*Bentobox 101* How to make Tamagoyaki!

What is your favorite food in bento box? To me, Tamagoyaki is always my favorite!
It's very simple but so tasty. I love it!
It's also one of my very first thing that I tried to make with my mom. I think it was probably around 8 or 9 years old. Of course, the first attempt failed but I kept trying and trying. I used the rectangle shape pan that make tamagoyaki super easy and neat, but now I can even make it with circle regular pan.

[Tamagoyaki]
- 3 eggs
-1 table spoon of Dashino-moto
-pinch of salt

1. Crack the eggs, mix well with dashino-moto and salt.


2. heat the pan then add vegetable oil. wait until the pan gets hot.

3. Turn the heat to medium high-low then add small portion of the egg mix into the pan.

4. Without waiting too much, start turning little by little. Don't worry if the egg cracks. you can keep shaping with chopsticks.

5. Once the egg is rolled, add more egg mix until it's gone.

** Take out from the pan to the plate, then cut into your prefable sizes, and now voila!

Very simple, yummy and yet fulfilling. Please try it out!!

this week summary

So, this week was somehow challenging. I didn't have much ingredients in the fridge, so I had to be creative.

Even though I didn't have many variations, I was able to make at least three different portions. For example, I sauteed zuchinni and marinated with tomato sauce. Very simple but added its vivid color. Another thing was this:

I had a stock of dried Hijiki, so I sauteed with carrot and seasoned with soy sauce, mirin and honey. It is very good with rice. 

Though I had to repeat pork ginger and hijiki two days in a row, I am pretty happy I was able to manage this week. 

By the way, you might notice I prepare four days of bento: check my husband's blog and you'll find out why. 

I hope I can add some different tastes next week :) 

it all began from here..

It's from 2008, my homemade udon, dumpling and gnocchi!

just a little cooking history about myself :)

As I grow up in Japan, I was surrounded by very sophisticated electronics, such as very nice rice cooker or very quiet vacuum cleaner. Though I wasn't good at cooking, I always liked to help my mother cook or stay in the kitchen with her just to observe. She was using all the cute and cool kitchen tools like tamagoyaki pan which is perfect rectangle shape pan, and this piece of shredder to make very thin daikon or carrot, or even potato to make potato pan-cakes. Those items were reasonably available, and it's even at $1 store (100 yen shop) nowadays.
Having lived in New York for more than 10 years now, I somehow managed to live without those tools. You've got to live wherever you are right now. I can't spend much money on those tools, as I'd rather spend on food or other things like my children's supply etc. Living in NYC is not that cheap. Therefore, I think I became more creative in a way, just to be able to eat the same quality of food without using those tools.

When I was a college student here in New York, I was extremely busy. Living in New York as a student without full time job is pretty tough. I had a support from my parents, but that's for my tuition.Besides the scholarships, but those went to tuition or my supplies for studies and equipment on my instrument. I supported myself basically with my part-time job, as a classical musician; here and there I gigged and taught some young students. That was just good enough to pay rent and buy minimum amount of food, and NYC transportation fee, which was back then still expensive to me...

Being a starving music student, I was always hungry. Having a sandwich just two slices of bread with lettuce in wasn't enough. I missed Japanese food. I missed my mother's warm homemade meal. I sometimes slept crying because I was too hungry. Living with roommates and sharing a kitchen was not the issue: I was just too busy to be at home. I basically lived in a practice room and class room back and forth.
It's a good memory after all, but to be honest, not healthy at all. I remember being sick every month, and that wasn't fun either.....

So, I became a graduate student living in Manhattan, Upper West Side, as known as very rich neighborhood. Everything was of course expensive to me. I rented a tiny room from a rich family, but I was still lucky to live very close to my school. The classes were much less than undergraduate, so I tried to find some time to cook and prepare decent food.

First thing I've tried was to make udon and dumpling. The taste was not that bad. Actually, I was surprised that I could make it. Then, I got married, was eager to improve my skills, and always failed... I realized how hard it is to cook without proper ingredients. But, instead of spending extra money, I studied around to cook better. I am still challenging that part, but now I enjoy cooking:)

Having said, most of all, I enjoy making meals for people I love. When I see their faces smiling when they eat, I feel so rewarding. I hope I can continue and get better and better :)

some of my achievements from last few weeks!

So, it's been about a month since I determined to keep making my husband's bento box and taking pictures. It's been somehow successful! Phew... what a challenge!
This is very hard for me to keep it up, but somehow I'm enjoying at the same time.

Here are the pictures of my bento from last few weeks!
It's including my daughter's one too :)

*Bento box 101* Prepare ingredients for basic bento box!

What's typical for simple, easy but tasty bento box?

