Bento Boxes

[spork]

I want a report on your fresh soba noodle experience, PF! Dad would be proud.

Elsewhere, Timothy posted about making tofu from scratch. I've only seen this done by my mother a couple of times (what with fresh tofu & fish cake bakeries at every other block). And I recall seeing Ming Tsai make it once on TV. On my last run to the Asian market, I saw this on the shelves. I'm eager to try. But, my creative hemisphere is frozen, and I can't seem to come up with a suitably improvised "mold" that will allow excess water to drain... any suggestions? (I think my onigiri molds would work, but they're not big enough for a starting volume of 5.5 cups.)

If this works to my liking, I'll try again from scratch soy beans.

 

[Timothy]

I want a report on your fresh soba noodle experience, PF! Dad would be proud.

Elsewhere, Timothy posted about making tofu from scratch. I've only seen this done by my mother a couple of times (what with fresh tofu & fish cake bakeries at every other block). And I recall seeing Ming Tsai make it once on TV. On my last run to the Asian market, I saw this on the shelves. I'm eager to try. But, my creative hemisphere is frozen, and I can't seem to come up with a suitably improvised "mold" that will allow excess water to drain... any suggestions? (I think my onigiri molds would work, but they're not big enough for a starting volume of 5.5 cups.)

If this works to my liking, I'll try again from scratch soy beans.

I use my sushi mold to form tofu. It looks exactly like this:

 

[PrincessFiona60]

LOL! Dad has 45 pounds of buckwheat flour, I know, I got it for him. I sent the formula to him in an e-mail. So he will be making soba noodles, too!

Heck I would go get a wooden cigar box from a smoke shop and put a divider in it, drill small holes in the bottom for drainage. If you are lucky, you can find one with a divider in it already! Soak it in vinegar to remove any residual aroma from the cigars. Most shops have several on hand, I get them for trinket and game storage.

 

[Kathleen]

PF, I want a report on your fresh soba noodles too!!!!

Spork, what about using some Ziplock containers? If they need drainage, you can put holes in them. Also, you can get squarish shapes. If you need to have finer drainage, you can use butter muslin. You could stack them and fill the top one with water as a press.

I want a report on your fresh soba noodle experience, PF! Dad would be proud.

Elsewhere, Timothy posted about making tofu from scratch. I've only seen this done by my mother a couple of times (what with fresh tofu & fish cake bakeries at every other block). And I recall seeing Ming Tsai make it once on TV. On my last run to the Asian market, I saw this on the shelves. I'm eager to try. But, my creative hemisphere is frozen, and I can't seem to come up with a suitably improvised "mold" that will allow excess water to drain... any suggestions? (I think my onigiri molds would work, but they're not big enough for a starting volume of 5.5 cups.)

If this works to my liking, I'll try again from scratch soy beans.

 

[spork]

PF, I want a report on your fresh soba noodles too!!!!

Spork, what about using some Ziplock containers? If they need drainage, you can put holes in them. Also, you can get squarish shapes. If you need to have finer drainage, you can use butter muslin. You could stack them and fill the top one with water as a press.

Thanks for everyone's help. I'll be using Kath's brilliant solution, and let you know how it turns out...

 

[PrincessFiona60]

See, if I had not been hidebound about using a wooden shape, I would have thought of that soon enough. It is brilliant, Kathleen!

I will try the soba noodles next weekend, no time left on this rotation. I'm still looking for my Christmas scrubs.

 

[Kathleen]

Thanks for the kudos on the idea! I want reports though!

PF, maybe you could turn your cigar box into a new bento!

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Thanks for the kudos on the idea! I want reports though!

PF, maybe you could turn your cigar box into a new bento!

Shrek uses them for his markers and guitar things. A new Bento is a fantastic idea. I know the girls at the smoke shop and need an excuse to visit. Some cigars boxes is a good excuse!

 

[spork]

I was seriously thinking... tofu with the aroma of sweet tobacco might be a superb idea!

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I was seriously thinking... tofu with the aroma of sweet tobacco might be a superb idea!

I would make for an interesting taste.

 

[Kathleen]

Be sure that the rest of us get that report too!

 

[spork]

1. white miso soup with tofu, wakame seaweed and scallion
2. onigiri & a link of sweet Chinese sausage
3. various cold leftovers from pot of oden
4. saki-ika snack
5. hot green tea

Onigiri are individually plastic-wrapped, frozen, and zapped for 20 seconds in microwave to pack for lunch. Some are mixed with shiso furikake (dried, salted, citrusy leaves of beafsteak plant), Another furikake has dried salmon flakes, nori, sesame seed and other stuff. And my third onigiri has a topping of dried baby anchovies. Yum, I had some of them for breakfast.

