For once, The Nissus madebento with “men/Japanese-Chinese Pasta”!

The principle is to boil “ramen” and strain them through a “zaru/sieve” for them to become “zarumen”.

At the office I piured the two different sauces and chopped thin leeks on the cole “zarumen” before eating them.

As for the garnish, the Missus prepared “Tamagoyaki/Japanese Omelette, “Chicken Kaarage/Japanese style deep-fried chicken” (note the black sesame seeds coating), boiled “ingen mame/string beans”, a large plum tomato and home-made cucumber and myoga pickles.

She didn’t forget the dessert: banana!
Plenty and enough, I can tell you!

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The Missus started devising and prapring today’s bento last night when she stewed the chicken, with the firm idea to taste it herself at home by herself toady!LOL

She first boiled eggs before taking care of the chicken. The chicken was first fried then slowly simmered with the eggs in the Chinese shashu pork style with soy sauce, sake, star anise and I don’t know what secret (don’t expect me to ask her, or it will start another argument!). She provided home-made pickled mini melons for the “salty additive”.

It was basically only light reheated when the chicken and sliced boiled/simmered eggs were placed on freshly steamed plain rice. She added some of the “juices” to season the rice and topped it with a goodmeasure of black sesame seeds.

the salad was a simple affair of chopped greens with mini tomatoes and a few walnuts.

Finallly, I was provided with “ume tare/pickled plum vinaigrette” for the slad, and apricot jelly for dessert.

Ma ma yokatta!/Not bad!
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I’m always looking forward to bento on Monday, although the Missus tends to demur, as they usually see some research and new ingredients!

This time, the Missus opted for “musubi/hand-made rice balls, of two kinds:

One was plain rice with a whole salt-preserved Sakura no Hana/Cherry blossom (above pic).
The other one was plain steamed rice mixed with chopped shiso/perilla leaves, hijiki/sweet seaweed and white sesame seeds.
All musubi were envelopped in ooba/large perilla variety leaves.
She added home-made pickled myoga and pickled mini-melaons with white sesame seeds.

As for the garnish, I got renkon/lotus roots fried with black sesame and katsuo bushi/bonito dry shavings, Boiled green and white asparaguses, home-made chicken ham with British chutney and lettuce, tamagoyaki/Japanese omelette (for dessert!) and plum tomatoes.

Plenty to eat!

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Yesterday we had an earthquake in Shizuoka, but everybody is OK!
Thanks to all for the concern!
A Friend actually suggested to call it the Earthquake Bento of the Day!LOL
The fact is that it did stimulate the Missus into cooking a lot this morning.
Incidentally, even Kamran could eat it as it was cooked with olive oil!

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Once again, as there was very little shopping done yesterday, the Missus foraged inside the fridge and came up with the following:

The rice was plain steamed rice but sprinkled with plenty of rasted sesame seeds.

For the arnish, she fried “Saikoro/cubes” of beef, zucchini, red mild pimentoes and mini asparaguses together (in that order?). She prepare “Tamagoyaki/Japanese Omelette” and added some home-made min-melon pickles.

As for the salad, almost the same as yesterday: On a bed of shredded greens, boiled broccoli, lettuces, green leaves and Shizuoka-grown Ameera rubbins mini tomatoes (as the latter are very sweet, I supose they made for my dessert! LOL)

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Today’s bento was a bit of a straightforward affair making good use of what was left in the fridge!

Plenty of steamed later mixed with Japanese cucumber pickles.
Boiled Shrimps and smoked salmon dipped in lemon juice with scrambled eggs, Italian parsley, pickled mini melon and black olives.

Salad, very simple too: Green leaves, boiled broccoli, processed cheese, Ameera Gibbins sweet mini tomatoes and honeypreserved dates for dessert.

What is the Missus cooking tonight, especially after the little earthquake we had?

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After Yesterday’s traditional Japanese bento, the Missus prepared an “open sandwich bento” more reminiscent of European/American packed lunches!

