Morning Meal

This morning I felt like making a comfort meal: 

pan-fried teriyaki wild Coho salmon onigiri with furikake, tamagoyaki, fresh tomatoes from the garden, and green tea with goji berries. The only thing missing was miso soup. And maybe something pickled. I'll work on that for next time.

Hope you are holding up during the new school year, which for us means Zoom and Google Meet classes at home. The kids have been preparing their own snacks and lunches themselves, according to how their screen breaks work out. I'm thinking about sharing some of their creations here. Stay tuned!

Chicken Katsu Onigirazu Bento

Working on improving my onigirazu technique; today I made oven-baked chicken katsu. There are lots of recipes out there describing this method - basically instead of deep-frying the panko-breaded chicken cutlets, you bake them in a 400F oven for 30 minutes or so. The key is to toast the panko on a frying pan first so that it turns a nice brown color, like how it would look if you had actually deep-fried the chicken. You really can't compare oven baked chicken katsu with real deep-fried chicken katsu, but I thought it came out okay. It will never be as crispy as deep-fried, but it definitely is less oily. And there is very little cleanup involved. I like that!

For this onigirazu I didn't use a mold; I simply placed some rice in the middle of a sheet of nori, then layered with shredded cabbage, a few slices of chicken katsu, a squirt of tonkatsu sauce, more rice, then folded up the four corners and cut in half. I like how it looks, but I can still add more filling. Next time that's what I'll do. Also, I'll fold a little more tightly. The learning experience continues. Also inside our LunchBot Clicks: strawberries, orange cherry tomato, steamed broccoli.

Salmon and Pickles Onigirazu Bento

On a roll with the black rice over here. Why not salmon and pickles onigirazu? First thing I learned from this one is to use more filling next time. D'oh! Besides more salmon I might also add more pickled red onion and pickled cucumber filling (can barely see it here), and maybe add daikon, some kind of sprouts and avocado too. Although you can simply make it freehand, I used a "mold" for this one, which was basically just a box that you fill, then invert onto a sheet of nori before folding. I found it to be awkward and unwieldy to use. I would prefer an open-ended mold that you place directly on the nori, like the ones you see for spam musubi and maki rolls. Also, this one I had to cut into three pieces to fit in the box, so the middle piece might fall apart while eating if it's not wrapped tightly enough. MisterMan ate this one and he gave it a thumbs-up, but stay tuned for my next attempt! I hope to improve my technique😊

Chicken Teriyaki Onigirazu and Makizushi Bento

Hi friends! This is my first attempt at onigirazu. Onigirazu is like a rice ball (onigiri) except it is square in shape and flatter, like a sandwich. In this way, you can have more fillings than inside a round or triangular ball. Onigirazu molds exist, just as they do for regular onigiri, but I didn't have a mold so I freehanded it - placing rice, chicken teriyaki, lightly sauteed asparagus, then more rice on a nori sheet. Then I folded it, wrapped in wax paper, and cut in half so it would fit nicely inside the Eshly Deli Box. I filled out the rest of the box with purple carrot flowers, tomato, broccoli, and a melon sampler. Have you been eating as much melon as we have? It has been a great summer for sweet watermelon, honeydew, and cantaloupe!

I thought it came out pretty well, and MisterMan seemed to like it. There are lots of possibilities for fillings, and it is a good way to use up refrigerator leftovers easily (ham and egg, tuna salad, tomato bacon lettuce, smoked salmon cream cheese, steak, hamburger, whatever!).

I decided to make TinySprite's chicken and asparagus inside a makisushi roll. I thought it might be easier (and more fun) for her to eat this way. And they fit nicely inside the LunchBots Clicks box, alongside some Dapple Dandy pluots and a sweet strawberry. This stainless steel box comes in a couple sizes and is great because not only does it have a leakproof lid but the lid is translucent so you can see what's for lunch! I love that effect a lot. So there we have a couple of nice cool bento for a warm summer day! Hope you are all enjoying your last bit of summer!

