Bento 261

Friday is usually a no bento day. However, there is a test in the afternoon and tonight #2 joins the HELP Choir to sing at a Haiti benefit in college.

I packed some futomaki for her dinner tonight so she won't need to come back in between the two hour gap. This is a two layer bento box which is ideal for packing makis.

There are four pieces of futomaki in this top box separated by a baran/divider to contain some tamagoyaki/Japanese egg roll. There is a small fish shape shoyu container for #2 to flavor the makis.

The bottom bento box is deeper and thus able to contain more makis. I filled the balance space with three strawberries from Korea.


An aerial view of the bento box.


#2 has been complaining about leaks and I'm trying out other bento boxes and cutting back on 'wet' food. This is how the bento box looks like after snapping it's sides to lock up.


This bento is for dinner and it's about five hours away. To maintain some freshness, I added two cold packs and wrapped it up with an insulated Furoshiki (below)




I spent 2 hours trying to upload this post. Something wrong with blogger today!!!

My own version of "Chirashi Sushi"

I made sushi for dinner last night. More often than not, the kids would be waiting impatiently for their dad to return home for dinner and as soon as he walks in, they'd all be ready at the dinner table to feast on home made sushi!

It was past 7.00p.m. and because 'dad' wasn't home yet, I decided to make a dish of Chirashi Sushi so that everyone could 'dig in' instead of waiting for me to roll the futomakis.

This was a quick and simple version of chopping the same ingredients which I use for rolling the futomakis and hand rolls.

Clockwise: Tamagoyaki, carrots, Teriyaki chicken, Crabsticks, simmered mushrooms, Kyuri all alternate with Sakura Denbu and kewpie mayo.

Delicious combination which resulted in many happy and contented stomachs!

Quick fix - Sushi for dinner

Tonight's dinner was a quick fix because Friday nights we are always in a hurry. We go for activities in Church and always have to rush through dinner.

We had Inari Sushi, Futomaki and Natto loaded maki for dinner. Finished almost all the 6 cups of sushi rice, left a small container only.

I posted the Inari sushi tofu pockets recipe in an earlier post if you want to try it.


Futomaki on the right. Filled with tamagoyaki, kyuri, blanched carrots, simmered shitake mushrooms, simmered kampyo and sakura denbu.


Futomaki on the left loaded with kyuri, tamagoyaki, sakura denbu and a whole box of NATTO!!
I declared at the dinner table that the Natto was excellent and 'first class food', daughter #1 declared back and said that she's doing just fine with her 'second class' futomaki and that daughter #2 and I could go on enjoying our 'first class' food! Hubs added that we were welcome to FINISH the NATTO and not leave any for him and daughter #1. Sigh.... but he was nice enough to take the picture of the Natto maki for me. He even reminded to put the green grass divider. Lol! Looks better than the top two pictures which I took. Real sweetheart!!

[natto]
[inari sushi]

Easy Bento # 11

Futomaki is my kids favorite. Anytime, any day. It's easy for me too because I get most of the ingredients ready and freeze.I have Tamagoyaki, crabsticks, kampyo, simmered mushrooms and kyuri. Of course there is also Kewpie mayo, Ebiko (fish roe) and sakura denbu (cod/fish flakes). You can see some wasabi and a tiny tupperware of Kikkoman shoyu - best!