vroom-vroom mushroom

bento supply destash

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 07:05:00 GMT

I am trying to keep my collection to a manageable size. If you are looking for some cheap bento supplies, here they are. Almost everything is only $2. I'm working on adding pictures of some of the stuff and will update probably tomorrow.

Cherry Pink Fruit Box: $2
320 ml. Seria Daily Lunch brand. Baby pink with semi-transparent snap-locking lid. New in package.

Cherry Pink Single-tier Bento: $2
480 ml. Seria Daily Lunch brand. Baby pink with opaque snap-locking lid. New without package.

Strawberry Candy Fruit Box: $2
320 ml. Daiso brand. Baby pink with semi-transparent snap-locking lid. New without package.

Strawberry Candy Two-tier collapsable Bento: $2
510 ml. Daiso brand. Baby pink with semi-transparent lid. New without package.

Strawberry Candy Single-tier bento: $2
360 ml. Daiso brand. Baby pink with opaque snap-locking lid. New in package.

Happy Balloon Pink Single-tier bento: $2
480 ml. Daiso brand. Hot pink with opaque snap-locking lid. New in package.

Happy Balloon Pink Drawstring Kinchaku Bento Bag: $2
Great way to carry your lunch. 7x10". New in package.

Happy Balloon Medium Pink or Orange Chopsticks Case: $2 each
Holds regular adult chopsticks. Bringing your own reuseable chopsticks is a great way to reduce environmental impact. New in package.

Mellow Sea Blue Two-tier Oval Bento: $2
480 ml. Daiso brand. Opaque sky blue oval-shaped box. New in package (the word "mellow" is printed on the wrapper, not on the box).

Ibero Natural Wood Reuseable Chopsticks with Case: $2
Simple and elegant wooden case with adult-sized chopsticks. Bringing your own chopsticks helps cut down on use of energy and other resources. New without package.

Cram Cream Strawberry Hand Towel: $2
Pink washcloth with strawberry and icing print. Hand towels are popular in Japan...paper napkins are rarely used. New in package.

Oshibori Wanco Yellow or Pink Hand Towel with Case: $2 each
Cute washcloth with animal print comes in matching snap-locking plastic case. Bring a hand towel with you to help reduce waste. New without package.

Urara by Lube Sheep Blue Drawstring Kinchaku Mug Bag: $2
Blue drawstring bag makes it easier to carry your lunch. You can use this to carry a water bottle/thermos or snack bento. 7.5x6". New in package.

Happy Lunch Dressing Bottle Set of 3: $2
Very useful bottles for when you need larger amounts of sauce or when you want to bring salad dressing in your lunch. Each bottle holds 50 ml. New in package.

Monkey Mayonaise Case with Banana Spoon: $2
One girl and one boy monkey. They hold your ketchup or mayo and when you're ready to use it, you dish it out with the little banana-shaped spoon. New in package.

Ciao! Yasai and Fruit Mayonaise Case Set of 2 with Spoons: $2
Yellow 'yasai' (vegetable) and pink 'fruit' cases come with mayo spreaders. New in package.

Sea Animal Mini Fork and Spoon Set: $2
Set of 8 appetizer-sized forks and spoons from Daiso's "Animal in the sea" collection. Green turtle, pink octopus, yellow fish, and blue penguin. Bringing your own reuseable eating utensils helps reduce waste. New in package.

Box of 16 Fish-shaped Soy Sauce Bottles: $2
16 standard fishy soy sauce bottles in clear plastic snap box. New in package. I have 2 of these.

Silicon Cube Cup - Pink and Yellow Butterfly Okazu Cup/Konnyaku Jelly Mold Set of 4: $2
You can use these to make konnyaku jelly or to put small amounts of side dishes in your bento. New in package.

Hello Kitty Soy Sauce Bottle Set of 4: $1
Cute Kitty sauce bottles with pink and yellow labels and red screw-on caps. Each bottle holds 4cc. New in package.

Lot of Sanrio Hello Kitty and Usahana Soy Sauce Bottles and Dropper: $6
Official Sanrio Hello Kitty sauce bottles from 2002 and Usahana sauce bottles from 2004. 2 pink and 2 yellow full body Kitty-chan, 2 red and 2 green Kitty-chan head, 2 yellow Usahana head, 2 pink full-body Usahana, and one blue dropper. New without package.

Ciao! Farm Mayonaise Case Set of 4: $2
Set of 4 Cute mayo cases with snap-shut lids. Yellow bear, red tulip with ladybug, green bird, blue strawberry (yeah, I don't know why it's blue either :). New in package.

Silicon Cup - Pink and White Pig Okazu Cup/Konnyaku Jelly Mold Set of 2: $2
You can use these to make konnyaku jelly or for side dishes. They are bigger than the other cups, about 3" wide. New without package.

Heart or Star-shaped Cookie/Ham/Cheese Cutter Set of 6: $2 each
Multiple sizes of cutters will help you use all of your cookie dough. The biggest one is about 4" wide and the smallest one is about 1.25" wide. New in package.

Mini Animals Cookie Cutter Set of 6: $2
Daiso's cookie cutter 'C' set. 6 mini cutters in various shapes: penguin, bear, rabbit, angel, butterfly, and cat. About 1.5" wide. New in package.

Mini Shapes Cookie Cutter Set of 6: $2
Daiso's cookie cutter 'D' set. 6 mini cutters in various shapes: heart, star, cherry clossom, clover, moon, and crown. About 1.5" wide. New in package.

Variety Shaped Mini Onigiri Mold Set of 3: $2
Bear, little girl, and little boy rice ball molds make dekoben easy. About 2" wide. New in package.

Torune Mama's Assist Mini Onigiri Mold Set of 3: $5
Bear, elephant, and fish rice ball molds make decorating your bento simple! About 2" wide. New in package. (Quality note: M's A stuff is better quality than Daiso stuff, which is why the price is higher than my other stuff...I think I paid 6 bucks for these not including shipping.)

Torune Mama's Assist Mini Onigiri Mold Set of 3: $5
Bear, bunny, and lion rice ball molds. I love the lion! About 2" wide. New in package. (Quality note: M's A stuff is better quality than Daiso stuff, which is why the price is higher than my other stuff...I think I paid 6 bucks for these not including shipping.)

Natural Wood Gourd-shape Onigiri Mold: $2
Make your lunch the traditional Japanese way, with wooden molds. The gourd shape is an unusual find outside of Japan. The finished onigiri will be about 3" long. New in package.

