Food for the Week

Since the base of each meal I eat is rice, I often cook up a lot of little side and meat dishes to eat with it. It's not uncommon for me to just come home, grab a bowl, fill the bottom with rice, top it off with some sides, and eat that for dinner.

Here is a sample of this past week's little dishes, some of which you saw in my previously posted bentos.

Bellpepper stirfry with bonito shavings, sesame seasoned green beans, chicken adobo drumsticks, and egg omelette.

I also have mini meatloaf, congee, and chicken karaage in the freezer. More vegetable sides are made in the middle of the week when these have been consumed.

My Yummy Box

I recently purchased this box off ebay. With this box, my collection is pretty much complete. Each of my boxes serves a function from either capacity or shape. This little box is still under 600 ml, but it is deeper than any of my other boxes, which makes it perfect for dishes that have some sort of gravy or sauce that I prefer to serve over rice instead of in a separate container.

Rice with umeboshi, rolled egg omelette, and seasoned edamame (seeing more of these in the freezer section of regular grocery stores these days).

Food for a Co-worker

One of my co-workers was sick this week, so I decided to bring her some food. My mother always thought illness could be cured with something good to eat; I guess I picked up that habit.

My friend is a vegetarian but every blue moon eats a wee bit of fish, so I let her know beforehand that the miso soup was flavored with a small amount of bonito stock.

Tofu stirfry with cabbage, carrots, and snowpeas. Rice with black sesame seeds and an umeboshi. The smaller red container is mine and holds basically the same meal, sans umeboshi. The tall container in the back has miso soup for another colleague who had asked if I could make her some (she baked me some banana nut bread in return). The smaller thermos has miso soup that my friend could eat with her meal. And the container on its side is filled with Korean sesame and garlic spinach, which is her favorite.

Bento Lunch 11/13/15

Rice barrels with nori furikake, green beans with Kewpie sesame dressing, stirfried red bellpepper seasoned with bonito shavings and soy, and rolled egg omelette.

Bento Lunch 11/9/15

Bento lunch postings are getting a bit sporadic as not all my lunches are post-worthy. Some, like curry over rice or chicken congee with century egg, are just poured into a bowl-like Lock & Lock container. 

This is my small two tiered oval bento box and (to be frank) my least favorite. I'm just not into two tiered boxes and, in particular, hate oval shapes as I find them hard to squeeze food into. Rounded edges, yes. Completely rounded, no.

Bottom tier holds rice with black sesame seeds. 

Top tier has steamed green beans seasoned with bonito shavings and soy, chicken karaage, and spicy Thai red curry shrimp lay nestled against the lettuce. I absolutely adored the shrimp. Usually, the curry is used with coconut milk, but I don't like the slippery texture coconut milk gives to curry, so I just use the paste for stirfry. I recently made a batch with chicken, bamboo shoots, baby corn, bell pepper, and water chestnuts. I was sooooo good!

Bento Lunch 11/5/2015

Decided to use the divider inserts in my usagi bento box today. Egg omelette, cherry tomatoes, Japanese potato salad, rice with nori furikake, and some grapes for dessert. The barrel press that comes with this lunchbox is what I used to shape the rice into those nice little cylindrical shapes. The shape isn't purely aesthetic either. It actually comes in really handy because it allows for easier pick-up of the rice, with each barrel being a perfectly little compact bite.

Bento Side - Flaked Salmon

Not a big fan of this. Basically, it's baked salmon that is stirfried until a lot of the water is evaporated, and what's left behind is a dry and flavorful flake. However, I probably won't make this again. It's a bit too fishy tasting for me, despite the ubiquitous addition of sake and mirin. I can't deny that it's very pretty though. The delicate pink color reminds me of cherry blossoms.

Thought I'd still include it here in case anyone else might be interested. The video on how to make this will be posted below.

A colorful lunch

Over Rice

Salmon Flakes Recipe