I dont know what to call this thing

420ml hello kitty box
Top: coconut chicken and shrimp, sesame spinach, steamed broccoli/carrot/daikon, pickled scallion, pickled pink ginger
Bottom: coconut fried rice + quail egg

Not very healthy... but hey, win some lose some.

Easy Coconut fried rice
Cold rice (I used leftover kalijira, but any rice will do)
coconut milk
sesame oil
soy sauce
green onion (i used a packet of pre-cut and freeze dried onion)

Heat up a little sesame oil. Toss in the rice. Stir vigorously. Add green onion and stir for a minute or so. Add some coconut milk, more or less depending on how coconutty you want it. Cook, stirring, till the liquid is evaporated. Dot the pan with soy sauce, just a little. One last stir and its done!

my verdict: I liked it. Would have enjoyed it a lot more though if I hadnt had fried meat in my lunch. The oilyness of both dishes clashed in my stomach. T_T

Coconut chicken/shrimp
I had this epiphany some weeks ago... I like coconut. I like ebi-fry. Why not combine them? Im sure someone has done this before, but I sure felt clever when I thought of it.

chicken (cut small) and/or shrimp (peeled and deveined)
coconut (I used dried, flaked, unsweetened)
egg, beaten
2 parts flour mixed with 1 part potato starch (potato starch can be ommited if not available)

In one bowl dump a large quantity of coconut. In another bowl combine the flour/starch. In a third bowl whisk an egg. Roll the meat in the flour, dip in egg and press firmly in coconut. Dip in egg again and roll in coconut one more time.

From there freeze, deep fry or bake.

In retrospect, I would suggest using small/no bigger than medium shrimp. I used some really big freshwater shrimp and its really hard to get them to cook all the way through because they are so big. Or you could cut the shrimp in half longways.


Crossposted from my journal to BentoLunches

430ml Asvel box: Rice with sesame seeds, tamagoyaki, orange bell pepper, pineapple and chicken stirfry with teriyaki type pineapple sauce, snap peas, broccoli, simmered shiitake and daikon, kampyo, carrots, apple, small bottle of ponzu.

T_T not much appetite lately....

The pineapple chicken was really easy and tasty. Its not much of a recipe but I included it anyways. I apologize, there are no quantities.

Pineapple Chicken
Chicken breast cut into to small strips
canned Pineapple + juice
teriyaki sauce
sesame oil
katakuriko/potato starch/cornstarch/rice flour

In a saute pan pour in a little sesame oil and heat up. Add the chicken and cook it quickly so that the outside browns nicely but the inside isnt quite done. Pour a bit of pineapple juice in the pan and cook it down. Do this a few times. The quantity of juice added should not lower the heat of the pan too much and should reduce in about a minute or so. Remove the chicken and pineapple from the pan. Again pour some pineapple juice in the pan but this time more. Then add several spoons of teriyaki sauce (I have homemade teriyaki sauce that is pre-partially reduced) and stir quickly. In a small bowl add a tiny bit of potato starch (too much will make the sauce icky instead of pleasantly thickened) and water. Stir that into the pineapple teriyaki mixture and cook till thickened. Should take like... 2 minutes. Pour the sauce over the chicken and tada~!


Crossposted from my journal to BentoLunches

tamagoyaki and stir fried vegetables (broccoli, orange peppers, daikon, shiitake mushroom, snow peas, carrots) over rice with black sesmae seeds. On the side a peice of banana and castella cake!

Crossposted from my journal to BentoLunches

I tried making Mitarashi Dango for the first time yesterday. =_= Mine came out... wrong somehow. The sauce was good, but too salty and too viscous (not sure if that is the right word) and didnt taste quite right. The dango themselves were deformed and had a strange texture. I used the recipe from www.justhungry.com which many people have had success with but somehow XD I did not! I have yet to figure out where I messed up. Mmmm I did not use the full quantity of water, the dough was getting very soft and sticky so I stopped adding water. However, it should be noted that her suggestion to grill the dango before eating improves them dramaticly. I guess I'll just have to experiment. I found a recipe for matcha dango as well..... <3



Some years ago (XD like seven maybe?) my mother gave me these clear glass dishes. They are called "Quaker Crystal". Way back when my mother was a child Quaker oatmeal had this promotion where they put one piece of this dishware in their tins of oatmeal. Apparently my Nana collected them for my mom, but my mother was never one for the use of fancy looking dishes I suppose since I never saw them until she gave them to me.

But I digress. Look at the picture again... doesn't it look so cool and refreshing? At the point where I was taking the photo the tea (which happens to be Numi brand genmaicha) was still fairly hot, but doesn't the glass make it seem chilled and like it would immediately quench all thirst? I've always found the effect dishware has on the perception of the taste/quality of food to be very interesting. I never really thought about it before but perhaps it is for that reason that I (as a notoriously finiky eater) collect interesting dishware, tea sets and sake sets.


