Bento!!!

Amazing Post!

2010-03-19T06:12:00.000-07:00

http://fedupwithschoollunch.blogspot.com/2010/03/guest-blogger-american-teacher-in-japan.html#comments

...and that whole blog in general. Very eye-opening!

Holy flooding, Batman!

2010-03-16T06:19:00.000-07:00

In Massachusetts for the past 3 days we have had constant heavy rain. On the third morning, the water table was maxed out, there was no where for the rain to go, so flooding started. In the town I live, Braintree, there are many high and low points, the roads and land is everywhere, so it would go from fine to OMG FLOODED ROAD in a matter of 1/4 of a mile.

5 mins later. I havent moved.

Here's a pic from this morning:

The 'puddle' is about a foot high, coming up to a normal cars front grate. Braintree was the worst town I went through. The minute I hit South Center, my normal 2 minute drive took me 30 minutes until I could even get anywhere close to my house. It would have taken me another 20-30 minutes but then I went illegally up a one way road to get to my house, cuz I wasn't waiting any more.

The roads are getting all torn apart too.

This is right behind my driveway. Hello, massive pothole!

Also last night, I had to go through a foot high 'puddle.'

This morning though, we found kittens in the bushes in front of my office! The mother was away so we grabbed them and put them in my car. Bad idea. Kittens scattered everywhere. There are 4 total, one is still stuck in my steering column. Ugh. We will bring them to a shelter and get them spayed/neutered and shots. ^^ Then hope that they find a forever home!

This one is my favorite... she's so cute... *sigh*

Updates!!

2009-12-15T06:28:00.000-08:00

First off... happy holidays!!

So as far as my cosplay stuff, I have a store up! http://www.etsy.com/shop/rynskittyboutique
I take commissions, so if there's anything you want, lemme know, and I can see what I can whip up! Lately I have been making furry animal ears :) They're super fun to make, and I think they come out really cute.

These are the latest ones I have made, so far I have also made kitty and fox ones, they're all for sale on my site.

Not too much cooking sadly, time has been crazy, what with work and martial arts and just running around like a crazy person. I hope to get in some great recipes this these next couple holiday weekends. Wheee~ Maybe some hamantashen... traditional Jewish cookies of amazingness.

More Cosplay goodness

2009-11-09T07:10:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I made a bunch of headband cosplay accessories to sell :) I'm very pleased with how they came out. I should have taken "action shots", or people wearing them, buttt I forgot to XD I'll try to take some when I can.

So far I have 3 sets of white Chobits ears, a black pair just for kicks, 3 Haruhi headbands, and one goth-lolita type headband. I will def be making more of the loli headbands, people usually make those little hats and such, but some people dont want to deal with actually putting them on and off. This is a much easier alternative, and I hope they'll sell well :D

Baking!

2009-11-03T06:10:00.000-08:00

Last night I went on a baking binge! Everything was completely homemade, no premade anything ^^ I usually don't bake, so it was really fun for me :)

Honey Cinnamon Yogurt Muffins,

and an Apple Tart with Brown Sugar Crust. (Note to self next time, peel the apples beforehand x_x cutting this to eat some was a pain in the butt haha!)

Thanks to Kelley for the pictures!

Ginger-garlic shrimp and bok-choy

2009-10-29T06:35:00.000-07:00

With rice ^^

Bento!

2009-10-27T07:08:00.000-07:00

Today's bento! The one on the right is for Steve, who is staying with us for a bit. Mine is on the left, bottom tier has rice and tamagoyaki, and the top tier has some leftover chicken that I cooked with spice and a little Bulldog sauce, edamame, mini sweet pickles, and mini shrimp and crab spring rolls! Steve's has just rice, tamagoyaki, and chicken. ^^

Work done so far!

2009-10-23T06:44:00.000-07:00

Completed to sell so far: 1 set leg warmers. 6 armbands. 1 (mostly finished) pleated skirt.

My stuff!

2009-10-16T08:53:00.000-07:00

Last night I was cleaning and rearranged my bento cabinet so that everything actually fit!

These are all the bento boxes themselves. at the back are all my stackables, including my chinese box and the food tube! Middle row has the onigiri box, the (currently collapsed) mini bento, the long manly bento, and my salad container. Up front are the furoshikis and belts, and my latch top, and my (currently collapsed) blue bento that I always use. I collapse them so that they store better.

These are the accessories! My insulated bag is in the back, next to my 7-11 Domo cups and straws!! In front of them is my fairly large collection of chopsticks, to the left of that is my newest, stainless steel collapsible chopsticks and case! Under that are my different picks, and containers and dividers, in the back right are the okonomiyaki package, gyoza makers, onigiri formers, wooden picks for whatever, mini sushi mat, mini spoons and forks, and in the middle is my octopus hot-dog maker! hehe :)

Breakfast!

2009-10-08T06:27:00.000-07:00

Bagel and cream cheese with lox (smoked salmon). Nomnomnom. Very Jewish haha

Update!

2009-09-03T07:34:00.000-07:00

Long time since the last post! x_x
My summer post!!
Saw RENT- already mentioned that, but here is the one picture I got, of the woman who played Maureen!

Also this summer, I went to the Museum of Bad Art! There, they had a fake camera (sorry for the dark picture, it was very dark there, it's in the basement of the Dedham Theatre, just outside the men's bathroom) to make sure no one did anything to the art there. The MOBA is just as it sounds, it's a museum showcasing bad art, whether it be from lack of technical skill to just plain WTF-ness. haha! There are rules to what qualifies or not.
http://www.museumofbadart.org/

NOW! This is my food blog, so here's some food pictures!!

Fresh pasta and sauce, with brioche roll.

KIKIS CHICKEN FRIED STEAK WALKTHROUGH!

Dip the cube steak into first buttermilk (milk and a bit of lemon) then flour and spice mix, then egg wash, then breadcrumb mix. I use panko and seasoned breadcrumbs mixed up.

Pan fry the cube steak

Make sure it's cooked all the way through! Then NOM! Goes great with white spiced gravy and potatoes!

A random bento I had:

(Ate half before I remembered to take a pic! Oops!) Rice with seasoning, mac and cheese, and leftover chicken fried steak!

A cake I made!

Strawberry cake with buttercream frosting, topped with sprinkles and a few maraschino cherries.

Now THIS I had the other day! I took my friend to Porter Square for some real Japanese food.

I had Oyakodon (literally parent and child bowl, chicken and egg), miso soup, and my friend and I shared some takoyaki! It was soooo good! My friend is now begging me to go back again haha! Another converted person to Japanese food!

Food toobage!