Bunny Riceball and Salted Salmon Bento

Salted salmon and rice for TinySprite today. Have you made shiozake before? The method I use is one from LovelyLanvin's recipe: I salt the fish overnight, then slice into small strips before broiling. It packs very well for bento and tastes delicious cold or room temperature. It's nice to serve with plain rice because the salmon itself has lots of flavor. I decorated the rice with nori into a bunny face, and using lettuce as a liner means she can either wrap the whole thing up or eat it with a fork. This cute divided box lets me add blood oranges and grapes in a separate section, alongside steamed Okinawan sweet purple potatoes, carrots, and cucumbers. Simple, but so delicious! This is one of my own favorite meals as well. ^__^

Panda Rice and Chicken Bento

Just a little more of that unbeatable (for me) comfort food combo: chicken and rice. I used the Vietnamese Soy Chicken Drumsticks recipe that I've made several times before (you can see my version and the link to the original recipe here). So good. Sometimes I pack the drumsticks whole, but today I pulled the meat off the bones so I could arrange a cute bento in this enameled stainless steel bowl (from Daiso). I can pack a lot of food in here because it's pretty deep, and it has a translucent tupperware-type lid to keep everything secure. The advantage to packing a tight bento like this is that the food doesn't move around like it might in a larger box. Besides the chicken meat, this bento contains a mushroom-cut radish, steamed broccoli, a panda rice ball (with cucumber "bamboo"), carrots, grape tomatoes, and blood orange segments. Aren't those cute pencil chopsticks? I have a pair in 5 other colors. They don't really function as color pencils, by the way. ^__^

Just curious; I notice another bentomaker often photographs her bento on a pure white background, and it seems to make the food stand out. I tried the same, but I'm not convinced I like it better. Maybe I have too many shadows. What do you think?

I Heart Chili Riceball Bento

Another cold day calls for homemade chili (I used this recipe but with lots of extra veggies thrown in, because you know me) in the 17oz. Stanley thermal food jar; this larger size is great for kids whose appetite is bigger than the usual 12oz. jar can hold (like my MisterMan). I also like this jar because it's virtually indestructible; very heavy-duty and all stainless steel. To pack alongside, I used two EcoLunchBox Eco Dippers: one holds a heart-shaped shiso musubi with a nori face in a lettuce cup and a grape tomato. The other holds sliced kiwi, blood oranges, and fresh (yes, fresh!) pineapple chunks. He'll take the very practical combo spoon/fork/knife with him too. Happy Wednesday, friends!

Hello Kitty Bento (just for fun)! =^.^=

Hello! The kids have no need for a bento today, but I thought I would make a bento in imitation of the most kawaii charm I have ever seen. It is of course a Hello Kitty bento charm. Have you seen it? I got mine at the gift shop at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles during the Exploring the Supercute World of Hello Kitty exhibit. It just so happens I own the same bento box in real life, so I tried to recreate all the foods I can see in the charm. I took some artistic and culinary liberties, though. I also used TinySprite's toys for my props today...

Happy Friday, friends! Have a great weekend! ^__^

Added to What's For Lunch.

Jack Skellington and Salmon LunchBots Halloween Bento

Jack Skellington and Salmon LunchBots Halloween Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

One more day until Halloween! Can you stand it? I don't usually pack rice for my kiddos, but I made an exception here so that I could fashion a creepy Jack Skellington riceball for TinySprite! The Lunchbot Quad also allows me to keep the salmon and brussels sprouts separate from the roast potatoes and carrots, and the teeny baby strawberries in their own little corner. Happy Halloween Eve!

Jack O'Lantern Onigiri Bento

Jack O'Lantern Onigiri Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Lazy person's bento contains rotisserie chicken and rice. Come on; don't tell me you haven't done the same at least once before! Maybe Sunday after a long weekend and you're too tired to cook anything? I love the rotisserie chicken option. So easy. To keep the Halloween theme going, I made a brown rice onigiri mixed with shredded carrot, and cut a face from nori. A cute pick helps you identify the jack-o-lantern if you haven't already :) Also included: Okinawan sweet potato, corn, broccoli, plum and raspberry.

Back to Bento!

Back to Bento!, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Welcome to 2011! Are you ready for a new year? We had a nice long break of two weeks during which time I easily forgot about making bento, meals and cooking, and worrying about school and scheduling in general. It was nice, but now it's time to get back to business. Although I went grocery shopping today, I of course forgot to pick up various bento essentials, so my bento may be lacking in areas for awhile. Today I decided to use my LunchBots Trio, a stainless steel rectangular bento box with rounded corners and two permanent dividers. It may not look like it, but the three sections are equal in volume. I know because I tested it with water. The dividers do not keep the sections completely leakproof, but unless you're packing something very soupy or runny it works fine. I made pan-fried balsamic vinegar chicken and put the pieces in one section along with a tiny brown rice / barley / lentil furikake musubi. Another section has pan-fried garlic purple potatoes, pickled cucumber and carved carrots. Last section has a honey tangerine and peapods. There are also two bunny picks to celebrate the new year. Happy New Year friends!

