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....

well a huge parcel arrived today from the Japan centre full of food - yum!
I bought a couple of new things to try this time so I'll update you on how that goes....

In the meantime I bought two sushi moulds from them for £1.50 each, I thought they would be similar to the one I have from lake land but they are quite ingenious instead of placing in the nori adding the fillings and compressing the whole thing to make ready to serve sushi this just makes the rice filling. I'm planning to try some sushi left nekkid and some rolled in toasted sesame seeds - watch this space

I couldn't wait to use my hello kitty lunchbox so decided to put the "cupboards of crap" clearout on hold for a day to fill the bento with yummy things. It packs a surprising amount of food in so I made sure I put healthy stuff in it.

Round one....

Three rice balls with egg furikake, one happy, one sad and one all covered in hearts. Some hand rolled sushi with the furikake rice and some QP mayo and loads of cherry tomatoes cause I love them - yummy! You can just see the head of the cute little lion soy sauce bottle sticking out from between the riceballs.

Round two...

Just a simple fruit salad of peaches, plums, apple and red grapes you can see how nicely the baby cutlery fits in - the fork is actually underneath the spoon but you can't see it.

Round three...

I feel I need to say at this point that I actually don't intend to sit down and eat all this food in one go it does contain two meals worth. In the top we have some pita chips from Tesco (bit bland) some dried apricots and goji berries (I tried them today for the first time, they taste like cherry maderia cake, how odd) some edamame, a pot of jelly belly beans a triangle of laughing cow cheese and some hummus in a cake case.

Cake cases are a great way of separating items in your box. You can buy reuseable silicone ones and disposable ones with Hello kitty etc on but a fairy cake case works just as well but be careful not to put
anything too moist in and also I would recommend that you use it in a lunch box that carries upright like this one does.

If you are like me once you get started with bento it becomes a bit of an addiction. As pleasing as it is to open your lunch and see kawaii (cute) soy sauce bottles and food picks the little fellas need somewhere to hang out when they are not servicing your lunch.

Originally I chucked everything in a big biscuit tin which worked fine at first until I spotted this while looking for a plaster at work today

Its an old plaster box and when I opened it up to look for a plaster it was empty but looked like this inside...

"Ping" went a lightbulb and drip went the blood from my finger "a-ha!" thinks I, this could be put to bento use...

So I did and this is what happened

Everything is tidy now yay! Well tidy for now until I buy MORE bento related stuff!

Onigiri are iterally rice balls although they can come in many shapes such as triangles, stars, rabbits and flowers. They can be formed by hand or using a mould I bought my moulds from E-bay at quite a reasonable price.

Onigiri can be plain or filled and can be coated in sesame, nori or left "naked". They can be filled with many fillings - basically whatever you want goes! The rice can be plain or seasoned, I often make onigiri when I am making sushi so my rice is often seasoned. On the whole I tend not to make them as I cant eat them without falling apart but today I decided to play with some new tools I got and make some.

My new toys are some nori cutters and onigiri molds.

The cutters are designed to cut shapes out of sheets of nori for sushi which can then be used to decorate rice balls.

Here is a happy star!

Bless, ain't he a cutie pie. I also made an unhappy heart, not because I'm sad but because he knew he was going to be eaten first ha ha ha!

You can also reverse the technique and use the nori that is left over as a design. For all you Dragon quest fans here is an onigiri with a happy little slime on.

By the way my onigiri are speckly because I mixed some egg furikake through the rice before moulding them

I keep on the lookout for items that I can use in my bento box without having to buy them abroad. Today I had two finds.

Firstly this Dora the explorer lunchbox. Its not very big so I think I'll keep it for small snacks or light lunches but it only cost 99p and came filled with sweets yay! Unfortunately I had to give these away as they wern't veggie friendly boo!

I also found some baby cutlery with a "cars" design on, they are the perfect size for fitting inside a bento box and again only 99p - bargain!

I decided to treat myself to a new bento box from ebay I'd had my eye on it for a while but it was a bit overpriced. I found one from a seller that I had used before at a great price so i pressed that button! It came today in all its pinkness yay!

I also got some other bento accessories so I'll make a nice lunch tomorrow - well I'll try, don't shout at me if I don't...

Isn't it lovely! You can't see it terrible well but kitty on the lid has a sparkly outline its quite a good size I'm really looking forwards to using it and the best bit is it stacks together like a tiffin box so you dont have to worry about it getting thrown around in your bag.