Oden is a common street food in Japan, often served as skewers of stuff like winter root veggies simmering in a broth. You pay by the number of skewers left on your plate. Here's the wiki entry: Oden - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia My broth was chicken/dashi about 2:1, soy sauce & sake & sugar to taste, usually stronger than a soup. I have potato, mountain yam, carrot, pork shoulder, gobo-maki (burdock root wrapped in surimi fishcake), and chrysanthemum leaves. I forgot to pack some pungent Chinese mustard to go with my oden. Saki-ika (this one spiced mildly hot) is dried strips of squid. Love 'em! They're like the beef jerky of Asia. Great snacks because chewing them is a natural hunger suppressant.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I'm busy eating and that just made me slobber all over the screen! Beautiful!

 

[Kathleen]

Spork, that looks fantastic. You are the bento-sensei, I think!

 

[LPBeier]

I still have to get a picture up of my wonderful little Bento Box that showed up on my doorstep!

I still haven't been sleeping well and my eating habits have been not very good either. Thursday morning, after a particularly bad night, I woke up to a foil wrapped package on my night stand. Beside it was my water thermos with juice in it. DH leaves the house at 5 am to go to work and I woke around 8. Unwrapping the foil I found my little Bento and opened it. Inside was some still warm fried rice with egg, peas and green onion (which he made up then from some leftover rice), sesame crackers, and a pre-made vegetable spring roll which was still warm and crisp!

An awesome Bento breakfast in bed!

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I still have to get a picture up of my wonderful little Bento Box that showed up on my doorstep!

I still haven't been sleeping well and my eating habits have been not very good either. Thursday morning, after a particularly bad night, I woke up to a foil wrapped package on my night stand. Beside it was my water thermos with juice in it. DH leaves the house at 5 am to go to work and I woke around 8. Unwrapping the foil I found my little Bento and opened it. Inside was some still warm fried rice with egg, peas and green onion (which he made up then from some leftover rice), sesame crackers, and a pre-made vegetable spring roll which was still warm and crisp!

An awesome Bento breakfast in bed!

You might talk to Shrek for me...

 

[spork]

Good to hear from you, LB! Not that I would wish to be in your shoes, but it felt good for the duration of your nice post. Great sounding breakfast. No need to stress on pics, we get just as much enjoyment from food descriptions. Sleep well, eat well, move and think well.

 

[Kathleen]

I still have to get a picture up of my wonderful little Bento Box that showed up on my doorstep!

I still haven't been sleeping well and my eating habits have been not very good either. Thursday morning, after a particularly bad night, I woke up to a foil wrapped package on my night stand. Beside it was my water thermos with juice in it. DH leaves the house at 5 am to go to work and I woke around 8. Unwrapping the foil I found my little Bento and opened it. Inside was some still warm fried rice with egg, peas and green onion (which he made up then from some leftover rice), sesame crackers, and a pre-made vegetable spring roll which was still warm and crisp!

An awesome Bento breakfast in bed!

That is so sweet, LB! What a nice thing to have there when you wake.

What I love about my Bento box lunches is that they make me feel like I felt when I was very young and my mother packed my lunch. It feels special to have a pretty lunch waiting for me. Silly since I make it, but whatever works.

 

[spork]

Spork.. I've never seen what you describe. I'll keep an eye out though. Most places I've seen just use plastic wrap to keep the cleanup minimal and non-stick.
-Damien

Hey spork, I've never seen anything like what you want either. There is a lady at a local restaurant that uses a dish cloth to roll with. It's the weirdest thing I've seen yet. The dish cloth is folded into quarters and damp. she makes the roll by hand and then, when she flips it to tighten the roll, she lays this cloth across the roll and uses that to firm the roll. It's really weird and awesome to watch.

I'll keep my eyes open for you. If I see any cool roll making gadgets, I'll let you know.

I found something! The oldest asian market in town is a hole-in-the-wall which I hadn't been frequenting since three competing gigantic markets were built a few years ago. I stopped by today and found these, supposedly non-stick polypropylene, safe to a hundred degrees celsius. I was surprised that the store appears to still be doing well; could be that the owner has a loyal following of customers for her weekend cooking classes in back of the store.

 

[Timothy]

While making some rolls the other night, I found that my bamboo mat will fit just right into a gallon baggie. When I was finished, I just wiped the baggie clean and rolled up the mat.

Perfect!