Go ahead, make my Bento

If you have been reading this blog you may remember me mentioning I wanted a Laptop Lunch Kit but the price was a bit high for me, well I was in Lidl picking up some bread and found this little wonder for £2.99

Isn't that great! I can't believe all those boxes fit into the big one (storage is becoming a bit of a problem at chez shelleybird) but you can keep them in and use the system like the laptop lunch tray.

I was very chuffed with my purchase and had to make a small lunchbox just to try it out you know...

Nothing fancy, just some plain riceballs with some soy. The green one has been wrapped in nori and is spread with a little mayo and wasabi, it looks neat but the underneath is a mess lol. There is also some spicy crispy seaweed I bought from a Thai shop near us but it went very soggy by the time I ate it and it was not good...

So there I was stood outside ASDA at 11.50 on Friday night in the rain waiting for my £5 copy of Hazza Pozzar and wondering why I was doing it and willing them to have enough copies when I got hungry so I unleashed my secret weapon...The Harry potter Onigiri...

I bought a new craft punch that makes glasses shapes so came up with the idea of a Harry Potter riceball, I'd made a few and seeing as it was my good deed Friday I shared them out among the other cold and wet people in the queue.

The man upstairs must have been in need of some entertainment as when I got there The person in front of me had taken the last two - Nooooooo! But then when they realized I was without one they gave me one because Id shared my food with them.

There's a moral in there somewhere....

You will find that most of my links for products go to the Japan center this isn't because I'm on commission its just because its my favorite online store. My orders are always processed and delivered quickly and the prices are the cheapest I've seen. If you do decide to shop around try these other sites.

the japanese shop
Mount Fuji
Japanese kitchen
Okinami

I heart soy sauce, I really do. A few times I have been tempted to drink it as it is but I think that would be the start of a slippery slope into condiment dependency. Before I really got into cooking I used any old soy sauce, the cheaper the better - oh how wrong I was...

If you really feel the need to read about the process of making and the history of soya sauce you can here

There are many types of soy sauce some vary from country to country such as Thai style, Chinese, Japanese, Hawaiian and Indonesian but even within Japanese cuisine there are many types of soy sauce. For those new to Japanese cuisine it can be a daunting business choosing the right one.

Probably the first division is between regular and reduced salt soy sauce. Which do you go for? well whichever you want baby, if you are worried about your salt intake go for the reduced one if not then regular is fine - there really isn't that much difference between them.

Japanese soy sauce is known as "shoyu" and is different to the regular Chinese varieties in that they taste slightly sweeter and some have a tang of "sherryness" about them, they can be divided into five categories:

Koikuchi originates in the Kanto region but now accounts for the majority of soya sauce found in Japan. These make good sauces for general cooking and seasoning of food a good exmple of this type of soy sauce is Kikkoman soy sauce

Usukuchi This is a lighter sauce popular in the Kansai region. The flavor is sweeter and not as rice as the dark soy sauces. In the UK they are commonly used for dishes which require a lighter more delicate flavour such as fish or dipping sauces.

Tamari This is a soya sauce made without the addition of wheat. Its commonly used by those following a wheat free diet. This is thought to be the one closest related to the original soy sauce introduced by China. Many people prefer this sauce for its rich dark taste and it makes an ideal partner for sushi.

Shiro also known as white soy sauce. This contains very little soybean and has a sweet taste. It is commonly used with foods such as Sashimi to highlight their flavours.

Saishikomi This is "twice brewed" soya sauce. It has a dark appearence and strong flavour, it is also known as "sweet shoyu"

For general cooking and serving with sushi you can't go wrong with the Kikkoman brand I mentioned before, its a good product at a great price. As for the other varieties you may want to experiment with them as you become more familiar with cooking.

Its my last day at work tomorrow. My contract isn't being renewed for financial reasons and I don't have another job to go to. It seems there is a shortage of science teachers but no one knows where...

I considered doing a big fancy lunch for my last day but just couldn't be bothered in the end and packed a tin box with some bread, a tin of beans, two pieces of fruit and a cereal bar. Its so dull I'm not even going to post a photo of it.

It made me think about a lot of things. My boyfriend thinks I'm ever so slightly nutty for turning my riceballs into Jedi ninjas or my carrots into bunny shapes and I don't think he meant it in a cute and endearing way either. Looking at today's lunch it made me realize that having a cute lunch makes me a happy bunny and the "normal lunch" I packed for tomorrow is dull and boring. Imagine how depressing it would be to open one of those and see the same sandwiches, apple and biscuit that you see everyday...

It also made me think about my job, in the two years I've been there its been stressful, traumatic and I lost my life totally - for all those people who think teachers have it easy with all those holidays you just see the amount of hours we clock up the rest of the time. I was feeling quite upset about leaving but I realized that the thing I will miss the most is packing my happy little lunch at the minute I have time to eat and enjoy it as the year 11's have left and my timetable is only 1/2 of what it should be if I were to go back in September it would go right back to the whole going twelve or more hours without food because I'm too busy to sit down and eat. It made me realize that maybe its not such a bad thing to be leaving after all...