Chicken and Red Rice Musubi Bento

Chicken and Red Rice Musubi Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Quick standard chicken and rice bento. I made a rice mix that included red rice, brown rice and pearl barley. I formed two mini musubi and added a cherry pick for fun. There's also steamed broccoli, cucumbers, a tiny yellow pear tomato from my slowly withering tomato bush (which still has 3 more tomatoes ripening), a radish heart, purple carrot skewer, grapes and a satsuma mandarin.

Mummy Musubi and Ghosties Bento

Mummy Musubi Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

We're coming up on the last couple days of Halloween bento, so bear with me and we'll soon be back to normal. But I really wanted to use this mummy idea since string cheese really does look like gauzy mummy wrapping, doesn't it? And since my boy has recently informed me he likes "raw" cheese now, I get to try it! I made a rice ball with black rice and criss-crossed some thin string cheese strips on top. Since the rice was warm, it melted on a little bit and needed no other fastening. Have you ever had rice and cheese? I haven't, but he said he liked it. I made some eyes with pink and purple carrot discs -- nothing could be easier. Voila: mummy.

This was accompanied by a piece of luscious misoyaki butterfish leftover from dinner the night before. I really love this fish; I think it's another one of my top ten foods of all time. I used the recipe here but this time I marinated for over 48 hours, only possible if you can procure a very fresh piece of fish. I got mine from my local farmer's market, and it was delicious. I used to think it was called butterfish due to its buttery texture; it melts in your mouth and has a very silky quality.

TinySprite is a fan of the fish too, but I decided to give her something a little more user-friendly. While her brother can neatly and deftly handle all kinds of food types, she's a little more, um, hands-on -- so the easier the food is to manipulate, the more she can end up actually eating. I made cutout ghost sandwiches with ham and cheese, and stuck some mini chocolate chips as facial features. There's also a persimmon jack-o-lantern along with carrots, broccoli, purple cauliflower, tomatoes, grapes and apples -- just as in her brother's bento. Double bento --> done!

Double Jacks Shrimp Bento

Double Jacks Shrimp Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

It was a double bento day, and I wanted to make a black jack-o-lantern to contrast with last time's ghost pumpkin. Is it creepy-looking? It sits alongside some garlicky shrimp in a bed of lettuce. It's almost the end of summer fruit, and I had to pick up some apples because I have a feeling the stone fruit are going to be rather unsweet these days. Sigh. To brighten up the lowly apple, I decided to carve another jack-o-lantern. I'm not good at the apple carving, and rarely do checkered apples because I always end up cutting outside the lines and digging out too much flesh. I took kind of a long time to carve this apple, and probably won't be doing this again unless I have lots of time to spare. Also in this section are grapes, carrots, purple cauliflower, a couple nectarine slices, and those teeny yellow pear tomatoes were actually picked from my homegrown vine. There are still a couple more hangers-on, clinging to the final days of "summer".

TinySprite got more of the shrimp, and I also tried out my new quail egg mold. Can you see the faces? I dyed them in beet juice to enhance the definition, but not quite long enough. The quail egg molds are so cute. They came in a set of two: one makes these cute expressions and the other makes animal shape imprints. I never realized how much quail eggs vary in size, but each of the three I molded was a different size. The biggest one actually didn't fit at all; it split and oozed out the edge. However, that didn't really make a difference on the face side. I just cut off the excess and it looked fine. I also gave her some grapes, nectarine slices, carrots, purple cauliflower and a carved crabapple. This apple was really hard to carve and you can probably see that it didn't come out that nicely. But she didn't mind! She loved it. Last week you might remember that she didn't show much interest in eating at lunchtime, and I have been slowly increasing the size of her bento to see if she might start to eat more. Well, today was the first day I walked in and she was already in the play area. I asked her why she wasn't eating and she said she finished already. Wow! The teacher verified it. And get this: she ate everything; even the lettuce! I guess her appetite is increasing, what with all the INTENSE playing she's been doing at school. Twitter pals will know what I mean. ^_^

Frankenstein Bento

Frankenstein Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Only one bento today, since TinySprite only goes to preschool 3 days a week. I used my two-tier red usagi box and put pan-fried chicken and red pepper sausage on a lettuce leaf in the bottom tier, plus a Frankenstein musubi made from broccoli rice and decorated with nori facial details plus sriracha cheeks. Upper tier has carrots (yellow carrot flowers in the bottom too), purple cauliflower, grapes, strawberry and golden cherry tomato. MisterMan told me his classmates thought it was The Hulk, but he set them right, telling them it was "FrankenstEEn". Uh huh, okay.
I added this bento to What's For Lunch; head over there to see more!

