3/31 ; Six Piece of Sand

husband's(he likes rice better) :

onigiri
stir fry with kabocha squash
LIGHTLIFE -smart dog




daughter's :

sandwiches with soy butter
same stir fry
apple

I erased a sentence from yesterday's page, because my husband told me that he had no idea what I was writing about...
That sentence was, "I have some bread but I have nothing to sand," or something like that. I thought "to sand" meant to fill the sandwiches with filling. In Japanese we use the borrowed English word "sandwich, " but we often shorten it to "sand." We also use the shortened word "sand" as a verb to mean "put something between two other things." My husband says that we use the word sandwich as a verb in English, but he doesn't think people use it as a verb to mean "put filling between bread." . . .Confusing!

I made a sandwich and cut it into six pieces, then I need to think it's one sandwich? Or six sandwiches? Six pieces of sandwich? Never ending confusion. . .

3/30 ; onigiri

husband's:

stir fry
apple
onigiri(rice ball)

daughter's:

pan fried rice ball -I imaged four leave clover which I found yesterday! First one in my life!
Junko's tukemono(Japanese style pickled vegetables)
miso-teriyaki koya tofu(dried tofu)
fried sweet potato

About Onigiri

I think a lot of people in the U.S. think that Japanese often eat sushi, but not really that happen. Sushi is for celebration or when a family get together, like Thanksgiving or Christmas here. Onigiri is more familier than sushi for me and I believe for other Japanese people.

Good part of onigiri is easy to make and carry, and ready to eat without chopsticks or utensils. Japanese eat onigiri for lunch, picnic, a snack, and etc.. Almost all the stores which you can buy food carry many kinds of onigiri. It's like sandwiches here.


Here is How to make Onigiri.

Today's bread:-)


This is going to be tomorrow's lunch~

carrot leaf furikake

You Need to Use Carrot Leaf!!!

Compare to the root part you usually eat, the leaf part has more than twice of vitamin A, third times of protein, five times of calcium, and etc.*

Don't throw it away...

I usually make furikake(sprinkle on rice) out of the leaves.

This is how:

1. cut the leaf part and wash well,and pick the leaves from the stem.

2. put the leaves on a parchment sheet and microwave it (about 3 min? It depends how much leaves you put on. Put the sheet 1 min and see how the leaves look like, put 1 min again, continue till the wetness of leaves is gone.)

Not yet. . .

This is it!

3. grind the dried leaves with your hand.

4. put it in a jar or plastic container or bag with a bit of salt.

If it get enough dry, you can store a while. I keep the carrot leaf furikake a month or so.

*information from -2njin.net- http://www.2njin.net/basic/eiyou.html

3/29

husband's:

roll with tukudani
edamame
LIGHTLIFE -smart dog
Boca -meatless chik'n nuggets
broccoli
strawberry
apple

daughter's:

rice ball and roll with tukudani, egg, carrot leaf
fake sausage and edamame
apple

How to make carrot leaf furikake

3/26

rice with nori, umeboshi, nori-tukudani, shiso-furikake
fresh vegetables
Boca -meatless chik'n nuggets
LIGHTLIFE -tofu pups

I wish I can use less processed products for lunch. I don't like to throw the plastic packaging away. How can I do?

3/25

husband's bento:

norimaki -sushi roll with tukudani(sweet and salty seeweed)
Boca -meatless chik'n nuggets
stir fry
cabbage gyoza(gyoza is like chinese dumpling. Chinese is the original, steam them, Japanese fry them in a pan. )

daughter's bento:

left over blue berry pan cake with soy butter
stir fry

3/24

multi grain rice with dried carrot leaf and umeboshi
stir fry
steamed broccoli
egg
strawberry

Today, I had a leftover fake sausage, so I put it in the stir fry for protein. I need to think more about how I can put more protein in a lunch box.
Barley, millet, quinoa, and sesami seed in the rice. I cooked the rice with a rice cooker which has a timer, so I put all the grains in the rice cooker just before I went to bed last night, and tada~! it was ready in the morning:-)

3/23

Fried rice
Boca -meatless chik'n nuggets
Apple