Category Archives: bento
Kindergarten bento – Hijiki (20/Apr/18)
Japanese superfood, Hijiki rice bento.
Kindergarten bento – Sandwiches (19/Apr/18)
My daughter asked for sandwiches for bento, so I made them. It’s easier to get a request like that, I don’t have to think about the menu.
She must’ve liked the sandwiches, looking at her empty bento box after we came home. Even if it is not such a big deal, it still makes me happy and puts a smile on my face. I asked her how her bento was, whether she liked it or not, just to get a reassurance that she really liked it as I had assumed. I wanted to hear it directly from her.
Then she told me she actually wanted to eat tortilla wraps instead.
Kindergarten bento – How many ingredients? (17/Apr/18)
Here is the list of ingredients in the bento today, not including the seasonings such as salt, soy sauce, etc.
11 ingredients in total, with a good variety of veggies. Protein from chicken, egg and broad beans, carbo from rice, and vitamins from fruits. Iron from broccoli. I guess it’s not too bad from a nutrition point of view.
- Rice
- Furikake sprinkle (to be precise there are a few in there, but let’s say this is just one)
- Corn
- Egg
- Chicken thigh
- Pumpkin
- Broccoli
- Cherry tomato
- Borad beans
- Strawberries
- Kiwi
Kindergarten bento – Where happiness lies (16/Apr/18)
What makes me happy about making bento is making my daughter happy. This morning she came up to the kitchen counter, stretched herself up and looked over at what was prepared for her for the day, and said “Wow!” with a huge smile on her face in the most genuine manner.
This – is worth more than anything.
Kindergarten bento – Complaint (13/Apr/18)
You realise your daughter has an opinion when she complains about her bento. She told me she couldn’t finish her bento today because the meat slices were too dry.
And she is right, they were.
While I felt a hint of annoyance to her comment, I felt grateful for her attention to what she eats.
Kindergarten bento – 12/Apr/18
Kindergarten bento – a new school year starts (11/Apr/18)
A new, and the last school year for our daughter started at kindergarten on Monday, and today my daily bento making resumed as well.
Proud to be one of the oldest kids at school, our daughter prepared almost everything on her own in the morning, from getting dressed, preparing for breakfast, and to wrapping her own bento in her new furoshiki* fabric.
Being the oldest kids at school and to prepare for an elementary school, they are encouraged to do this on their own – another great tip from her school to help the kids become more independent in the cutest manner.
* Furoshiki is this square shaped cotton fabric that is used for wrapping almost anything, mainly for transportation. In Japan it is quite common to wrap a gift with it, to protect the gift from bumps as well as to conceal what’s in it.
Kindergarten bento – Last semester (January – March 2018)
For the past three months, I have not uploaded any of my bento pictures as I have had a plan – I have been collecting all of my bento pictures to see how many bentos I make in a semester, and how much variety I could come up with. It’s said to be “A picture is worth a thousand words” – let’s see how many words this will be worth!
salmon rice & nikujaga bento
nbikudon bento
tortilla wrap bento
chicken soboro tri-colour bento
onigiri bento
penne bolognese bento
nikudon bento
tortilla wrap bento
hamburg steak with steamed veggies bento
chinese pork stir-fry bento
spaghetti bolognese bento
grilled salmon bento
chinese beef stir-fry bento
simmered sward fish bento
chicken soboro & spinach rice bento
salmon & egg bi-colour bento
grilled sawara bento
spaghetti bolognese bento
simmered sword fish bento
stir-fry chicken bento
hamburg steak with omelet bento
sandwich bento
salmon & egg bi-colour bento
rolled pork bento
simmered sword fish bento
nikudon bento
hamburg steak bento
tortilla wrap bento
onigiri bento
mixed rice bento
tortilla wrap bento
chicken soboro donburi bento
grilled cod bento
farfalle al pomodorini bento
chicken donburi bento
onigiri picnic bento
From mid January until mid March, I’ve made 37 bentos, different menu everyday. It’s worth 37,000 words, so I don’t have to say much and had better sign off now.
Bento making continues when the new school year starts in April, and it’s the final year for our daughter at her kindergarten.
Kindergarten bento – Toshi-No-Se (15, 18, 19, 20, 22/Dec/17)
In Japan, it is said that “toshi-no-se,” the year-end, is bound to be busy, as everyone starts acting somehow anxious to finish off things prior to the fresh start of the new year. As mentioned before, the new year is a big deal in this country, and we do everything to make sure the new year to be quiet and special.
This year was no exception for me also, and I was running around like a headless chicken without any time to stop and take a big breath… until we left for our Christmas holidays in the Netherlands to visit my husband’s family. Hesitantly we dropped unfinished errands, hurriedly packed our suitcases, left beautiful & sunny Tokyo, and arrived in the equally beautiful, but quite dark Netherlands yesterday. It is Christmas Eve here in the Netherlands, and things already seemed to have slowed down, and people are starting to relax for the festivity to begin. The sense of rush I was feeling in Japan is nowhere to be seen here. It’s an interesting realisation what a huge difference there is depending on which culture you’re in.
Looking back at the bento photos I didn’t have a chance to upload before our departure, I can vaguely remember how I managed all these bento making during my busy schedule. It’ll resume in the new year, but for now I’m relieved that I won’t have to do it for the next two weeks.
Happy Holidays!
15/Dec/17 – Grilled cod in saikyo-miso
18/Dec/17 – Simmered sword fish
19/Dec/17 – Nikudon-don
20/Dec/17 – Macaroni genovese 
22/Dec/17 – Chicken soboro 
SMALL TOKYO KITCHEN 