There are some commonly used ingredients. Of course, after all, it's totally optional and up to you. If you're allergic or uncomfortable eating to some food, then, try something else. Here, you'll get some ideas that could hopefully help you to create your own special lunch box later on!
Don't worry, I will show you how to

♪White [Rice]♪

So, you're making Japanese bento box! You can't miss it!
If you prefer brown rice, go ahead. If you can't find this kind of thiner grain, you can of course use jasmin rice. It's YOUR rice.
If you're willing to make rice balls, however, I highly recommend using Japanese rice like the link above. (I will talk about some brands later.) In the US, you can find at chinese or korean market too. Nowadays, you can even find them at American local supermarket. Awesome :)
I sometimes even make pasta like today. It is nice to have some variation.

♪Brown/Orange[Meat/Fish]♪

I usually put one kind of main dish. It could be homemade burger or just sauteed/boiled sausages. I am also planning to grill salmon sometime this week.

♪Green [Broccoli]♪

If you want to put salad like greek style or with avocado, good luck with that. It's nice but not practical for lunch box. The best green veggie is broccoli. Just boil them and done! It's super easy but healthy on top of it. Another one could be boiled/sauteed spinach, cabbage or zucchini.  Overall, I love broccoli.


♪Yellow [Egg]♪

Yes, the kind of bento, tamagoyaki! I must write recipe about it, because I just love making and eating those fluffy egg rolls. But, like today, short on egg in the fridge, why not boiled egg :) Just put egg in the cold water in a pan, boil it for 1 minute, leave in the stove for 10 minutes and perfect good looking boiled egg is served.

♪Red [Tomato]♪

It's your choice, but I just love colorful stuff. Colorful bento box makes me so happy. At the end, the color of red gives very vibrant dishes overall. If you don't have grape tomato, that's ok. You can make chicken or pasta with tomato sauce. You can even try squeezing a slice of apple or a piece of strawberry. :)

The next episode, I will share with you how to make tamago yaki! :)
Happy eating!

*Bento box 101* ---Choose your special "box"---

Making your lunch could be challenging, especially when you don't have time, late night, tired from work, or empty refrigerater... 

However, even if you have those situation, you can still make your lunch box in less than 15 minutes! 

Before actually preparing your own meal, let's look for your special box---actual lunch box!

Without going to Japan all the way, you can purchase a really nice one pretty much in anywhere for affordable price online.

In the US where I am now, you could find something like this Japanese style, some stylish cool box or big fulfilling lunch box. Whatever your heart desires. You might want to find something with good materials, rather than those take-out plastic/paper boxes. Overall, you would spend $15~$30 but it will last very long and you won't regret!

Also, if you want to make it prettier, you can use some cupcake paper cups to separate each food. That'd make more colorful lunch box!

So, here's this week!

I wasn't feeling well this week. Well, to be honest, it was very hard. 

It's been only a month since I gave a birth to my second child, and having two children all the time around makes me very exhausting. It's rewarding at the same time though :)

Making lunchbox for my husband is another challenge too. I want to start get ready around 6:00am, cook the rice and start preparing all the other dishes, plus breakfast by 7am. Well, it doesn't go smooth as I wish. Sometimes baby is crying, sometimes I'm feeding him, sometimes my daughter is already up and wants to change her clothes and the list just keeps going on and on... Everyday has different routine, but more or less I secure the time to cook quickly and efficiently, writing scenario in my head of what to do one after another.

I only learn how to cook while I was in Japan until 18, so it is pretty much limited. I wish I had more time to learn from my mom, but I'm learing from her now through emails and videochat.

I have so many memories of lunchbox. Throughout kindergarten to middle school, I had school lunch. I mean, it's not like what you imagine. It's like something you could eat at Japanese restaurant here in the US. It was pretty awesome. Tasty, warm, healthy, well-balanced and lots of fun. Some special occasion like school trip, I brought lunchbox that my mom made. I still remember one morning of the school trip, my parents were up so early, like 5am to make onigiri, very special one. My dad, who is an architect, cut the seaweed into a shape of face and hair like me and paste them into the rice balls that my mom made. It was a teamwork, and I remember so clearly peeking the scene with dim light behind the door of kitchen.

I will share some recipes of my lunchbox little by little. It will be such a fun project! 

I am already thinking about next week's menu, and I can't wait to try it out :)

*Brand new start*

it's been a quite while. mainly my life has just gotten busier and changed in many ways... we have additional family member now!
so, it's only been just over a month since my baby "goku" (n.b. nickname :p) was born. my princess "cotton candy" is now 4 and a big sister. my husband "pazu" is as usual sweet, kind, funny and loving person.

how about me? it's hectic to keep myself uplifting, doing all the errands at home, feeding, playing, cleaning, cooking, carrying, wiping and feeding again, more cleaning... all around.
time to challenge myself in a constant way. what am i good at? i'm a musician and got master's degree, but hey, once you have two little kids, it's not that easy. pazu knows very well i'm not a good organizer. but what do i do everyday? cooking... that's not my strongest either, but i decided to visually keep the record and see how i can improve...

so, here it is! i will show my bento box for pazu which i make everyday.