Just Bento - all about bento box meals!

Beef and vegetable rolls (Yasai no nikumaki)

maki — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:25:15 +0000

Yasai no nikumaki, or vegetables wrapped in thinly sliced meat, (niku means meat and maki means wrap or roll) is a standby item for bentos in Japan see an example here). They are easy to eat, and the cut sides are colorful and pretty. I haven’t given you a recipe for nikumaki so far though on this site because a critical element, very thinly and evenly cut slices of pork (the usual meat used) or beef, is just not easily available in the U.S. or most areas of Europe. If you live near an Asian market you have a better chance of getting a suitable cut - but I know, many readers don’t have easy access to such markets.

Here is a version that uses a cut of beef that you can get more easily, at least in the U.S. - cheesesteak beef. Philly cheesesteak beef is very thinly cut sirloin or similar quality meat, just as is used in Japanese sukiyaki, and that works great for nikumaki. Trader Joe’s sells something called shaved beef steak which works quite well, and is fairly affordable too. Here’s the pack I used to make this recipe. 1.08 pounds for $7.71 is not too bad, considering you get 6 to 8 rolls or portions out of it.

So, let’s make nikumaki!

Recipe: Yasai no Nikumaki (Vegetables wrapped in thinly sliced meat)

Makes 6 to 8 rolls

450g / 1 lb very thinly cut beef sirloin such as cheesesteak beef (see notes about meat alternatives)
thinly sliced strips of vegetables - here I’ve used green, red, yellow and orange bell peppers (see notes about vegetable alternatives)
salt and pepper
4 Tbs. cornstarch (approximate) or plain white flour
1 Tbs. cooking oil
one of the following sauce alternatives

Sauce A: Classic Japanese

2 Tbs. dark soy sauce
1 Tbs. mirin
1 Tbs. sake
2 tsp. sugar
1 Tbs. water

Sauce B: Soy and pomegranate juice

This is the one I’ve used in the photos. It has a savory-sweet-tart taste.

2 Tbs. dark soy sauce
3 Tbs. 100% pomegranate juice
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. sugar

Sauce C: Barbeque-y

2 Tbs. ketchup
1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbs. apple cider vinegar
2 Tbs. water
a few drops of Tabasco (optional)

Prep the vegetables by cutting them into long, even thin strips. Here I have used multicolored bell peppers. To get long strips out of peppers, try cutting of the tops and bottoms the cutting them in half lengthwise, then turning the halves 90 degrees, flattening them a bit and cutting the strips out in the horizontal direction of the peppers.

Heat up some water in a pan and toss in the vegetable strips. Blanch them until crisp-tender. For the bell peppers that just takes about 3 minutes. Drain and let cool.

If you’re using the Trader Joe’s ‘shaved beef steak’ or similar, this part is a bit tricky since the bits of beef are rather scraggly.

The key is to lay out the bits of thin beef in a fairly even layer, leaving no gaping holes, so you end up with something that looks like one piece of beef, like so. If you have more uniformly shaped slices just lay down one or two slices.

Sprinkle very lightly with salt and pepper (don’t overdo it - remember you’ll be adding a savory sauce later) then a bit of cornstarch. The cornstarch will help to hold the meat together.

Now, lay some strips of your precooked vegetable on one end.

Start rolling up the beef around the vegetables as tightly as possible, tucking in any straggly ends as you go (a bit tricky, again, with that TJ’s beef, but it can be managed).

Keep rolling tightly…it helps to pull a bit on the unwrapped end of beef with one hand as you wrap with the other.

End the wrapping with the end bits on the bottom. Now, some directions for nikumaki say you should poke the roll through with a toothpick to hold it together, but I don’t find this necessary as long as you manage to wrap the meat quite tightly, and you follow the cooking instructions that follow.

Coat the surface of the roll lightly in more cornstarch. Again, this helps to keep the roll together and also thickens the sauce a bit.

(Not pictured) Mix the sauce mix of your choice in a small bowl, and have ready to go next to your cooktop.

Heat up a frying pan with the cooking oil over medium-high heat. Put the rolls in seam side down This is important - if you start with the seam sides up the rolls will fall apart. Put the rolls in in batches if needed - you should have plenty of space around them so you can turn them easily. (I did mine in 2 batches.) Cook the rolls until the seam side is browned and sealed.

