Every day BENTO -Inari Sushi-

This picture is Kyoto Fushimi Inari Taisha when I visited this spring.
You see a fox in front of a vermilion big gate called "torii", this is entrance to shrine.
The fox is a messenger of crop god, and they loves fried tofu which is called Inari.
Inari sushi is inari pocket with vinegared rice.

I love Inari sushi, sweet juicy fried tofu with rice is heavenly.
I make it for lunch very often. Inari sushi is called sushi pocket overseas, I understand but I don't call it in that way.


By the way, Kyoto Fushimi Inari Taisha is so nice to visit.

http://inari.jp/       ←Japanese
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3915.html　←English

 

This is famous shrine so many people including foreigners visit here.
Better to put comfortable shoes on because I think walking around here is tough. There are "senbon torii" , which is thousand of torii, we can walk up to hill. A thousand of vermilion gates are so beautiful to see and enjoy walking through.


Today's Inari sushi BENTO is bellow.



*Inari Sushi (sushi pocket)
Juicy fried bean curd with vinegard rice

*Sauteed sprout and mini sausage
*boiled egg
*Cheesy fish cake seasoned with green seaweed flake
*Cruncy lotus roots with sweet saysauce

Every day BENTO -Satsuma-age Don-

I thought mom's struggle of bento menu for kids every day was only in Japan. Now it has spread over the world. We can find online "how to make bento for school or work", "everyday my vegan lunch", and more.
I am very happy to share bento menu with people all over the world.
In my case, when I have nothing in my fridge for main bento menu, I make Donburi. It is any dishes on rice.

First of all, probably on Friday, "Oh, I have nothing today in my fridge, ok, I make Donburi."
Next Thursday, "Oh, Nothing in the fridge, ok, I'm gonna make Donburi this week as last week."
And then, next Monday, "I am tired because it is Monday, ok I make Donburi. It is easy to cook."

That is my style.




*Satsuma-age Don
 Satsuma- age is a fried fishcake. Simmer Satsuma-age with soysauce, mirin, sugar and some onion and fluffy egg.

*Sauteed enoki mushroom bacon
*Simmerd veggies
*Asparagus with sesame and miso sauce

Every day BENTO -Grilled Salmon -

My little monster left half uneaten BENTO yesterday.
I wonder he is sick, something happens at school or doesn't like today's menu, while  his words is usually, "Just don't have enough time to eat."

Last night was not usual.
" I didn't feel good. So tired at lunch time."
Actually he got over it already, but I noticed something.

BENTO could be one of his health barometer.




*Grilled salmon with mayo & cheese sauce
*Yakisoba
salty noodle with sakura shrimp
*Sausage& pea sprout
*tomato
*Mini rice balls

Every day BENTO -Lemon herb Chicken-

It is important to add color the side dishes for bento when we make it. This is basic thought and many people do that. Even though they are not attractive color, lots of food is so tasty, but  I don't want to put only dark color dishes into bento as simmered dishes. They are the dishes which is called "grandma dishes".

Anyway, I remember this television commercial Tokyo gas.
It is very touchy.

A boy grew up with his grandmother's cooking. He liked her cooking like grilled fish or simmered fish, so he is good at removing fish bones when he eats fish at the table, and his boss talked about him. One day, he remembers a day when he was a kid. His friends came over his house, and grandmother served dinner for them. However, they didn't like her dinner and couldn't finish because they didn't get to use to it. The boy yelled at her about it. "The reason my friend couldn't eat dinner tonight is your cooking is too old!" His grandmother looked sorry for them because she thought it her cooking was not good.
Now he regrets saying that since years and decided to go home to see grandmother and apologize. When he apologized to her, she showed her best smile without words.

Grandma' cooking is best in the world.







Today's bento menu is,



*Lemon herb Chicken
*Sauteed mashroom & spinach
*Egg roll
*tomato

Every day BENTO -Omurice-

It sometimes happens.
Too focus to do something, miss somthing.

While I was covering fried rice with the omelet gently, All I thought was trying not to break the omelet.
When I was done, I found it was too big to eat.

I won't say anything to my son even though he can't finish it.




*Omurice
sweet tangy ketchup-seasoned fried rice wrapped with fluffy omelet

*Sauteed veggies&sausage
*Ham&cheese

Every day BENTO -Shigureni-

20 minutes.
In general, this is the time to make bento in the morning. I can get some information from cooking book for bento, and also check information online the same.

"How to make bento in 20 minutes."
"Easy and quick to prepare bento in your busy morning."

The title of these books is very attractive to buy it and I actually did, but never done in such a super short time.
At least it takes more than 20 minutes to cool rice down before I put it into the lunch box.
Definitely it is important to prepare for bento the night before the day. It depends on how much take time to prepare.

