Lunch for Tuesday, May 4, 2010

YES I GOT IT!!!  My bento box that is.  I was so excited that it arrived yesterday.  Took only one week from the day I ordered it.  My son saw it and asked what I was using it for and now he wants one.  We both are fascinated by Japanese culture and foods.  I showed him a few different ones I thought he would like and he prefers the Bento Military that Bento & Co have.  So I'm sure I will be ordering that soon along with some other goodies they have on their website.

Now onto today's lunch, packed oh so well in my new bento box.  I'm excited can't you tell?  When I was using my planning sheet from Just Bento I was trying to come up with different carb options.  One that I thought would be good is dumplings.  So while at the store this last weekend I did find some frozen dumplings.  Which is so wonderful because I can just cook as many as I need.  They cook up in 10 minutes!  That was even better.  Now while my dumplings were cooking I made my first tamagoyaki (Japanese omelet).  I used the 1 egg tamagoyaki recipe on Just Bento.  It was fairly easy to make and cooked up quick.  I do know I can improve on my technique but for the first time I was kind of proud of myself.  And it did leave me with plenty of time to tend to the dumplings.  I also added some shrimp to my bento for some added protein.  I left them slightly frozen so that by lunch time they should make a perfect shrimp cocktail.  Not pictured is my condiment cups of ranch dressing for my veggies and soy sauce.  I remember at one hibachi place in town the chefs call soy sauce Japanese Ketchup.  LOL

Top from left to right: tamagoyaki; shrimp; dumplings

Bottom from left to right: bell pepper, grape tomatoes, broccoli; strawberries