As she is away on a vacation today she did not need to prepare food for both of us.
She toatsed some bread and proceeded to rummage through the refrigerator:

Smoked salmon with capers and black olives.
Japanese-style scrambled eggs with Italian parsley from our verandah for a finishing touch.
Avocado slices.
Sweet plum tomato.
Dip sauce for the vegetables.

Smoked pepper ham and cornichons.
Lettuce.
Cucumber and celery sticks for the dipping sauce (or is this the other way round?LOL)
Honey-pickled dates for dessert.

Very healthy!

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Today’s bento was probably the most “traditional” the Missus prepared this year. It is very reminiscent of high school students can expect from their mothers.

The rice part is a double-decker. That is soy sauce will be brushed on a first layer of plain steamed rice and covered with dry seaweed. The operation is repeated to form the two-tier rice dish.

As for the garnish the Missus made small “sandwiches” with slices of zucchini intersped with a chicken paste she made with minced chicken, a lttle sake and what else before rolling them in cornstarch and frying them. Served with lettuce and fresh cress, it made for the vegetable part.

As for the “salad” part, she included mimosa-style boiled egg halves, “yama imo/taro roots” (raw) salad with two kinds of sesame seeds, pickled Japanese gourd and pickled Japanese cherry blossom, and a plum tomato for dessert.

Not as big as usual, but I have to lose weight!LOL

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Today’s bento was a simple affair or quick fix: Open Muffin Sandwiches.

The Muffins were “English” made in Japan. They had been toatsed for consistency.
As for the filling: lettuce almost everywhere, potato and green peas salad, home-made chicken ham with British chutney, French pickles, black olives, mini tomatoes, and dark cherries (imported)

Was still a bit hungry after that!

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Today’s bento was “Catch the Train Bento”!
I have to take the train to go and teach at University on Friday afternoons. Usually the Missus makes sandwiches for my trip. But she had forgotten to buy bread! Therefore I ended up with a classic trip bento!

She steamed the rice with large fresh green peas to make big musubi/rice balls.

As for the accompaniment, she improvised with was left inthe refrigerator:
Lettuce, mini tomatoes, French pickles, tamagoyaki containing finely chopped thin leeks, fried eringi mushrooms, boiled sweet peas intheir pods, and fried bacon and white asparagus rolls.

A quick fix, maybe, but a pretty satisfying bento!

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Yesterday was a National Holiday in Japan, and we took the pportunity to share dinner at Lojol‘s place. We certainly ate (and drank) a lot as usual.
As the Missus was busy today, she prepared me a healthy lunch box to help my body ease up a bit!

The main dish was very Japanese in concept: “Chirashizushi/Decoration Sushi”:
The rice had been steamed with a piece of konbu/seaweed and later mixed with dickled Japanese cucumber and daikon as well as with “Tobikko/Flying Fish roe”.
She then placed lemon juice-seasoned smoked salmon, boiled shrimps, square cut tamagoyaki, sliced black olives, Italian parsely from the verandah and home-made wasabi pickles.

As for the salad: on a bed of shredded veg, cut mini tomatoes, boiled white asparaguses, sweet peas in their pods, lettuce, lemon and shredded cheese on which I poured dressing kept in the fridge at work!

Very healthy indeed, but quite a lot in fact!

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I had a little argument with the Missus this morning when she refused to tell me what was included in one of the nigiri/rice balls.
-Secret! In any case, you should be able to find out when you eat it!
-Kudaranai!/Silly answer!, I replied.
-I’m silly! Fine, you can make your own bento next time!
-No problem!, I replied knowing fully well this was the best way to provoke her into making the next one. LOL

The main part consisted of three nigiri: one containing seaweed, the second one umeboshi/pckled Japanese plum and pickled cherry blossom, the last one takuan/pickled daikon.

The Missus had included a small pack of nori/dry seaweed.

This way, the nori would be dry and crispy when eaten. The idea is either to wrap around the nigiri, or just hold it as a “sandwich”.