XD This is my new toy!! I found it at Daiso! Its called an "ice muddler", basicly it just makes ice balls on a stick. I love it. This will get much use in the months to come since Im one of those weird people to like to simply eat ice.


Close up. Ice is beautiful, I think.

>_< I really miss posting to the BentoChallenge community and I wanted to post for the "spring" theme but XD Alas I was too late (I was out of the state for a few days and missed the deadline). ^___^ For me spring is the cherry blossoms... which I miss dearly but was lucky enough to see while I was visiting in Washington.

Lunch is : Rice with sanbaizu, a cherry blossom tree made of kanpyo and home made sakana no oboro (recipe below), pickled lotus root, yet more snow peas (I bought waaaaay too many, thank goodness they are almost gone), carrots, shibazuke, blood orange, takuan and fresh shiitake mushrooms simmered in water/ponzu. >_< My tree looks terrible but it was fun to make.

Homemade Sakana No Oboro
Mine looks terrible since I dont have a mortar and I added too much coloring but it tastes good... its a lot like sakura denbu but not as fine. More like "flakes" rather than powder. I also apologize that there are no measurements here. I rarely measure when I cook.

piece of white fish (any white fish will do, I used an ANCIENT piece of frozen halibut.. even odds and ends of various white fish will be sufficient, shrimp and prawns as well)
soy sauce (may be omitted)
mirin
sake (may be omitted)
sugar
coloring

1. Boil the fish till cooked through. Remove all fat, skin and dark flesh. Chop it finely.
2. Put the fish in a paper towel or clean kitchen towel and rinse with hot water. Squeeze and repeat. (This is supposed to get rid of additional fat in the fish, which would prevent it from drying properly.)
2. Heat a dry pan.
3. Mash the fish in a mortar. I didnt have a mortar so I shredded it as fine as I could.
4. In a small bowl mix a small amount of sugar, mirin, sake (may be omitted), red or pink coloring and a tiny splash of soy sauce. Not enough soy sauce to change the color but enough to give a little balance to the sweetness of the mixture.
5. Mix the fish and the sauce and put it in the dry pan. Stir constantly until the fish flakes are completely dry.
6. Cool in a wide, flat dish.

Store covered in the refrigerator and use within two weeks or freeze.

Crossposted from my journal to BentoLunches

XD I dont know why but for some reason lately I have felt like posting pictures other than my obento as well. Tonight for dinner I had soumen. The weather is still a little chilly around here for chilled soumen but *^_^* it was so light and refreshing.

This quarter in my Japanese language class, our final project was to pick a prefecture and write a short essay (15-20 sentences very short!). Without much thinking, I picked Hyougo prefecture... which happens to be where the port city Kobe is. Kobe is a very important place because it was the first port to be opened to the outside world after Japan's long isolationist stint. It represents Japan's door to the rest of the world. Also in Hyougo, is the beautiful Himeji castle. In my opinion, one of the most beautiful I have yet to see pictures of (I would like to visit it in person one day!!!). Finally, and what ties this blurb to the photos, is that Hyougo is renowned for its hand made soumen noodles and is generally beleived to be the birthplace of soumen. I was so surprised when I found a packet of this hand made soumen in Uwajimaya (Beaverton location)!! I purchased it... and after eating it just now I must say that its definately superior to most soumen I have had in the past. This particular brand has "grades" and the only one available here was the lowest grade... O_O so if it was that good I imagine the highest grade is really worth the price?

Disposable clamshell onigiri box: 3 onigiri - one plain salted umeboshi filled onigiri with nori strip, one with Hello Kitty vegetable flavor furikake, and one with egg furikake and nori strip. In the corner, pickled lotus root, snow peas, tamagoyaki, carrots and daikon. Also on the side and not shown, one kimchii filled onigiri wrapped completely in nori.

This one was not made for me but rather for a friend in my class. I promised her lunch today. She wanted rice balls. I didnt need one myself since XD I only had to go into the school for a test and to turn in a paper!

Crossposted from my journal to BentoLunches

I dont usually post pictures of my food other than my obento.. but I thought this turned out nicely. Its uh I call it.... bowl of stuff donburi. <33 There is (duh) rice on the bottom... On the top there is cabbage kimchii, white kimchii, daikon (cut to plum blossom shape), japanese eggplant, pickled ginger, takuan, shiitake sauted in mentsuyu, orange peppers, snow peas, carrots (cut to flower shape), rakkyo, kampyo and topped with sesame seeds. I think that is everything. *___* And miso soup on the side.

My stomach has been upset the last few days. >_> Needed something light but nourishing.

