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Shizuoka Pics

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The Missus had my health in mind when she devised today’s bento!
The doctor having warned me on my rising blood pressure, she is cutting on salt. Which is perfect with me, as I do not favor over salty foods very much!

Accordingly, I discovered many vegetables in the main dish:
celery (Shizuoka produces 50% of all celery in Japan!), endive/chickory leaves, carrot sticks, lettuce and olives. Some tartare mayonnaise was included.

The minuscule tomatoes are called “Ameera Rubbins”. They are very sweet. Only two farmers in Iwata City, Western Shizuoka, produce them in the whole of Japan!

The Missus had marinated the chicken legs all night long before deep-frying (actually shally-frying) them this morning. A piece of lemon was provided for extra seasoning.

As for dessert she included persimmon wedges and mini-kiwi fruit (above pic) grown in Shizuoka Prefecture.

The bread had been baked the night before and toasted this morning. It includes black olives, chopped mint leaves and processed cheese.

Now, to answer Barbara‘s question whether the Missus shared her bread recipes, unfortunately, my other half (Rowena might have a few things to say about that! But she also knows I had a hard time “stealing” the Missus’ fried chicken recipe!), like most Japanese wives, is very cagey and possessive about her recipes.
As a rule I’m not allowed inside the kitchen, except when I wash the dishes (sometimes) and when I cook for her!
As for bread, she uses a bread baker gadget (more than 200 US$) which does absolutely everything from fermenting to baking!
Now, I know that she used rye flour and wheat flour at a 1 to 9 ratio and always adds a lttle olive oil with the water.
Once the dough has been completely leavened, fermented, raised and kneaded, the gadget will “call her”. Only then, will she add things like cheese, herbs and so on!
And then the gadget will take over again!

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I do not usually publish The Missus’ bento on Friday when I have to take the train to University as they are very simple sandwich affairs.
But for once, she decided to bring some variety, which meant extra things to carry!

Rice balls contained umeboshi/pickled Japanese plum and o-kaka/fine bonito shavings.

The nigiri/rice balls were “wrapped” in two shiso/perilla leaves each, as nori/seaweed would get soggy before I could eat them. Very tasty and healthy!

The “main dish” consisted of (from left): home-made pickles (not really visible, sorry!), fried sausages, plum tomatoes, “tamagoyaki”/Japanese omelette (she sweetend it honey on purpose) and wedges of “kaki”/persimmon for dessert.
I had a pack of vegetable juice to help it down.

Now, Japanese trains everywhere in the world are not very clean places for obvious reasons.
The Missus, like most Japanese ladies is very cleanliness-conscious. She makes a point to ensure that I carry “wet tissues” with me all the time. I certainly cannot fault her for that as I did have to eat with my fingers!
These are very common in Japan, and I always carry a couple. I wonder if my European/Asian/African/American friends know or use them!

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Today’s bento was a “rice bento” as it is Tuesday!
It was a return to basics!

The “main dish” nigiri/rice balls, all wrapped in fresh “shiso”/perilla leaves were of two kinds:
one with ume/Japanese pickled plum,

the other three contained “o kaka”/very fine bonito dry shavings and processed cheese. The combination might sound a bit outlandish, but it is very popular in Japan!

The brochettes/”kushiyaki” you see on chickory/endive leaves are “negima”/ “negi” for leeks and “ma” for maguro/tuna. The Missus put some “wasabizuke” on them for extra seasoning. This “wasabizuke” is wasabi leaves and stems pickled in “sake kasu”/sake white lees. Extravagant! A piece of lemon was added for more seasoning.
In the middle are home-made sweet ginger pickles.

The Missus has got this habit to put my dessert (fruit in this case) in/on the salad. Not a bad idea actually. Finely chopped greens, plum tomato, fresh cress from Shizuoka, potato and tobikko/Flying fish roe salad leftover from yesterday inside chickory/endive leaf and pesimmon/”kaki” wedges.

Now, did you know that persimmons have the property to prevent bad/strong breath?

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Since the Missus has started baking her own bread again, the “Monday Bento” has followed the same pattern: “Open sandwich bento”, which actually I eat with a fork at the office, breaking bread in pieces along!

