Bento Corner

I made this bento 2 weeks ago but never got around to posting it.

I tried a couple of new recipes from the new bento book I bought so I thought I would at least post that.

There are 2 rolled sandwiches with nori on picks which can hardly be seen in the photo. For these you will need

• nori
• sandwich bread
• ham
• cheese
• butter

On a piece of bread spread the butter, place the nori on the butter, then cheese, and ham. Roll the sandwich and secure in plastic wrap. I left if over night and cut them in the morning. I was going to just pack sandwiches as the main carb in the girl's bento but I thought the sandwiches were on the dry side and would have tasted better with mayo, so I was hesitant to just fill most of the bento with this sandwich.

In addition to the sandwich I packed a potato and broccoli augratin. This was also taken from the bento book, but I changed the recipe a bit.

To make this you will need:

• A potato the size of your fist
• 1/2 cup of broccoli flourets (I used frozen)
• 1/4 cup of any kind of cheese (I used sliced cheese and parmesan)
• 1/4 cup of milk
• salt and pepper to taste

Wash the potato and poke holes in it with a fork. Then microwave until the potato is soft -- about 3-4 minutes depending on the potato and microwave. Once the potato is done, peel the potato and slice into bite size pieces. While you are peeling the potato, defrost broccoli in the microwave or if you are using fresh broccoli, steam them and cut into bite size pieces.

Combine potato and broccoli in a bowl and add milk, cheese and season with salt and pepper. Then place in foil and in the toaster oven for about 5 minutes until everything is bubbly.

The book version does not call for pepper nor parmesan cheese, but I found it to be too bland without the parmesan cheese. What would have been really good is to sautee the potatoes in some butter and chopped onions first (maybe garlic if you are into it) then follow the recipe with these potatoes instead of using just plain.

The last item in this bento is mini-omu-rice. This is a frozen item from Pal, but making omu-rice is pretty easy...but I hardly ever do it since I'm personally not too fond of them. To make omu-rice you will need:

• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup of left over rice
• 3 Tablespoons of chopped onion
• 3 Tablespoons of frozen mixed veggies (peas, corn, carrot variety)
• 3 Tablespoons of chopped meat
• salt and pepper to taste
• ketchup
• 2 Tablespoons of butter

Melt one tablespoon of butter in a frying pan and sautee onions until soft. Then add raw chopped meat first and once that's cooked add vegetables. If you are using cooked meat then add at the same time as veggies. Microwave left over rice and once it's warm,add to the pan with veggie/meat mix and incorporate evenly without mashing the rice. Then season rice mixture with ketchup, salt, and pepper to taste.

In a separate pan melt remaining tablespoon of butter. Scramble the egg and pour into the pan. Create a thin omelet and place the rice mixture in the middle of the omelet. Fold the edges of the omelet over the rice and plate it up with the seam side down. Garnish with more ketchup.

My daughter got that this was Mickey, but I could not pass the test with my son who is a true, die-hard Disney marketing victim, erh, fan. Son looked at this and said,

son: "Neko? (trans: cat)"

the husband: No, it's Mickey.

son: "Nya-, nya? (Meow, meow?)"

the husband: Mickey!

son *still unconvinced, looks confused*

Critics, I tell you, critics!

Speaking of critics, I'm not really happy with the overall bento coloring from the picture so the critical aspect probably stems from my own DNA. What's that idiom, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree?

I put whole okra in the girl's bento and she has taken a liking to it! Lately she has poo-poo'd green beans and asparagus so I am happy she has taken a liking to another green vegetable. The whole okra is sold frozen in bulk, so I just took that out of the freezer, fried it in a bit of butter to get rid of the slime and rolled in tamagoyaki....

Which reminds me to mention that lately, actually for quite some time now, I have been making tamagoyaki with butter and not with cooking spray or oil. Butter is big on my husband's side of the family -- they take butter as seriously as mayonnaise is taken in Japan -- that is very serious, folks. And I've stopped being part of the butter police and have used it quite liberally in my cooking because the taste of butter cannot be beat. Seriously. I use it now to cook the veggies in curry, obviously in veggie soups, and in general when I'm frying some vegetables I will use butter. All you non-converts, just try it and you'll see what I mean. My daughter no longer likes the tamagoyaki that is sold in bulk here in Japan because it is so bland compared to the butter version I make. Forget about health issues for a second and enjoy the taste of food, I say.

Bento also includes sweetened kidney beans on a pick, tamagoyaki underneath the Mickey ears and menchikatsu ball with cheese (frozen item). Underneath the Mickey face is onigiri with umeboshi. The Mickey is made with cheese and nori -- all made the night before so all I did was place it on top in the morning.

Kuromi-chan bento. Kuromi-chan is made with cheese, nori, and imitation crab.

My daughter actually requested a My Melody bento but I had no ham on-hand so that was a no go. So instead I made this for her. She took a look at it and said, "Something is wrong...Kuromi-chan should not have red cheeks!"

Jeez man, everyone's a critic.

Underneath Kuromi-chan is an onigiri mixed with hijiki, corn and edamame picks, and avocado and tomato salad. The girl has started eating tomatoes -- it sprang up almost overnight. So strange. I just mixed cut up tomatoes and avocadoes with a Chinese style salad dressing and added fresh lemon juice. The salad has a lot of fresh lemon juice to keep the avocadoes from turning color and gives it a nice burst of flavor.

So this was my daughter's Valentine's Day Bento because stars are so representative of Valentine's Day, yes?

No? No matter, that's what she got.

I fumbled about in the morning trying to find the medium heart shaped cutter, but it's neatly put away given my organizational skills (read: hopelessly lost). But I did find the small and medium sized stars so that's what I used.

Valentine's Day is not that popular in Japan -- no need to create Valentine's Day goodies for each student/teacher, so it was not that big of a deal. I believe the tradition in Japan on 2/14 is for the gal to give a Valentine to the guy she likes and then further on in March on White Day, the guy gives the girl a gift on this day to reciprocate. And that's History 101 from my childhood memories when I gave some guy a Valentines and never received anything in return on White Day (que somber violins)...

Back to bento, the sandwich is made of raisin bread and inside is a kuromame kinako spread:

OMG this stuff is really, really good. I bought mine from Pal, but you can also get it here.  If you love peanutbutter, which has been banned from our house ever since discovering our son's slight allergy to peanuts, and love kinako, this is the spread for you. I was eating it in small spoonfuls last night while watching Season 2 of Prison Break...

Guilty mom moment...*head down in shame*

Nah-, not really.

But you better believe I would be all over my kids for doing this since I'm also quite the hypocrite.

Bento also includes broccoli, wakame, and cucumber salad tossed in an oil-based soy dressing, mikan oranges and strawberry for dessert and cheese hearts on top of the sandwiches. Wrapping sandwiches in wrap keeps them dry and is easier for the girl to pick up since ther is another sandwich underneath.