430ml Asvel Box: Kalijira rice reheated with a tiny amount of butter, roma tomato slice and some basil and a coconut curry made with chicken, carrot, okinawa sweet potato (purple sweet potato), orange peppers, pineapple and fresh basil (and a seasoning packet cause Im too lazy to blend my own curry).

D: It was good. Even cold. I used more vegetables than the packet called for though, and added some pineapple on top of that. The Kalijira rice was a little different than I am used to but it was nice. I was surprised by the sweet potato too, it was really nice. Creamy and thick and smooth. ^___^ Yay for positive food adventures!

Crossposted from my journal to BentoLunches

Main Box: *__* I found these really cute mini french rolls at the store yesterday.... so I have a sandwich of a mini french roll with honey dijon dressing, Ovengold blazing buffalo flavor turkey, cucumber, snow peas, Kerrigold Dublineer cheese. Also, corn on the cobb and an origami salt cone.

Side: Sicilian blood orange. *________* SO delicious.

March 3

430ml Asvel box: :3 I made kimbap with egg, carrot, cabbage kimchii, white kimchii and shibazuke.Also packed in there (not really visible) some cucumber and daikon mixed with a kind of instant home pickling powder mix. It has purple shiso in it.

Crossposted from my journal to BentoLunches

D: Forgot to put the rice on last night.... didnt get up early enough so its a quickie lunch. Half a bagel sandwich (made with an onion bagel, smoked turkey lunch meat, leaf lettuce and half a slice of American cheese) and a shasta gold orange thingie

2008, Feb 20

Apple bunnies and a Tarragon/cranberry egg salad sandwich


Tarragon Cranberry Egg salad
I didnt use measurements so... yeah.... :X but this is what I used and I'll try to approximate the amounts

1 egg, hardboiled
Mayo (I used kewpie)
dried tarragon
Ocean Spray dried cherry flavored cranberries
Grey Poupon country dijon

In a bowl, mash the egg finely with a fork. Add just enough mayo to moisten and hold the egg together (mine was XD like a thick paste, its very little mayo). Add about half a handful of the cranberries and 1 or two tablespoons of tarragon. Mix well. Stir in one small spoon of the dijon, to taste. Let it sit over night so the flavors mix.

I thought it was pretty tasty.... but it could just be me.

Crossposted from my journal to BentoLunches

430ml asvel box: Salted rice with black sesame seeds, umeboshi, torikatsu, carrots, daikon, takuan, broccoli, curly lettuce, piggie full of tonkatsu sauce

I wish I had a porch... today would be a good day to have tea outside.... good day.

Crossposted from my journal to BentoLunches

Strawberries, blackberries and one very delicious and fluffy Hokkaido Cream flavor pan (bread)!! *___* Not a nutritionally well rounded lunch but I think its okay since its a holiday!

Happy Valentines, everyone

Crossposted from my journal to BentoLunches

430ml Asvel Box: Inarizushi with kampyo (gourd?), pickled ginger, shibazuke, sauted enoki mushrooms, pickled lotus root, carrots, snow peas, tamagoyaki. D: This box says its only 430ml.. but it feels much bigger.


^__^ Additional photo from the top... Its been a while since I made tamagoyaki... ^.^ Im rather happy with this one. It came out lightly sweet yet mild.

2008 Feb 04

:3 This day I felt like something simple... so I packed four onigiri in two flavors: bonito/egg and Ume-jiso-wakame. Two bottles of soy sauce on the side. I found these cute disposable onigiri boxes at Uwajimaya in Beaverton.... but alas they are very squishy. I put them in my bag XD and they flattened and stuck together! D: But I took it home and popped it in the fridge and made fried rice out of it over the weekend!!

Crossposted from my journal to BentoLunches

>_> This is my second ever attempt at character bento.... (Some time ago I did a horrible Katamari one). This time I tried to do Ichigo from the anime "Bleach". >_> Its not as nice as I had envisioned, but its a hell of a lot better looking than my Katamari one was. *__* I see some places were I could have improved, but... D: Im too hungry to worry about fixing it!! *___* mmm will Orihime and Rukia ever forgive me for devouring Ichigo?


The whole thing took me about 1hr45minutes including photography and cooking time. >_< And since I had no where to go and not much to do today, everything was cooked/cut/etc right then. (YUM fresh torikatsu *_*)


360ml monokuro boo box: Rice, torikatsu nuggets, tonkatsu sauce in the piggy bottle, and Ichigo (who was lovingly crafted from roasted turkey, nori and cheddar cheese)


230ml monokuro boo box: Pickled lotus root (cut into a flower shape), carrots, daikon, snow peas, star apple, shibazuke, takuan, sanbaizu in the elephant bottle.