The “main bento” consisted of left to right, top to bottom:
Kaki/Persimmons wedges for dessert, finely chopped veg salad, smoked ham.
Lettuce (supposed to go go between bread slices), halved boiled egg (I wonder how I can put it between dlices of bread, lol), plum tomatoes.
Ham slices, cornichond and black olives, salad of potatoes, corn and tobikko/flying fish roe.

Freshly baked bread (and toasted again) including ham and cheese (melted away inside) and waknuts.
I don’t mind lying to the Missus and tell I loved her “sandwiches” as long as she bakes such bread!

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Today’s lunch box is a bit of a repeat, considering it is more a combination of what I had before.
But I’m not one to complain!

The nigiri/rice balls contain beans and hijiki seaweed.
The Missus put the beans and hijiki seaweed on top of the rice before closing the lid and steaming the whole lot. Once ready, she will stir all ingredients before shaping the balls.
Home-made light rice vinegar pickles can be seen in the middle of the nigiri.
On a bed of lettuce she laid some fried veg including soft pimentoes, bricolo and Eringe mushrooms. She added some mini steamed “syuumai” (not home-made!)

The salad consisted of luccola and other light greens topped with plum tomatoes, yakitamago/Japanese omelette and presimmon wedges and mini-kiwi (with a red heart) slices for dessert!

Pretty full, I can assure you!

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As I need bento on Mondays and Tuesdays, the Missus has began a new pattern withrice on Mondays and home-made bread on Tuesdays. Incidentally bento is always sandwiches on Fridays when I go and teach at university.

Today’s main dish was chicken “sasami/breast fillets” she fried with ktechup, basil and what else (she would never say anything!) served with cornichons, boiled egg on a bed of chopped greens with lettuce and chikory leaves and a few plum tomatoes.
I used dressing stored in the fridge at work.

The bread she made last night waswalnuts bread.
She calls it an open-sandwich bento, but she would be surprised to find out I just break the bread and eat a piece at a time with the main dish.
As for dessert I had “mikan/mandarine oranges” from her family’s garden.

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Today the Missus definitely combined East and West!

She made “temari zushi”. S
The rice balls are called as such they mean “balls made by hand”. Which does not help!
The balls are smaller and round with their top covered as “nigiri”.
She steamed the rice with knobu/seaweed fro Rishiri Island (Hokkaidou). She made balls and covered them with smoked salmon topped with capers. The home-made pickles are mini-melons.

As for the salad, on a bed of finely chopped greens she put two chicory/endive leaves filled with eggs and vegetables salad, a couple of plum tomatoes and a few wedges of persimmon for dessert.

Just enough to last the day!

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My other half said this morning: “Today I’ll make an open sandwich bento!”
“Great and thanks!” (and a wet kiss…)

Actually it turned into a bit of an extravagant “open bento”!

The “main sandwich ingredients” included a almost soft-boiled egg (impossible to eat between two slices of bread!), a lot of cress, a few fresh endive/chicory leaves containing lightly boiled crispy/crunchy mini-asparaguses, plum tomatoes, cornichons, duck confit (she took it out the freeze and fried it until the skin was crispy light brown), and fried potatoes (not French, please) she had suteed/fried in the confit fat. Now, I gave up making up sandwiches!

“Haddock in the Kitchen” might be interested to know that the Missus baked the bread yesterday.
The bread contained shredded carrots, chopped mint leaves and crumbled walnuts. I have to admit that it was a beauty. Therefore I ate it bit by bit as I consumed my bento along!

Now, I will this opportunity to introduce the dressings I usually keep in the fridge at work:
The “white” one is a Japanese Kewpie Caesar Salad Dressing (Gold Type).
The “orange” one is a Soken non-oil dressing containing green shiso, herbs and lemon.
Both are light and tasty enough and all ingredients are described on the back!

Well, this time I had plenty of dessert! (I suspect the Missus was emptying the fridge…)
Kiwi fruit, Kaki/Persimmon and Nashi/Japanese pear and asome walnut!

Alright, I know I’m spoiled!

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Due to National Holidays falling on my usual “bento days”, it’s been some time since I could extoll the virtues of my (?) half’s bentoes (lol).
Today’s prepartions witnessed a few variations according to seasonal and unseasonal produces.