So what am I going to fill my blog with while I'm out of work? Well I guess I will still pack the occasional lunch to eat while schlepping around town looking for a job but I thought I would spend some of my free time trying all the recipes that are in my to-do list and coming up with some new ideas for when I do start working again.

Until that time, keep everything crossed for me...

Well, its my last week at work this week and while I'm worried about the obvious things like jobs and money I must admit I'm quite sad at the prospect of not having a lunch to pack everyday. I know it probably means I need to get more of a life but simple pleasures are always the best.

So today I packed some carrot sticks and hummus in the tiny Hello kitty box, they actually fit really nicely. The Hummus is just Tesco's own brand. I know loads of people make their own versions and its quite easy to do but I don't have a food processor so its a bit of a chore - plus I don't go a whole bundle on the taste of olive oil which seems to be prevalent in homemade ones. Usually I'm quite happy with shops own but Tesco have just changed theirs to a spicier version and the jury's still out on whether I prefer it to the original or not.

In the main lunchbox there is the last of the weekends sushi, I made it on Saturday and its not at its best now but still better than supermarket fare, there is also a wagashi which is a common Japanese snack treat made of puffed rice and various sweet and savoury ingredients this one contains cocoa powder but is still not "sweet" The next tray had some fruit salad in the beautiful golden pineapple is in season and really at its best right now. The top contains some Wasabi peas, a chocolate egg, jelly beans, sun dried bananas, cherry tomatoes and a triangle of cheese. The black rectangle you can see on the sushi is Roasted Nori, this one has been seasoned to make a tasty snack. This is on my list of things to learn to make.

Not greatly inspriring but filling and tasty.

Rolled sushi or maki sushi is generally pretty good at staying together the nori goes soggy quickly which helps the roll stay together. Some types need a bit more help keeping it together.

One of my Current favorites is using Tamago to make Nigiri sushi but it does need help to stay on, usually a strip of nori works quite well but for extra traction I was fiddling around and came up with sushi cement. Its very simple and serves the dual purpose of holding the topping on the nigiri and being tasty too. I'm guessing for all you carnivores out there it would mix well with tuna.

Sushi cement.

2 spring onions, roughly chopped
2 tbsp QP mayonnaise
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds.

place the spring onion in a food chopper or processor and pulse. If your seeds are not already toasted simply swirl them in a hot frying pan until they begin to pop and colour. Mix everything together and use how you see fit. Feel free to change ratios depending on what you want it for.

A few years ago I read a book by an author called Danny Wallace called "Join me" about the time he accidentally started a cult. It was a great read and as far as I'm aware his cult is still going strong with over 100,000 members worldwide. I admit I'm not one of the enlightened ones but I did take an important message away from the book. About halfway through the book Danny realizes that he needs to do something with the people he has collected and comes up with a wonderful idea, as a condition of membership people must do one good deed every Friday, it doesn't have to be something amazing but it does have to make someone else feel happy. I decided my deed for today was going to be a sushi surprise for someone at work.

Last week while eating my happy faced lunch one of my coworkers commented that she had always wanted to make sushi and where did I buy my stuff? I decided to make her up a little red cross pack of sushi.

I made a batch of sushi and kept some aside and also put some nori, sushi rice and ready made sushi dressing in the box too. To make life easier I labeled everything with instructions although I must admit the last part was an excuse to use some wonderfully Kawaii tutti cuti note lets I had bought, everything is labeled with pink post its with big eyed cartoon characters on.

It was gratefully received this morning although I left the box on her desk labeled "happy Monday" and she confessed she thought it might have been dangerous...

In my box of Joy from the Japanese shop I had two bags of Wasabi peas if you haven't tried these they are the most amazing snack ever!

They are crispy roasted peas which have been coated with spicy wasabi, they are hot but not mind blowingly hot - just enough to give your nose a little tickle but they are very, very addictive! they taste fantastic with a cold beer.

A new bento box arrived today, I'd ordered it from Ebay and the price was much cheaper than other boxes I had seen, Its a cute Hello Kitty one - by now you should be spotting the theme....

Only one problem - its flaming tiny!! Not just child size but midget size! its about the size of a slice of bread!

Luckily I had ordered it to keep snacks in such as carrot sticks and hummus or fruit so it actually works out ok. Last week I bought a hello Kitty handbag and makeup bag when they came the make up bag was huge! I can comfortably fit an A4 pad in it, I don't own enough make up to fill it! The handbag however is very small! big enough for the essentials but not much else, I wouldn't bother but I bought it because it was a shopper style!

So from this we can summarize that Japanese women don't eat very much, have large amounts of make up but don't carry any of it around with them....