Tonkatsu with Hayashi Sauce

After making Hayashi beef stew last week, I really wanted to try out the sauce mix with tonkatsu (fried Japanese pork cutlet).  While I fried the tonkatsu,  I made the Hayashi sauce by adding the sauce blocks to three cups of boiling water and stirring until it was well combined. To serve, I sliced the tonkatsu and poured the sauce on the side.  I like to serve the sauce on the side because the tonkatsu stays crisp until the last bite.  My husband on the other hand like to pile everything on his rice and generously ladle the sauce all over the top.   It was a hit, the kids and my husband loved it. 

Quickie Beef Stew Bear

With two young children, I am all about quick and easy dinners at least a few times a week.  Most recently we have tried this S&B  ”Tasty Brown Stew Sauce Mix”, which I believe is also called Hayashi rice sauce mix.  It was very easy to prepare and very tasty indeed.  All you need to do is to add beef, onions, carrots, potatoes- all cut into small bite-sized pieces and saute.  Then add the water, simmer for 20 minutes, add the mix and cook for 5 more minutes until the sauce is well combined and thickened.  I deviated a little and added frozen carrots and peas (at the end with the mix) because I didn’t have any carrots on hand and it still turned out great.  The family loved it and so did I, especially because it was so easy.  I was at Shirokiya today and they were selling chicken katsu bentos with hayashi sauce served on the side- which you pour over before eating.  It looked really yummy and I’m planning to have it the next time I am there or try making the combination myself. 

To make the bear, I molded some rice to fit in the bottom of the bowl and poured the stew around it.  I added on kamaboko and nori eyes, cut an oval shaped piece of kamaboko which I sprayed pink with Color Mist for the bear’s nose, and cut the mouth out of nori. 

 

Bear and Teriyaki Beef Bento

I made this bento earlier this week and forgot to post it.  The bento includes teriyaki beef that I broiled in the oven,  ready made shumai with flower shaped fish sausage, and musubis.  The bears are cut from kamaboko (Japanese fish cake) and decorated with nori that I punched out with this cat punch that I picked up online from I Love Obento!.  They just added on really cute bear and rabbit punches that I’m going to have to buy too!  

 

Potluck Bentos

Paige’s class had a potluck lunch today, celebrating spring and the beginning of spring break! Her contribution were these small musubi and mochiko chicken bentos.  I made 19 (including one for Sean) of these mini bentos.  It was pretty easy because I used the precut nori that I bought from Marukai and added decorative flag picks to the chicken.  Paige said that they had a ton of food for lunch including pizza, chili, chicken, spaghetti, SPAM musubis, brownies, almond float, donuts, juice, and a few others that she said she could not remember.  After that they got to watch Madagascar 2, which by the way is one of my favorite movies!  I love those penguins…they are just too funny.  

Don’t forget to get those entries in for the Kid’s Bento Contest by March 31st.  Thank you to those who have submitted their entries so far!

 

Sean eating his bento!

Bentos for Paige and Grandpa

Today Paige went to see Sleeping Beauty at the Hawaii Theatre with her class.  Paige was so excited to hear that Grandpa had so graciously signed up to be a chaperone for this event.  For their excursion,  I packed Paige and Grandpa matching lunches of penguin SPAM musubis and fruit snacks. 

When she got home, Paige told me all about the show, which actually turned out to be somewhat of a comedy.  She said that all of the boys in her class initially didn’t want to see Sleeping Beauty because they all thought it was too girly.  But in the end, they all had a great and memorable time.  Thanks Grandpa for being a chaperone!

 

Birthday Bento Bash

This cutie is my niece Caitlin who is holding a bento that she made!  My sister, Amy, told me that for Caitlin’s birthday, she and her friends (Sarah, Zoi, and Amber) had a lot of fun making their own bentos which they took to eat at the Mauna Kea Visitors Station after star gazing at twilight.  If you are ever on the Big Island, this is a must see!     

Amy had all of the accessories and food ready for the kids to assemble.  On the menu were hotdogs, musubis, SPAM musubis, tofu, edamame (soy beans), kamaboko (Japanese fish cake), grapes, cantaloupe, melon, and fun pasta.They all were very creative did such a great job!