2009-07-28T10:06:00.000-07:00

Breakfast! 2 mini choco donuts, a small piece of cornbread, and some choco pudding!

Lunch! A mini salad, mac and cheese, and chicken parm and ziti! NOMNOM. For dessert, 2 hard candies.

Photo dump!

2009-07-27T06:03:00.000-07:00

Awesome weekend. *dies* wheeee!!
Its a (to take Avie's phrase from Aviesbento.com) RPW!! (Random picture weekend!)

FIRST OFF my food bloggage!

My first hotpot!! I sat at the counter so its an individual thing, theres a hole in front of each person with a heat pad under it, and a pot of whatever soup base you want comes out, then each food item that you order comes out raw, then after its boiled, you dump it in, it cooks super fast (in a matter of 30 seconds to a minute or two) then enjoy!! NOMNOM. It was my first one so I accidentally ordered wayyy too much, I didn't realize how much they gave you!! X_X!! I forgot to take a pic until I was mostly done! SORRY!

Next! A pic of some random guy in Cambridge that I took a while ago.

Oh, Cambridge. You're so silly.

NEXT! This past Tuesday was Warped Tour 09! It was fun...but IT WAS RAINING ARGH. Which sucks when this all happens OUTSIDE. What that translates to? This huge music tour, 50 bands, and because we were soaked and miserable, we saw 3. *shrug* ah well...

Lannen Fall! Yay local Boston bands!

Scary Kids Scaring Kids! They played my 2 fave songs, I was happy. =D

After that, on Saturday, was the Dew Tour ISF World Skateboarding Championships. It was so much more fun than I thought I would have. We stayed from 1 until 8pm haha! We had great seats for both sessions.
First was womens and mens park. Here's the course!

And...

It's super hard to see, (IT'S A CELL PHONE ARGHHH) but even though he wasn't competing... TONY HAWK WAS THERE!! SO COOL!
After park was vert. We stayed for the womens (dude... there was a 13 year old competing.) competition, and saw the guys practicing, but we were tired by that time, and just left. :)
This one girl was trying to land a trick that would have made her the 1st girl to ever land it in any championship ever, but when we left she had only come veeeeery close a few times. It was cool to see all the guys, Tony Hawk included, trying to give her advise. =D

And last but not least... we saw RENT last night!!!

AHHH it was so awesome! Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp playing their roles as Roger and Mark! *squee*

And that's it for now folks!!!

My weekend!!!

2009-07-20T08:07:00.000-07:00

FINALLY THE SUN HAS COME OUT!!! This was a good weekend! =D

Saturday night Kelley and I went to the Barnstable County Fair! It was fun. We walked around and got some things, mostly fair food. (So unhealthy, so gooooood.) We saw Eddie Money. (Rocker from the 70's.) Only pic I got was of 2 of my fave birds!

Peregrine and arctic gyrfalcon!

Friday I was exploring Quincy and I saw part of Hancock St. blocked off for a street sidewalk sale type dealie lol. So I stopped and and wandered around, and brought Kelley to see it on Saturday morning. I got this cell phone charm from an Asian lady...

Why are the people crying ?! It is soy beans that pop up when you squeeze the side and are happy haha! Very cute!

Sunday I packed a picnic bento and Kelley and I took Ichigo out to a big open field near my old high school and played. :) Those pics will be up later.

My bento was in the top tier: Mini chicken gyoza. Bottom tier: Bamboo shoots, edamame, and a few candies. I had already chowed down a bit before I remembered to take a picture haha I was starving! This was my 1st time eating edamame... I like it!! =D

Also, a while ago my awesome friend Avie (aviesbento.com) sent me a bento care package!! I FINALLY TOOK PICS!!!

OK! so from top to bottom I got....
a puppy bento belt
strawberry milk tea
silicone cups to put stuff in
onigiri wraps
a beautiful furoshiki
a couple mini containers, like a mayo sauce bottle, and a little tiny square box thing
3 prong mini food picks
BOTAN candy (amazing)
and some random assortment of candies!
also some mini rilaukkuma notecards =D

THANK YOU SO MUCH AVIE!!! I'm sorry it took so long to write about! D:

Lantern Festival 2009!

2009-07-17T06:01:00.001-07:00

Last night was the Lantern Festival in JP in Boston. (Jamaica Plain is an area in Boston.) It was.....awesome!!!

Schedule: Came at 6pm, started out by making a lantern for the launch at dusk. First on the makeshift stage was Chinese dancers, then some gospel. Then some students over here for work-study at Showa Boston from Japan did a traditional Bon Festival Dance. Awesome! Their yukatas were so beautiful as well...

After that was a traditional Balinese dance about the flirting of 2 bumblebees. And then... the main event! The Academy of Kobudo did a presentation of their Samurai Taiko Drumming and Martial Arts! It was SO COOL. I am seriously thinking about joining.

After that was the lantern launching and bagpipes to accompany.So pretty...

This whole festival I thought would be a small event, but there were SO MANY PEOPLE. It was packed! Whole families came and brought picnic lunches... aw it was so cool. I had a great time.

I took a few videos, I will be trying to upload them to my youtube, until then heres an example from last year of the same Taiko drummers group. (They do it every year.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gvEnC7cTfY&feature=related

EDIT: see my channel for the vids i took! http://www.youtube.com/user/scarscryblood

Quick Post

2009-07-07T10:07:00.001-07:00

left side: tamagoyaki, and for dessert, apple spice blintzes. right side: shrimp shumai, and mini shrimp and crab spring rolls. :)

Made it last night, a little disappointed for the lack of colors. Forgot to bring my cherries i had gotten from my parents for a snack haha ^^;

Finnish Foods!

2009-06-30T10:13:00.000-07:00

Last week I went on a magical journey to Boston to find some elusive Finnish foods.
After some extensive interneting, I found 1 place that sells some!
Cardullo's! A little store in Harvard Square that I've been to before and forgotten about. Hah!

This is what I got!

2 bottles of Kristall, (Swedish nommy light soda, pear and black currant, only pear is shown right now, i accidentally tossed the other bottle!) Finnish sweet licorce, regular salt salmiakki, and double salt salmiakki! I didn't know if I was going to like it (I do like licorice a lot) but I do! Not enough to toss a bunch in my mouth at once, but one at a time slowly eating it it's pretty good! :D

Wasn't too expensive, I think for all that it was $14.

Yay! If anyone else has any recommendations, lemme know! I almost got marzipan (which I've had before) and turkish delight, but it was a little too expensive for that trip haha!

Cosplay post!