Boiled Egg Molds: $2 each
Mold your boiled eggs into cute shapes. Heart, star, bear, rabbit, car, and fish available. New without package.

Sanrio Cinamoroll Boiled Egg Mold: $7
Sanrio's boiled egg molds are very nice quality, with 4 locking sides to prevent leakage. New without package.

30 Short Animal Picks: $2
Lots of different kinds of animals in transluscent pink, orange, yellow, green, purple, and clear. Each one is about 1.5" long including the decorative top. New in package.

15 Medium Animal Picks: $1
15 animal picks. Elephants, dolphins, octopus, lions, pandas in blue, pink, orange, yellow, purple, and clear. Each one is about 2" long including the decorative top. New without package.

Paku Paku Lunch Onigiri/Sandwich Foil Wrapper: $2
Pack of 6 orange, pink, and green foil wrappers for rice balls, sandwiches, pastries, or whatever else you want to wrap up for your bento. They are printed with pigs, elephants, doves, clouds, and the phrase, "enjoy this time!" New in package.

Vintage Sanrio Onigiri Pack Set of 5: $4
These are awesome. Just like the kind they use to wrap onigiri in convenience stores, only even cuter and better because they're made by Sanrio. From 1989. New in package.

Torune Nori Punch Set of 4: $10
Heart, star, bear, and rabbit nori punchers from Torune. New without package.

Totoro Water Canteen with Strap: $10 (on hold)
I can't remember how much I paid for this, but I'm sure it was at least twice what I'm selling it for now. I picked this up in Japan about 5 years ago and never ended up using it. It holds 400 ml of liquid. I suggest water or low-viscosity juice (if you put juice in it you will have to rinse right away to avoid sticky residue in the straw and bottle). The lid has a push-button which flips open the top and the drinking straw can be locked closed to avoid leaks. Very high quality Skater brand item. It's been out of production for a long time so it's also rare. Official Ghibli item with licensing sticker attached.

obento - 08 october, 2008

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 02:50:14 GMT

A cute meal made for lime since he had to take a long MCP exam today (FYI it was the upgrade exam from MCDBA to MCTS in SQL Server 2005 -_-;). Some people have asked me whether he gets embarrassed when I make him cute things. He swears he doesn't and that he thinks it's funny. For the record I have offered to stop making them cute. His coworkers saw this one and snerked at him a little while simultaneously proclaiming my awesomeness. :P

Hello Kitty and friends waffles, heart-shaped watermelon piece, tamagoyaki, and turkey sausage bites. There is maple syrup in the yellow Hello Kitty container.

obento - 06 october, 2008

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 20:08:52 GMT

Today's lunch is my version of makunouchi bento.

In the top tier: sweet simmered kabocha (Japanese pumpkin), steamed green and yellow wax beans, tamagoyaki, heart and star watermelon cutouts. In the bottom tier: steamed brown rice, umeboshi (pickled plum).

In the top tier: heart and star watermelon cutouts, sweet simmered kabocha, steamed green and yellow wax beans, tamgoyaki. In the bottom tier: steamed brown rice, umeboshi, almonds, crystallized ginger, sesame cracker.

Today I learned that if I want to make makunouchi bento I need to get a box for that, or at least I need to get a more square/more narrow box for Scott. In this one, two rows of onigiri is too small and three is too big. I did not want to ruin the rice part with all those treats but I had no choice.

Next time I will also include more dishes in smaller portions and maybe put in some meat. I also need to learn to better control my lettuce. Looking over my most recent pictures I can see that I have a problem reigning it in. I never know what size to cut the leaves. Better planning will probably help.

Overall I'm fairly satisfied with this since it's my first try at makunouchi and I've been wanting to make it for a long time. :)

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 19:39:46 GMT

So. Tired.

Monday was my first day back at school since spring quarter. I knew it would be a long day since I had to buy books at the bookstore and I didn't want to end up eating fast food after waiting all that time (I tend to eat bad food when I am starving) so I packed myself a lunch to eat when I finally got home. It's a good thing I did...the line for the bookstore was about 2 hours long. -_-

I had brown rice, broccoli, and a slice of orange & green bell pepper. In the bottom tier is a mini cilantro & lemongrass egg roll, tamagoyaki, blueberries and raspberries, and purple & orange carrots. The carrots and bell peppers are so pretty...I love vegetables with color gradients. I used a basil leaf to separate the egg roll from the tamagoyaki, and the berries are resting on a bed of romaine lettuce pieces (since I forgot to leave out some whole pieces this week...whoops).

Lime has a little more of all the same stuff I have since his box is bigger than mine.

Hopefully I'm going to be able to pack my lunch more often now since I won't be home very much during the week and I don't want to eat out. They probably won't always be very pretty, so I don't know how much I'll be posting. Honestly, I don't think this one is that pretty but it's ok for only taking half an hour. :)

obento - 28 july, 2008

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:29:10 GMT

I made obento for myself today too but it's so ugly I'm not taking a picture of it, heh. Also this picture looks too green...there are berries in the top tier but you can't see them very well. I got a different kind of lettuce than I'm used to and I had a hard time making it behave. Oh well, I'll know better tomorrow. :)

In the top tier of the box: 2 veggie gyoza, braised carrot/haricot vert/Anpanman kouya dofu (freeze-dried tofu with Anpanman characters on them), raspberries and blueberries. In the bottom tier of the box: brown rice with shimeji and enoki mushrooms, takuwan. In the top tier of the bowl: dragonfruit, blackberries, mandarin orange. In the bottom tier: miso paste, shiitake mushrooms, aburaage, green onions, wakame.

Nutrition Info
Calories: 530
Saturated fat: 1 g
Cholesterol: 0 g
Sodium: 937 mg
Carbohydrates: 104 g
Protein: 12 g

obento - 25 july, 2008

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 18:53:29 GMT

I didn't make obento for myself today either. There's a lot of random food around here since it's just about time to go shopping, but there's not really enough to make two people a whole lunch without taking up way too much of my time. I'll probably just have some miso and leftovers. :)

In the box: sandwich made with turkey deli meat, Jarlsberg cheese, and green leaf lettuce with honey mustard on 12-grain whole wheat bread, blanched green beans, and a sliced turkey sausage. In the top tier of the bowl: dragonfruit pieces, mandarin orange slices, green and yellow mini tomatoes, and red currants. In the bottom tier: miso paste (in plastic wrap), green onions, a shiitake mushroom, and some aburaage (fried tofu) pieces.

This is going to be the main meal of the day since we're going to be out at dinner time and will only have time for a snack.

