Although I’m not a vegetarian I’ve wanted for a long time the Missus to concoct me an entirely vegetarian bento. Not only she complied, but she made it a sushi as well!

She first steamed the rice and prepared as sushi rice before mixing plenty of sesame seeds in.
She then proceded to cover the lot with vegetables.

She fried sliced lotus roots in spices for a hot addition to the plain boiled green peas in their pods.

Then, keeping in mind the color arrangement and the whole balance, she first added a shredded carrot salad seasoned with gomadare/sesame dressing and crushed peanuts, and next gobo kinpira/stir-fried hot burdock roots (seasoned with chili pepper and black sesame seeds). She finally topped the whole with some sliced plum tomato.

For salad and dessert she prpared a vegan/vegetarian kabocha and black beans salad to which she added fresh lettuce and Akihime strawberries from Shizuoka!

I don’t plan to be a vegan or vegetarian but my sometimes tired body can really appreciate the cuisine now and then!

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I had to call this bento, “St. Valentine Bento” because the Missus, although one day late, couldn’t help introducing a couple of little hearts in today’s lunch!
Can you see them?

The rice was plain steamed rice but she seasoned it with umeboshi furikake/梅干振り掛け. “Furikake” in Japanese means “sprinkle”, and they come in many varieties in Japan! Actually people make their own in the countryside. For example, Shizuoka is famous for wasabi furikake!
The Missus thought of the color combination when she added home-pickled mini-melon and red daikon!

I must admit that the “side dish” box was pretty elaborate.
Actually, I didn’t request for a bento yesterday and won’t either tomorrow in all probability. That could explain the Missus’ inspiration!

The “white end” consisted of daikon and scallops salad with pink pepper seeds, mini-tomatoes, lettuce and the Missus’ specialty, deep-fried chicken in sesame seeds.
The seasame seeds were coated on the chicken “sasami/fillets” with cornstarch and seasoning before being shallow-fried (“deep-fried” in shallow oil). Very tasty!

The “green end” consisted of boiled broccoli, a half “onsen tamago/温泉卵, that is, a semi-boiled egg which had been later marinated for extra seasoning, fried slices of lotus roots and boiled carrot hearts for the Saint Valentine!

Note that there is no dessert, but I took a batch of mandarines with me!

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Usually “kabayaki” is for eels/unagi/鰻, but the same recipe can be applied to conger eel/anago/穴子!
“Kabayaki” basically means “broiled in Japanese sauce”.
Needless to say, I know little about the Missus’ sauce recipe!

Although the steamed rice was plain, the Missus added some zip to it by seasoning it with her own home-pickled hapanese pepper seeds/sansho/山椒.
She first cooked the conger eel fillets in the oven before frying them in a sauce of her own design and placing them atop the rice with their sauce.
She finally placed chopped chives on the conger eel for extra taste, colour and balance.

She used the same new rectangular boxes as yesterday making full use of the partition.

As for the greend and fibers she inserted plenty of boiled rape flowers/na no hana/菜の花 seasoned with sesame seeds dressing and boiled black beans.

For more fibers she added some fresh mini radishes and her own pickled green and red daikon.
For dessert, the Missus’ specialty: plain tamagoyaki/Japanes omelette/卵焼き!

Great balance, very tasty and plenty of it!

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The Missus has acquired a new bento box set!
Like two others we have, it comes from the north of Japan in Akita Prefecture, It is rectangular, a shape we didn’t have. Moreover it comes it comes with your name lacquered on top (on order!)!

She steamed the rice separately and later mixed it with na no hana/菜の花/rape flower (strange name, if there is one!) she had lightly boiled and goma to ume furikake/dry sesame seeds and umeboshi seasoning mixture.
Simple but very effective!

The set is provided with a separation bar of the same wood (almost completely hidden by the lettuce. Look at the “corner” where the kabocha salad has been introduced.)
The egg is a marinated boiled quail egg.

In the corner formed by the separation bar is filled with the Missus’ special kabocha/南瓜/pumpkin salad which included their green skin and cheese.
The separation bar is almost competely (on purpose) concealed by lettuce.

The meat part was provided with soft pork slices (twice for better taste) fried in breadcrumbs and later seasoned withh BBQ sauce.
More vegetables came in the shape of boiled white asparaguses and Brussels sprouts. Ameera Rubbins tomatoes made for the finishing touch with more vitamins.
More of these came with Shizuoka-grown Benihoppe strawberries.

I know there exists a triangular bento box somewhere… I wonder if I could tempt the Missus…

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Today’s bento was certainly very healthy with all those vegetables!
But the Missus had been experimenting for that particular one!

First of all she had wanted to make Scotch eggs for some time.
But chicken eggs being too big for a bento, she used (high quality) quail eggs she had first boiled and marinated in soy sauce, sweet rice vinegar and I don’t know what.