2009-06-25T07:08:00.000-07:00

These are my cosplay.com posts about my costume ^^

http://www.cosplay.com/journal/4664/

(Associated pics) (I'm holding up my skirt to show them off ahhahaha)

http://www.cosplay.com/journal/4683/

(Associated pics)

No lunch post today, all I have is leftover Hamburger Helper haha!

Bento returns!!

2009-06-23T09:18:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been so long since I bento'ed!!

It's been a while since I've had time or will to do one! Today's is simple- I didn't have a lot in the house at all! The other day I HAD gotten a mini seedless watermelon, though, so that's today's snack! Also today, I have a couple green onion buns, and tamagoyaki... on a couple thin slices of cornbread that I had laying around haha! Also for later I brought my fruit drops in case I want another little snack! (Only a couple though!)

In the back right corner you can also spy with your little eye my 3 pc. utensil set! Green fork, spoon, chopsticks in a case! (I brought it for breakfast yogurt and lunch haha!) Very handy! ^_^

Cardcaptor Sakura set!!

2009-06-23T08:53:00.000-07:00

I really wanted the full box set of Cardcaptor Sakura, one of my old fave animes, but was NOT going to pay for an American version. (They are discontinued, the last CCS set i bid on on ebay sold for over $300!!)
So I checked out a different ebay seller, who I found out later bought from a Hong Kong company, animedvdsupply.com. So far I am VERY VERY impressed. Easily the best bootleg I have EVER bought.
(Sorry for the crappy pictures in advance! They're from my cell phone... the pictures are VERY clean on the case, bright colors, CORRECT colors... etc.)

This is the cover of set 1. (There are 2, I didn't feel like taking pics of set 2 haha! Maybe later!)

Flipping it open once opens to a couple more beautiful pictures of Sakura's battle costumes.

Flipping it open again opens up to 4 panels... these are the DVDs. They are held in with the GOOD pushy latchy dvd hooks, that do NOT break as easily. The DVDs themselves are beautifully and professionally screened with a picture of one of her battle costumes, and below that is the full color picture of the same battle costume behind each disk.

The disk plays great, correct coloring, no fading in the show itself, NO ENGRISH! I think all they did was take the official version of the region 1 dvds and copy it to a region free and condensed disk, so instead of 18 disks there are now only 8. This is further proven as the extra features are the exact same as in the US disk. (I've seen the US version dvd 1 before from my library and remember it well haha.)

OVERALL: A+. More than I bargained for. Great quality, highly recommended. I will be getting my Sailor Moon Complete Set from there, I hope the quality is consistent, I really do. I'll be so saddened/disappointed if it's not!

1st Music Review!!

2009-06-19T07:07:00.001-07:00

Today will be my first music CD review!! I got in my import cd, YUI's newest single, Again! (from Playasia.com) It came with a fairly big sticker of Ed and Alphonse from FMA:Brotherhood on the back, and inside the case was a smaller sticker of the alchemic circle used in the show. Fitting as this is the new OP for the show! =D

1. again- *****. The whole reason I preordered this CD!! I LOVE this song!! Upbeat pop song, sounds a little sad, but determined. The japanese is fast, but she sings it beautifully, and interspersed are some slower parts. (I love the fast parts!)
Here is the translation... http://sziur18.wordpress.com/2009/06/09/yui-again-lyrics-translation/
I also like that it's a long song. It doesn't feel like it to me, because I never want it to end! The first time I listened to this song, I couldn't get enough, so I listened to it 5 or 6 times in a row!

2. Sea- ****. A lot slower than the first song. I feel like this song really shows off her voice. I feel a definate sense of longing in this song. It too has a bit of a sad sense, but it still makes me smile. It's very calming. I also feel so accomplished when I can understand a few words here and there, like "minna minna, genki desu ka." haha!

3. SUMMER SONG ~YUI acoustic version~- *****. I'm a sucker for acoustic songs. This is a playful song, makes me think of summer memories! Sadness gone! Maybe a sense of remembrance, but HAPPY remembrance!

4. again ~Instrumental~- **. I don't care much for the off vocal versions of songs. Nothing much to say... haha

Overall... AMAZING CD!!! I really wish I knew all the words to the songs... all of these are songs that I would LOVE to be able to sing in the car with the windows rolled down, and people giving me stange looks. (I can do that partly for again, but not the other 2!)

NEW CAR!!!

2009-06-17T12:19:00.001-07:00

So... today I finally got my new car!!!

Its a NEW 2009 Toyota Yaris!!

YAY

It's a really cool little car! Stress little haha just the way I like it, but I can fit in this thing. :) Long legs approved!

haha me and the car... next to us is a Ford Focus, its shorter in length than that haha! My mom keeps joking that her black lab is going to pick it up and dig a hole and bury it! >.>

Ahhh! Pepper no!! STEP AWAY FROM THE CAR!!!!

You can see a little of the inside here... I had to wait an extra couple days for the power one (the one they had in stock was no power, so manual change the rear view mirrors, which I did NOT approve of. haha! And power lock and unlock and a car alarm now, too!) The dash is nice and un-distracting in the middle.

Yay hatchback! I needed that for theatre stuff. ^_^

Overall... yay! Great gas mileage. Avg. 29 city, 36 hwy. Warranties coming at me every which way haha. Car is 16k, not including add-ons.

WHEEEEE~

Jew Food!

2009-06-03T10:54:00.001-07:00

I got myself some VERY jewish foods today for lunch. (Semi meeting for office peoples.)
No pics, but I had chicken matzo ball soup. NOM.
Chicken soup with carrots and celery, with a matzo ball in the middle, made with matzo crumbs, egg, a lil water.

And I also had a potato knish, which is potato with a pastry outside.

Kinda looked like these, but this was a nice and brown all over, flaky, and heated to perfection. MMMMMM.....

First, some fresh jewish corn beef. Haven't had it since I was a kid.

Next, a sour pickled green tomato (Jewish style of course!) to compare to the ones my mom made this past winter.

Last....

HAVLAH! This one is sold in half pound blocks like this, and is marbled with chocolate, as you can see. :) It is a sweet sesame cake I guess you would call it, but it's not like cake cake, its a slab of this stuff. A bit like grainy fudge I guess is the consistency. It's good, just as I don't like sesame much it takes me a loooong time to finish anything this big. It lasts me more than a month haha!

Soup for the Sick (me!)

2009-06-02T06:16:00.000-07:00

This is the veggie soup Kelley made for me when I was sick! YUM. It was very good, especially after I added a little more spice to it while she was cooking it! ^^

It had lima beans, corn, carrots, mushrooms, celery, onions, *thinks* and thats it? I cant remember exactly. Simmered for a while in veggie broth.

