Bento Mania.

I am weak to the power of suggestion. And my desire for cute things. And my jealousy of things that others have.

It's true.

Weak weak weak.

So when the Food Pornographer, one of my most favorite food bloggers, started accumulating her bento boxes, I was weak in the knees with jealousy. WEAK IN THE KNEES. So of course, I started scouring the world for my Shinzi Katoh bento box.

Then one day, out of nowhere, I found it. Some store in Yorkville, locked in a cabinet, there it was. And being both girly and childish, I let out a scream of joy! The bento was MINE!

So it's two tiered, pretty small, but cuter than cute.

I am even stealing some of the Food Pornographer's lunch ideas. We made itsy bitsy meatballs that I used in it, and we'll be making some shish kebab's later this week. I love it.

Vacation at the Cottage.

Spending a week at a cottage is in no way a bad vacation. In particular, spending a week at a cottage with beautiful sunny days, loads of books and magazines, and a well-planned menu is definitely not a bad way to spend a week. And we relished it.

You've already seen the steak... but what about the chickens? Oh yes. I absolutely HAD to make another Everybody Likes Sandwiches recipe for bbq chicken and coleslaw. And we had to have them as sandwiches. (As this is the second recipe of hers that I have blogged about in the past few days, I am feeling a bit like a stalker, but her stuff's good, man.

The downside? Only that the picture is total nonsense.


I was using G's camera because I completely forgot to bring my own, and I wasn't used to it at all. It's a proper camera, not like my lovely little Lumix, and I really was out of my league. You can't see the chicken, but believe me, you'd love this chicken dinner...

When you look at the link for the actual recipe, you will see that ELS's chicken is a bit more bbq-y looking. I did not bake the chicken in the oven, opting instead to utilize the grill outside since it was such a luxury. BUT! It turned out lovely on the grill and I took the marinade and cooked the absolute heck out of it (to kill any beasties) with some Sirachi sauce to make a thick sauce for the sandwiches. You just can't see that in the picture.

Here's my adapted recipe based on what was available:

bbq chicken sandwich topped with north carolina coleslaw

1 small green cabbage, shredded
1 large shredded carrot
1 onion, diced crazy small

1.5 c apple cider vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp red pepper flakes
1/4 c brown sugar
1/2 c ketchup

6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs,
1 tsp chipotle powder
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp cumin
1 T olive oil

1. Combine the cabbage, carrot and the onion in a large bowl. Mix the dressing ingredients in a medium sized bowl and pour about 1/3 of it over the slaw. Refrigerate the slaw and keep the remainder of the dressing aside. (This is directly from ELS.)

2. Take the chicken and dust with chiptole, cumin, etc. Dump in the remaining sauce and marinate the chicken for a couple of hours or so. Turn it ever so often if it's not all fully covered.

3. Shake off the marinade and have your resident grill master (G, in our case) grill the chicks to perfection.

4. Take the remaining marinade and put in a small saucepan. DO NOT TASTE. Add some Sirachi sauce to taste, and let cook for AT LEAST half an hour or longer. It will thicken considerably, and eventually you should be able to kill in raw chicken badness.

5. Shred the chicken and place on white hamburger buns. Top with coleslaw and some of the cooked sauce. ENJOY!

This was really a very good thing. In fact, it was so good that I am going to make it for my Mom when she comes to visit in September. I really think she will like it. The chicken comes out slightly sweet and really flavourful. The coleslaw is tangy tangy tangy. (Actually, I made this again later in the week and used much less of the apple cider vinegar and it suited G's tastes much more.) The coleslaw is crunchy and sweet and spicy. It really fits on the sandwich and just adds another element.

We served this with exceptionally fresh Ontario corn. This corn was by far the best corn I have had this season. It's not been hot here (which is unusual) and it's been crazy rainy (which is also unusual) and so all the fruit and veg seem to taste slightly different this year. The corn has not been great, but we bought this one at a farm stand that sold only corn and wild blueberry's. Yeah to both.