Nutrition Info
Calories: 747
Saturated fat: 11 g
Cholesterol: 96 mg
Sodium: 1500 mg
Carbohydrates: 68 g
Protein: 42 g

obento - 24 july, 2008

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:55:39 GMT

I did not make obento for myself today because I want to eat a sandwich. In the top tier: green beans, radish slices, baby corn, red currants, and nectarine pieces. In the bottom tier: brown rice mini star and heart onigiri (the hearts have yukari furikake on them), teriyaki Kobe beef, snow peas, red mini bell pepper, and carrot cutouts.

Nutrition Info
CALORIES: 357
SATURATED FAT: 3 g
CHOLESTEROL: 65 mg
SODIUM: ~120 mg
CARBS: 38 g
PROTEIN: 29 g

we went to the zoo; we learned a thing or two-oooh

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 03:22:46 GMT

Today we took a trip to the Woodland Park Zoo to see the flamingo exhibit, to stare at the giraffes (I LOVE GIRAFFES), and to eat delicious obento.

The first photo is of a three-tier jubako. Each person got one tier, and all three tiers have almost exactly the same stuff in them. Teriyaki Kobe beef, mini tomatoes in three colors, salted cucumber with sesame seeds, radish slices, herbed baby corn, tsukemono, sweet simmered kabocha (pumpkin), spicy sauteed renkon (lotus root), braised arame seaweed with carrot and aburaage. Scott doesn't like tomatoes so his tier has red and orange mini bell peppers instead. Everyone also got to eat some onigiri, which you can see in the second photo. The purple onigiri is white rice with yukari furikake [akajiso (red perilla leaf) and umeboshi (pickled plum)], the green one is white rice cooked with gyokuro kakurei green tea from Uji, and the white one has tamago filling. The second photo is of a two-tier mini jubako. The whole box was for one person. In practice everyone ended up sharing because I miscounted the number of people who were coming by one and so we were short a box. It was ok, though, because there was more than enough food to go around.

I am sorry, I have no idea how many calories and stuff are in this. Nothing is cooked in an unhealthy way so it's probably pretty healthy except for the carb overload from the white rice.

This lunch took me over four hours to prepare and I easily could have spent another hour on it but I ran out of time. I have been drooling over ekiben photos on flickr recently so I decided to do this obento in the same style. Ekiben are always full of tiny servings of tons of different kinds of foods. Overall I am happy with how it turned out. Plus I thought it was delicious and everyone else seemed to enjoy it too.

obento - 18 july, 2008

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:00:36 GMT

I keep forgetting how much I dislike making sushi rice. I don't have one of those hangiri things to put it in after it's done cooking so I always have to come up with some cockeyed plan to mix it up and then I get frustrated and I end up making Scott do it. He does a good job, though. :P

In the bottom tier: inarizushi with konbu and sushi rice filling, tsukemono, flower carrot cutouts, and tamago nigirizushi. In the top tier: strawberry slices and blueberries, steamed broccoli with mini star carrot cutouts, and renkon (lotus root) with dried red pepper.

Nutritional Info
lime version:
480 calories
1.5 grams saturated fat
~790 mg sodium
18 grams protein
75 grams carbs

umi version:
360 calories
1.5 grams saturated fat
~765 mg sodium
15 grams protein
58 grams carbs

Inarizushi is usually just sushi rice inside aburaage, which is a deep-fried tofu pouch. When you get them in a restaurant the bottoms are closed. I don't know how to do that so I just use them as pouches. I am not a fan of sushi rice by itself (as in not part of maki or nigirizushi) so I like to mix stuff into the sushi rice before stuffing the inari. Today the filling is just stewed konbu with sesame seeds and chopped up carrot. I got the idea for adding the carrot from Just Bento (hahaha, I just noticed the most recent post on Maki's page is hijiki-stuffed inari...great minds think alike, I guess) but I use stewed konbu by itself all the time in onigiri because it's Scott's favorite. Like Maki said, you can make them healthier by using brown sushi rice but I'm out of brown rice right now. I made the inari and the nigiri part of the tamagozushi last night and refrigerated them, then heated them in the microwave briefly before packing this morning. There is no way I am going to be coordinated enough to make sushi in the morning, ever. Heh.

The tamagozushi is just a piece of dashi-flavored tamago sashimi on top of a small mound of sushi rice and held together with a thin strip of nori. It's not as sweet as the kind I usually make. I do not use a recipe anymore because I've made it about 100 times, but this one is pretty close to what I do. Make the omelette and then slice it to your desired thickness and wrap a thin strip of nori around it to keep it together.

Renkon is my favorite root vegetable. It's gorgeous and the consistency is chewier/not as fibrous as most other root veggies. This okazu is from Naomi Kijima's book, Bento Boxes. Basically it's just renkon, vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar so it changed the color of the renkon a tiny bit...use white if you want your dish to stay as white as possible), water, sugar, and a little salt along with the renkon and dried red pepper rings. It only takes about 5 minutes to make.

The tsukemono is from Uwajimaya. It's cucumber and eggplant pickled with akajiso (red perilla leaf) to turn it that bright purple color. You can make your own version of this with a pickle press and the right ingredients. Uwajimaya often carries pickle presses and I have also seen them on Amazon.

obento - 15 july, 2008

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:28:21 GMT

Today's obento is not very exciting from a culinary standpoint but it's a good example of how non-Japanese you can do these things and still have reasonably well-balanced meal (although I'd say the sodium content in this one is not particularly well balanced, heh).

In the bottom tier: herb and butter pasta with broccoli. In the top tier: strawberry slices and blueberries, meatballs, yellow bell pepper with mini flower carrot cutouts. Not pictured is the pre-workout snack case with a sliced carrot and one serving of roasted soy nuts.

Nutritional Info (I'm going to try to include this from now on)
lime version:
495 calories (+ 124)
9 grams saturated fat (+.5)
1228 mg sodium (+63)
21 grams protein (+12)
50 grams carbs (+4)

umi version:
415 calories (+124)
6 grams saturated fat (+.5)
1015 mg sodium (+63)
16.5 grams protein (+12)
48 grams carbs (+4)

I am very tired and worn out today thanks to an ass-kicking workout class yesterday (ballet! :) so I slept in pretty late. Well actually I woke up at the normal time, put some meatballs in the oven to bake (I don't like microwaved meat) for 35 minutes, cooked up the pasta, then went back to sleep for 20 minutes, then got up to take the meatballs out, sliced the veggies, put everything in the box, and went back to sleep until 11. Heh.