Ninja Musubi Bento

Ninja Musubi Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

I haven't used this bento box in a long time, but it's a good one. It's deep and just right to fit these silicone cups to keep the foods separated in a pleasing, symmetrical manner. I made turkey-broccoli-oat burgerettes that I slathered with homemade sauce (ketchup, Worcestershire, garlic) in one cup, then added steamed broccoli in the next. The center spot contains a mixed rice ball covered in nori to suggest a ninja; and yes, I know it would have been more stunning to have used white rice but hey! He's an ethnic ninja. I added some pink carrot throwing stars and a pick for a dagger. He also got sliced Okinawan sweet (purple) potato, more carrots, peapods and yellow cherry tomatoes to fill in gaps. The fruit cup has grapes and strawberries. The lid is transparent and slightly raised so the food is snugly packed into place. It was really cute with the lid on, but I forgot to take a picture.  My boy said he knew right away it was a ninja by his eyes. Or maybe he remembered the other ninja I made for his sister. Success!

More Pork and Musubi Bento

More Pork and Musubi Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Yep, another pork and musubi bento. But I didn't make this pork; it's side pork cooked with preserved veggies from my neighborhood deli. Since it comes in a sweet sauce I thought it was pretty safe to add a musubi. This one is made with mixed rice (white, pearl barley, bulgur and lentils) which I sprinkled generously with furikake to make it more acceptable to MisterMan. I added nori eyes and a cherry tomato nose for fun. Also I stuck in some steamed purple cauliflower with yellow carrot flowers, and raw purple carrot slices. Fruit side has a mini mandarin, mini white peach, sweet cherries and a few grapes tossed in. Do you have your summer fruits yet? Every weekend we get more varieties appearing at the farmers markets, and I get so excited to see what's new each time! The apricots on our tree are getting bigger too, so I hope they'll make an appearance in a bento soon :)

P.S. It was a totally gray and rainy day, so I think that's why the photo doesn't look completely washed out today. So, there's one good thing about this wet weather in spring, I guess. Ha!

King Musubi Bento

King Musubi Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Salmon today is furikake salmon. What is furikake salmon, you say?

Here's what I do: Get a nice filet of wild Alaskan salmon and squirt kewpie mayo and sprinkle our favorite nori fumi furikake on both sides. Pan fry till cooked through, flipping carefully halfway. That's it! Super yummy! I can practically guarantee your kids will love it. Also good traditionally with mahi mahi.

Since the fish is so flavorful I thought I could get away with packing a musubi (there's furikake in here too). I made a face with nori and radish, and topped with a crown pick. This little box still had room to pack some steamed peapods, broccoli and purple carrots (which I cut into flowers and skewered on a cute tulip pick). Fruit section has super juicy Cara Cara orange slices, strawberry and a grape. This box is a bit on the small side (450ml) compared to what I usually use, but I think I still managed to squeeze in enough to make him a substantial midday meal ^_^

Spring Blossoms Bento

Spring Blossoms Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Okay, ready for more spring blossoms?
Pink sakura (beet-dyed satsumaimo), white plum (plain satsumaimo), and um, carrot flowers. I made chicken "medallions" using an egg/flour mix and pan-frying. The kids love chicken like this, and I don't know why! It's really easy and they don't even ask for any sauce although I like sriracha. I tried making him a smallish musubi, hoping he'll start to like eating more rice. Plus it made a nice background for the pink flowers. Steamed broccoli and enoki mushrooms complete this bowl. Other bowl contains three super juicy strawberries and a little clementine.
Am I overdoing the flowers theme bento? Can't help it. Got flowers on the brain -- everything blooming over here right now!

Brown Bear Bento

Brown Bear Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Today I made a batch of mixed rice, containing black "Forbidden" rice, brown rice and regular white rice. This combinations ends up looking kind of multihued purple and black. It's nutty and chewy, and really good -- the kids love it too! Anyway, I always think this rice makes a nice bear-colored musubi, so that's what I made.

The bear face is molded by hand using fresh, hot rice, and the facial details are made from tofu and nori. I also baked some wild Alaskan salmon with just olive oil, and then dressed it in Mauna Kea sauce, which I usually use with chicken as in this bento, but which is also good with fish.

For color I added star cut baby carrots and a grape tomato puffy heart (thanks for the idea, hapa bento!)! I also roasted some brussels sprouts and mini sweet peppers. If you crosscut the sprouts, you'll see that they open up and "bloom" during cooking. Sometimes I toss with balsamic vinegar, which saturates them all the way through and they taste fanTAStic!

Fruits include strawberry, red grapes and mini mandarin.
Rawr!