finish the lunch! The grapes were huge and egg shaped, I had never seen grapes shaped like that before. They were delicious, yet dense.

I microwave my bento lunches, as I do refrigerate them the night before and take them to work without reheating first. I don't have the time to reheat everything in the morning for preparing them to be eaten at room temperature. Plus, if there is the option for reheating it in the lunchroom, why not!