Meatballs are from giant Costco bag o' meatballs, pasta is Annie's herb and butter pasta packet with broccoli added. Several Annie's pasta packs, including this one, have a TON of sodium in them and I will not be buying them again. This one was about to expire so into the obento it goes. Now I am just about out of not-good-for-you packaged food (the only ready-made things I have are very carefully selected these days and used sparingly). With all that sodium and so many carbs at lunch I am thinking maybe dinner is going to have to be handmade low-sodium squash soup and a big salad. ^_^;

obento - 03 july, 2008

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:28:33 GMT

Annika has been putting manjuu (steamed bun with various fillings) in her obento, and she always makes really cute faces for them so I decided to try that out. I cannot believe she does that every day...what a pain in the ass! They're cute, though! :D

Scott's obento has brown rice and eggplant/bell pepper/chickpea/lentil curry. In the bottom tier: salted cucumber with sesame seeds, mushroom and veggie manjuu with nori faces, sakura and ume blossom carrot cutouts, pink sasadango, strawberry slices. In the shikkari case: heart-shaped herbed cheese and gouda cubes. (The little containers are actually called "shikkari case", which means "pull yourself together case". They're for snacks. :)

My obento has brown rice and eggplant/bell pepper/chickpea/lentil curry. In the bottom tier: salted cucumber with sesame seeds, steamed yellow crookneck squash, sakura and ume blossom carrot cutouts, mushroom and veggie manjuu with nori face, and strawberry slices.

Annika's little manjuu guys are always adorable and I thought manjuu would make good obento food because they're small (the ones I got are small, anyway...sometimes they're huge) and non-messy. Plus they look so cute with faces! Well, all of those things are true but what I didn't realize is manjuu bread retains moisture like crazy, so the nori shrivels no matter what you do (even when the bun is cooled completely). Also I got a little bamboo steamer at Uwajimaya and I tried that out instead of nuking them. They taste better than microwaved ones but they stick to the bottom of the steamer and I don't know how to keep them from doing that (I tried a little vegetable oil on the wood but it didn't help). Next time I will try toasted nori and see if that helps prevent the faces from shriveling. Yakinori seems to be more resilient than the untoasted kind. Also notable is the difficulty I had in packing around the manjuu. Neither oblong nor round okazu cups fit around them very well, and I don't have any square ones. I saw some the other day, maybe I'll get those and see if that makes a difference.

Salted cucumber recipe (serves 1):
1/4 Japanese cucumber (you can use English cukes but they're bigger so you'll need less)
salt
toasted white sesame seeds

Slice the cucumber into very thin rounds and add salt. You may need to get one of the thin Japanese slicers to do this, or use a mandoline with a blade that will do it. (You can slice them thicker, it just won't look as pretty.) Gently squeeze out some of the liquid in the cukes. Garnish with sesame seeds.

obento benefits

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 20:37:38 GMT

We were eating fast food at least five times a week. I gained about 20 pounds in the last year and a half and I won't totally rat out Scott but he also gained some weight. The only change we have made recently is omitting fast food from our diet (in the last two weeks we've had fast food two times and I hardly crave it anymore...I expect the cravings will go away almost entirely eventually) and packing obento almost every day (we're skipping today because Scott has a meeting and work is taking his team to lunch...I have a ton of leftover curry anyway so I need to eat some of that before it goes bad).

The only change we made is eating way less unhealthy food. We probably eat roughly the same number of calories (maybe marginally less), but it's real food instead of junk. I have lost 3 pounds and Scott lost 8 (he's been to the gym a few times in those 2 weeks too). Results! Now all we need to do is be more regular about going to the gym and we'll be healthy again in no time.

CONGRATS TO SCOTT AND KT! :D

obento - 01 july, 2008

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:45:10 GMT

Today I attempted to make frog faces out of cucumber. It was difficult but they turned out ok, I think. I need more practice before they look pro, but still...who doesn't want to see a cucumber frog face when they open their lunch box?!

Scott's obento (first photo) has In the top tier: sakura carrot cutouts with a cucumber frog decoration, macaroni and cheese, pear bunnies on a bed of almond crunch, and a kurogoma okashi (black sesame cracker to eat with green tea). In the bottom tier: basmati rice and a "Moroccan-style" eggplant/bell pepper/onion/chickpea/lentil curry.

My obento (second photo) has macaroni and cheese with cucumber frog decoration, sakura carrot cutouts, strawberry slices, pear bunny on a bed of almond crunch. In the bottom tier: basmati rice and a "Moroccan-style" eggplant/bell pepper/onion/chickpea/lentil curry.

Originally I had no plans to put frogs in here, but after putting all the other stuff in I realized the color balance was bad. I needed green and all I have is cucumbers so I tried to make little fans out of them but it didn't work (they're the Japanese kind so they're smaller and, for me, a little harder to work with). The white parts of the eyes are made with daikon, the black parts are nori, and the red mouth is bell pepper.

This is the recipe I used for the Moroccan Eggplant dish:

http://whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=recipe&dbid=52

It's pretty tasty and it has tons of protein in it thanks to the chickpeas and lentils.

obento lesson 3

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:40:14 GMT

The other two posts tell you just about everything you need to know to make proper obento. Now there are only a few miscellaneous things to remember. See? Way easier than you thought it was going to be, isn't it?

1. If you make something cute or really tasty and you have coworkers who will see your lunch, bring an extra one of that thing because they will probably harass you for some of it.

2. Don't bring anything super odoriffic (standard office lunch rule).

3. Try to stick with foods that are in season. It's a good idea for nutritional reasons (peak season produce has the most nutrients) but it's also a very Japanese thing. Subtly seasoned/flavored and naturally colored in-season foods are the ideal. Of course you don't have to do that all the time, but it's a good guideline.

4. Estimate how much time it will take you to prepare your lunch in the morning and then add an hour until you get really comfortable with packing obento. I don't know about you but I am very slow in the morning, so it always takes me longer to make lunch than most people probably need. You also have to let the lunch cool to room temperature before you close the lid (otherwise you'll get condensation in the box which will ruin the texture of your food), so make sure you have enough time for that...unless you have a thermal obento, in which case don't worry about that last bit.

5. Speaking of which, ALWAYS reheat cooked leftovers and let them cool to room temperature before packing them in obento or, if you have a microwave-safe box, nuke food for a few seconds so it doesn't get all nasty while it's waiting to be reheated at lunch time. The texture will be better if you warm it before you pack. Food thawed at room temperature is also prime territory for bacteria so do yourself a favor and heat it after you take it out of the fridge.