D: For fun, this was my paper template I made. >_>

Also.... The other day I was talking to my friend Becky and I asked her if she knew how to make homemade chicken nuggets. *__* Both of us were drawing blanks... but I came up with this: Why not make nuggets out of Torikatsu? I am sure there are better recipes out there and things that are more useful than this but I figured I would post my methodology anyways. D: BWAHAHAHAHA

Torikatsu Nuggets of <3
chicken breasts, trimmed of fat/skin/cartilage/etc
sea salt
pepper
flour
potato flour
egg
Panko (I used Shirakiku Honey Panko)

1. Trim/clean up chicken breasts and then D: kinda beat them up a bit (with a meat mallet, flat end of a knife or your hands) until they are roughly the same thickness all the way across. Cut them into 1inch or so chunks. Season with salt and pepper.

2. Get 3 bowls. In one bowl mix roughly 2 parts flour and 1 part potato flour. In another bowl beat a couple eggs. In a third bowl dump a good quantity of panko.

3. Peice by peice... roll in the flour mixture, dunk in egg and press repeatedly and very firmly into the panko. D: Dont be scared to beat it up in the panko to get the flakes to stick. >_> Its difficult sometimes.

4. From here you can freeze or fry or bake.

5A. Freeze: layer (separating with wax paper) and pop them in the freezer! To use, just cook them frozen, dont defrost or they will get soggy.

5B. Fry: *__* Mmmmm... >_> I don't know what temperature the oil should be as I dont use a cooking thermometer. XD I just heat up oil and use long bamboo cooking chopsticks. The oil is ready to use when lots of bubbles rise off the chopsticks when you stick them in the oil. Fry till they are a dark golden brown then take them out and let them rest on a paper towel.

5C: Bake: I have had tasty success baking these in a toaster oven at 400degrees for 15-20 minutes. They arent as pretty as the fried ones, but I assume they are much healthier.

Variation: ^.^ I have had success adding all manner of spices to the meat during step 2!

Crossposted from my journal to BentoLunches.

I woke up very late... so I really only had time to throw together a snack. Onigiri with vegetable furikake, carrots, tomato, kiwi fruit, star fruit, small bottle of soy sauce. ._. Shame, I had this plan last night of a *big starry eyes* fresh cooked in the morning torikatsu obento. le sigh, maybe next time.

Cyntilla asked me for some photos of my 4pc monokuro boo set, ( so here they are, under the cut. )

360ml Monokuro Boo Box: rice with sesame seeds, umeboshi, boneless chicken wings, pickled lotus root, snow peas, takuan, daikon, carrots. In the piggy is honey bbq sauce and in the apple topped bottle is sanbaizu.

Not shown: 2 white peach halves

^.^ Ooooo I was rather happy with the way this one looked!

Crossposted from my journal to BentoLunches.

>_< First day back at school....

500ml hamster club box: rice with salmon furkake and nori cut outs, steamed vegetables with citrus pepper roasted chicken, apple, radish, soy sauce. I used a boxed frozen vegetable mix. It was tasty, but not as attractive. :X

Crossposted from my journal to BentoLunches.

How rare.... me posting in the morning!! >_> Yeah... I didnt sleep last night. @__@ Gonna be an interesting day.


560ml Badtz Maru box: Vegetable medly Garden Burger over Garlic fried rice with Carrot/Greenbean/Zuchinni/rosemary sauce frozen mix thingie I found on sale at the store (Green Giant brand, its rather tasty).

Nothing fancy, nothing cute... just fuel for the day. Something about this box.... it just begs for simple food. I've tried putting cute food it in but it never works. It just doesnt look right. ^___^ Maybe because I've had the box so long (about 10 years now!!) and my mind just associates it with practical meals of rice and plain vegetables. <3 D: But its been a while since I used it, thought I would give it some lovins today!

Crossposted from my journal to BentoLunches.

>_< Been busy.... So hard to take pictures of my obento in the mornings (I've been rushed) let alone post them. I'm trying to get back into the swing of it though!

2007 Nov 27

My friend stayed the night so I made us matching lunches for (since we have similar school schedules). :3 The red one was mine and the blue one hers. I think hers looked much better.... >_< I was kinda rushed in the morning.

Rice (hers had tamago furikake), grilled shrimp, broccoli, carrots marinated in sanbaizu, tangerine, apple, soy sauce.

2007 Nov 20

Top Tier: Roasted Chicken on lettuce, tonkatsu sauce for dipping, pickled scallions, shibazuke, broccoli, snow peas, takuan
Bottom Tier: rice with umeboshi


:3 I made this one for my friend

Sometime in November, dont remember

Inari zushi, takuan, shibazuke, umeboshi.

O__o I never tried that kind of umeboshi before... it was very different, not really sour and rather hard. >_> Didnt care for them as much.

Crossposted to bentolunches.