(Again, no pictures yet. I am so sorry! Once the kitchen is clean I'll snap a few.)
THE CHOPSTICKS
Most of my chopsticks come from Ikea, which I realize makes NO SENSE at all. You're saying to yourself, What do the Swedes know of 箸 (hashi, chopsticks)? A lot, apparently. These natural wood sticks are reusable and, at least in my experience, dishwasher safe. Score! Best of all, they came in a large pack, so even if I use two or three pairs in a day, I can pack up another for tomorrow before the dishwasher load is run.
I also have a few prettier sticks from an import store, given to me by my dear friend Erin. They're beautiful, but a little slick since I'm so used to disposables and Ikea wood 箸. So they are for special occasions, when I want to be fancy.
BEVERAGE CONTAINERS
I have an Ikea thermos, which I generally only use for tea but could use for a broth based soup (it's not safe to put a milk-based liquid into a thermos unless you are SUPER careful in washing it, and I'd rather deal with tea germs than milk germs), and a pretty blue metal water bottle that I honest-togod won in a game of Bingo. The bottle was full of egg-shaped chocolate candy, with a Cadbury caramel egg on the bottom. The water bottle now holds just water. Sad times.
FOOD PICKS
Made for children but super cute and decorative, this short plastic picks keep your hands clean while eating fruits, vegetables, and similarly cubic or polyhedral foods. Mine are ocean themed! (They're the ones in the link.)
MY TOTALLY AWESOME SPORK
Unlike most sporks that combine the spoon and fork at one end, this is a double ended tool, made of bamboo. I got it at the Good Food Store in Missoula, MT. If that's too far for you, try any natural food store- you might find it! It's not essential by any means, but I love it.
SAUCE BOTTLES
Squeeze out all the air, dip the tip into a sauce, and release your grip. Hot sauce WILL stain these, so make alternate arrangements or keep one that's okay to stain. If you're frequently using one sauce, consider prefilling several bottles of your favorite- soy sauce is common, but by no means the only prefillable sauce! (I usually have Italian dressing in my sauce bottle.)
Crazy protip: If you have a clean lid from a 2 liter bottle (or similar), pour a wee bit of sauce into that for the filling process. It's less wasteful than using a cup or bowl. You can also use these lids to hold thick sauces, if you put a wee bit of aluminum foil or plastic wrap over the top: Sriracha, for instance. Mmm, Sriracha.
FOOD CUPS
I bought some LONG ago online or in a Daiso and haven't run out yet. When I do I'll probably just get cupcake liners to replace them, as that's very nearly what these are- however these are more waterproof. Ideally I would have reusable silicone containers, but those are less flexible and more expensive.
SUSHI GRASS
Pretty unnecessary, but more resilient than any flat food and great for separating stiff food from loose food. If I'm having cubed rice or risotto without filling the whole tier, I'll throw a sheet of grass against the edge to keep it clean.
Showing posts with label bento. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bento. Show all posts
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Bento Inventory 1: The Boxes
(This post is going up without pictures, because the kitchen is a bit of a mess and I haven't done the inventory shots yet. I'll be editing it soon enough to have images. Until then, it's a bit boring.)
Happy Together: Little fishes guide you to the land of happiness.
Originally a two tier box, the bottom tier of my first ever bento box is cracked open, so only the bottom tier is usable for food. It has a divider that fits in the middle. I keep this mostly out of nostalgia, but it's good for carrying hummus in because the lid seals tightly. The Happy Together lid pretty much useless, as the bottom tier has the separate lid, but I keep it for decoration.
Leaf Brown
A striped, semi-oval box. This is what I use for onigiri. Onigiri is traditionally NOT shaped like how I normally make it, as we will see in my upcoming onigiri post, but I like to make it to fit into most of the box and put a treat in the other end. I've also used this for wraps, which I cut slightly thinner than the box is deep and arrange to take advantage of the end curve. The only problems with this box are that it's a little small, and the lid doesn't like to snap shut securely.
