Another lunch

That was a lunch comprised of left over gyuudon (home made of course), edamame shumai (store bought of course) and rice balls. The two white ones were stuffed with more gyuudon and the colorful one was empty but rolled in a seasoning mix called furikake.

That gyuudon was made with onions, thinly sliced beef, soy sauce, mirin, sugar and vanilla rum. It was a very rich sauce.

I believe the monkey face is full of hot mustard.

Another Day, Another Bento

This was rice mixed with hot mustard and left over salmon bits. Gyoza with a fish bottle full of soy sauce. The quick miso pickle. Some more of the ubiquitous apple bunnies. I tucked a little more of the left over saury in the corner, but it's a dark fish in a dark container, so it's a little hard to see.

It was pretty tasty. Let's see how long I can keep this up.

Hisashiburi da ne obento san!

It's been a while since I've packed a lunch for work. I think I will start doing it for various reasons, not the least of which is nutritional.

There's a potato salad that I made from the fried veggies that were part of a pot pie. I scooped them out of the pan (plucking out the chicken bites and putting them back in the pan). I let it cool down and dressed it quickly with some mayo and apple cider vinegar.

The green salad next to it is actually a quick miso pickle. You thinly slice some veggies (grated carrot and sliced cucumber), rub them with salt, let them weep for a while, let them sit in some miso for a while, and rinse the whole thing off. I poured a little rice vinegar over it. The white bits are rice from the organic white miso (it's a strange brand I won't buy again). Next time I think I'll leave the carrot shreds to the last. They don't really need to be salted or anything.

You can't tell from the picture, but the slices of apple are cute to resemble rabbits. There are various tutorials about the internet.

I also added half a saury which I cooked simply in a pseudo teriyaki sauce (sake, soy sauce, sugar). I took the bones out prior to packing to make for neater eating.

That thing in the plastic is a miso ball. You scooped some miso into a plastic bag, (adding some goodies if you like) and add a little hot water to make a thin, but enjoyable miso soup. It's a technique I picked up from Just Hungry which is a valuable Japanese cooking site.

The plan is to keep packing my lunch. Wish me luck.

Seattle Excursion

A friend of mine tied the knot in Seattle on Tuesday, so The Boyfriend and I dragged ourselves there. It was a lot of fun.

I spent some time in one of the smaller branches of Uwajimaya's (a Japanese import store / grocery store).



I bought some dango. As far as I know, dango are made out of mochi (which is made out of beating a cooked portion of extremely sticky rice until it is a chewy dough). These dango were stuffed with anko (sweet bean paste, which is a favorite of mine) and lotus root paste. They are probably one million calories each, but they were oh so good.

Also, because I have been eating a lot of sandwiches lately, I made a bento for work tomorrow.

I was trying to do an energy saving technique, in which you wrap up all the side dishes (in this case Beef Little Smokies, cabbage, onion, and sugar snap peas with soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce) in a pouch made of tin foil set directly on top of your cooking rice. It worked well, except that my pouch sprung a leak and made my rice brown. Ah well.