YAY! Thank you Kelley! <3

Onigiri bento!

2009-05-12T11:03:00.000-07:00

Testing out my other new bento box!

Wrapped up in the furoshiki...

Hai there!! My cute bear bento with the onigiri belt! I like the furoshiki, i think I almost have the full set of everything now with that design.

Teh foodz! More leftover pasta from Cheesecake Factory, and 2 okonomi sauce beef onigiri! NOM!

Bento food tube!

2009-05-11T10:06:00.001-07:00

Time for a food tube update! (Yay Kiki for coming up with that name! Haha!!)

This thing insulated AMAZINGLY. Inside is metal, and the outside is plastic, I opened it up, and all my fridge stuff was the same temperature as when I packed it this morning. It hasn't been anywhere cool since. (My office is eh... 50s?)
Today's lunch is Cheesecake Factory leftover 4 Cheese pasta... (NOM. Great hot OR cold!), a green onion bun, and steroid grapes and a couple carrots. It was hard trying to fit as much as I could into the little containers, I'm used to the 2 tier box. The steroid grapes are named because...

They are massive. It looks like my glasses are farther back then they actually are. But this grape is bigger than my glasses lenses. It's about 1.5inches tall and the same width. I could only fit in 6 grapes and 2 carrots into the middle sized container.

For dessert was something I have yet to try because I was a little sketched out by it. Taro paste buns!

They are actually very good! I had no idea what to expect, I know that they are very popular in Japan. Wiki says: "It is considered a staple in oceanic cultures. It is believed to be one of the earliest cultivated plants. In its raw form the plant is toxic due to the presence of calcium oxalate, although the toxin is destroyed by cooking or can be removed by steeping taro roots in cold water overnight." It kind of reminded me of a not so sweet redbean paste, but... not. Lol! Hard to describe. Plus... IT'S PURPLE. hahaha!

Also, I wish to talk a bit about Asian pastry. This was what I had for breakfast this morning. (It's shiny cuz they wrap it in plastic for it to keep its shape.) First off, all the custards I've had from an Asian bakery have been amazing. For whatever reason, I don't like American custards that I have had. (Maybe one or two.) So good. Second, the bread it different. It's like a sort of pound cake but lighter... reminds me of a semi-heavy angel food cake. Not super sweet, but definately not bland. I very much approve. Also, there are a lot of puff pastry items. I find sometimes in anime and such that there are a lot of English and French influences, and what they percieve it to be. Maybe their foods reflect this as well? Thoughts?

Bento buys~

2009-05-11T06:25:00.000-07:00

Haven't been to the asian mart in a while, so I went with Kelley and our friend to go exploring!

I got a food tube! It was on sale for $10, and it comes with the food tube with 3 little food bukkits inside, and a pair of chopsticks in a case, and a carry case! I wasn't impressed with the chopsticks provided so I got a cute replacement pair! My friend had gotten a pack of metal chopsticks, and I got a pair from him, and then I also got a chopstick spoon fork mini case. :)
I finally found a furkoshiki! It matches my bento set! I think I almost have the full set of that type now!
I also got a new wooden spatula, some soy sauce instant ramen, and a cute little cell phone charm thats kinda hard to make out in the picture.

I WANT YOUR OPINION!!

2009-05-06T09:59:00.000-07:00

What should I try my hand at making next?! Leave some suggestions!! Try not to give me something with super expensive ingredients, please!!

WOO NARUTO

2009-05-04T06:50:00.000-07:00

I had recently gotten into Naruto Shippuuden, and wanting to know the backstory... I got...

Woo!!! *starts reading*

^_^

Also, I drank a shot of something (i'm not sure what) last night out of a cute tranny boys ass. I thought it worth noting. XD

Porter Square revisited! Plus last weeks bento~

2009-04-27T06:56:00.000-07:00

Sorry!!!
It's another late post ;_;

This was last weeks bento!

Didn't have much, so I opted to just use an open bento and put in one food type. Which was....

Veggie chili! Again! This time with cheese! :)

Also, I was running around a lot this week for Hell Week, or for you non theatre people lol that's the opening week of a play, so everything that isn't done thus far needs to get done asap! Thus... Hell Week. lol! So this was with me a lot! :)

On Saturday, we had 2 shows to do that day, afternoon and night, so in between I took Kelley with me and off we went to Porter Square, where all the little Japanese shops and restaurants are clustered. (There are other japanese food shops in Boston, but as far as I've seen, they're all mostly for sushi! Geez, c'mon, Japanese people eat other things too!!)

For real ramen!!!

I also got some real dango from the market! It came in 2 types in this little pack! Teriyaki sauce, and azuki (red) bean paste topping! NOMNOM!!
I prefered the teriyaki by far. I like red bean paste best in taiyaki haha! Not to say that it was bad at all! I ate them both! I just really liked the way the savory dango was compared to the sweet. :D

Quick bento post!!

2009-04-17T10:23:00.000-07:00

Todays post is a quickie! :)

BUGLES!!

A milk jelly and a choco strawberry mochi!

Homemade veggie chili and some more bugles, string cheese, and some andes mints for dessert! :)

Bento!

2009-04-10T19:25:00.000-07:00

No post for a while...sorry!

String cheese, shrimp and cabbage gyoza, and my veggies are orange cauliflower and celery with strawberry cream cheese. I had never seen the orange cauliflower before, but it tastes completely the same, but has a ton more beta-carotene, and thus more Vitamin A. Deficiencies of Vitamin A can lead to low immune systems, and is the leading cause of blindness in children. x_x wow.
Celery and cream cheese used to be my fave snack as a kid. :) yum!

OkoNOMiyaki Part 2!!

2009-03-30T06:29:00.000-07:00

I got better pics this time around!

1. I sauteed shrimp, scallops, and mushrooms.

2. Onions, cabbage, and pancake batter (this time with eggs!!!) get mixed together in a bowl.

3. GREASE THE SKILLET. I didn't, and it stuck terribly. I had to put everything on a plate, spray with EVOO, and then dump everything back in. Ugh. Then, cook until all the batter is cooked! (You can see some of the burned stuff on the edges of the skillet haha!)

4. Top! Eat! Enjoy!!!

OkoNOMiyaki!

2009-03-27T07:03:00.000-07:00

Okonomiyaki: a Japanese savoury pancake containing a variety of ingredients. The name is derived from the word okonomi, meaning "what you like" or "what you want", and yaki meaning "grilled" or "cooked." It is often called a pizza for the way it is cut up after it is done, for everyone to enjoy.

Once again, I rushed when taking the pics and the last ones didn't come out! ARGH!

