Category Archives: 弁当

Bento, Gastronomy, Japanese Gastronomy, 弁当

Today’s Lunch Box/Bento (’11/25): Soboro Bento!

April 21, 2011 dragonlife 2 Comments

Soboro in Japanese cuisine means an ingredient presented in small lumps, be it scrambled eggs or minced meat!. It does for great decoration in bentos!

Hint: for a better design divide your topping slightly at a slant instead of a straightforward division and use the division line for a better accent!

The Missus used minced pork (you can use beef of course!) which she pan-fried with a generous portion of black sesame seeds. It was slightly sweet as the Japanese like it. For design (it is edible) she placed a sprig of sansho/Japanese pepper.

The second half was covered with sweetened srcumble eggs.
As for the “division line” she boiled some peas in their pods (edible). Thn she cut the pods finely for the line and placed the peas for extra color over the eggs.

The side dish was colorful as usual!
From the left, stick junior broccoli, boiled and seasoned with crushed walnut coarse powder, home-pickled myoga ginger in sweet vinegar, “chikuwa” (fish paste tubes) stuffed with home-pickles fresh ginger roots, and local oranges.

The colors should be enough to attract anyone!LOL

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Today’s Lunch Box/Bento (’11/23): Chirashi Sushi Bento!

April 6, 2011 dragonlife 4 Comments

Chirashi Sushi could be called “mixed sushi” or “decoration sushi” and it is very popular dish in Japanese homes as it is both very practical and tasty!

They also make for beautiful colors!
The Missus first prepared the sushi rice while she lightly boiled some shrimps.
She added chopped home-pickled myoga ginger, Japanese scrambled egg, shrimp cut in small pieces, home-pickled sansho/Japanese pepper seeds, diced avocado to the rice and mixed the lot.
She topped it with boiled shrimps and a sprig of sansho/ki no mi!

Beautiful, isn’t it?

The salad box was very healthy: boiled Shizuoka-grown Stick Junior broccoli, orange wedges and strips f red pimento. The sweet beans (very Japanese!) were my dessert!

Just love these chirashi sushi!

Clumsyfingers by Xethia
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Shizuoka Ekiben/Railway Station Bento: Cha Meshi

April 5, 2011 dragonlife 4 Comments

This time I was waiting for my train bound to Kikugawa City where I had a meeting at Agrigraph.
I had enough time left before boarding so I checked the ekiben on sale at the Tokaiten Booth.

Shizuoka Prefecture is “Green Tea Country” in Japan, and they have this regular all-year “Cha Meshi/Green Tea Rice Meal” ekiben at Shizuoka Station. Limited ekiben are great but the “regulars” are also a good indication of the local products available!

We shall see these ladies in the tea fields plucking the first leaves of the year very very soon!

Shizuoka Prefecture (with Yamanashi Prefecture) is also Mount Fuji Land (it is actually nicknamed such “Fuji no Kuni”). Can you see the symbol on the chopsticks wrapper?

A very detailed label as usual!

Now, what do we have in there?

Cha meshi/rice steamed in Shizuoka Green Tea!
And a small umeboshi/pickled Japanese plum to help with digestion!

From bottom up left to right:
Mini tomato, deep-fried prawn, Maguro kakuni/simmered tuna ( a Shizuoka specialty).
Tamagoyak/Japanese omelette, teriyaki chicken.
Kamaboko (steamed Japanese fish paste).

From bottom up, left to right:
Grilled mackerel, a small pot of wasabizuke/wasabi pickles, a small soy sauce bottle, boiled vegetables and others: carrot, lotus root, burdock root, chikuwa (fish paste tube) and green stringbeans.
Takuan/pickled daikon

The contents of the little pot is wasabizuke/wasabi leaves and stems pickled in Japanese sake white lees. Great seasoning for the rice. The soy sauce completes the whole!

See you next time!

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Bento, 野菜, Japanese Gastronomy, Recipes, Shizuoka, Shizuoka Cuisine, 帆立貝, 弁当

Today’s Lunch Box/Bento (’11/22): Scallops & Broad Beans Bento!

April 5, 2011 dragonlife 2 Comments

The Missus was back into the “square bento mode” today.
I called it a “scallop and Broad Beans Bento” because of the “rice box”!