That's about it. Like any hobby, obento making can be as easy or as difficult as you want it to be and it can take as much or as little time as you want. If you really want to get into it or if you have more questions about techniques and things there are some obento LiveJournal communities you can watch. I have no idea how to make the "community" tag, but the ones I belong to are eat_my_bento and bentolunch. There's also a seemingly infinite number of obento photos on flickr. I'm a member of several groups, and if you want to see which ones you can check out my photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/umistudio/

obento - 30 june, 2008

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:14:08 GMT

Last night we made sushi for dinner and there was way too much of it (too bad rabs wasn't here to eat it as soon as it came off the block) so today's lunch is sushi leftovers.

Scott's obento (first photo) has daikon and citron salad, tamagoyaki, and miso-infused asparagus. In the bottom tier: red pepper/string bean/tahini maki, kappa maki, and pink odango wrapped in bamboo leaf. There's also a little bit of spicy arare mix, a yellow sauce bottle with shoyu in it, and a teeny wax paper packet containing wasabi. Scott and I are not terribly fond of gari (pickled ginger) so we hardly ever eat it with sushi even though I think it's pretty.

My obento (second photo) has miso-infused asparagus, raw red bell pepper, daikon and citron salad, and spicy arare mix. In the bottom tier: sakura carrot cutouts, tamagoyaki, red pepper/string bean/tahini maki, and some little bits of red pepper under the carrot soy sauce bottle to keep it from falling over (purely aesthetic reasons behind this).

This is the least happy I've been with how my presentation turned out. I think it's because I felt rushed this morning since Scott was trying to get out the door for a meeting and he couldn't find his keys and it's really hot in our house (air conditioning isn't working well) and graaaaaah, et cetera.

The miso-infused asparagus and daikon salad recipes are from Naomi Kijima's book Bento Boxes. The asparagus dressing has mustard in it so I don't think I'm going to like it. I only like mustard on sandwiches usually. Scott hates mustard so I don't know what I was thinking when I decided to make this, haha. The daikon salad is basically a quickie pickle recipe (vinegar, sugar, citron juice marinade after salting and kneading the daikon). It's hit or miss with pickles in this house so we'll see how that goes. I will share either one of the recipes with you but I can't post them here for copyright reasons.

The sushi is just norimaki with string beans, strips of red pepper, and a thin layer of a tahini dressing (basically just tahini and soy sauce). It does not need any sauce but it tastes good with wasabi. I love veggie maki because you can put whatever you want in there!

Odango is from Uwajimaya. We've never had this kind before. Supposedly it does not have food coloring in it, though I'm not sure how they got the mochi to be so pink if that's true. I was in an adventurous mood when we went there so I kind of don't care. Half the ones in the package are white so they definitely don't have food coloring.

food woes

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 07:23:14 GMT

I have kind of a ridiculously hard time using up all the produce I get before it goes bad. This makes me feel really guilty because food is expensive and we can't really afford to toss it.

I've tried different strategies to keep this from happening but so far I haven't had much success. First I tried getting the smallest amount of a particular veggie that I could get. If I needed bell peppers I would get one. If I needed broccoli I would take one of the bunches out of the pile (they usually are displayed in twos) and I would try to find the smallest one. This plan sucks because I end up having to go to the store several times a week and I would rather get everything at the farmer's market once a week or make one order at Amazon.

Then I tried getting a normal amount of stuff and preparing it as soon as it came so I'd be able to store it longer. This doesn't really work either. I just end up with a lot of spoiled already made food.

Have any of you had this problem? How do you combat it? Any tried-and-true recipes for veggie dishes that keep well in the freezer? I think if I could make some stuff and freeze it that would help a lot but I usually hate frozen vegetable dishes because when you reheat them they're so slimy and weird looking. -_-

obento lesson 2

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 03:37:54 GMT

There are some rules about what you're supposed to pack in your obento. Depending on your diet you can choose to disregard whichever ones you like. For example, I usually try to stay light on carbs so I do not follow the traditional obento rules for rice/carbs. One half of the box is traditionally filled with rice, but when I pack I only make it about 1/4.

In your lunch, you should have:
1. Four parts rice or noodles
2. Three parts protein (can be 3 parts of the same dish or however else you want to split it up)
3. Two parts vegetables (this usually means 2 different vegetables dishes)
4. One part treat (usually fruit or tsukemono, could be anything)

You should include five differently colored foods (rice counts).

You should try to keep most (ideally all) of the bottom of the box from showing.

You should not allow foods with opposing characteristics or non-complementary tastes to touch each other (fried stuff shouldn't touch fruit, saucy stuff shouldn't touch anything, etc.).

You should not include too many dishes that are cooked in the same way (more than one fried dish or more than one braised dish, for example). If you have two same-cooked things that's fine, but you would not want your entire lunch to be cooked the same way. Ideally every dish in the lunch should be cooked a different way. This can often be too much trouble, so don't worry if you can't do it all the time. It's a guideline more than it's a rule.

You should not pack anything that is going to be dangerous to eat at room temperature. If you pack something like fish, use an ice pack to keep it from spoiling. Food poisoning sucks.

Go light on sauces or anything else that's likely to ooze out of the box and onto your clothes/into your purse.

Make your obento look as pretty as you can. You don't have to decorate it or anything, but try to arrange it in a visually appealing way. Put complementary colors next to each other. Use greens to spruce things up. Get as creative as you have time to be. The reason I like mini cookie cutters so much is they make the presentation look really good and they are fast and easy to use.

Pack what you like. There are no rules about the kinds of food you can put into an obento. If you don't like Japanese food, don't feel like you have to eat it. Many Japanese people eat non-traditional foods in their obento every day and most Americans who do obento put whatever they want in there. In fact, in Japan little sandwiches are extremely popular obento fare (although you have to be tricky about getting them into the box).

obento lesson 1

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 23:07:13 GMT

A few people have asked me to teach them how I make obento. There is tons of information on the Internet about how to do all kinds of bento-related stuff, but since a number of people have asked and I like helping, I'm happy to oblige that request. I will start with the most basic thing you need to do, and that's how to set up your kitchen for successful obento making.

Part 1: Choose a Box

First you need a box. Accomplishing this goal is harder than it sounds because there are a bunch of things you have to think about when you're choosing one.

Just Bento is a site about bento making, and it's my favorite one by far. Maki (the lady who runs the site) has a lot of very helpful articles. This one is about how to choose the right box for you.

