Bento Corner

Jack the Pumpkin King Bento.

My son loves The Nightmare Before Christmas movie. In the beginning of the movie, they sing this song where the chorus goes, "This is Halloween, this is Halloween..." and for the longest time I thought they were singing, "Christmas Halloween, Christmas Halloween..." until someone (probably my husband) corrected me. I tend to get a lot of simple lyrics wrong...I mean really wrong.

Like in Jingle Bells, I thought the lyrics went like this, "Dashing through the snow, in a one-horse open sleigh. Oh what fears we go, laughing all the way. Bells on bob tails ring, making spirits rise..." I sang it like this into adulthood up until maybe 2 or 3 years ago when my husband stopped me one day...

husband, "What is it you're singing?"

me, "Jingle Bells."

husband, "Did you know it's 'O'er the fields we go' and 'making spirits bright?'"

me, "No, really?"

husband, "Yeah, it's not about bringing back the dead -- rising spirits sounds like you're singing about ghosts..."

me dumbfounded, "I thought it was about getting over your fears and making your spirits rise to a higher level so you become happy."

husband, *bursts with laughter unable to counter*

So yeah, I get song lyrics incredibly wrong...and don't trust me with idioms.

Above Jack the Pumpkin King sandwich is made  with sliced cream cheese (it doesn't really taste like cream cheese more like a mix of cream cheese and regular sliced cheese), smoked salmon, tamagoyaki, and nori. Bento also includes ham rolled around cucumber and macaroni au gratin.

Happy Holidays!!

We had gomoku inari for lunch yesterday.

The gomoku was  pre-made which included lotus root, carrots, fried tofu, shiitake mushrooms all simmered in a fish based broth. Just mixed that in with hot rice and stuffed into pre-marinated tofu pouches. So simple when feeling so lazy!

I also ordered a new set of craft punches and cutters so tried those out too.

The upper left inari is a girl, the one next to it is a lion and then one below is a sun. My daughter took one look and figured out each one without any hints. My husband on the other hand was quite clueless as to what each one represented.

In other news, we found a place to live in the inner wards of Tokyo and it is so vastly different from the current place we are living. Right now we are surrounded by fields of various vegetables and the water tastes fresh here. I imagine the air is a bit cleaner and all we see are students and greenery around these parts.

The new place is in the bustling hubs of Tokyo. Our immediate neighborhood is off the beaten path so it's quiet, but once you walk 10 minutes in any direction you realize you are right in the city. It's kinda crazy, but my husband likes the new neighborhood since he says it reminds him a bit of San Francisco. I like the new place too but I'll miss the wholesomeness of the outskirts of the Tokyo country.

Will take some amusing photos and post them here to contrast the two differences of Tokyo...like the fresh vegetable vending machine for example --such an oxymoron, yes?? And the "Blade Runner" scenerary within a 10 minute walk of our new residence.

Girl bento for my daughter.

Boy bento for my son.

Somehow the girl face just doesn't look very appealing to me. I think the face placement is not symetrical. I was actually having trouble with the placement of the left eye on the girl bento. My daughter didn't notice too much though. 

My son, on the other hand, took off all the facial parts and then ate the onigiri. I guess it's disturbing to him to have faces on foods. *shrugs*

Brother and sister bento side by side.

Bentos consist of salmon onigiri, tamagoyaki, edamame, fried shrimp, quail eggs, and root vegetables simmered in a dashi broth. Back in the US I used to salt and bake the salmon which was rather time consuming and then my mom got me some of cooked ready for onigir salmon in a bottle. It is super convenient. You can mix it in rice or use it for onigiri filling. Certainly not as good as freshly grilled, but my family hasn't complained yet!

My daughter is 3 years older than my son and yes, they eat about the same portion. I think they almost weigh the same, but my daughter is taller by 8 inches or so. I always get asked if they are twins.

My boy is going to be a linebacker...

This bento was made for an after school snack/dinner.

My girl takes the kindergarten bus and gets home at 3:30 -- I know that's late but the bus picks her up at 9:30, so it's not that long if you look at the total time she is at kindergarten. Anyway, when she gets home she is famished and usually eats a lot -- sometimes so much that she can barely eat dinner. So this time instead of a snack I just made bento so it's more filling and more of a meal than just snack.

She ate everything except for the chick yolks -- she has had difficulty lately eating the yellow part of boiled eggs. When it came time to eat the onigiri she made me promise to make her an onigiri like this one for her next bento to take to school.

Inside the onigiri is not umeboshi (I'm  out actually) but is shijimishigureni (marinated clams). The face is nori and tomato skins for cheeks. Bento also includes tamagoyaki rolled with nori, quail eggs, gyoza, sliced cucumbers, and white sweet beans.