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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The Missus said this morning as she woke up that she would have to tackle other ways of preparing my bentos and came up with the idea of introducing tako/蛸/octopus.
The first thing I told her was to serve it in as small as possible bits, but I might have made a mistake!

The accent was very much on balance and color once again!
“Don’t make any mistakes when you explain my reciprs!” she warned me… Now, I have found a way to unveil her “secrets”! LOL

The rice was first steamed with thinly chopped carrots than mixed with chopped parsley, sliced rice vinegar-pickled octopus and cucumber (they come out great home-pickled together!).
She topped the lot with thinly sliced red pimentoes, pimento-stuffed black olives and lemon and more parsley.

The side dish included both salad and dessert as I consider tamagoyaki/卵焼き/Japanese omelette as such although it was not sweet.

Now, the tamagoyaki had a foreign accent as it included ciboulette/French chives, cheese and kanikama/fake crab.
Absoultely delicious!
The green leaves are ice-plant, a vegetable which has recently received recognition here.

Now, for the salad:
the two daikon, one gree and the other red, were picj\kled by the Missus with amazu/甘酢/sweet rice vinegar.
The greens are boiled na no hana/菜の花/rape blossoms seasoned with two French mustards, one plain and the other including the seeds.
The Missus added some walnuts for much needed oils, fibers and other nutrients.

Who said I’m lucky? LOL

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It seems we are going through an unusual cold wave these days in Shizuoka Prefefecture. Even Hamamatsu and Shimada Cities woke up under snow! Mind you, it will take a bit more for snow to fall on Shizuoka City, but the day it does, we will be able to say that it is really cold as Central Shizuoka Prefecture is the “mildest” region after Okinawa in Japan!

This time, the Missus prepared one of her favourites: Karaage Chicken/唐揚げ鶏肉/Japanese-style deep-fried chicken.
To tell the truth, I can’t remember the last time I ate deep-fried chicken in one of those notorious eateries.
The point is that the chicken, after being sprinkled with “a bit of this and a bit of that” (the Missus’ secret that I am not even privy to! I know it includes panko, conrnstarch, sometimes eggs, but she has many recipes!), has to be deep-fried into two stages to keep the meat soft, tender and juicy, even after it has cooled down.
So, after after steamed plain white rice she filled the main box with, she placed the karaage chicken on top of the rice and and seasoned each piece with a little wasabi dressing, roasted yellow and black sesame seeds, and some cress/cresson (Shizuoka-grown).

As for the side dish she aimed at combining ingredients and colors.

The little white “blobs” are boiled 百合の根/yuri no ne/ (edible) lily bulbs! Very tasty, seasoned with gomadare/胡麻ダレ/sesame dressing. The soft-boiled eggs had been “pickled” overnight for better taste (hence the brownish color of their whites) and sprinkled with black sesame seeds. The (Shizuoka-grown) red daikon had been pickled in amazu/甘酢/sweet rice vinegar. Some lettuce was used for the partition and more vitamins and fibers.

More fibers, vitamin C and iron were contributed with Shizuoka-grown (raw) plum tomatoes and (boiled) Brussels sprouts.

More welcome nutrients and colors with green kiwi fruit (Shizuoka City) and Red Pearl Benihoppe strawberries (Fujinomiya City)!

Perfect bento before going out into the cold again!

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I thought it was grand time to pay my respects to the Missu who prepared all those bentos last year!
Here are arguably the best 10 of them!
The top 1 is on the above picture!

No 2!

No 3!

No 4!

No 5!

No 6!

No 7!

No 8!

No 9!

No 10!

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Today’s bento was not only the frist one of the year, but it could have been called the “’11/1/11” Bento too for being the 11th of January 2011!

Once again, the Missus made a good use of what she could find inside the fridge:
She steamed the rice with sakura ebi/桜海老/cherry shrimps (they are found only in Shizuoka Prefecture!) she later mixed with some sesame seeds. She seasoned the whole with home-pickled wasabi stems (from Izu Peninsula).

As usual, plenty of colors with the main dish!

Carrot tagliatelle, black beans and celery leaves salad with home-pickled violet daikon and more lettuce.

As for the meat she prepared slices of pistachio soft ham in tonkatsu style! A little lemon, a great trick!

For dessert, a home-made compote of apples and kiwi fruit!

Simple and healthy, and delicious!

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