If you're trying to lose weight, think about your box in terms of the number of calories you can pack in there. As Maki mentioned, the capacity in milliliters is supposed to be approximately the number of calories you can fit into the box. For me this is not always true because I often pack a lot of raw veggies and they take up more space. Most Japanese vegetable dishes are cooked, so they're more compact. If you're going to be eating a lot of compact, nutrient-dense foods you can think about the ml capacity in terms of calories. If you're trying to lose weight, you can get a smaller box than you think you might normally want because nothing forces portion control like a lack of space. Pack nutrient-dense foods, and bring an extra container full of veggies and/or salad in case you're still hungry when you're done with your lunch box. I should warn you that almost all Japanese obento boxes are going to look smaller than you expect, but they hold a lot more than you think they can unless you waste space. I can't believe how many people complain about how small their new obento box is and then show pictures of it packed with Pocky, candy, and other junk food snacks. If you like to eat dessert with your meal, go ahead...but don't waste space in your bento box with junk food. You will feel hungry all day if you do this. Put it in a separate container. Some people put little snacks in the part of the box that has a chopstick or fork holder (a lot of the Daiso boxes have them). I think that's the perfect place for things like cookies or Pocky because you can only fit a few in there.

For Scott I usually use a box that's around 1000 ml (that's huge in bento terms) and for me I usually aim for about 600. There's a lot more variation in girly boxes. My smallest one is 350 ml and my biggest one is 800.

The other thing you have to think about when you're choosing your box is what kind of food you're probably going to bring most of the time. Obento is supposed to be eaten at room temperature, but a lot of people don't like lukewarm food. If you want your food to be hot or cold when you eat it, get a Mr. (or Ms.) Bento or other thermal food jar type of bento. These are getting to be pretty popular in Japan so a lot of companies are making them. You can get really cute ones now (there's a Totoro one I want), or just stick with the sleek style of the Mr. Bento. There are several sizes made by various companies, so look around for one you like. Mr. Bento holds a ton of food. The major selling point, for me, of Mr. Bento is that it can hold soup and keep it warm. If you're on a diet this might be helpful to you since soup is so filling.

So now what? If you're interested in packing your own bento, I suggest hitting up Daiso to look for a box. Get one or two (they're only a couple bucks) and try them out for a little while. You will learn very quickly what size you need and what style of box you like. Then, if you like making obento, you can look around on the Internet to find good boxes. I get almost all of mine from eBay. Do not get anything called "jyubako" because these are meant for group meals and they're gigantic. They're for picnics or osechi (New Year's meal).

To carry your box, you will need a furoshiki (wrapping cloth) or kinchaku (small drawstring bag). You can also use a small tote bag. Scott and I hardly ever use the chopsticks that come with bento because they're smaller than normal. If you want, you can get a chopstick carry case at Daiso too and put normal sized chopsticks in there.

Part 2: Equipment

Besides a box, you should have a good set of kitchen knives and a good skillet. These are the things I use the most, and probably most of you have them because they're general use stuff. You should also get a knife sharpener (steel) and sharpen your knives at least once a week. Scott's dad sharpens his every time he uses them but he thinks he's Iron Chef. :P

Other than knives and a skillet (and some spatulas), you don't NEED any special equipment to make obento. However, there are a lot of items which can be fun to use and make your lunch look very pretty if you're into that sort of thing.

1. Microplane grater (garnishes, salad, veggie dishes)
2. Cucumber slicer (mainly used for Japanese cuke salad, available at Daiso for cheap)
3. A spiral vegetable slicer (I don't have one but I want one for daikon and other root veggies)
4. Mini cookie cutters (for making shapes with veggies, cheese, lunch meat)
4.5. Any cookie cutters will make sandwich shapes or cut other foods into shapes
5. Onigiri molds (for making shapes out of rice)
6. Egg molds (I have a ton of these that I never use because I don't like boiled eggs much...but if you do they're kind of fun)
7. Nori punches (make shapes out of nori...you can also use any paper punch from a craft store but metal works best)

When you pack your lunch you will have to use dividers sometimes to keep foods from touching each other. I do this when something has a sauce on it or to keep meat from touching produce because I'm picky about texture. Any time you think one food is going to make another one soggy, greasy, or taste funny use a divider (I also try to avoid packing foods next to each other if they're going to make each other taste wrong, but sometimes you can't help it). I always use an edible divider because I don't like to put inedible things in my lunch. It's just more garbage for the dump and no one needs to add to that anymore than they already do. Plus I think plastic baran (dividers) are tacky and edible ones are always pretty. I use any kind of greens for this, usually romaine lettuce because I like it. If there's meat or something in my lunch I wrap it in the lettuce leaves to eat it. For reference, this is the plastic kind.

You can also use soy sauce bottles like these to keep thin sauces in (tonkatsu, tsuyu, soy, okonomiyaki, others). I don't use them often because I don't really like my food to be all sauced up. Some foods need it, though, so I have some of these sauce bottles. One popular bento site suggests filling the bottles with sauces and keeping them in a little container in the fridge so you don't have to fill them in the morning, which I think is a great idea. You can reuse them tons of times, too. Mayo cases like these can be used for thicker condiments like ketchup, mustard, salad dressing, and mayonaise (though I'd be careful about mayo for obvious reasons). I also have some of these but rarely use them.

One more thing I hardly ever use is food picks/mini skewers like these, which are awesome because they look like they have penises (and when you put them in the food they look like they're humping it, haha). Some people really love these. They put tomatoes and cheese on them, or little ham rolls. I think they're adorable but I hate almost all the foods I've seen people use them for so I never use mine. I may get around to using them pretty soon for turkey lunch meat and cuke chunk skewers. Use them if you think you'd be into them, or you can just use toothpicks. They're good for meatballs or other things you don't want to pick up with your hands that are hard to pick up with chopsticks. The plastic kind can be reused many times as long as you take good care of them (they can't go in the dishwasher :P). If you don't want to get special obento ones you can go to any shop that carries kitchen goods. Appetizer forks, spoons, and picks work really well in obento.