This is my nephew Dillon and his work of art!

A Little Known Fact and Paige’s St. Patrick’s Day Bento

Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone!  Very few people know that I am actually part Irish.  My paternal grandmother is half Irish, which makes me an eighth and according to my husband accounts my temper and stubborness.  Hmmm…I don’t think that I have either, so he must be only joking!  If you were to see me you wouldn’t be able to tell that I am part Irish, I look absolutely Japanese, head to toe.  Paige’s bento today is much like me (mostly Japanese with a little Irish) and it features Kerropi as something green on SPAM musubis, teriyaki steak, and a tamago heart with a nori four-leaf clover.  I put it in an onigiri, bi-level, bento container that I got off of one of eBay’s many bento stores.

Also, don’t forget to enter the Kid’s Bento Contest!!!  Entries are due by March 31st, 2009 at 12 midnight Hawaii standard time.

Kid’s Bento Contest!!!

This past week I received a few of emails asking if my cookbook (Hawai`i’s Bento Box Cookbook) was no longer in print, either because they couldn’t get it in a book store or from Amazon.  I made a call to my publisher and they said they were completely out of stock and the book was currently in it’s second printing!  They print the books overseas so it takes a little while for the second printing to get into circulation.  Anyway, I just wanted to tell everyone thank you for buying the books and how much I appreciate the kind emails that I have received concerning the book!

As a way to celebrate the books success, I wanted to do a kid’s bento contest open to everyone.  The rules are:

1. Please submit a photo of a kid’s themed bento that you have made (you may enter up to three and it must be your own).

2. Email it to me at syuen14@gmail.com by March 31st, 2009 by 12 midnight Hawaii standard time.

3. Please add a brief description of what is in your bento, your name (first name okay), and where you are from.  Winners will be contacted via email and I will post the bentos on my blog as well. 

First Place!

First place gets a copy of Hawai`i’s Bento Box Cookbook, a two tiered bento box with matching fork, assorted printed paper divider cups, a star and heart shaped egg mold, assorted plastic food divider sheets, bunny bento box belts, assorted animal and sea life picks, and a pack of animal shaped cutters (bunny, bear, and dog).

Second Place!

Second place receives assorted printed paper divider cups, a star and heart shaped musubi mold, a bento box, monkey mayonnaise containers, assorted flag and animal picks, dog bento belts, assorted plastic food divider sheets, and assorted sauce containers.  

Third Place!

Third place wins a bento box, multi-colored sauce containers, assorted animal and flag picks, chicken bento belts, assorted plastic food divider sheets.

Good luck to you all!

Bunny Bento and the Bundled Boy

Paige’s friends,  Amalia and Avi, were able to hang out with us again today.  Poor Paige was not so thrilled that she had to go to school and miss playing with her BFFs, although she did get to  see them later in the afternoon.  Amalia had a music class to attend so I packed a Bunny bento of chicken and rice that she could take with her. 

 

The second part of this entry has to do with how cold it’s been in Hawaii lately.  This morning it was 63 degrees which is freezing for us here in Hawaii!  We took out our “cold” weather clothes to find a few sweaters and found Paige’s old cap and scarf.  Sean really liked dressing up in it but refused to smile nicely for the camera.  As usual he just wanted to be the big ham just like his Dad.  Anything for an audience!

  

Bears, Best Friends, and the Tooth Fairy

Paige’s best friends, Avi and Amalia, got to hang out with us today.  They are the sweetest girls and always treat Paige like she’s their beloved little sister.  I love to listen to them playing as well as listen to all of their wonderful stories and games that they make up.  Kids have such great imaginations.  We made bear bentos for all of the girls which included a bear musubi, a bear teriyaki SPAM musubi, mochiko chicken, and mini bears made out of kamaboko (Japanese fish cake).   

       

 

Paige also recently lost her second tooth and was visited by the tooth fairy.  She got a lot more money than I remember receiving as a kid!  The economy must have been much better back then because I think I only got a quarter.  Paige was really sweet though, because she tried to give some of her tooth money to her Dad and me.  She’s also insisting that she has another tooth that is loose and wiggles it constantly as if to hurry the process along.