I am a morning person, so it is not hard to get up early for making bento. I want to go to bed as soon as possible at night. I don't want to take long time to prepare at night. That's why it takes much longer time to make bento for me than others. In conclusion, this depends on individual life style.


One of my friends "togu" rice in the morning and cook it for bento.
("Togu is wash or rinse rice. It is important step before we cook rice. After we do this, need to place quietly for at least 30 minutes before cook rice. Cooking time with rice cooker is generally about 50 minutes.) Too much things in the morning.

Another friend cooks rice, cool it down, put it into the bento box and keep in the fridge at the night before in advance. Basically keeping cooked rice is not tasty.

I have friends who is super slow, and super well prepared. I guess I am in the middle.
OK, I don't care the words "20 mintutes".



*Beef Shigureni
 Gingered beef  and burdock cooked in soy sauce and mirin.

*Boiled egg & tomato
*Butter sauteed enoki and zukkini
*rice balls

Every day BENTO -Chinese Stir fried Veggie and Chicken

No more frozen food in my son's bento box.

I swear last week, but almost I break down. This challenge is my selfish one, not his favor.
I want keep doing this until he says something about non-frozen food bento. I am very curious about it whether he notices or not.

When I was young, my mom made bento for me without frozen food. There were few frozen food for bento as today, but she wanted to cook very homemade side dishes for me. I was so greatful. I don't know whether I was an idiot or not, which meant I remember I asked my mom to use frozen food for my bento. I said to her I wanted eat frozen food in my bento like my friends.
She was so kind she did my favor once a week.

When I ate bento with frozen food about 10 days ago at home, there was a reason, I noticed it was not good.
I realized my son eats this every day. That's why I started to make bento without frozen food. He has said nothing about it so far.

I know frozen food is very convenient when I make bento, but I don't want to eat it every day.
Hang in there.



*Chinese Stir fried Veggies and Chicken
rich oyster sauced taste

*Butter sauteed mashrooms
*Ketchaped sausages
*Fish sausage with cheese

Sports Day BENTO

Sports day is coming.
Sports day is the biggest event in a year for parents who have small kids in Japan.
On this day, there is a opening ceremony and group marching, and kids participate a lots of sports. This is competition between classes.

Parents watch energetic kids for competition, and prepare their lunch. Lately most of school have a rule about lunch time. All kids should have lunch at the day in their class room, but so did I when I was young. However some school has different one, which is kids spend lunch time with their parents or relatives.

There are arguments for and against this. Spending with parents during lunch time on sports day for kids could be precious time, but there is one problem.
For the kids who don't have parents or relatives, there are no one who come to watch them on the day. Spending in class room with friends or teacher is better idea.

Anyway, this arguments for and against this idea have been coming to conclusion, each school has a rule on their own.

In my son's school, we had lunch with kids with parents so I need to prepare tons of lunch for my whole family. I remember this was hard but fun.


Looking back BENTO pics on past sports day, I made big BENTO with same menu every year, and it doesn't change until now. Now my son is high school student and still need BENTO every day.

I make same BENTO for more than 10 years. This could be thought amazing or ridiculous.





Fried chicken
Hamburg steak
Egg rolls
Simmerd root veggies
Salad
Rice balls

Every day BENTO -Fried Chicken-

I have been writing BENTO diary since Monday, I notice one thing.
It is very old-fashioned Japanese style, which means always rice and dishes. It is possible to replace to sandwiches spaghetti or penne all over the bento box. That is easy to make.

When my son was a junior high student, he told me, "Don't make sandwich or pasta for my bento. Looking such a girl."
I don't get this, and I know he loves sandwiches and pasta, but I stopped putting those into his bento box because I want him to enjoy my bento which I make. I still wonder why those menu are girly.

Do his classmates make fun of him for his girly bento?
Did I make fun of boys who brought sandwiches or pasta for their bento when I was a teenager?

Keeping bento diary makes me realize that looking of bento seems same every day.
Variety of menu is getting less.




*Juicy fried chicken
*Sauteed cabbage and bacon
*Boiled egg
*Tomato

Every day BENTO -Ebimayo-

"Triangular eating" is one of the eating manner for Japanese cuisine.
It is thought we eat rice, main dish, side dish and soup alternately. It is like eat side dish or main dish first, eat rice next, and then drink soup, and this is repeated.

We call this "sankaku tabe" in Japanese.

Right or wrong, we have different opinions, but it still exists. I remember elementary school teacher said to kids we should eat meal in this "sankaku tabe" at lunch time. My mom said to me the same thing at home. One of the reason is we should eat in well- balanced. This is good for small eater but it doesn't matter for big eater, which means he doesn't leave the meal. Just he eats dishes at once or alternately. Totally it is same nutrition.