The Clickety click boxes
These are three childish bentos that I love, even if I have to tie them together with fabric strips or stretch rubber bands over them. Mine are pink ("My name is Rinda. I love the white cake and sweet cherries. Yummy, yummy"), yellow ("My name is Mink. I like to read the fantasy story. I am very excited when I read."), and blue ("My name is Bobbin. I like to play outside. Hmm....., what should I play today?" asks a particularly perplexed brown bear) and are all two-tiered. You could even argue it's a three tier system: two normal boxy layers, and then the lid space: the text part of the lid pops off to reveal a space normally used for small child-sized chopsticks. I use it instead for sliced-up tortillas, cookies, or crackers, and it works GREAT!
The Snap Lock boxes:
Not technically bentos, these identical clear boxes came from the grocery store. Never be afraid to "bento" in non-traditional containers! Just check out the capacity and cross-check it against your caloric needs. INSERT LINK HERE is a great guide to capacity for a bento packed in a traditional Japanese style. I particularly like these because they're relatively deep and have a tight-fitting lid.
Happy Together: Little fishes guide you to the land of happiness.
Originally a two tier box, the bottom tier of my first ever bento box is cracked open, so only the bottom tier is usable for food. It has a divider that fits in the middle. I keep this mostly out of nostalgia, but it's good for carrying hummus in because the lid seals tightly. The Happy Together lid pretty much useless, as the bottom tier has the separate lid, but I keep it for decoration.
Leaf Brown
A striped, semi-oval box. This is what I use for onigiri. Onigiri is traditionally NOT shaped like how I normally make it, as we will see in my upcoming onigiri post, but I like to make it to fit into most of the box and put a treat in the other end. I've also used this for wraps, which I cut slightly thinner than the box is deep and arrange to take advantage of the end curve. The only problems with this box are that it's a little small, and the lid doesn't like to snap shut securely.
The Clickety click boxes
These are three childish bentos that I love, even if I have to tie them together with fabric strips or stretch rubber bands over them. Mine are pink ("My name is Rinda. I love the white cake and sweet cherries. Yummy, yummy"), yellow ("My name is Mink. I like to read the fantasy story. I am very excited when I read."), and blue ("My name is Bobbin. I like to play outside. Hmm....., what should I play today?" asks a particularly perplexed brown bear) and are all two-tiered. You could even argue it's a three tier system: two normal boxy layers, and then the lid space: the text part of the lid pops off to reveal a space normally used for small child-sized chopsticks. I use it instead for sliced-up tortillas, cookies, or crackers, and it works GREAT!
The Snap Lock boxes:
Not technically bentos, these identical clear boxes came from the grocery store. Never be afraid to "bento" in non-traditional containers! Just check out the capacity and cross-check it against your caloric needs. INSERT LINK HERE is a great guide to capacity for a bento packed in a traditional Japanese style. I particularly like these because they're relatively deep and have a tight-fitting lid.
So, bento.
弁当 (that's bento!) is the traditional box lunch of Japan. While other countries were figuring out the concept of サンド イッチ (sandoicchi), Japanese cooks were making true works of art with 漬物 (pickled vegetables), protein (especially fish), and most important of all, ご飯 (rice). These are usually packed in a ratio of 4 parts rice to 2 parts protein to 1 part other ingredients. However, modern guidelines often shoot for a bit less rice (the also easy to remember 3:2:1 ratio), and you can adjust depending on what you're going for (more carbs and protein for a growing kid, more vegetables for a dieter) or what's in season.
For more backstory on bento, check out the Wikipedia article, Just Bento, Lunch in a Box, or just Google "bento." There's a lot of history I've skipped already, and many types of bento I won't be addressing in this post, and it's all really interesting!
Modern day bentos don't need to be nearly as complicated as they were in the olden days: one big 御握り (onigiri, or rice ball) can be your lunch! So can a sandwich: there's awesome collapsable boxes made for them. As long as you shoot for a good variety of foods and colors (lots of colors means lots of tasty nutrition!) you're set!
However, there are still a lot of crazy complicated bentos out there, and not just in the traditional style. キャラ弁 (kyaraben), or character bento, recreate popular characters such Bob the Builder, Pikachu, the Nekobasu, and Anpanman. (Since I don't do much in this style- like, nothing at all- I might every now and then link to a cool example of the style.)