She steamed the rice with the whole contents of a small can of small scallops and their juices poure on top of the rice.
Once they had been cooked, she mixed the rice and the scallops so as to break the latter for better inclusion. She then added boiled and peeled broad beans and mixed the lot roughly.
She topped the whole with finely cut home-pickled ginger for extra seasoning.

Now the “salad box” wasqite intricate:
From right to left:
-Suteed egg plants/aubegines with a dash of ginger jam (ginger cooked with honey only).
Sweet carrot salad with whole sesame seeds and ground sesame seeds.
Cress from Shige Chan Garden in Shizuoka City.
-Mimosa egg.
-Kiwi fruit, orange and mini tomatoes. great colors!

As usual very tasty and satisfying!

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Shizuoka Ekiben/Railway Station Bento: Suruga Komachi

April 2, 2011 dragonlife Leave a comment

On my way to Fujinomiya City yesterday, I took the opportunity to buy an “Ekiben/駅弁 or roughly translated a “Railway Station Bento” as I had little time to eat properly at home or at a restaurant!

Shizuoka Prefecture is a gold mine when it comes to Ekiben due to the larger than usual number of stations (I mean railway, not underground/subway as in Tokyo!). They are worth discovering as they are using mostly local ingredients.
The bentos available at Shizuoka Station are mainly prepared by Tokaiken Co.

Sorry for the fuzzy picture!
This ekiben is brand new as it was first put on sale yesterday, April 1st!
It is called “Suruga Komachi/駿河小町”. Suruga is thename of the vast bay off Shizuoka City.
It is limited to only 20 a day!

Contents, limit date, price and so on are always clearly indicated!

As you lift the lid you find that the food inside is protected with an extra piece of hard translucent paper!

Now, what did it contain?

From top. left to right
Tamagoyaki/Japanese omelette, sauteed salmon, a slice of yuzu/lime, kuro hanpen/dark sardine paste/isobe age/kind of tenpura, boiled shrimp, egg plant, pickled lotus root and wasabina ohitashi/pickled wasabina.

From bottom up:
Burdock root/gobo, Boiled string bean, boiled carrot, boiled taro/sato imo, flower-shaped tofu, tofu cake and boiled kabocha.

Plain boiled rice with umeboshi furikake.

And a small sachet of Shizuoka salt and wasabi powder for extra seasoning!

Will see you again on my next trip!

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Bento, Japan, Japanese Gastronomy, Shizuoka, 弁当

Today’s Lunch Box/Bento (’11/21): Alien Face Tamagoyaki Bento!

March 31, 2011 dragonlife Leave a comment

I don’t know if it’s the fault of yesterday’s medical check up, but I seem to recognize “alienfaces” looking at me through the tamagoyaki!
Actually the Missus agreed when she made it this morning!

Beautiful orange-dominated colors in the “rice box” although I wish that the Missus had not forgotten sending the two detailed pictures of it.
The rice was steamed together with finely chopped carrot then mixed together once cooked and finally sprinkled with black sesame seeds.
The Missus then fried sliced zucchini to be placed under fried tuna filets topped with cheddar cheese. The finishing note was achieved with a pair of Shizuoka-grown Ameera Rubbins pearl tomatoes.

Actually you will have to look top to bottom to see the “alien faces”!

Can you see them now: two with a “nose”, the bottom one with two eyes and a very thin smiling mouth!

And now for the explanations:
Home-pickled myoga ginger and pieces of fresh ginger root from Hatada Garden in Kuno, Shizuoka City that the Missus pickled herself.
The tamagoyaki/Japanese omelette was plain with plenty of sweet boiled black beans.

As for the greens, boiled string beans in hot sesame dressing.

This bento seems light, but it wasn’t actually, what with the solid amount of rice!
Very satisfying and tasty!

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Today’s Lunch Box/Bento (’11/20): Medical Check Up Bento!

March 30, 2011 dragonlife Leave a comment

A Medical Check Up Bento? My, what are we going to invent these days! LOL
Actually, it is a very simple story: this norning I had to submit myself to my annual medical check up! I’m not interested in describing all the niggles my body is having a good time with, so I’ll go straight to what the Missus concocted for me!