In foreign countries, it doesn't exist. In most of countries, they serve appetizer, main and dessert at restaurant as course menu. How is this at home dinner? Basically it is not course menu, so they eat meal in triangular way like Japanese? Some does, some doesn't, maybe mostly doesn't.

Lately it seems that teacher doesn't tell kids should eat lunch in triangular way at school. I don't tell my son neither, but he is good at eating in triangular.
He always bring empty bento box back to home. Sometimes when he has something to do at lunch time, he has no time to finish his lunch, he says to me "I am sorry I couldn't eat all." I say, "OK."
I always find his leftover in his bento box is well-balanced.


 

*Crispy & rich sauced Ebimayo
fried shrimps with mayonnaise and ketchup.

*Fluffy egg roll
*veggies
*Fish sausage

Every day BENTO -Yakiniku-

While I was making my son's bento this morning, I had a question which I've never asked him before.
"How dose he eat bento?"

Dose he eat his most favorite side dish first?
Dose he keep his most favorite side dish for the last?

I left my favorite one for the last when I ate bento at school. Probably my son does the same as far as I see how to eat dinner with him at home. There is several possible reasons, and one of them is he is an only child. Only child doesn't need to compete with his siblings at the table, so he can take times to eat favorite dishes as much as he likes.
I have a big brother and remember competing to get main dishes, snacks or desserts every day. I tried to protect my plate so hard from him at the table. Now I am thinking, competing dishes is bad manner, though.
Anyway, even though I have a brother, now I leave my favorites for the last. This is not intend, but I enjoy my favorites for last minutes of the meal.

Speaking of my husband, he definitely eats his favorites first, and he is a very fast and big eater. I am so sorry for his sister when she was young.




*juicy Yakiniku and colorful veggies
Japanese style BBQ beef and veggies on rice

*butter sauteed broccolies
*egg
*tomato
*Kinpira
simmerd chopped burdock

Every day BENTO -Soboro-don -

When I talked with a British guy yesterday, about culture difference between countries, especially school lunch, we found it is very interesting.
In conclusion, actually we didn't get to the conclusion of the question "where should we raise our children?"

I know children bring sandwiches and chocolate, cookies, apples, oranges, yogurt etc. for school lunch every day in foreign countries. In Japan, school don't allow to bring chocolate, cookies, cold meal and mostly parents don't let their children to have sandwich every day. What I thought is this is just the culture difference, behind the background where they grew up. Lunch which children brings to school is healthy or not, cold or hot, big variety or not, it doesn't matter.

It is good to have nutritious balance for a day or a few days. I guess Japanese who live in Japan want to have total balance in each meal for their children.  Japanese who live in other country is depend on their culture.


We discussed last night about a kind of experiment which conducted between Japanese and American about absolute task and relative task. The result is Japanese are clearly better than Americans at the relative task.

We laughed a lot that funny thing is Japanese is want to put everything together in a tiny box and good at doing this anytime because of many living in tiny country.
BENTO is as well.





*Soboro-don
crumbly beef and eggs topped rice

*Yakisoba
Rich fried noodles

*Butter sauteed Spinach
*Simmerd Hijiki Seaweed
*Tomato

Every day BENTO - Teriyaki Chicken-

This is a commercial of TOKYO GAS. It is a short story type commercial. I didn't  know it is famous in Japan. Japanese only but probably not hard to understand.

In summary, A mother makes bento everyday for her son who is a high school student. Teenage boy is on difficult stage to handle, so conversation between them is getting less, but she decides to give him messages from mother to son though her heartwarming homemade bento.
She can't get his response to her bento, but she realizes his bento box coming back with empty is his good response. She has to make his bento for 3 years. Last day, she made 2 bento, one for her son, one for herself. At her lunch time she is having bento, she praises herself for keeping to make bento for son every single day for 3 years. At the same night, she finds the memo in his empty bento box, which says "Thank you, and sorry couldn' t say it before."

I never watched this commercial before because I live in Osaka, not Tokyo, so I didn't have a chance to notice it.
I am impressed so much and want to show to people who are interested in BENTO culture in the world.

We have BENTO culture for years.
Recent years, it has been spread over the world, and Japanese bento box is popular. I'm proud of it and glad to hear it.

I grew up with my mom's bento and I didn't know how hard to prepare bento every day at this moment. Now I have also made bento for about 5 years for my son, and have only several months left. Happy to stop this hard work and he is going to independent but I miss a little bit.

This is today's bento for my son.



*Juicy Teriyaki chicken
*Fluffy Spanich omlet
*Fried veggies (green pepper)
*tomato
*rice