You will probably need cups to hold wet foods such as the kuromame I made before, or pasta (I think macaroni would be cute). You can get round and oblong ones that are made out of paper and coated with plastic film, like these. Daiso has tons of them. I'm trying to use up all of mine so I can replace them with reuseable ones. The reuseable kind come in hard plastic, like these, and silicone, like these. Apparently silicone is sometimes kind of a pain because it can retain smells and can be stained by food. If you put anything with a smell or anything that might stain the cup into your silicone, be sure to wash it with warm soapy water as soon as possible. If you soak it you might have better luck getting the color/smell out. The upside of the silicone ones is they're flexible so you don't have to work around rigid edges. You can use any kind of small container for this purpose, including silicone cupcake molds from any shop that sells bakery stuff (Wilton ones are popular). I'm going to try out some of these when my paper cups are almost gone and decide if it's worth it to me to switch to reuseable ones. I don't really want to have anymore high maintenance bento supplies, heh. Besides, in comparison with the American way to pack a lunch, even using the single-use cup will save tons of landfill space. Think about it...3 to 5 plastic baggies and one paper bag versus one tiny paper cup. :P

Oh, and I almost forgot...most high-quality obento boxes will come with a reuseable divider cup specifically designed to fit inside the box. All of the traditional boxes I own came with one. The side-locking kind (like most of the ones at Daiso) do not usually come with divider cups but they might come with a little plastic dividing wall.

All of these little accessory items can be purchased at Daiso most of the time, but you can also get them on eBay or about a million other web sites. Almost all the ones you see online are from Daiso so if you really like one you see on the Internet but it's going to cost you more than 5 bucks with shipping, just keep checking Daiso because they'll probably put it out on the shelf eventually (they rotate stock there).

I hope this helps you get started. I'm thinking about hosting a bento-making party here in a few weeks so let me know if you'd be interested in coming. That's the best way I can think of to teach people how to assemble their own boxes. :)

obento - 27 june, 2008

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:39:00 GMT

Today I tried to make bunnies out of pears with varied success. Then I got the bright idea to make bunnies a recurring theme in this obento, so there's a carrot-shaped bottle of soy sauce, carrot cutouts, and bunny nori punches.

In the top tier: steamed broccoli with orange blossom carrot cutouts, red leaf lettuce baran (divider), D'anjou pear rabbit and red cherries on a bed of cashew crunch and raisins. In the bottom tier: brown rice with nori decoration, red leaf lettuce baran, chicken medallions, and soy sauce in a carrot-shaped bottle.

I guess I didn't have to use a baran in the bottom tier, but I hate it when I can see the bottom of the box in my photos so I put one in there anyway. It's a little more aesthetically pleasing to me. ^_^ Also, I'm proud of myself for using up an entire bunch of broccoli this week. Usually I have a hard time getting to all of it before it spoils.

The chicken medallion recipe is from Naomi Kijima's book Bento Boxes. I haven't tried them before so we'll see how it goes. If you want the recipe I can email it to you, but I don't want to post it here because that's all illegal and stuff. They're in the low-calorie section, they're made with very minimal ingredients, and they only took about 15 minutes to cook. Plus they don't look too shabby in the box and chicken usually tastes fine at room temperature.

obento - 26 june, 2008

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:07:56 GMT

Scott's been harassing me to make onigiri for ages but I never feel like I have time to do it. Well, today I did it. I did it real good. Cutest. Onigiri. Ever.

In the top tier: soy carrot, raw yellow bell pepper strips, raw cucumber slices, strawberry slices (and cashew crunch with raisins in superlime's box, but not in mine because there was no room). In the bottom tier: vegan butter and garlic asparagus, masala tofu, and mini animal-shaped onigiri with nori faces (they're made with brown rice).

To make a soy carrot, all you have to do is wash your carrot, then slice it in half lengthwise, then score it at close intervals and soak it in 1 Tbsp of soy sauce for half an hour. You can cut it up however you want--I made half moons here. The masala tofu is just extra firm tofu rubbed with a mixture of spices (turmeric, curry powder, garam masala, onion powder, sea salt) and left in the fridge overnight, then briefly fried on two sides in coconut oil until golden-brown.

Cashew crunch is a very tasty all-natural gluten-free snack made by a company called Mrs. May's. Everyone I've fed it to loved it. All of the crunch mixes I've tried so far have been great, but you have to be careful not to eat too much of it because they're not low-fat. I use them as filler sometimes in obento for a little extra protein (the strategy is to pick out mixes that have higher protein...some of them don't have much). I get mine from Amazon Fresh, which is my new favorite thing ever. There are only two things I don't like about them. 1) They don't really carry any Asian specialty foods so I still have to go to Uwajimaya to get stuff like lotus root or aburaage. 2) Sometimes they're pretty big slackers about coming to pick up the delivery bins and the neighbors here don't like it when people leave stuff in the hall for a long time. :P

obento - 25 june, 2008

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 19:50:28 GMT

Yay, I actually did it! Today's obento equals tamagoyaki, sweet pepper and onion confit, gluten-free falafel in a romaine lettuce cup, kung pao noodles, and steamed broccoli with carrot cutouts.

This obento was supposed to be gluten-free, but I did not have time to make rice so it has noodles instead. Everything else is gluten-free, though, including the tamagoyaki (I used tamari instead of shoyu). The noodles are from Annie Chun's brand Kung Pao noodle bowl. You can get them at Whole Foods and probably other grocery stores. They're pretty tasty, and they're made with all natural ingredients...plus they come in a biodegradable bowl and they only take 2 minutes to make. I've also tried the teriyaki ones and they are decent as well. I recommend them for people who get stuck in their offices with no time to eat. Scott keeps some at work in case he has to be there late. The jury is still out on whether or not the falafel's going to be any good. I have limited experience with falafel, but they don't look right to me. Who knows. I also have no idea what the texture is supposed to be like. They were supposed to be ball-shaped but I had a hard time cooking them--they stuck to the pan like crazy.

obento - 23 may, 2008

Fri, 23 May 2008 20:25:18 GMT

Oh boy, obento! Today we're having raw broccoli, stir-fried soy ginger tofu, cherries and blueberries, brown sticky rice with a little dried red pepper sprinkled on top, bell pepper and onion confit, sprouted lentils (under the beans krakers), and more shiki no ka bean cakes.

This one is mine. I was so tired this morning I ended up getting out of bed later than usual, so I didn't have time for anything fancy. The peppers and onion confit was made a few days ago (I froze a whole bunch of it specifically for days like today). I cubed up some tofu and soaked it in Whole Foods' 365 brand soy ginger marinade while I was in the shower, then I stir-fried it when I was done getting dressed (about 30 minutes later). Everything else is self-explanatory.

Beans krakers were on the menu at one of the restaurants we visited in Japan. Shawna, Elliot, Scott and I were endlessly amused by their menu, which also featured many "vegetalian" dishes such as CHEESEPICKLES. I imagine beans krakers were actually manjuu or bean cakes similar to the ones I've been putting in our obento the last few days.