Turn the rolls and brown them on all sides. Looks yummy already!

Add the prepared sauce mix to the pan - careful, the pan may spit at you a bit. Turn the rolls around in the sauce a few times so the sauce coats them. Keep cooking until the moisture in the sauce mix has almost evaporated and the sauce is quite sticky.

Take the rolls out of the pan, and let cool.

You can use the rolls whole like this of course and they still look good.

Or, cut them to reveal the mosaic-like cut surface. My slices here are a bit shaggy (I blame this again on that TJ steak) but not too bad. Allow 1 to 2 rolls per bento.

Tip: Chop up the scraggly end bits of the rolls and hide them under your cut rolls!

Freezing

You can freeze nikumaki very successfully. Wrap each uncut roll in plastic wrap, then put the rolls in a freezer bag or container. They’ll be good in the freezer for a month. Take them out and transfer them to the refrigerator the day before you need them, and slice them through while still half-frozen. That will give you very neat cuts.

Meat alternatives for nikumaki

The meat really has to be paper thin, not escalope-thin.

As mentioned above, you can find very pre-packaged, thinly sliced pork or beef at most Asian (Korean, Japanee, Chinese) grocery stores.

If using beef, you do need to use a quick-cooking cut like sirloin or filet. Ask your butcher if he/she can slice the meat very thinly for you, or try it on your own with a half-frozen piece of meat.

Raw meat is preferred, since thinly sliced precooked meat such as ham may not stick together properly. See ham negimayaki, which is made with very thinly sliced ham. Cured, uncooked ham like proscuitto will work better, though you will have to compensate for the saltiness.

I would not recommend using chicken or turkey meat since these meats may get too dry.

Vegetable alternatives

You can wrap all kinds of vegetables in the meat. The key is to have vegetables that are sliced to the same width, or are already like that, and to make sure the vegetables are tender enough by pre-cooking or slicing very, very thinly before wrapping.

Thin green asparagus stalks with carrot sliced to the same thickness as the asparagus. Blanch both the carrot and asparagus (start with the carrot, then add the asparagus) until crisp-tender.
Enoki mushrooms with the root parts cut off can be used as-is.
Green onion or negi. Slice lengthwise very thinly, and/or blanch lightly before wrapping. Green onion wrapped in beef is a pretty common item on Japanese restaurant menus - you may see it called negimaki or negima for short.

Bento filler: Parsnip kinpira

maki — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:55:06 +0000

When you don’t live in Japan and you try to recreate Japanese recipes, ingredients can be a bit of a problem. I’m not really talking about the basic staples like soy sauce or mirin and so on; it used to be an issue trying to get a hold of those too, but with the growing popularity of Japanese cuisine in particular and Asian food in general, this has become much less of an issue. (Here, I either mailorder from stores in Paris or London, or stock up when we go to Lyon or Geneva.) But fresh ingredients are another matter. Take for example, the classic kinpira gobo, a terrific vegetable standby. It’s crunchy, a bit spicy, and goes well in just about any rice based bento, conventional or otherwise. It’s also very easy to make, freezes well, and is an all-around star. But getting hold of burdock (gobo) roots anywhere but a town with a sizeable Asian population? A bit difficult. Here in sleepy semi-rural France, forget it.

But I’m not complaining. I’ve already adapted the basic kinpira formula to use carrots only, or almost any kind of vegetable that’s suitable. Here’s yet another variation that uses a vegetable that you will not encounter in Japan, parsnips. I must admit I only encountered parsnip in the last decade or so of my life, after moving to Europe. I don’t think they are that common in U.S. supermarkets nationwide either, unlike the ubiquitous carrot or broccoli. But they should be! They’re naturally sweet, roast up beautifully, and make interesting purées or mashes. And, they have a crunchy fibrous texture that is quite similar to gobo.

So, here they are in kinpira form.

Because of their natural sweetness, no additional sugar or mirin is required, although you can add some if you like of course. A little bit of pre-treatment as it were is needed to counteract the texture, but it only adds a few minutes to your cooking time.