I'm a bit of a hoarder. I think if I didn't keep a lid on it I would end up with one of those houses like you see on "how clean is your house". My main problem is supermarket special offers I have cupboards full of things that were half price of buy one get one free or two for... I'm on an economy drive at the minute as I'm out of work in two weeks so I decided to start using the stuff in the cupboards to make my lunches so apologies due for the uninspiring lunches for the next or so...

Anyhoo, onto the food yum!

In this lunch we have Ainsley Harriott brand "tomato tango" couscous with some Asda vegetarian meatballs cut up over the top. In the larger section there is some Brazil nuts, Jelly belly beans, an Organix carrot cake toddler bar, some dried Apricots, some triple berry shredded wheat and a triangle of laughing cow cheese.

I feel quite virtuous today everything came from the cupboards or fridge but I'm missing the fresh fruit, veggies and sushi. I gotta get through those cupboards of crap though.....

I've been on a bit of a sushi kick at the minute, it heps me relax because you can't rush making it - I need all the relaxing I can get at the minute...

Anyhoo, I thought I'd make some sushi and post the recipes for those of you who want the sushi without the fishi.

From left to right we have....

Wasabi and spring onion maki
Egg, spring onion and sesame futomaki
A small bottle of soy sauce
Tamago nigiri
inari

and it was yummy....

This is a wasabi futomaki. Its rice, wasabi and QP mayo but boy does it pack a punch. If you have never tried wasabi its hot! It isn't hot in the way that chilli is - it won't leave your mouth burning instead it hits you in the sinuses giving them the gastronomical equivalent of a pipe cleaner down them. It subsides within fifteen seconds leaving you decidedly more awake!

This is my very favouritest type of sushi. I guess it would be called something like "Goma neki tamago futomaki". Its made with the large mould from my Sushi maker and its about the size of half a bar of soap. I really wouldn't like to try this without my maker as I think if you hand roll it everything would escape out of the sides. Top make it place a layer of rice down on your nori and slice one spring onion lengthways into thin strips, lay this on the rice. Take a tbsp of sesame seeds and place in a small pan swirl over a high heat until they turn golden then sprinkle over the spring onion (careful they leak hot oil) squeeze over some QP mayo and top with a slice of Tamago so it fits like a carpet, top with more rice and roll/finish off. In my picture the egg is near the top - no reason I just forgot to put the egg on top of the sesame seeds - doh!

Inari is something I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with, I want to really like it but I don't I just kind of cope with it. Inari are pockets of sweetened deep fried beancurd. They are packed in oil and need a good rinsing with boiling water before you use them. You can chop them up and use them in noodle dishes or gently prise them open and stuff them with rice. I find that a block from my nigiri mould fits just nicely inside. I have tried hand forming the rice to fit inside but the phrase "ferret in a sack" comes to mind. This one has rice in it and a squeeze of Qp mayo

Nigiri is hand formed blocks topped with a thin topping (called neta). My hand forming is pants so I bought a mould which pops out five lovely little square blocks ready for topping with yummy stuff. In this case its topped with tamago which is cemented on with some QP mayo and secured with a thin strip of nori wrapped round and pressed into the rice on the bottom

This is the heart shaped sushi that my Sushi maker produces. Personally i'm not impressed but I guess it could be made to look nicer with other fillings.

Anyhoo, this sushi is rice with a layer of Egg Furikake running through the middle. The furikake is a tasty new discovery for me. Its dried egg mixed with sesame seeds, soy sauce and nori. Its sprinkled over cooked rice to season it. Its available in a huge range of flavours but i'm quite fond of the egg version

Firstly apologies for the quality of the photo, my camera is a bit sub par and a new ones not on my list at the minute. Secondly apologies to any passing Japanese people for my terrible use of your language - I am but a dumb gaijin.

So onto the important bit - the food! This was made using my Sushi maker its about the size of a two pence piece and in the middle you can just see some QP mayo which I adore, if you haven't tried it you must! it also contains spring onion (about 1/2 sliced lengthways) and some wasabi mixed in with the mayo

Sushi comes in many types. I generally stick to 3 which I'll call by their Japanese names, I'm learning to speak it at the minute my conversation skills are crap but I can order food pretty well - in my opinion much more important!

