Saturday bentos

This is my mom's bento (If you've ever read my blog you've probably already realized that this bento box looks familiar...). Today is twin bento day (a.k.a. I was too lazy to make to different bentos ☺). Recently I have mastered the art of making a perfect omelet in a cast iron skillet! It's more difficult then it sounds! Once one of my friends was trying to make an omelet at my house... It was more of a scrambled egg type of deal, it was still pretty good though (she later on tried to get me to buy a non-stick skillet)...Good times!

Both of these bentos have a salad which consists of: Garbanzo beans, Julienned (a horrible attempt at julienning, if I do say so myself) carrots, water chestnuts and lettuce. My mom's bento also has steamed broccoli.

This is Dad's bento. (Kore wa Chichi no bentou desu.)

Bento: Super Bowl Sunday!

I made my dad a Super Bowl themed bento. He's not really into that type of stuff but, I thought it would be appropriate. So I made the foot ball players out of hard boiled egg and nori (for the face-paint, helmet and numbers). The yard marks are green bell peppers and the football is a mushroom slice.

The right compartment is Orieo's and Tapioca pudding with some cinnamon. In the right container is potato and honey. OM NOM NOM!!!

☺Double bento Saturday☺

Before we get into the awesome subject of cute bentos... Here's my cute cat, enjoying a toilet paper tube... She kept looking through it like "I see you!!!". She was so cute!



Here's my dad's bento... It's actually not so cute, but It's kind of hard making it somewhat masculine AND bigger portions too. Anyways I got my egg molds today and they say use "Large" eggs so I got the carton that said "Large" but they were more like "Small" so they didn't turn out AT ALL! But the awesome thing about egg molds is that they can also be used for Onigiri (it a little more difficult for those who haven't made onigiri before, make sure you spritz the mold with water first when making onigiri). I also got some rice shapers to make rice look like dice (as seen on top left). The green things on the bed of rice (in the middle picture) are some Jalapenos my dad stuffed with potatoes and cheese that night. The stuff below the egg is Shoe String Potatoes. Which are AMAZING!

The last, and the cutest bento. The rice ball (top right) is made of... rice, duh. And the white stuff in the top section of the right bento is water chestnuts and below that is apples. Simple but healthy.

All bentos I make are made the day before, so I actually made these today Friday, the 30Th.

Saturday: Mom's bento

This is me in me official bento making gear (bandanna and apron, usually PJ's are included in my bento making ritual). ^-^

This is mom's Owl bento which consists of orange salad w/ sesame ginger dressing and Onigiri with edamame. The left onigiri kind of looks like an owl (I just started putting nori (seaweed) on it and it came out kind of looking like a sandal with eyes) and the ever-so-popular "XD".

In case anybody wanted to know how to wrap up a bento you place it in the middle of a bandanna and...

Tie a regular knot on top with two of the sides...

Tie another knot on top of that...

Put a chopstick case (don't forget to put the chopsticks in it!)...

And do another double knot on top of the case. TA DAH!!!

Birthday Bento for Gundangley Jim (Dad)!!!

This is dad's B-day bento!!!! It's not actually that beautiful but it tastes good (I hope). On the left is sprouts and pickles with teriyaki sauce. The right is a bento-stable apple pie (boiled apples, later simmered in honey (which I keep spelling Hunny, thanks to my younger years of watching Whinnie the Pooh) on top of toast. And in the middle is breaded fish with Edamame beans (soy beans). YUM!

Pan fried tofu

I just HAD to share my recipe for Pan Fried Tofu with Honey soy sauce! Okay I made this one night for my dad's bento and found out that it was really good and made some more for everyone in my house. Even my brother liked it (He WILL NOT eat tofu, he hates the stuff).

Pan Fried Tofu w/ Honey soy sauce:

• 1 container of extra firm tofu
• 1 cup Ralphs brand seasoned breadcrumbs (other kinds will work too, this is just the one I had on hand)
• 1 Large egg
• 2 Tbsp. Soy oil (or any type of veggie oil)
• 2 Tbsp. Honey
• 2 Tbsp. Low sodium soy sauce

1. Drain tofu of water and pat down with paper towel. Cut tofu into 16 1-inch strips.
2. Crack the egg and whisk with a fork place in bowl. Place bread crumbs on a plate.
3. Dredge the tofu through the egg, then dredge through bread crumbs.
4. Heat oil in small pan test temperature by dripping some water on the pan is some little bubbles come up then the temperature is correct.
5. Place about 5 tofu strips in pan and flip every 3 minutes, or until medium brown.
6. Mix honey and soy sauce in a small cup, microwave.
7. Take tofu off of the pan and blot with a paper towel. Drizzle Honey sauce on the tofu.
8. Om nom nom the tofu.
9. GO DO THE DISHES!

Sunday Bento!!!

This is ANOTHER one of dad's bentos. On the left is fruit salad, the right is leek rings (fried leeks) and in the middle is fried tofu tonkatsu style f(a type of fried pork usually used in curry rice) with some Chile Reano on top (I didn't have time to make curry).

Saturday Bento!!!

This is dad's bento... notice there are no vegetables, dad forgot to take the vegetables the other day so... I just used those. Also, I made these bentos right after the New Years Party at sensee's house (which was pretty awesome!). So I was SO ready to go to bed after I was done making these bentos!!!