Recipe: Parsnip kinpira

Makes about 2 cups

2 medium to large parsnips, scrubbed well and peeled (you can skip the peeling if the skin is not so tough and bumpy)
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon light cooking oil such as light olive oil or canola oil
1 tablespoon toasted dark sesame oil
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1/8 teaspoon (or to taste) dried red chili pepper flakes, or use ichimi togarashi instead
2 tablespoons soy sauce

Cut the parsnips into thin matchsticks. This is a bit tough on your hands, especially if the parsnips have large cores, but it will be worth it!

(Note: You can skip this next step if your parsnips are young and tender and go straight to the stir fry step.) Heat up a large frying pan and put in the water. When the water is boiling, add the parsnips and put on a lid. Let it steam-cook for about 3 minutes. Open the lid and either drain off any remaining moisture or just let it evaporate.

Add the oils to the pan and stir fry the parsnips, 2-3 minutes. They should still be crisp but just about turning soft. Add the sesame seeds and chili pepper flakes and toss around well. Add the soy sauce and toss to coat everything well.

As with all kinpiras, this freezes very well. Just divide into individual portions and wrap in plastic, or use a freezer container. One way to make bento packing very convenient is to freeze kinpira in little divider cups; use disposable ones, or reusable silicone ones, whichever you have. To pack, just stick one in a bento, where it will defrost in plenty of time for lunch in most cases. (Although as with all kinpiras, in our household this rarely makes it to the freezer before it’s all devoured.)

Kinpira pasta?

This is something The Guy came up with the other day, after I’d been experiementing with parsnip kinpira. Some of it didn’t quite turn out right (I over- or under-did the parboiling part) but it still tasted good. He just boiled some linguine, added it and the kinpira to a pan and sautéed it a bit. It was spicy and crunchy and delicious. If you’ve made extra kinpira (any of the kinpira recipes on this site should work) give it a try!

Bento filler: Cucumber and Nashi (Asian pear) marinated salad

maki — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:16:28 +0000

Cucumbers are a perennial staple for me. They are available at any time of the year, even in the depth of winter. Sure they are greenhouse grown, but they are for most of the year anyway. They add a nice refreshing crispy crunch to any meal, including bentos. This is an extremely easy to make-ahead salad or marinade. Make it at least an hour before you want to eat it, or the night before for bentos. It will stay nice and crunchy for a week if you keep it tightly covered in the refrigerator, and the flavors will mellow nicely. This kind of marinated salad or instant pickle is called an amasu-zuke (sweet vinegar marinade). I have added a nashi or Asian pear to the cucumbers - their sweetness allows me to reduce the amount of sugar normally used to half, and the crispy texture is really nice with the cucumber.

Recipe: Cucumber and nashi (Asian pear) marinated salad

Makes about 8 cups of salad, plenty for several bentos and meals.

2 large cucumbers
1 medium to large nashi or Asian pear
1 teaspoon salt, divided
1/2 tablespoon light (usukuchi) soy sauce (see soy sauce basics) - or use any soy sauce you have instead. Use a gluten-free soy sauce if you are concerned about gluten intake.
6 tablespoons rice vinegar or mild apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar or equivalent sugar substitute
1/3 teaspoon dried hot red chili pepper flakes, or to taste (or use ichimi togarashi instead)

Slice the cucumbers in half lenghwise, and scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Slice the halves again into half, so you end up with quarters. Cut up the cucumber into chunks about 3/4 cm / 1/2 inch thick (no need to be too precise here; just chop away roughly).

Peel, quarter and core the nashi pear. Slice fairly thinly.

Combine the cucumber and pear in a large bowl and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Mix well and set aside.

In a small bowl, combine the rest of the salt, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and chili pepper flakes. Stir well but don’t worry if the sugar and salt don’t melt totally - they will melt once you mix this with the vegetables. Put the combined sauce in the large bowl with the cucumber and pear, scraping out any unmelted sugar and salt. Mix very well. Cover, and let rest for at least an hour or overnight in the refrigerator. It will keep tightly covered for a week.

If using in a bento, you may want to put it in a leakproof container if you add some of the marinating sauce. This goes well with a Japanese-style or not-so-Japanese style bento.

Variations

Try using a crispy apple like Fuji instead of the nashi pear.

You can make a cucumber-only salad too, in which case increase the sugar to 2 tablespoons.