As for the garnish, the Missus prepared a small salad of lightly fried pimento and goya, mini chicken patties from last night dinner, tomato, lettuce and French pickles.

As for the salad I got Japanese-style mimosa eggs on a bed of greens and Shizuoka “Beni Hoppe/red cheeks” strawberies for dessert.

Don’t to have another argument! LOL

My good friend Elin nicely asked me to include some pictures of flowers as it is Spring in Japan:

That flowering tree is an “Ippei” originating from Brazil!

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This morning The Missus said that I ate too much rice for my comfort, meaning it was fattening me!
Therefore she declared that I was going to have sandwich Bento today!
Actually, I’m pretty sure that bread contains more calories than rice!

The sandwich was double-decker with three slices of bread.

Fairly simple in concept (and probably healthier!), it was laid with a very thin omelette on the first deck, then cheese (toasted), ham (seasoned with mustard) and lettuce for the second deck.

The Salad dish was pretty voluminous:
Bed of cress.
Plum tomatoes.
French pickled cucumbers and onions,.
Lettuce.
Black olives
Potato salad.
Oranges and strawberries for dessert.

Quite big in the end! LOL

My good friend Elin nicely asked me to include some pictures of flowers as it is Spring in Japan:

That flowering tree is a Dogwood Tree or Hanamizukira in Japanese!

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Saturday is definitely not a “bento day”, but with the storm announced for the whole day by the weather forecast, we decided it would be more practical for both of us instead of having to travel inside stuffy slow buses!

The Missus kept things simple:
She already had ready to fry thin pork slices in the fridge.
She placed them on a bed of teamed rice first overlaid with finely chopped greens. She had seasoned the pork with bbq sauce and sprinl\kled them with white sesame. She added “takuan”/yellow pickled daikon and home-made wasabi flowers and stem pickles.

The side dish was fairly simple, too:
Plenty of “kawaire daikon” for vitamin C, mini tomatoes, simmered black beans and tamagoyaki.

Plenty enough!

My good friend Elin nicely asked me to include some pictures of flowers as it is Spring in Japan:

Last Cherry blossoms in Shizuoka City!

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Wednesday is usually not a “bento day”, but since I will be very busy this afternoon conducting a video interview of a local sake brewery, I simply will have no time to go back home for lunch.

The Missus this time came up with her own “classic”, pasta salad bento:
Boiled, drained and cooled spaghetti to which she added some dressing before laying them inside the box. She then sprinkled them with a little grated parmegiano cheese.
She added smoked salmon, pink pepper, Italian parsley from our verandah, boiled slice, Sliced plum tomato, boiled broccoli, Some cut cucumber, French flageolet green beans, French pickles, small herbes and lettuce. As for dessert, oranges from her family’s garden.

My good friend Elin nicely asked me to include some pictures of flowers as it is Spring in Japan:

Cherry Blossoms in Shizuoka City.

Plum Trees in Atami City.

Shizuoka is also famous for its oranges!
This picture was taken from Miho, Shimizu Ku, Shizuoak City, a place which is considered as “one of the best three Mount Fuji Viewspots in Japan”!

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For today’s lunch box, the Missus decided to make it very “traditional”!

Even the lunch box was tradional lacquerware!

The three-coloured style bento is a classic here:
The green colour is achieved with boiled flat ingenmame/green string beans cut at a slant and small enough to form a “bed of green”.
The yellow part is iri-tamago, a form of sweet Japanese scrambled eggs.
As for the brown part, it is made up of tori-soboro. Minced chicken was first seasoned, including black sesame seeds, and then fried as to form small “clumps” and then laid on top of the rice, which had been steamed with a seasoning (the Missus wouldn’t tell me what!)

As for the salad, the Missus made a bed of mixed herbs and added cut cucumber, Ameera Rubbins mini tomatoes, corn, boiled broccoli, boiled shrimps and French pickled cucumbers and mini onions.

I might ask for that again soon!

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