I'm not super happy with how these turned out since I didn't have time to do anything fancy, but I am super happy that I bothered to pack lunch at all today. I haven't eaten fast food once this week! That is a very drastic reduction in consumption of junk (liiiike, from 5 days of crap food to 0? :D). Consumption junktion? What's your function? Ok, that's enough of that. Happy weekend, everyone!

obento - 22 may, 2008

Thu, 22 May 2008 20:16:13 GMT

Today's obento took way, way longer than it should have. I was very sleepy this morning because I stayed up late making things I could put in the freezer so I wouldn't have to get up early/stay up late to make obento every day. ^_~

This one is superlime's. I had room to put some extra things in his, such as those little bean cakes you see in the rice compartment. They're from Uwajimaya and they're called shiki no ka. The brand name is Tsuyamaya (IN THE POCKY AISLE). So far they're one of the only things I've been able to find in the snack section that's not full of artificial preservatives, flavorings, and/or food dye. They're pretty tasty and they go well with tea.

メンユー
meatballs made with buffalo meat
cucumber slices and radish wedges
carrots cut into star shapes
mixed berries in romaine lettuce cup
brown sticky rice sprinkled with sesame seeds
sweet stewed kuromame (see recipe here)

recipe for buffalo meatballs
1.5 pounds ground buffalo meat
2/3 cup crushed soda crackers (saltines)
1/3 cup chopped onion
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground ginger

Mix ingredients together thoroughly. Form meatballs and place in a microwaveable dish (I use a pyrex cake pan). Microwave on high approximately 3 minutes, then turn them so they don't come out flat. Keep doing this until they are cooked through. You can also fry them in a pan, but it takes a lot longer and it's messier.

instructions
There aren't really any special instructions for this obento. Just chop up the veggies however you want and arrange them in an aesthetically pleasing fashion. I usually have to cut meatballs in half to fit them in obento, but I made them really small this time so I wouldn't have to.

umi-chan CHECK!
* The original meatball recipe, of course, called for ground beef and 1 teaspoon of salt. Buffalo meat is very similar in consistency and taste to premium ground beef, but buffalo is a wild animal so it has some differences. For one thing it's got a WAY lower fat content than even the leanest ground beef (2.2 grams per 100 grams of buffalo versus 6.5 grams in beef). It also has less calories, less cholesterol, and more protein. Personally, I prefer the taste...because it actually has some. I think buffalo just tastes like more flavorful beef (in a good way). We get it at Whole Foods, but I have seen it at Fred Meyer as well.

* The black beans still taste good after 5 days in the fridge!

obento - 20 may, 2008

Tue, 20 May 2008 07:52:17 GMT

Oh jeez. I can't believe it's been so long since I updated. This obento turned out really well, I think. It really helped to figure out what I was going to put in it the night before. I also prepared the ingredients I'd need for the things I had to cook in the morning and that saved tons of time.

Software
raspberries and walnuts in romaine lettuce cup
mini tamagoyaki (rolled omelet)
zucchini and mini heart-shaped carrots
kuromame (lightly sweetened black beans)
fried rice with broccoli and green onion

Hardware
Urban Style
blue tori okazu cup

Cooking Directions
1. Cook rice.
2. Cook beans (you can use canned or dry, but dry obviously takes a lot longer). Make water level with top of beans (dump or add some) in saucepan and add 1 cup fine granule white sugar for every 1 cup uncooked beans (or per can). Simmer on low heat 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add 1 Tbsp soy sauce and cook 2 more minutes, remove from heat.
3. Make fried rice with the cooked rice. I used long grain brown rice, soy sauce, a little sake, green onions, and broccoli. I also had an extra piece of tamagoyaki after packing the top compartment, so I sliced it up and added it to the rice.
4. Briefly pan-fry zucchini and carrots in olive oil and pepper.
5. Make tamagoyaki.

Packing Directions
1. Let everything cool to room temperature before packing.
2. Arrange to fit box.

umi-chan CHECK!
* I made way too many black beans for dinner, so I looked around and found a recipe for sweetened black beans in one of my cookbooks (Bento Boxes by Naomi Kijima). It has a little liquid in it, so it'd probably be a good idea to use a metal or silicon okazu cup. I don't have any of those at the moment so I used the waxy paper kind from Daiso.

* The carrots I had on hand were small, but I wanted to put something cute in this lunch since I haven't done obento for a while. Luckily I have some tiny cut-outs (heart, star, leaf) made by Wilton. You can probably get them somewhere that sells cake decorating stuff. They kind of suck but they're better than nothing. I cooked the carrots before cutting them to soften them up a bit.

* The kuromame and zucchini/carrot mix were made the night before packing and stored in the fridge after letting them cool to room temperature. Neither took long to make, but any less time spent in the morning is fine with me. In the morning, you can microwave the two dishes for a few seconds to help them get back to room temperature before packing. Supposedly the beans will last in the fridge about a week.

non-sugar sweeteners

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 22:46:23 GMT

I ran out of caster sugar and, being the texture snob that I am, decided to try out alternative sweeteners in my tamagoyaki.

Honey version
Instead of sugar and mirin, use about 1 teaspoon of honey per egg (dissolve the honey in warm water to get a mirin-like consistency). This worked out pretty well but, as expected, the honey caused the egg to stick to the pan a lot more than the sugar did. I had to use a lot more oil, so the tops of the eggs browned more than I like. I suppose I could solve this issue by turning down the heat on the pan. I also left out the soy sauce this time and just used it as a condiment. The result was tasty, but I think I prefer the eggs with soy sauce.

Maple syrup version
Same as the honey version, only maple syrup burns a little faster than honey so you have to eagle-eye the eggs to make sure they don't get charred. Also you need less water to achieve mirin's consistency with maple syrup. This version reminded me too much of breakfast. If I make them again it will be for that purpose. They were pretty good, though!

Tamago troubleshooting
If you are insistent on having your eggs turn out as yellow as possible, splurge on the light-colored soy sauce. Obviously it makes a huge difference. Also, the strainer idea (pouring the egg mixture through a fine-mesh strainer before cooking them) works to keep white splotches to a minimum. Finally, the first bunch of times you make tamagoyaki the roll will probably not be very tight. The goal is to have your layers of egg be as thin as possible and the roll should be as tight as possible without mushing up the eggs. This takes a lot of practice, but once you get it you will be very happy with the results. The consistency of the roll has a huge effect on the experience of eating it. It's very tricky to get it just right (I'm still working on it, heh) which is why tamagoyaki is considered the "ultimate test" of a sushi chef.