Tofu and vegetable piccata

maki — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:34:56 +0000

From the archives. I got an email over the weekend from someone asking for vegetarian recipes. Well, there are a lot of vegetarian and vegan recipes here actually. Here is one I posted last year, a tasty ovo-vegetarian tofu-and-egg dish inspired by healthy Korean cooking, named after a classic italian dish. And of course, great in bentos!

A lot of people shy away from tofu because they think it’s too bland, or just for vegetarians or vegans. This recipe should change your mind on both count. It is still ovo-vegetarian, but omnivores will enjoy it too. It’s derived from an appetizer served at a local healthy-Korean restaurant. The head chef/mom there smilingly refused to divulge the recipe, so my mother and I just figured out our own version. It’s great hot or cold and is perfect for bentos. Make it for dinner and set aside some for your bento lunch the next day. You can use any combination of shredded vegetables you like - it’s a great way to use up leftover veggies.

Recipe: Tofu and vegetable piccata

For this recipe to work properly, it’s important to use the right kind of tofu (firm or extra-firm, not silken or soft) and to drain it properly before proceeding. Otherwise the results will be rather soggy and heavy.

Makes about 20 pieces.

1 large block of firm tofu (momen dofu in Japan)
2 tsp. soy sauce
2 tsp mirin (if you don’t have mirin, use a pinch of sugar instead)
1 tsp grated ginger
2 Tbsp. dashi or vegetable or chicken stock (canned or granules/cubes is fine)
1/2 medium carrot
1 jalapeno or shishito pepper (or other mildly spicy pepper)
1 to 2 green onions
1 shiitake mushroom
3 Tbsp. cornstarch (cornflour) or potato starch (katakuriko)
1 egg
a pinch of salt and pepper
sesame oil (use another oil if you don’t have this)

Cut the block of tofu in half lengthwise, then slice to make 20 pieces. My mother’s preferred way to drain tofu is to line up the pieces on a large, flat bamboo sieve and to let it drain for at least an hour. If you don’t have such a sieve, use one of the draining methods explained here. (Tip: If you’re in a hurry, the microwave method works the fastest.)

In the meantime, prep the vegetables. Cut the pepper in half and discard the seeds, and shred finely. Shred the carrot and onion finely too. Cut the stem off the shiitake and slice thinly. Mix the vegetables together.

Combine the soy sauce, mirin and stock. Put the tofu on a large plate and sprinkle this mixture over them. Leave for a few minutes, turning once.

Drain off any excess moisture from the tofu pieces and dip in cornstarch or potato starch.

Beat the egg with a bit of salt and pepper. Add the shredded vegetables.

Heat up 1 tablespoon of sesame oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Dip the tofu pieces in the egg, then put into the hot pan. Make sure each piece has some of the vegetables on it. Fry on both sides until golden-yellow and crispy. Drain on paper towels.

Eat hot or cold. Optionally serve it with additional soy sauce (or pack a little soy sauce bottle in the bento).

Freezing?

This doesn’t freeze too well, but you can keep it in the refrigerator for a day or so.

Variations: using poached frozen tofu or white chicken meat

Instead of the drained tofu, you can use poached frozen tofu cutlets instead.

Carnivores can use boneless chicken breast, cut into pieces (a classic piccata is made with chicken after all). No need to drain the chicken of course, and you can omit the stock from the quick-marinade and just use soy sauce and mirin.

Offbeat: Great bento-related IKEA TV ad

maki — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 15:11:05 +0000

A bit of weekend fun! This is actually an IKEA ad from 3 years ago, but I just found it yesterday. It’s part of a ‘Storage Problems’ campaign. In this 15 second ad, they use the metaphor of a neatly arranged and precisely packed bento box to promote the idea of ‘solving storage problems’ - using IKEA items, of course.

I just love the metaphor, not to mention that really neatly arranged bento box!

[ETA]: A couple of people wanted to know what’s in this bento box. I am just guessing on a couple of things, but here is what I believe is in there.

Right side: a bed of rice with the following toppings on the right edge (from top to bottom): sakura denbu, a small crunchy umeboshi (also called ko-ume, small ume, or karikari-ume), and toasted ground white sesame seeds.

Left side, top row (left to right): blanched sugar snap peas turned vertically and horizontally; thinly sliced pork wrapped around blanched carrot and asparagus (called nikumaki usually), sliced - see a version that’s not so neat and square in the bento my sister made for her daughter (in the pink box).

