Early Summer Flavor

So nice it's the iced latte season and cherries have started to come out at groceries. Latte is my everyday breakfast and dope at the moment!








These two bentos are a collaboration of Yuppi and me. I made terini chicken, Yuppi made chicken gratin and a tomato cheese omelet. Since she was in a bread mood she had some slices of baguette. After packing Hubs' rice, I realized that everything in the bento was bread-friendly, I mean, they go much better with bread than rice, oh poor hubby, lol!





For this one, I made chili pork (a pork version of chili shrimp), rough-cooked soft omelet to go with the pork, and toasted kamaboko with cheese on it.





We had Hubs' birthday last month. I baked a sponge cake for the first time in a while. Of course Yuppi decorated it. She loves piping cream on cake, but we needed some more whipped cream to dress up the sponge more neatly. Though, I think it turned out kind of cute, isn't it? Having enjoyed a huge variety of cakes and sweets since a kid, I find these days, nothing beats homemade ones. No matter if they don't look gorgeous or fancy. You know, you can pick out ingredients yourself and adjust them as you like. Once you get the hang it's not such a pain to make cake! Yes, the whole of these phrases go to myself lol! It always takes me some time to get off my butt.

Sakura Is Almost Over

Today's post has bentos Yuppi made herself. She hasn't needed bento lately, which actually keeps me not so motivated for bentomaking, but she sometimes needs a bento lunch for a field trip and such. This is her own first bento in forever. It seems like she's lost interest in cooking all around. Maybe she is hooked on something other, sigh. What's gotten into her, she suddenly decided to make her bento after such a long time. She made sesame tsukune, tamagoyaki and potato salad.





For this one, she made shrimp fry and chicken katsu.








I finally got to take sakura pictures. Sadly sakura in our area is almost over... Since it was a bit of windy and I didn't have much time, I couldn't get good shots, but really liked these sakura, especially this one below. I saw this type for the first time, very delicate and sweet colors, can you see? Early-bloom types are already gone. That's a bummer, I should've gone ohanami earlier. My spring this year went by with surprising speed as I was comfortable eating ice cream lol!

Happy June, everyone!!

Finally Spring

Hi there! It's been a whahhile! We finally got to get spring weather! Look. Narcissi and tulips this year came out rather later than usual. They are brightening up around my house right now.








This is my first hiyashi ramen in the season yay!





This bento was for Yuppi, but I say, it's one of ideal bentos to me. My kind, which means that there is pickled veggie, and no tomatoes or fresh green dividers in there. I actually want to put in those little red cuties and pretty, frilly lettuce, they surely jazz up bentos. However I don't really like to eat wilted raw greens next to rice. Me, big fussy eater, shame on me, hehe.





This morning I made Naporitan pasta with a simple omelette. I didn't have time to cook rice in the morning. Noodle stocks always help me out on a day like that. Ack! I accidentally put in tomatoes... I don't mind them in bentos for hubby and Yuppi, but this bento, I packed in a glass container so that hubby could microwave at work if he wanted. Hah I really hope he is not such a dumb as to explode tomatoes lol!





In the meantime, I've been really obsessed by ice cream lately. Not that I like any type of ice cream. Love Häagen-Dazs!! Wow it's already Friday here. Hope you enjoy your weekend with SCRUMPTIOUS ice cream, too!!

Shiokoji Lemon Dressing

For this bento, I made a fried egg and ginger pork seasoned with shoyu, honey and a bit of ginger powder.





Today's post features Milky shiokoji lemon dressing. It is mild and light in taste. I think it goes with dishes like Salad Niçoise, especially boiled potatoes. Of course any simple salad too!




Milky Shiokoji Lemon Dressing (for 4 - 5 salad plates)
3 tablespoon shiokoji
3 tablespoon soy milk or milk or plain yogurt (each of them works)
1/2 - 1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 - 1 tablespoon olive oil
A little cracked black pepper

This is way much healthier than mayonnaise. Will you try it out?

Shiokoji Sauce for Cold Noodles

Quick and meat bentos continue. It's the easiest to make in the busy mornings. I feel kind of bad about consuming some meat everyday though. I have to feed the two hyenas anyway. Despite of eating a lot everyday, they are not fat at all, which doesn't make ANY sense to me hah. Well, I prepare meat and something other for bento as I make dinner so next morning I only have to take them out of the fridge and cook in a pan or just pack into a bento box. Is that not so new? Okay you've done things like that already, I know, haha. Today's meat is shoyu-koji chicken that I marinated the night before.





Today I'm going to show my favorite sauce for cold noodles. I've actually been trying to use less processed foods lately, and also to get rid of bottled sauces and salad dressings. My shiokoji has been a big help to me to quick make sauces myself. Another good thing about sauces with shiokoji is that you can take the enzymes and koji bacteria raw, which means that you can make the most of the goodness of shiokoji. I will be sharing some more sauce recipes with shiokoji sometime soon. Ah wait, don't get me wrong. I am not a missioner or pious votary of Shiokoji cult lol! (It exists nowhere in case.) Not that I'm totally committed to shiokoji. It's just useful for my easy sauce-making because it has umami (an extra good flavor), mild sweetness (natural glucide) and some thickness that's ideal for sauces. That's why I've been on a shiokoji spree lately.








Shiokoji sauce for cold noodles (for 3 - 4 plates)
4 tablespoon plain yogurt
2 tablespoon shiokoji
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon peanut butter
1 tablespoon sugar, adjust depending on your peanut butter
A little doubanjiang (or any red chilli sauce/oil you like), or as much as you want
A tiny bit of grated garlic and sesame oil if you like

If it turns out too strong in taste add a bit of water right before serving. This sauce goes great with cold udon too.

Shiokoji Tofu

This bento contains salmon flakes, spinach with peanut shiokoji sauce, curry mayo flavored chikuwa slices and shiokoji pork saute.





Ya know, a whipped-up bento as usual.





In the meantime, I made shiokoji tofu a while back. For those not familiar with shiokoji tofu, it is tofu marinated in a little shiokoji for a while. Shiokoji makes tofu creamy and taste better because of the enzymes in it, just like soft cheese, Mozzarella or cream cheese, so is it safe to say that this is a vegan cheese? Don't you think it's perfect for vegan Caprese?





I drained tofu thoroughly, then coated in shiokoji evenly and kept it in the fridge for a week or so.

Shiokoji Tofu
About 2 tablespoon shiokoji per pack of tofu.
Soft tofu or firm, try it out with whatever you like!

Peanut Shiokoji Yogurt Sauce

Yesterday I made chicken nanban for dinner, so hubby's lunch today came out a chicken nanban bento straight. I mean I didn't give it extra effort or even any twist. Ah poor hubby teehee.





For the bento, I just put the leftover chicken nanban right out of the fridge on a bed of rice, then a bit of mayo and pink ginger. Eh I didn't notice, but I did make a bit of effort decorating it, lucky you Hubby!





In the meantime spinach is so good in winter. I came up with a perfect sauce for boiled winter spinach using shiokoji, which I put on the broccoli in the bento too. This sauce goes with boiled moyashi sprouts as well.





PSY sauce
2 tablespoon peanut butter
3 tablespoon shiokoji
3 tablespoon plain yogurt
1-2 tablespoon sugar depending on your peanut butter

You can add chili oil if you like. So, do you know the name of the sauce? Not to mention, it's PSYCHO sauce!! Lol!




Let's have some spinach everyday! You could become Popeye!...!?!?