Crab Cake Redux

As per usual, I ask Paige what she would like in her bento for today. To my incredishock (yes, I just made that up) she said "crab cakes". You only ate a little of one at dinner and they weren't my best culinary experiment ever, so this was a surprise to me.

I had imitation crab meat sticks from an old shopping trip that I got on a great sale. I mixed it with beaten eggs, panko bread crumbs, sauteed onion and some butter. I tried to use a recipe, but I didn't have most of the things needed in them, so I tried to make my own. Now, they all didn't fall apart and make a crab cake scramble, but they didn't hold together great either. I chalked it up as an edible, but not repeatable experiment. Now she wants to eat it? Not one to argue about these things anymore, I reheated some in a pan and that is part of what is in her bento today.
Paige also likes coleslaw. She hates cabbage, but likes coleslaw made with cabbage. So, I found a really old head of cabbage hiding in the back of the refrigerator, peeled off the ooky leaves and found a perfect, if small head of green cabbage. Satisfied, I took to shredding a little and then some carrots with my special shredder peeler, which is an excellent utensil, some dill weed and mayonnaise. I haven't tried the dill before because I never have it on hand usually, but back when we had a little money I picked some up at Penzey's back the Spring before this one. Still sealed it was in fine condition for sprinkling in coleslaw.

This is not the most colorful bento ever, but there are some vegetables in there. On the top in the cupcake cup is the coleslaw, after that is some cut up crab cakes that I reheated before putting them in to insure maximum crunchiness. After that is a rolled omelet that is called tamagoyaki, except that I didn't add anything to it. It is really simple though and is perfect for bento. Of course there is rice, though I intend on using some buckwheat noodles next week. The heart in the center was cut from our beets from last night. Despite how sweet they are, Paige says that they taste like dirt, so I don't harbor any delusions that she might actually eat it, but it does look pretty and breaks up the color monotony.