The rice was a straight affair: steamed, that is all. But the soft-boiled and marinated egg is a creation of the Missus. The red cucumber pickles are Kyoto-style but the leaf ginger (stick ginger) pickles are peurely local and made by a Shizuoka grower (the Missus is preparing her own with the batch I brought back from the same grower!).

The Missus must have been worried about the results of my medical check up as the pictures were definitely on the dark side. LOL

The vegetables consisted of three kinds of stir-fried pimentoes, some lettuce and deep-fried kabocha.

The Missus’ deep-fried/karaage chicken, deep-fried kabocha (interetsing taste”!) and bolide sweet black beans ( my dessert?).

Very healthy and tasty. The doctor will worry not seeing me as much as he would like to!

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Today’s Lunch Box/Bento (’11/19): European-style Sushi Bento!

March 23, 2011 dragonlife Leave a comment

When I asked this morning how I should call todays’s bento, she replied “European-style Bento”!
Now, what could be a European-style bento?

To me it looked like a “chirashizushi/Decoration sushi”!
Aright, the boiled shrimps do look foreign…
Anywa th Missus, after steaming and preparing the sushi rice mixed it with par;ey, capers, broken boiled egg and walnuts.

The sliced stuffed olives do add a Spanish note…
At least it was tasty and colorful (and well-balanced)!

The salad-dessert dish included “petit-vert”/ a Brussels sprouts and cabbage hybrid. Very tasty and crispy! Carrot salad as always, boiled black beans (sweet) and Shizuoka Ameera Rubbins Pearl Tomatoes. The latter two were sweet enough to make for the dessert!

Alright, it is European and delicious at that! LOL

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Today’s Lunch Box/Bento (’11/18): Chahan Bento!

March 22, 2011 dragonlife Leave a comment

The Missus was left with plenty of rice from last night dinner, so she prepared “Chahan”

Chahan/チャハン means “Fried Rice” as is understood in Chinese gastronomy.
The Japanese are very fond of this rice dish and prepare it in an infinite number of manners and styles.
The Missus simply fried last night night7s rice with a little oil, minced Japanese cucumber picles and shredded “kanidama/surimi”
Simple ni\ough with nice colors again and healthy. She added some Kyoto-style pickled cucumbers for extra taste.

The side dish was very Japanese in concept with an eye for balance, both in health and design.

Chikuwa/fish paste tubes filled with shiso leaf and sweet umeboshi/Japanese pickled plum. Chikuwa are popular in many manners, including oden.
“Snap Endou” or green peas in their pods. They are called “mange tou” (“eat all”) in French. Just boiled they are sweet and tender.

The “tamagoyaki”/Japanese omelette contained sakura ebi/cherry shrimps only found in our Prefecture. A great morsel! The plum tomatoes were sweet and could be considered the dessert part. Finally the Missus included her carrot tagliatelle salad.

Very satisfying!

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Today’s Lunch Box/Bento (’11/16): Square Dance Bento

March 18, 2011 dragonlife 4 Comments

When I saw those two rectangular boxes aligned together i couldn’t help thinking of a square dance as I have never heard of a rectangular dance! LOL

The rice dish was simple enough in concept as the Missus steamed it with mixed beans, chopped carrots, corn and hijiki/sweet seaweed and mixed the whole together once cooked. It made for some interesting color combination and satisfying eating!

Although the side dish looks a bot complicated it was pretty straightforward, too!
Boiled broccoli, boiled eggs and boiled spinach inside a double layer of inari/fried tofu pouches, boiled white cauliflower, plum tomato, boiled kabotcha and home-pickled cabbage (in amazu/sweet vinegar).

Some Shizuoka-grown Benihoppe/Red Cheeks strawberries for dessert added the finishing touch to a very healthy (and tasty) bento!

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Today’s Lunch Box/Bento (’11/15): Healthy Sushi Rolls Bento

March 2, 2011 dragonlife 2 Comments

The Missus is back into her sushi mode!
And as her sushi rolls are always of the healthy kind, I’m always ready for them!