Left side, middle row (left to right): pink and white kamaboko (fish cakes); either orange kamaboko or carrot slices; tamagoyaki.

Left side, bottom row (left to right): I’m not sure what the green and white round things are, but I am guessing some kind of vegetable wrapped around more kamaboko, or cheese, then sliced. The reddish round things are probably carrots again - there is a type of carrot that is that color. The pale yellow and white things are baby corn. The brown thin things with sesame seeds is probably kinpira gobo made with just burdock root, not carrots. I’m not sure what the green star-shaped things with pink centers are…could be okra with mentaiko or tarako (spicy or salty pollack roe) in the middle. And finally there are two little sausages.

Here’s another ad using a suitcase as the metaphor for neatly packed storage. This is great too, but I prefer the bento version.

Read more about the IKEA Storage Problems campaign, including the them song (warning: major earworm!) over here.

Guy Does Bento no. 6: Hot bento with hearty meatball and vegetable soup and sauteed broccoli

maki — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:20:28 +0000

Yes, The Guy Does Bento is back doing bento! This one is based on the hearty meatball and vegetable soup that I posted yesterday. The soup is a meal unto itself really, but it’s been made even more filling and substantial in this set that uses a thermal bento set.

Here’s the whole thing: the soup, about half a cup of rice (got to watch those carbs/calories!) with a little gomashio (sesame salt) sprinkled on top, and sauteed broccoli made from leftover steamed broccoli. I don’t have a recipe for the broccoli but it’s dead easy: just precooked broccoli (you could also use frozen broccoli) sauteed in a little olive oil with chopped garlic and a sprinkle of dried red chili peppers.

As you can see, the soup is actually in two containers. The reason for this is that a standard Japanese thermal bento set usually comes with a small container for soup, plus a larger one for rice, both of which can be kept warm. (The largest container is for rice since originally, these thermal bento sets were intended for use by people with hearty appetites who wanted to eat a lot of rice!) Both have tight fitting lids, but the soup one is really leakproof, so we put more liquid in that one, and the solid parts in the rice container. The hot liquid can be poured over the solid parts, or they can be enjoyed as two courses.

Here is the thermal bento set that was used. As you can see it has two thermal containers (for the rice and soup) plus 3 non-thermal side containers. Just 2 of the 3 side containers were used here, but you could put some fruit or something in that, or another vegetable dish perhaps. (The empty container was packed in too just to keep the filled containers from shifting in transit.)

There is a detailed description of this particular bento set in my overview of thermal bento sets and lunch jars; it’s the second one described. (J-List has 1 in stock, and similar ones are available in many designs; see Bento&co or J-List for example.) A standard Mr. Bento will work too.

Calorie count

Up until now The Guy bentos haven’t put much thought into calorie totals! But now that The Guy is watching his waistline with an eagle eye, I’ll put in an approximate calorie count for reference. (It’s a bit harder to be precise with The Guy bentos, since I don’t pack them myself of course.) This bento is around 600 calories: 350 for the soup (there’s 5 meatballs in there), 100 for the broccoli (a bit generous on the oil), plus 150 for 3/4 cup of cooked rice. Not bad for a very filling lunch. You could shave off more calories by having plain steamed broccoli and still be very satisfied.

Time spent

Both the soup and broccoli are planned leftovers from dinner the night before. Making planned leftovers (that just means making a bit extra) saves so much time.

For this bento, the total prep time in the morning is about 10 minutes: to heat up the soup and the thermal container, defrost some rice and pack it, plus sauté the broccoli. The Guy did cheat a bit on the broccoli and use a chopped-garlic-in-oil mix we have in the fridge. He used two burners, the microwave for heating up the pre-frozen leftover rice, plus an electric kettle, one of our essential bento making supplies.

Hearty meatball and vegetable soup (that's almost a stew)

maki — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:29:27 +0000

The Guy (also known as Max) and I have a shared resolution this year: We Must Lose Weight And Get Fitter Or Else. He has high blood pressure, I have high or disturbingly fluctuating blood sugar. But we both have this basic problem, that we love to eat good food. And, especially during the day, we need our tummies comfortably filled or we get cranky.