This is an okonomiyaki spatula! It was surprisingly sharp on the edge, to cut the okonomiyaki into slices like a pizza after its all done! It's very small, about 6 inches long total. Didn't help much when I was trying to flip it! I'm not sure if I made my okonomiyaki too big or if there are other size spatulas. *shrug*

My okonomiyaki was made with leftovers! Yay fridge cleaning! I had already started making everything when I realized... I'M OUT OF EGGS! So for the pancake batter, I just used milk and hoped for the best. Okonomiyaki is usually made on a grill/griddle, but I used a skillet as I didn't feel like cleaning my griddle. I started by sauteing cabbage (a must for okononiyaki! Apparently, you are supposed to mix the batter and cabbage together, grill, then put your toppings on top and flip it over and finish cooking.) and celery and onions, and then putting my pancake batter with only milk (lol!) on top and spreading it out. I let that cook for a while, then flipped it. After it was done cooking I added my NOMTASTIC okonami sauce that I had a VERY hard time finding, and topped that with some Kewpie mayo! NOM. In some parts of Japan, I guess they add bonito on top of that. But really, it's all up to you!

I give it a HUGE thumbs up! My batter tasted pretty good, as well! XD

Super 88!

2009-03-23T07:35:00.000-07:00

The other Asian mart around here is the Super 88! It's a small chain supermarket with both Asian and American products that are veeeery cheap. I don't go there much because, at least the one in Allston, isn't that clean a lot of the time, and it is a bit of a trip to get to. (However the fresh dim sum at the little food market there is AMAZING. The lady who makes them is my hero.)

This is the one closest to me that is the newest one to open, as far as I know. It's a very large store, but inside it isn't all filled up, there are a lot of open spaces, and the produce selection is a LOT smaller than Kam Man. Actually, for such a large store, the overall selection is a lot smaller. Although I didn't check it, in the back there looked to be a large seafood section.

And I had another couple pics but they must not have transferred correctly to my Photobucket, and now they're gone! Agh!
All I got was some blueberry milk tea mix! I finally found someone who carries some! Unfortunately, I'm really not a fan of this flavor. At all. I need to experiment with it.

Instead, here's a seagull.

I threw food on our hood and it flew up and stayed there for a while haha!
Another bit of news! My fave tea, Ito En Green Jasmine Teas Tea is indeed available at Targets. It the big bottles!!! Yay!!!!!!

Lalalalaaa

2009-03-18T10:24:00.000-07:00

First off....

If you can't read it, it's a cup from Boston Market that says:Please do not insert straw into nose. Thank you.

*shakes head* ok. now, today's bento!!

All nice and pretty in its matching thermal bag! 2 clementines, and some pudding!

Salad dressing is pretty darn hard to fit into those little sauce holders, even using the biggest ones. And then to clean it! Agh. lol! Some cucumber slices, and some carrots, and in the top tier is some leftover Hannaford's shells and sausage meat sauce! YUM. A bit of a bite in it, but very tasty.

St. Pattys Day parade

2009-03-16T07:09:00.001-07:00

Kelley and my friend Dennis and I go to the parade!!

I'm not going to do a photo dump, but I will pick my faves! For all my photos, go to: My Photobucket Page

First in the parade was the Police part! There were the bike police, the mounted police, the ambulances, the firetrucks, the motorcycles, the communications trucks, etc., and my fave:

The spy truck!! It's hard to tell, but theres a guy all in black sitting on the top hatch waving. It was quite amusing.

Lots of horses!! Yay!
There were lots of trolleys, LOTS of marching bands, from military bands, to traditional bands, to school kids bands.

One of my fave parts was the Star Wars brigade. Heh.

Lots of Unions marched also. TONS of veterans. And of course good ol' St. Patrick himself. LOL It was a pretty long parade, we were at the end of the 22-mile route, and there were some gaps lol but none as bad as the initial 45-1 hour gap between the police and the rest of the parade! LOL We were so annoyed until it finally got to us.

There were lots of antique cars, most of which were old police/military cars. It seemed there were some from each major war.

There were also the Chinese represented there! There is a huuuuuge Asian population in Boston.

If I could figure out how to embed the video properly, I could show you! LOL, and also the guns firing every so often was a crowd favorite. Esp. the Revolutionary guns and such.
Here's at least a picture of just before one group fired.

Elvis.

From Toucher and Rich 104.1: ADOLPHO!!

And last, there were quite a few bands, this one was quite good.

More pics when Kelley sends them to my photobucket!!

WHEW!!

2009-03-16T06:19:00.000-07:00

My weekend was busy!! On Saturday, we had the Chocolate Buffet at the Boston Langham Hotel, a ritzy place where I felt SO out of place! LOL. BUT! It was amazing!!!!!!!

My parents and Kelley and I went into Boston on the magical MBTA!

(I had 4 cotton candies!!! YUM!)

And last...

Made to order chocolate crepes! Ugh.... so good.

*passes out* Chocolate overload.

Pics!

2009-03-10T06:38:00.001-07:00

First off, this was one of last weeks bentos I forgot to blog. Oops!

Fried rice, blueberry sausage, and root beer! Yay!

This is a horned melon. Kelley and I see them at Hannafords, and I call it the Mario fruit and threaten to throw it at her. It just reminds me of something from a video game! It's silly. I have yet to get one and try it LOL.

And last...

Kam Man is getting in new stuff. My fave bento section... is now a JAPANESE section!! It's awesome!! I was tearing into the not yet put away things, they got bento belts, the little bento sauce holders, new awesome bento boxes, bento box dividers (I'm getting some Friday and will blog about it), little packages of fork-spoon-chopsticks, Lilo and Stitch bento (so cute!!). OH. IT. IS. AMAZING. I was freaking out, Kelley just shook her head and walked away for a bit. It's glorious.

nomnomnom

2009-03-04T09:26:00.000-08:00

Todays bento started off with a curry bun! Yay!

It was a mild curry, which is thankful, and was overall pretty good. Curry isn't my fave, but when I'm in a curry mood this could def hit the spot! Yum!

In the bento today is homemade fried rice with mushroom, cabbage, and egg. Also in it is the rest of my seaweed salad, and some leftover sweetened boba balls from last night!

Now, my boba was left soaking over night in sugar water, 2 cups water and 1 cup sugar and 1 cup brown sugar boiled, and so now are very sweet. Before eating them cold, they must be microwaved to heat them up, which in turn softens them up! Otherwise, they're icky and hard!!

Colorful!

2009-03-03T09:41:00.001-08:00

Bento! I got up early to make this one!!

This is open faced rice burgers, with cheese and lettuce!