After having steamed the rice and prepared it as sushi rice, she prepared 3 types of rolls/maki all rolled in lettuce:

-1 plain with pepper ham

-1 where she mixed the rice with curry furikake to obtain the yellow color and rolled around fresh cress/cresson.
-1 where she mixed the rice with finely chopped Japanese cucumber pickles to obtain a greenish color and rolled around finely cut carrot salad.

The “salad” box comprised finely chopped carrot salad, boiled black nbeans, finely cut pimentos, chopped celery, baby leaves and walnuts.

Had it not been for the ham this bento would have been vegan/vegetarian!
Healthy and tasty!

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Today’s Lunch Box/Bento (’11/14): Teriyaki Salmon Bento

March 1, 2011 dragonlife Leave a comment

The weather has been pretty grim the last two days with the coming spring rains, but it is difficult to complain when you consider the water is needed. But it does not help with my work at Agrigraph and I have to find venues for reports away from the farms.
At least the Missus keeps me well-fed! LOL

The Missus actually complained that her bento today reflected the stae of the weather…
I know better than contradict her and told her not to wory.
Anyway she steamed plain rice and sprinkled some umeboshi/Jpanese pickled plum furikakke and sesame seeds over it.

The Missus likes shiosake/円鮭/salted salmon, but I prefer it with extra seasoning, so she fried the salted salmon in teriyaki sauce. She left the skin for decoration, but I discarded the latter.
She had plenty of various vegetable salads ready in the refrigerator, so she added her own gobo kinpira/stir-fried burdock roots salad and boiled broccoli.

Plenty more vegetables in the “side box”!

From the extreme right, simple spinach salad with katsuobushi/dried bonito shavings, carrot and pimento salad, boiled cauliflower and lettuce.

And tamagoyaki for dessert!

The weather will be fine tomorrow but I’m looking forward to the same!

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Today’s Lunch Box/Bento (’11/13): Smoked Chicken Bento

February 23, 2011 dragonlife Leave a comment

One the Missus’ favorite ways of preparing chicken is to smoke it.
She has many recipes, but I couldn’t check this one as she did it overnight!

So after she had steamed the rice and fill a box with it, she fried slices of smoked chicken together with pieces of red pimentos and celery (stick and leaves) with a little wasabi dressing and plentyof black sesame seeds to cover and season the rice with the juices.
Simple in concept but very tasty!

More vegetables came into the second box in the shape of salad: carrots with black beans, lettuce and sesame dressing and crushed peanuts, pickles: home-pickled mini melons and daikon, and dessert: boiled violet sweet potato.
A soft-boiled egg completed the lunch for more proteins and balance.

Very satisfying!

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Today’s Lunch Box/Bento (’11/11): “Dry Curry” Bento

February 16, 2011 dragonlife Leave a comment

The Japanese ususally prepare their “curry” in the form of a more or less consistent “soup” that the pour on top of rice.
What they call “dry curry” has nothing dry about it. They mean that the curry, instead of a soup, will take the form of a consistent meat sauce similar to that of Bolognese sauce. In England it would be labelled a “savoury”.

The Missus had already prepared a curry of roughly minced pork and beef with chopped vegetables and plenty of curry paste and condiments of her own.
She reheated it while she steamed the rice.

She then mixed the hot rice with curry poder for a beautiful yellow color.
AS she placed it in the bento box she formed a “well” to be filled with the minced meat curry. She then topped it with a soft-boiled egg broken in small pieces before putting the last touch with kawaire daikon/daikon sprouts and fancy stuffed olives.

As for the fibers and vitamin she preapred a simple salad of baby leaves, boiled Brussels spouts, plum tomatoe, small pieces of cheese and alnuts.

Very hearty and delicious!

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Today’s “bento”/boxed lunch

June 4, 2007 dragonlife 2 Comments

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On Mondays, as I’m too busy to come back home for lunch, my better (worse?) half usually prepares a boxed lunch, or “bento”, in various guises.

This time, it was all very Japanese:

As for staples, she made “shirogoma to tobiko tsuke shyouga nigiri” (balls of rice steamed with fresh ginger topeed with white seame seeds and flying fish roe), “tamafoyaki” (Japanese omelette) and pickled fresh ginger roots.