The “nigiri”/rice balls had been steamed together with tinned beans and “hijiki” seaweed, to which the Missus added a dash of shoyu before making the rice balls. As the rice was still very hot she used the “kitchen vinyl wrap” technique. Cutting a large enough piece of “Sun Wrap” (Japanese name) and holding it inside the palm of her hand, she put the proper amount of rice in the middle, close the “paper” around it and shaped it into a ball before releasing it onto a plate. The balls were later half-wrapped in shiso leaves. Incidentally I would like to thank here all the friends who left so many kind messages about the shiso posting!
In the centre she placed freshly sauteed “sasami”/chicken greast fillets on a bed of cress.
The pickles are green baby melon (home-made), tomatoes marinated in mirin (home-made) and shredded “takuan”/pickled daikon.

The “salad” consisted of a soft-boiled egg on a green leaves bed with “ameera rubbins”/the smallest sweet tomatoes in the world, exclusively grown by only two farmers in Shizuoka Prefecture.
Dessert consisted of small slices of nashi (white), or Japanese pear, and kaki (orange), a square variety of persimmon created some time ago in Shizuoka Prefecture. Nashi are almost at the end of their season whereas kaki have just apeared on the supermarket shelves.

Now did you know that persimmons contain five times as many Vitamin C in a lemon, weight for weight?

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Today the Missus made good use of yesterday’s leftovers and home-preserved vegetables.

There are always two or three boiled eggs in the fridge, so one of them found its way in today’s lunch. The Missus had kept aside some of the edamame served last night for my evening drink, took them out of their pods and also kept them overnight in the fridge.
Yesterday my Monday’s lunch consisted of deep-fried pork/tonkatsu muffin sandwiches. She seasoned the pork leftovers with home-made sweet pickled ginger and ponzu vinegar. The vegetables accompanying the meat in its little box are okura and aubergines/egg plants she had first fried, cooled down and then marinated overnight. The little tomato had been pickled/marinated separately.
The white-green thing in its foil paper is “wasabi zuke/wasabi stems and leaves pickled in sake white lees”, a very Japanese condiment. Most of the total national production is made in Shizuoka Prefecture!
As for the rice, she steamed it with fresh mushrooms, soy sauce and I don’t know what (she wouldn’t tell me…). All I can is that I loved it!

For once she did not omit dessert as mini apple slices were included in the salad!

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Yesterday’s bento was a quick fix, but I must admit it was pretty satisfying!
She just boiled an assortment of pasta, cooled them under cold water, drain them and mixed them with smoked salmon, mayonnaise, capers and some spices.
She added the usual plum tomatoes, cress, bits of processed cheese, French cornichons and lettuce.
She topped the whole with some very soft-boiled egg halves.
Actually, most of the yolk of the upper half flowed into the pasta salad contributed for more taste!

But she forgt the dessert again!

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Yesterday’s bento was a bit of repeat with the main difference that residing with the chicken.

The rice came under the form of three distinct nigiri/rice balls half-wrapped in fresh green shiso/perilla: Sweet seaweed/konbu, finely chopped Japanese pickled cucumber and umeboshi/pickled Japanese plums. Three plum tomatoes for the vitamin C and some French cornichons.

The deep-fried chicken were whole thighs on the bones. I did eat them with my fingers wrapped in the fresh lettuce after having pressed the lemon slice over them.
This time dessert was not forgotten with some processed cheese and seedless Japanese grapes!

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Today’s Saturday, a heavy work day. As Typhoon 13 menaced to come back again the Missus thought it would be better to see me off all day!
As I had requested Tamagoyaki/Japanese Omelette, she had it ready in a jiffy!

She steamed rice with thinly chopped fresh ginger roots (it is the season. You can them raw with miso paste!), made nigiri/rice balls, topped them with Japanese cucumber pickles and half wrapped hem in shiso/perilla leaves.
On a bed of lettuce she set the Japanese omelette (she mixed the eggs with flying fish roe) cut to size with French cornichons.

The salad consisted of finely chopped raw veg with pieces of processed chees, fried sausages, plum tomatoes and cress on which I poured some dressing kept in the office fridge.

Blimey, she forgot the dessert again!