This is seaweed salad on the right, then some scrambled eggs and cheese, and some strawberry agar jelly that I made last night especially for bentos in the little aluminum wrapper! Now... I have SO much leftover jelly!! It's EVERYWHERE in my fridge!! That little box makes a LOT! AGH.

Last, my beef teriyaki onigiri!

Kotobukiya

2009-03-03T06:29:00.000-08:00

Sunday Kelley and I were in Boston, so we made a trip (in the snow!!!) to the Japanese market, Kotobukiya!
Yayyy!
STILL couldn't find the powdered milk tea! AGH!

This is the American version of my fave jasmine green tea! Apparently, it can be found at Target, I got mine at Hannafords! It is usually in the healthy food section of supermarkets! Also, I got a UCC coffee of Eva fame to try! Havent tried it yet! Kotobukiya had it both chilled and heated!

I also got some more store made onigiri, bonito and special of the day: beef teriyaki flavors! And some seaweed salad!! Yum! Also in the picture is the stuff that I got from the bakery! A curry doughnut, a custard bun, and a melon pan, which is just bread with a sugary coating made to LOOK like a melon. Doesn't taste like one at all!

Last, I picked up some extra firm tofu (the only way I like mine, you can do more with it), some amazing furikake, and a half size Kewpie mayo container, just to try it! (It was still expensive! x_x)

All for $30!! XD

Breakfasty foods!

2009-02-27T08:32:00.000-08:00

Today I got up in time to make breakfast and lunch!! Yay!!

For breakfast, I had half a tamagoyaki, and some strawberry yogurt with starfruit and a little bit of strawberry drizzle in it! I loves me some starfruit. Unfortunately in transit the yogurt didn't look like this anymore!! XD

Lunch was a mix of breakfast and lunch foods! The other half of the tamagoyaki, some blueberry sausage from Hannafords cut up into pieces, (YUM!!) and a small salad of carrots, celery, and lettuce with some low fat Caesar dressing! :D

Italian Japanese

2009-02-26T09:33:00.000-08:00

Last night as I was wandering my kitchen looking for food to eat, I figured I would clean out the fridge before stuff went bad. I had leftover dumpling wrappers, pizza sauce, and mushrooms. What to make? Of course! Pizza dumplings!

I had initially thought, ew, this is going to be gross, because the wrapper won't fit in with the sauce taste. I was so, so wrong. They tasted just like little crispy calzones. They rocked. I had to make more. But I was out of mushrooms! So I made cheese and sauce ones! Just as amazing. Yum!!! I had wanted to save some for lunch today, but that didn't happen haha oops!

I did learn that you do NOT want gyoza wrappers to get wet before you pan fry them, however. They blow RIGHT up, and then pop and all the filling comes out! I WTFed quite loud the 1st time that happened, and all it takes is a LITTLE bit of water...

so yea!
YUM!

Take along maki

2009-02-23T13:30:00.000-08:00

Whee! This was my lunch today. Sticky rice with soy sauce flavored furikake, and nori strips. The nori brand I bought is Korean, and thinner than ones that I normally get, but still good! Each pack has 8 strips in it. :) Nom Nom Nom!!!

Japanese food finds

2009-02-23T06:59:00.000-08:00

Asian mart post!!

Yay!
So, the Kam Man has been switching around it's stock, making room for the new beer and wine section that will be there in the spring. I have steadily noticed that they keep getting more and more Japanese items, which is awesome, yet frustrating, because a few times I scoured every single aisle looking for a couple items, and couldn't find it, yet browsing, I see the dashi, for example, and out loud accidentally went 'goddamn bastards!!'. Hah. ^^;;; It really took so long, before... ugh.

Here's my small haul last night before the girl dragged me away.
Small packages of nori strips for lunches, dried wakame, hon-dashi packets, my beloved jasmine green tea, and rainbow boba balls!!! Yay!

A note on jasmine tea. It's amazing. It's got 0 calories, 0 everything, just a little bit of sodium from the preservatives so it doesn't go bad in the store. And it tastes very very good. *nod*

I made some of the boba last night, and put my jasmine tea in it. It was ok, but milk tea goes a lot better with it. (Lollicup FTW!!)

Lazy bento...

2009-02-20T10:04:00.001-08:00

In an effort to both be lazy and healthier, today's bento is very simple. (I really need to lose weight ugh!! And I'm not obsessed by it, it's just that I'm too poor to buy new clothes in a new size!! Haha)

So!
Top tier is simple sugar snap peas and mini carrots, as many as I could shove in. Bottom tier is leftover Hamburger Helper Lasagne, and to fill in the extra space in the bento and in my tummy, a little white rice. Viola!

:)

i haven't forgotten you!

2009-02-19T07:46:00.000-08:00

Haven't posted in a while... haven't been bentoing! oh no! I blame poorness haha... and super business... and mostly LAZINESS!

I do have to upload my recent finds at the Asian market. They are undergoing a small remodel, and the last time I went, I found quite a few more Japanese things than they normally have! Like... an okonamiyaki spatula. I found 2 of them and got them immediately. Also, a hot dog cutter for octopus shape, and a small mortar and pestle, and hmm... they had some new styles of mini silverware, and Kelley got her 1st bento box! Awww! Pics later!

Also, recently, she made me her 1st bento! I was so hungry at the time, I ate it and then regretted not taking a pic first! It was some fresh sugar snap peas, and grilled rice with green onions. Plain, but good! Yay!

Mew!

2009-02-04T09:01:00.000-08:00

New kitty Ren, aka Renji!

Tinkerbell, our 1st kitty! Looking mad/sketchy in this pic XD

My puppy, Ichigo! (Originally NOT named for Ichigo from Bleach! Only named cuz he's a scaredy dog and I wanted to name him a feminine japanese name because of that... so Strawberry it was!)

Kelley! yay! *love*

XD my parental units haha

and last...

this just sums up so much hahahaha

Ho hum...

2009-02-03T09:37:00.000-08:00

Not much for lunch today... A day's 'special' riceball from the japanese market, Kotobukiya. And a pudding lol. The onigiri is 'fried chicken' inside, it's a little spicy lol. *sigh*

Taiyaki

2009-01-27T06:52:00.000-08:00

The verdict? YUM!!! It was sooo surprisingly good. Basically, 2 waffles shaped like a fishy, with red bean paste inside. I'm only upset that I only brought one for breakfast!! X_x

Trials

2009-01-26T10:03:00.000-08:00

Today's bento! Panko chicken, with Bulldog sauce on the side, and ham and cheese rollups, and 3 color dango/mochi. For dessert: the other chocolate cornet from the Japonaise Bakery. I definately needed more sugar in the dango, but I ran out last night when I was making them! Agh!