One solution to this problem: soup for lunch! Soup for bentos does mean either that you need access to a microwave at lunchtime, or using a thermal bento or lunch jar. But on cold days, this little inconvenience is well worth it.

A really filling soup is a meal unto itself, so all you need to do is to fill up a lunch jar and go. If you get really hungry, add some cooked vegetables and perhaps a little carb - some rice or other grains, a piece of crusty bread, a couple of crackers.

This very hearty soup that is almost a stew is The Guy’s invention. The advantage of using meatballs is that they can’t overcook - they just absorb more flavor and get softer and moister and more delicious. I did add a twist to it by adding some miso as a ‘hidden taste’ (you don’t really taste miso, just the umami of the miso). Tip: Cut the carrots and celery into fairly large chunks rather than itty bits, to get the feeling you are ‘eating’ rather than just drinking soup.

I can attest for the fact that it is very filling on its own. The Guy snuck in some, packed in a lunch jar of course, during my last hospital stay. It was the best meal I had in there by far, and it was still piping hot after being in transit. This is not a quick-cook soup, so make it in quantity and have some for dinner, more for bento, and freeze the rest in portions. I’ll show you how it can be packed as part of a multi-course bento in the next installment. I don’t actually mind having this every day for lunch until the batch runs out.

Recipe: Hearty meatball and vegetable stew that’s almost a stew

Makes 8 hearty servings

For the meatballs:

350g / 12 oz. lean ground beef
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup or so dried bread crumbs
1 egg
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. or so black pepper

For the soup:

2 medium onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tablespoons olive oil
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 small bunch parsley
2 medium carrots, cut into chunks
3 celery stalks, cut into chunks

Additions to soup at the end:

1 tablespoon white or red miso
additional parsley (chopped or a leaf or two) for garnish
salt and pepper to taste

In a large, heavy bottomed pan, saute the 2 chopped onions and garlic cloves in olive oil over low-medium heat, stirring occasionally, until softened and translucent. Add 2 cups of plain water and bring up to a boil. Lower the heat to a slow simmer and simmer for about 10 minutes.

While that simmers, make the meatballs. Mix all the meatball ingredients together in a bowl - your clean hands are the best tool for this. Form into about 30 small meatballs.

Add the rest of the soup ingredients to the pot (except for the ones listed under “additions, plus 6 cups of water. Bring up to a boil then lower the heat to a simmer. Put in the meatballs (no need to brown them or anything beforehand). Simmer for at least half an hour.

Dissolve the miso paste in some of the hot soup liquid, then add the whole thing to the pot. Taste, and season with salt and pepper.

The soup improves after resting for a day or more. You may want to skim off the oil that accumulates at the top.

To serve, garnish with more chopped parsley. (Don’t put the bay leaf or the parsley bunch in any of the servings.)

Estimated calories per 1 cup serving with 3 meatballs is 200 calories, give or take a few calories.

Freezing notes

This soup freezes very well - mainly because no potatoes are included. Frozen cooked potatoes turn into an awful mealy mush. If you want potatoes with your soup, just carry along some boiled potatoes separately.

Getting a headstart on 2012 bento resolutions

maki — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 18:41:20 +0000

It’s that time of year again! Today is December 30th, and this year New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day take place conveniently (or not, depending on your perspective) take place over the weekend. You can give yourself up totally to partying or whatever you usually do on those days, and start the New Year on a day when most of us kick off a new week anyway.

Since I like to get a headstart on a brand new year, I always start thinking about the things I want to accomplish during the year in the waning days of the old one. I made a few resolutions for 2011 at the end of last year, and well…I didn’t get to do a whole lot of them. My year was dominated by three things: the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, my continuous health problems, and late in the year my sudden though not totally unexpected father’s passing. The first event totally changed my plans for my spring trip to Japan; instead of doing things normal, fun things like the long ekiben - eating train voyage around the country I was originally intending, I spent a lot of time talking to people about the aftermath of that terrible event (you can see some of the related articles on Just Hungry, as well as on the Japan Times, BlogHer and so on). And once I got back home in June, my health problems started to take over, and I got the “C” diagnosis. And just when I thought the worst was over, literally as soon as I got home after my hysterectomy surgery, I got the news that my father had died.

