Bentos (2003-2008)

[nakji]

Oh, awesome! He likes both of those things. I'll have to buy the katsu Saturday night, though - there's no way I'll get up in enough time to deep-fry fresh ones. Then I'll need some sort of vegetable- how about mushrooms, or broccoli? Or carrots?

I was thinking of drawing the kanji for luck on the rice in black sesame seeds, is that going overboard?

[Hiroyuki]

Don't forget cabbage! Shredded cabbage or boiled cabbage dressed with shio (salted) kombu, and with some sesame seeds sprinkled.

How can you "write" 幸運 or something like that on rice, with black sesame seed?

[nakji]

How can you "write" 幸運 or something like that on rice, with black sesame seed? blink.gif

You're right, it was a vain hope.

Is the cabbage there to go with the katsu, or is it lucky in its own right?

[torakris]

Mia wanted me to post this picture of a bento that she made for her own lunch.

She is really enjoying making her won bentos and does it 2 to 3 times a week!

[maggiethecat]

Mia wanted me to post this picture of a bento that she made for her own lunch.

She is really enjoying making her won bentos and does it 2 to 3 times a week!

←

A tip of the hat to Miss Mia (and her Mom.) That is just a lovely lunch. Oh that Western kids ate as healthy and as beautiful. Please tell what every lovely smidgen is, particularly the items at noon and six.

Edited December 6, 2008 by maggiethecat (log)

[torakris]

The bento included,starting at 12 o'clock, frozen corn cream croquette (this is a frozen product that requires no cooking, you put it in your bento and it defrosts by lunch), simple salad, teriyaki meatballs (she made these), kabocha gratin (another frozen product though this needs to be cooked first) and finally a little bit of curry.

[Hiroyuki]

How can you "write" 幸運 or something like that on rice, with black sesame seed? blink.gif

You're right, it was a vain hope.

Is the cabbage there to go with the katsu, or is it lucky in its own right?

←

No, I just implied that shredded cabbage goes very well with katsu. Anyway, good luck to your husband!

[nakji]

Torakris - your daughter's lunch looks lovely! And how lucky for you she's interested in making her own bento! I guess she'll need her own login for eGullet soon. Does she make her own lunch in the morning, or does she prepare it the night before?

Anyway, good luck to your husband!

Thanks! I hope my bento helped in some small way.

Mushroom maze gohan with decorative carrot leaves; Sauteed spinach with sesame oil and garlic (a favourite from Korea); Lucky black beans (these are yummy); Katsu on a bed of cabbage (hat tip to Hiroyuki); apple and blueberries for dessert. Kit kat and tonkatsu sauce were packed on the side, along with a "gambatte!" note tucked into the bento elastic. He feels that made the difference for him on the listening section.

[torakris]

Erin,

That is a beautiful bento! I hope he did well.

My daughter really enjoys cooking and makes her own breakfast every morning as well, usually some kind of variation of omu-rice.

She always prepares her bentos in the morning, my kids are early risers (before 6am) so she has plenty of time...

[melonpan]

thats such a nicely presented lunch!

[nakji]

[Moderator note: The original Bentos topic became too large for our servers to handle efficiently, so we've divided it up; the following part of this discussion is here: Bentos (2009)]

 

 

Thanks! We'll find out in February if the lucky food made any difference to his results.

Actually, I made a really great bento for today's lunch, but I didn't have time this morning to snap a picture. We've been having class parties all week, and I ended up having lots of little salads leftover in my fridge. Bentos have been a great way to use them up. Today I had rice mixed with shio gomae (salted sesame seeds) and a yuzu soboro. The soboro was made with ground chicken, ponzu soy sauce, sugar, and some dried yuzu peel that my husband picked up in the supermarket. I rounded it out with gobo salad and roasted asparagus. Lip-smacking good!