Porter Square, Cambridge MA

2009-01-26T06:22:00.001-08:00

Trip to the Porter Exchange!! I was in the area, otherwise it's a trip out there, at least 45 minutes on the train in.
We started off by going to Kotobukiya, the Japanese market, but I'll get to that in a bit.

After the market, we went to the Japonaise Bakery! Yum!!

I got a chocolate cornet for then, and another for lunch today, and for breakfast today I got a custard-filled bun! They were sooo good! I also got a cold Jasmine tea.

At the store, they have snacks and stuff up front, and some instant ramen and such. Along one side there's some fridge stuff, and along the back is the frozen, the fish market, and the fridge section where I know they make onigiri, but every time I've been there...THEY'RE SOLD OUT! Every. Single. Time. Agh! One day!! *shakes fist* Going around the corner, there are cooking ingredients. Plus, more snacks! Past that, there's a Japanese movie rental in the back.

Here's what I got! Up top, is mochiko, or sweet rice flour! The two buns are maple flavored buns. I got a small Bull-dog sauce! Plus, the hard to find okonomi sauce, for okonamiyaki! Below that is bonito flakes and seaweed, red beans, and some more rice because I was out.

I also found some taiyaki hanging out in the freezer section! These are red bean filled, fish shaped cakes.

I got home, and was chilly still, so I made some soup to warm me up. Made up some udon and made some miso, mixed it, and yum! I didn't have any regular seaweed, so I tried breaking up nori as substitute. It was still good, but you could definitely tell that there was a bit too much salt because of that.

yawn

2009-01-23T06:08:00.000-08:00

So tired... but! Last night, we were going into Boston, and I knew that we were going to be in for a while. So I made Kelley and I bento!

They were both the same, just different bento boxes. I made sandwich roll ups, mine was ham and cheese, and Kelley's was bologna and cheese. I put in sliced cucumbers around it, and then we had Crazy Bugs organic mac and cheese. Yum! Kelley liked it! :)

Ghetto Bento

2009-01-22T10:28:00.000-08:00

There's nothing quick to put together in the house!!

So, I made stuff up XD

New correct-ish portion bento. Kinda.... ugly. *shrug* But it works! 3 jellys, one regular, 2 yogurt jellys, and 2 koolaid. The shotglass is sauce for what's inside, I had nothing else. :(

Inside! Front is provolone wrapped salad. I really had not much lol. Next, sliced pickled green tomatoes. My mom made them over the summer, they've been pickling since abouttt... June? July? Possibly August/Sept., I can't remember. Last is cold soba. The sauce is to dip the soba in. I know it's a summer food, but It was all I had!! TT_TT

Party!

2009-01-21T08:12:00.000-08:00

Last night Kelley and I had an impromptu inaugural party! Happy Obama Day, the sequel! (The 1st was when he won the election.) So I decided to play bartender and cook. (No pics, sorry, was too busy!) Picked up some stuff at the supermarket, and got to it!

First, I made mini pizzas. I had bought some dough premade, so i took little balls and spread them out on a pizza pan, and added sauce and cheese. Popped them in for 8 mins, and voila! Took a max of 30 mins, most of it prep.

Next, I made 3 tamagoyaki rolls. Cut them up into slices and stuck toothpicks into them. They were gone within an hour or two. I had a request to make more!! :) (By the way: my recipe is- 3 eggs, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 tablespoon veggie oil, and a dash of sea mineral salt. I put half in the pan, and add a broken up slice of cheese. Let it cook thoroughly. Push to the side of the tamagoyaki pan, and add the rest of the egg in a sheet style. I will add pictures later! Let it cook most of the way evenly, pushing the egg around and such, until there's only a liiiiiittle left on top that's not cooked. Roll the egg into the roll shape, and let cook on either side for a little bit, to make sure it gets heated. Slice and enjoy after cooling!)

A little later, I whipped out my sushi mat, and made crab meat, cucumber, and carrot sushi. Those were gone in 10 minutes.

After that, I made homemade chicken, lettuce, carrot dumplings. They had to cool down, but it was still very quick for them to leave the plate, maybe 15 mins.

After that! I was done haha!! I went to bed!! :D

I also was bartender for the night haha. It was clear my drinks were the best, as they were all finished, and I was walking around picking up half finished drinks that had been made too strong by my friends.
Trick: Juice tastes better than cheap vodka. XD Mixing well is a drinksaver, as well.

Umeboshi onigiri

2009-01-19T12:05:00.000-08:00

My onigiri! Finally got the hang of it. :) Today's are filled with pickled plum, umeboshi. What I did was cut open an umeboshi, took out the seed, then spread it out in between clumps of rice, then formed it in the mold. (Does that make sense?? Rice, umeboshi, rice. I confused myself x_x) Actually, cuz they're so small, I did 1 1/2 umeboshi to each onigiri.

And the morning snack was 2 mini Jellys, that have bits of lychee in them. I think. I'm not entirely positive about that.

I had made a bento for today, but my dad came in and said "You wanna go to lunch with us? Good, let's go." Lol, no choice for me! x_x;;;

Leftovers

2009-01-16T09:15:00.000-08:00

Last night/this morning I was exhausted... so it was a very slapdash bento.

The balls are basically mashed potatoes with some corn and peas mixed in. They were in the manga cookbook, so i decided to try them. I'd like them better warm lol.
Tamagoyaki, and in the other box leftover mac and cheese and more potato balls. (I had lots of leftovers haha.)

*yawn* I'm still so sleepy....

Breakfast!

2009-01-16T05:55:00.000-08:00

Today's breakfast is a bento! Normally I don't have that much time to do a breakfast. Pretty simple, closest is a mini cheese omelet, next is a piece of marble pound cake in half to fit, and last is vanilla yogurt with some strawberry sauce on top! I got to use my new spoon and fork with it! :D Surprisingly filling.

Monster Bento!!

2009-01-15T10:06:00.000-08:00

This thing is huge. I knew this when I opened up the packaging last night. So the top I made like a breakfast type thing with a piece of pound cake with strawberries, and a couple slices of leftover apples.

For the lunch part, I made tamagoyaki with my new pan, and it came out awesome!! Sliced it up nicely after it had cooled. Put them on a small bed of rice, and filled the space with some salad.

Last, the main meal portion is homemade dumplings! Inside them are leftover chicken, chopped carrots, and some lettuce!

Kam Man shopping

2009-01-15T06:11:00.000-08:00

Spent too much last night, but still, total, only $70. For everything, food and otherwise.