2011 was “my” year in a way, as I explained last year - it was the Year of the Rabbit, and I am a toshi-onna (a woman born in the year of that particular animal sign). There is a superstition that good things tend not to happen in “your” year, and I guess that was kind of the case for me this year! What a bummer. But maybe 2012, the Year of the Dragon, will bring new energy and better karma.

But anyway, back to bentos and resolutions! For 2012 my top priority is getting my body healthy again. And you can be sure that bentos will play a big part in that. I never really thought that I ate unhealthily on a regular basis - I rarely go out to eat a fast-food places and such, and most of our meals are cooked at home. But I can do a lot better, for myself and for The Guy. When you get seriously sick, you really realize just how important, and how fragile, the state of your body is for simple day to day happiness. So more than ever, the bentos around here will have a health focus - with plenty of fun thrown in too of course!

The one great thing that happened this year to me was the success of The Just Bento Cookbook. I thought it might do well, given all the wonderful people (that’s you!) who support this site so enthusiastically, but I didn’t anticipate it doing so well that it’s gone to 5 printings in just one year, despite being out of print briefly due to some shuffling of publishing companies and such. And now I’m thinking out loud, but…is there anything I didn’t manage to cover in that book bento-wise, that needs to be? Hmm…we’ll see. ^_^

So what about you? Are you already thinking ahead to 2012 too? Please share your resolutions, bento related or not! And let’s ring out this year in grace and style.

And the winners of the Just Bento Cookbook giveaway are...

maki — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 15:24:20 +0000

The winners of the Just Bento Cookbook New Edition giveaway that concluded on Monday are...

* Melinda from Massachusetts, USA! and...
* Christoph originally from Germany, currently living in Osaka, Japan!

Congratulations to Melissa and Christoph! Their signed copies are winging their way to them as we speak (at least I hope so, if The Guy made it to the post office in time...otherwise they'll go out tomorrow ^__^;). And thank you to everyone who entered! I loved reading a little bit about you all. I am constantly amazed at how widespread the Way of Bento has spread around the world - who knew that there are bento fans in Egypt, and Panama, and Turkey, and a lot, lot more!

Anyway, Happy Holidays to everyone, wherever you may be!

Christmas bentos bring good cheer to lunch

maki — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 13:19:13 +0000

Due to being in hospital/sick and all that kind of not-fun stuff, I didn’t get to do a Halloween bento roundup this year. So to make up for that, here’s a Christmas bento roundup from the always inspiring JustBento flickr pool. I’ve especially picked out ones with simple yet clever, easy to copy ideas - so that you could make yourself a cherry Christmas bento too!

First up is another great bento from the ever talented Sheri of Happy Little Bento, whose work I think has appeared in every single bento roundup I’ve ever done. I chose this out of the many Christmas bentos she’s done this year because of its simplicity: the snowman is made out of two quail eggs stuck together, essentially. The dried cranberry buttons are so right! Read more about this bento on her blog.

Here is another egg-Snowman by Ariani of Bebento. This one features a little carrot hat. There is also a cute little cutout elf, which probably takes more skill and patience. Check out more cute cutouts on her blog.

Maki-san aka luckysundae of Cute Obento and co-author of the fabulous Yum-Yum Bento Box book, is a pro at using simple ideas to make the cutest bento decorations. Here she creates two little Santa chicks from inarizushi, cleverly using the skins as hats. The beaks are the cut off ends of wiener sausages.

Onigiri (rice balls) are always the easiest things to shape into something cute. This snowman by Genetta of the appropriately named My Lunch Is Cuter Than Yours couldn’t be more straightforward, but is so effective. Notice how even the red of the Mini Babybel adds a festive holiday air? The jaunty peperoni scarf is a very nice touch. Read more about it here.

And last but not least is this cutest of cute Santa Claus onigiri bento by Mokiko of Bohnenhase. The bright red Santa caps are the ends of red peppers (a really versatile part of the vegetable) and the white bands are strips of cheese. And I just love the staging, with the tiny bundles of chocolate ‘presents’! More about this bento in English and German here.

Happy Holidays to all bento fans!

By the way, I haven’t spotted any Chanukah or Kwanzaa bentos this year (although this lovely Chanukah bento by gamene of Bentozen from 2 years ago is still a standout). If you’ve seen any, let me know. I’d love to see what creative things people come up with…as long as it doesn’t go the wacky Sandra Lee route of course ^_^;.