This is mom's bento which had a "hard" boiled egg? (I don't know what happened to it but it was more like soft boiled egg), carrots, collared greens, leek rings and rice with an umeboshi (pickled plum).

Friday Bento!!!

I recently signed up for making bentos for my mom and dad. I make mom bentos on Saturday and I make dad bentos Friday - Monday. So.. here's dad's Friday bento.


The left container is butternut squash cooked in sugar and soy sauce, the right compartment of collared greens is cooked the same way, just with sesame seeds on top.


Yum! Hot dog octopi! And collared green kelp and carrot sea stars.

Good luck interview and BENTO~!!!

Mom had an interview today with her head boss man: Bruce 'Almighty', as I like to call him. Anyways the interview went pretty good and since it was from 8am to 4pm I made her a huge bento box!

I made a hard-boiled egg man, salad, tuna and carrot sushi and a little thing I like to call Umeboshi-sushi! It's pickled plum (ume boshi) as sushi instead of onigiri (Japanese rice balls)! That way I could make it over night and the rice wouldn't be all hard and gross. I did order some egg molds from J-list a while ago but they're coming from Japan so they'll take 3-4 weeks (it should arrive around 19Th, at the earliest). I can't wait! I also got some Japanese recipe books from Boarders a little while ago AND there are these really cute cookie cutters (for veggies) in Little Tokyo that I have my eye on, I think we might go next week. Maybe I could get grandma (Obaa-san) to go with us!

Here's your Japanese for today:

• Obaa-san, Grandma
• Ojii-san, Grandpa
• Okaa-san, Mom (in general)
• Haha, Mom (your own mom)
• Otoo-san, Dad (in general)
• Chichi, Dad (your own dad)

Toshiba

Yesterday the family (Dad, Mom, Bro and I) went to Best Buy and got a Toshiba Laptop/Notebook (whatever people call them), and then today we got a wireless router so right now I'm typing this on the dining room table! I'm geeking out! Hehehe.

Besides the recent update in our tech nothing's really been going on here. I've been sleeping in instead of watching anime. I've just been so tired lately.... But, I have been translating everything that I've heard into Japanese (as well as possible at least).

Oh! Tonight I'm going to a New Year's Eve party at one of my friend's house. I don't know how long I'll be able to last though. It probably didn't help that I was listening to The Beatles a lot today. I was going to make Glazed Meatballs from Bento Boxes:Japanese Meals On The Go by Naomi Kijima. But, I forgot to get an onion and i don't know how it would turn out without it... So NOW I have to try and find something to get/make that only takes 30 minutes or less! Speaking of bento boxes, I ordered egg molds from J-list.com and they couldn't get here soon enough!!! Since my mom will start a new job as a Relater I'll be the one to take care of the house mostly and make her a bento box everyday! I don't mind either though. I like hard work, which is why I just don't understand it when kids say "No! I don't want to do the dishes!" or something like that.

Here's another update, I got a new skateboard the other day! I don't know where my other one went. It's not like me to loose things (That's my brother's job)... So my new deck is an Enjoi (Haha that ISN'T a type-o, it's actually spelt that way) with a black and white panda on it, argyle trucks and black skull and crossbones wheels. It looks so awesome! I've almost learned how to do an Ollie! Breaking with the tail end of the board is still a bit difficult though... :p Anyways I should be heading out on the ol' dusty trail... Sayonara!

A day in my life (without pictures)

Today my family and I are going to My Flying Circus' house so we could celebrate her dad's birthday! We got him good! I can't wait to see his face when he opens his present! And later on tonight is I Survived a Japanese Game Show on TV! Wipeout is a good show too but, you know me. I love Japanese things! Besides that I've had an okay day.

My alarm clock went off at 8:00am. I don't have anything to do in the morning I just want to get into the habit of getting up early for the classes I signed up for in Fall. So after turning my alarm off I decided to go back to sleep...I finally woke-up at 9:30am. I was REALLY tired. I don't know why but, maby I'll finally get taller or something. That would be AWSOME.

Anyways...After eating breakfast which consisted of granola bars (I was too sleepy to make eggs and rice) I went to the pool with my mom and brother. We swam for awhile and I got darker (not by much though). So now my tan lines are different they seem to change every time I go swimming probably because I wore a different swim suet today.

I decided I wanted to make (sew) a Pucca and Garu doll. I want to make a onigiri (Japanese bento food, usually made of rice,nori and red bean paste or pickled plum) doll too. It'll kinda look like THIS if it turnes out as planned. I think I'll add arms and legs too. Till next time, Sayonara!

Bento

BENTO! I've been making bentos for my dad lately for work. The one on the top right has: a vegitable bun (dim sum), brow rice, eggs, an orange, Stikko (it's like strawberry wafer sticks), and a Lychee berry soda! The problem with the soda is that it has a little ball that you have to push down to open it so sometimes it kinda explodes everywhere.

This one has: meat balls, brown rice, carrots, spinach, Shitaki mushrooms soy sauce, and Lychee berries.

The one on the right has: pork and spinach geyozias, brown rice (like always), apple slices, bamboo shoots covered in dark soy sauce, and Panda Strawberry Cookies.