She first steamed rice with finely chopped carrot and broccoli and mixed it once ready before filling the first box with it once it had cooled down.
She put boiled half-cut Brussels Sprouts in the middle before topping the lot with half-cut quail scotch eggs.
The meat around the eggs is minced pork seasoned with nutmeg and other spices.
She put the last finishing touch with some black roasted sesame seeds.

The salad was kept simple and healthy: on a bed of lettuce. mini-radishes, cut celety, yellow frut tomatoes, cheese and boiled black beans.
I seasoned the lot with sesame dressing I keep handy at work!

Healthy, wasn’t it?

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The Missus used one of her favourites for bento, namely oiled smoked oysters.
It sounds a bit of a conflict but the oysters are really smoked before being preserved in oil.
They come in tins in Japan (not cheap) and their whole contents can be used to great effect!

The Missus steamed the rice with the oysters but kept the oil aside for a start.

After she had mixed the rice and oysters once steames, she further seasoned the whole with the rest of the oysters oil and home-pickled sanshou/Japanese pepper/山椒. She finally added thinly sliced boiled snap green peas (meaning eaten with their tender pods) for improved balance.

As for the side dish, the Missus concentrated again on balance between colors, ingredients and nutrients.

Boiled broccoli seasoned with gomadare/sesame dressing and powdered sesame seeds, “ameers rubbins” mini-tomatoes (really sweet, a real dessert by themselves!), yellow fruit tomato and lettuce.

Of course my favourite tamagoyaki! This time plain and sweet, as for a real dessert!
More lettuce a shredded carrot and walnut salad to top it all.

Once again, very tasty and fullfilling!

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The homey art of bento, like major gastronomies in Japan and France, is not so much the art of coming up with all kinds of creations and new ingredients, but to accomodate what’s available in an elegant and delicious manner. (Never complimented the Missus so much! I will have to tone down my comments! LOL).

So, after a good look in the fridge and in the pantry, the Missus prepared “mazegohan/混ぜご飯/mixed rice” with a small tin of high-quality scallops preserve a friend had brought some time ago, and some soy sauce, Japanese sake and dashi/Japanese soupstock.

Once properly steamed she mixedthe whole to uniformity, and filled the first box, topping it with tobikko/とびっこ/flying fish roe and finely chopped ciboulette/French chives. Great colors!
The pickle are home-pickled wasabi stems and leaves.

The Missus complained she should have introduced more colors in the side dish, but it was fine by me!

The red turnips/kabu/蕪, Brussels sprouts/mekabetsu/メカベッツ, white asparaguses, “snap green peas in pods and rape flower/na no hana/菜の花 are simply boiled.
The shuumai were (home-) madewith minced pork, “oba” perilla, and sesame oil.

For dessert, separated from the rest with lettuce, tamagoyaki/Japanese omelette/卵焼き with boiled black beans inside!
They look as so many eyes…

I certainly needed all that for a long work day!

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Last night I had the extreme luck to be offered a “Madai/ Red Sea Bream” by a friend whose father is a dedicated angler!

A human-raised red sea bream is already an expensive fish to buy, but a real natural specimen is extravagant. And it was at least a two hand-span long fish (the Missus’ hands! Not a “fishing story”!)!
The Missus (most of it) and I dressed the fish after dinner to prepare it for today’s lunch box. We were left with two large fillets and flesh-covered backbone and tail. The Missus is sun-drying the latter as himono/dried fish/干物!

As for preparing the “Tai Mashi/Sea Bream Rice”, the technique is quite simple:
The Missus steamed the rice in water with a little dashi/fish soup stock, a little soy sauce, pieces of konbu/seaweed and the two sea bream fillets on top of the rice.

Once the rice was ready, she broke the fillets of sea bream (after peeling their skin off) and mixed them gently with the rice.
She then placed plenty of the same rice in the first box and decorated/seasoned them with real ciboulette/French chives.
The fish is so tender nad soft that it reminds of high-quality crab! No wonder it is expensive!

As for dessert, she included some sweet-boiled black beans and as condiments her own home-pickled red daikon.

As for the “granish box” she interestingly enough found herself with too many ingredients, She decided to concentrate on colors, arrangemant and balance.

From right to left:
Pieces of ripe avocado in tartare sauce.
Large prawns she boiled/steamed in shallow water with a dash of Kirsch (Cherry Liqueur/from SSwitzerland!)
Plum tomato
Lettuce and wasabina (a lettuce calles such because its taste reminds of wasabi!)

From left to right:
The same lettuce (belaow) and wasabina.
Soft-boiled egg seasoned with roasted black sesame seeds.
Fried green and red pppers.

Don’t tell me I’m lucky! I know it!

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