My lunches generally have a grain or a pulse (rice and lentils are my big two), a small bit of dairy (wrapped cheese or cream cheese), fruit or vegetable or both (mango blueberry with honey, lime, and ginger is MY fruit salad), and something protein like- generally fake crab or a boiled egg. Or I'll do wraps: sometimes I'll combine a whole wheat tortilla, soft cheese, tomato, and basil wraps are my favorite. I try to have at least one Japanese element in every meal, to keep my on my toes. That doesn't always happen: the lunch I made the day I started blog-writing has no distinctly Japanese food: it was curry lentils, wheat tortilla, and a lettuce, basil, tomato, and onion salad.
(Then I wondered why I'd misplaced my delicious grape Pinky, a Japanese "mint" candy, because my breath smelled like alliums and the artificial grape would have knocked it out. More on Pinky later!)
I got into bento via, guess what, the Internet. I've always had a fascination with real packed lunches: I usually just brought a Lean Pocket on days we couldn't do hot lunch at my small private school (the hot lunch was a Tuesday Wednesday Thursday sometimes Friday affair), but the packed lunches in Farmer Boy, the Wayside School stories, and The Land of Oz fascinated me. When I found out that Japan had a totally awesome lunch box culture, I was hooked on the concept. I bought my first box at a Daiso in Bellingham, Washington. When that broke I got 4 more online. Then I bought a couple of American food storage/lunch box containers at the grocery store. It's pretty official: I'm a bit of an addict.
Since this post is getting pretty long, I'll be doing my box inventory in another post in just a second! Don't worry, it will be the work of a moment.
Vocabulary (click on highlighted kanji for stroke order from Kanji-a-Day.com):
弁当 (bento) box lunch
サンド イッチ (sandoicchi) sandwich
漬物 (tsukemono) pickled vegetables
ご飯 (gohan) rice
御握り (onigiri) rice ball
For more backstory on bento, check out the Wikipedia article, Just Bento, Lunch in a Box, or just Google "bento." There's a lot of history I've skipped already, and many types of bento I won't be addressing in this post, and it's all really interesting!
Modern day bentos don't need to be nearly as complicated as they were in the olden days: one big 御握り (onigiri, or rice ball) can be your lunch! So can a sandwich: there's awesome collapsable boxes made for them. As long as you shoot for a good variety of foods and colors (lots of colors means lots of tasty nutrition!) you're set!
However, there are still a lot of crazy complicated bentos out there, and not just in the traditional style. キャラ弁 (kyaraben), or character bento, recreate popular characters such Bob the Builder, Pikachu, the Nekobasu, and Anpanman. (Since I don't do much in this style- like, nothing at all- I might every now and then link to a cool example of the style.)
My lunches generally have a grain or a pulse (rice and lentils are my big two), a small bit of dairy (wrapped cheese or cream cheese), fruit or vegetable or both (mango blueberry with honey, lime, and ginger is MY fruit salad), and something protein like- generally fake crab or a boiled egg. Or I'll do wraps: sometimes I'll combine a whole wheat tortilla, soft cheese, tomato, and basil wraps are my favorite. I try to have at least one Japanese element in every meal, to keep my on my toes. That doesn't always happen: the lunch I made the day I started blog-writing has no distinctly Japanese food: it was curry lentils, wheat tortilla, and a lettuce, basil, tomato, and onion salad.
(Then I wondered why I'd misplaced my delicious grape Pinky, a Japanese "mint" candy, because my breath smelled like alliums and the artificial grape would have knocked it out. More on Pinky later!)
I got into bento via, guess what, the Internet. I've always had a fascination with real packed lunches: I usually just brought a Lean Pocket on days we couldn't do hot lunch at my small private school (the hot lunch was a Tuesday Wednesday Thursday sometimes Friday affair), but the packed lunches in Farmer Boy, the Wayside School stories, and The Land of Oz fascinated me. When I found out that Japan had a totally awesome lunch box culture, I was hooked on the concept. I bought my first box at a Daiso in Bellingham, Washington. When that broke I got 4 more online. Then I bought a couple of American food storage/lunch box containers at the grocery store. It's pretty official: I'm a bit of an addict.
Since this post is getting pretty long, I'll be doing my box inventory in another post in just a second! Don't worry, it will be the work of a moment.
Vocabulary (click on highlighted kanji for stroke order from Kanji-a-Day.com):
弁当 (bento) box lunch
サンド イッチ (sandoicchi) sandwich
漬物 (tsukemono) pickled vegetables
ご飯 (gohan) rice
御握り (onigiri) rice ball
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