Nigiri - A bock of sushi rice topped with a thin layer of topping. The blocks are usually hand formed but I'm pants at it I bought a mould from Ebay which makes five little rectangles ready to be topped.

Maki - this is what most people probably think of when they think of sushi it can be a fat roll (futomaki) or a slim roll (maki) they can be hand rolled or made using a mould or machine.

Inari - This is sushi rice which has been placed in a pocked made of fried beancurd. The beancurd has a sweet taste and isn't to everyones liking.

Do you hand roll your sushi or do you employ outside help? Some people will tell you if you haven't hand rolled it then it ain't the real deal, good for them I however have better things to do with my time.

Don't get me wrong I began by rolling up my sushi by hand - without a sushi mat and then later with but it takes time which I just don't have. My dilemma was solved when i spotted this little beauty from Lakeland...

At £8.50 its cheaper than most other makers I've seen. It makes small squares, large squares and heart shapes but personally I think the hearts are a bit pants. Its easy to use and clean and speeds up making sushi immensley. It also allowed me to be more experimental with my filling as this machine allows you to build up the sushi in layers.

Other options are sushi moulds. They are available from Japan centre or Ebay but Ebay sellers do tend to jack up the price a bit.

You should have a go at rolling your own sushi so you can tick that box if you decide to give it a go here is a great guide with illustrations.

Ok, you got your sushi stuff? Good. I suppose you want to know what to do with it *sigh*

Only kidding, to make sushi you obviously need to cook the rice. There are loads of different methods but it basically comes down to cooking it on the hob or in a rice cooker. I began by using a pan and this recipe after a while I bought a rice cooker for £12 its much easier and doesn't need watching constantly.

Once you have cooked your rice you need to season it. To make sushi seasoning combine the following;

4 tbsp rice vinegar
3 tbsp sugar or splenda
2 tbsp mirin
2 tsp salt

mix well and pour over the hot drained rice (or into the rice cooker) and gently fold in - don't be too rough, you'll break up the grains and the rice will become gluey. Allow the rice too cool enough to be able to handle before you make sushi, traditionally a Wooden rice tray is used and the rice spread out and fanned. Mostly i leave mine in the rice cooker with the lid off.

Once its cool your ready to start sushi preparation!

"sushi, thats raw fish isn't it?"

Thats what I hear every time I say I love sushi. After informing them that sushi means vinegared rice snack and it don't have to have no fish in it at all. As I'm a veggie mine contain only eggs or veg and I make it all myself (yay me!)

As I make it I'll photo and post recipes for the various types I make but before I do I guess I'd better do sushi 101.

What you put in your sushi and how you make it is entirely up to you. Don't ever let any smartarse tell you you're doing it wrong. Hey I'd rather have sushi thats made in half an hour and tasty than traditionally made sushi that took an hour to hand roll.

So, what are the bog standard basics you need? I got my first sushi kit from Tesco. My local superstore has a laughably titled "international" section which is 3 shelves big but they do stock Yutaka brand sushi ingredients and for a fiver you will be able to sort yourself out with a basic sushi kit so you can have a try.

If you decide to have a crack at making your own sushi here is what you will need.

Sushi Rice - Ordinary rice won't work. It needs to be short grain rice as it is starchy and sticks together very well. The Brand I use is Nishiki which has always worked very well for me. Make sure you buy a rice that says it is suitable for sushi making. Pudding or risotto rice won't work.

Nori - Nori is sheets of seaweed pressed flat and toasted. Its used to wrap the sushi in and comes in many types and at many prices. I use Nagai At 10 sheets for 79p it doesn't matter if you mess it up a few times and they taste pretty good too.

Rice vinegar - This is used to season the rice. Its mixed into a dressing with Mirin, sugar and salt and sprinkled over the hot rice. Don't worry if you're not keen on vinegar, rice vinegar is very mild and just hints at flavor. I currently use Mitsukan and find I use it a lot in cooking other dishes too.

Mirin - this is a sweet cooking wine. It adds a very oriental flavour to dishes and is a staple of Japanese cooking. Your best bet is to start with Yutaka mirin as good quality mirin (called "Hon-mirin" )costs about £5 per bottle but does last a long time. If you want a good quality mirin I can recommend Takara brand

Alternatively you can buy ready made up sushi dressing and just add a couple of tablespoons to cooked rice.

Thats the basics you need to make sushi. Optional extras include,