Woo! OK, 1st, the supplies. Top to bottom this time! Up top, there's a 3pack of cooking chopsticks, a new bento that holds a looooot more than it seems like it can, a tamagoyaki pan, 2 spatulas, yakitori skewers, and ravioli molds! The tamagoyaki pan I was very happy with, its quite thick, and nonstick (Very very nonstick. It's quite slick without any oil added.), and although it can't be seen well right now, one end is curved inside to help with the initial rolling. Plus in the background I got a bargain book from Borders! ^_^

Cute new lunch utensils!! They are all mini! The chopsticks have little chickies on them. The spoon says love & peace on it. The fork is actually kind of purple-y. (The pic didn't come out well.)

Food market side! Let's see, left to right, somen and udon, dumpling wraps (for today's bento!!), fresh udon, cooking sake, milk tea (for today's bento as well), dashi miso, red miso, moon cakes (they were...not appealing to me. Ugh. >.<), and last, umeboshi for my onigiri escapades!!

Curry

2009-01-14T09:31:00.000-08:00

Today's bento: Veggie instant curry over rice, rice burgers, carrots, and failed tamagoyaki. For a snack, a red bean mochi!

The curry is Golden Curry brand, pre-packaged, mild curry. Yummyness! This is my 1st time having it. I might try putting it in the bento a different way, or try putting some color on top next time.

The rice burgers I got from a recipe from my new Manga Cookbook, and it worked out well, I was just rushing so one fell apart. haha! They have cheese and cabbage in them. Plus some carrots for the veggies!

Last: the failed tamagoyaki. I need to alter that recipe, cuz the one in the book was kind of... not good. Ugh. So, I got fed up after 10 mins, and just cooked the eggs haha. They're really good, I like the little bit of sugar in the recipe. Just how to get them as a roll was the epic fail part. The book uses aluminum foil to roll it while theyre still slightly runny. Yea, no. Bad idea. The eggs stick to the foil, and don't finish cooking all the way. Next time, I'll probably just cook them very thin, then roll it up and slice it.

I love that brand mochi. It's nomtastic.

Snack

2009-01-12T08:24:00.000-08:00

Today I didn't make a bento lunch, but I did make a snack!

It's very small, very simple, the leftovers of my experimenting last night with my new bento stuff. 2 cabbage and celery sushi rolls, and a plain onigiri. :D The onigiri I had the most trouble with, the 1st I made too big, the second the nori strips were too small, so I ended up pasting 3 strips on to cover one. The third I got too lazy to cut more strips, and this one, the last one, I made perfect just for today's snack! Hah!

Back to Kam Man!

2009-01-11T16:15:00.000-08:00

We took an elongated trip to Kam Man and really had a nice long look around. And lo and behold...

A wall of bento boxes.

So we did all our shopping, and this is all I came up with. So much stuff that I never saw before!!!

I will go through everything I got :)

Yay! Starting at the bottom left and working right, some dried noodles, instant udon, then up to the panko breadcrumbs, then the big round wheel is a big thing of mochi, and the little ones on top are individual red bean mochi. The bottle is soba noodle soup base, for dipping cold noodles into on hot days! (Example: Tenchi movie 2)

This is a mini sushi mat on the bottom right, instant mild curry, a lychee juice drink, on the left of the can is a small bottle of nori paste, above the sushi mat is an onigiri mold, and to the left is my new snack bento! Also, I got an Initial D dvd for $1. With english subs! Woot!

The first snack in my new bento was for Kelley, with sliced apple, and some vanilla yogurt in a cute paper cupcake holder.

And last, at Walmart (aka slave labor mart, as I like to call it), I got a new griddle, just for making yummy bento food! (But I convinced Kelley to let me get it by promising french toast on it!)

Here's an action shot! I was just starting to make fried rice on it! (It came out great!!!)

Last, I got the 'Manga Cookbook!' It has terribly corny drawings, but there are some nice recipes in there. Some are a little silly... (apples cut like bunnys... waste of a few pages, when instead something that you actually *cook* could be in there...) but others are nice. (Okonamiyaki!!)

Healthyness!

2009-01-09T09:29:00.000-08:00

Todays bento!

First, we start with chicken croquettes. An easy and great leftover meal, made with only eggs, chopped chicken, and Italian breadcrumbs. Pan fried yum!

EDIT: Make sure the chicken is already cooked!

Next, a small 'salad' of just cucumbers, celery, and carrots. Andes mints to finish the meal, after....

The fruit salad! Cut up honey crisp apple, strawberries, and some blackberries to finish!

Kam Man market

2009-01-09T08:17:00.000-08:00

Ok, so where I get my Asian food is usually just Stop & Shop for basics, but for the hard to find stuff, I go to Kam Man. They are, in a word, epic.
This is the front of the Quincy store.

Inside it are 48 small glass seperated stores for anything an asian family might need in the Boston area. DVD store, Cds, books, BOBA TEA!!!, a little restaurant, medicinal stuff, etc. On the far left is a bank, and a market for dishes (which are SO cheap!!!), cooking stuff, home stuff! Like a Chinese Wal-Mart. Here's some soy sauce dispensers! They also have little ones for bentos.

On the far right however, is the supermarket part.

Produce department

They have a very fresh seafood department, complete with a huge tank of fresh live tilapia that you can pick from, crabs, lots of different fish and shellfish. There is also a butcher, and a cooked food department with some tables. A very extensive produce department. And in the aisles are lots of foods, from Chinese, to Korean, to Japanese. Snacks, pastas, steamed buns, mochi, pastes, sauces, currys, ahhh so much stuff! I find something new every time I go in there!

Here's the butcher dept., and in the far back you can see some of the seafood tanks.

Last, an article from the local newspaper!
http://ledger.southofboston.com/articles/2005/08/06/news/news04.txt

Second Bento!!

2009-01-09T07:07:00.000-08:00

This one was a couple weeks ago, but I got sick for a week that night that I made it, so I didn't get to eat all of it! Ah!

This time, I did some easy plain sushi, with carrots decorating the sides.

For the chicken, I still had leftover teriyaki and Ah-so chicken, so I tried to give it some color with some cut up red peppers.

And last... Yan Yan dipping sticks for dessert!!

First Bento!

2009-01-09T06:34:00.000-08:00

Oh boy! Ok, so this was my 1st bento that I ever made, maybe about last month, I think?

This is everything... rice...

Here's the chicken!

Half is just teriyaki sauce, and the other half is Ah-So Chinese bbq sauce.

This is milk steam buns, string cheese, carrots, some nori cracker snacks, and a packet of koala cookie snacks!

Um...yea!