Bento #1: Hoisin salmon, spinach, carrot kinpira, and sushi rice

Sooo I started my job this week, but my job does not have a physical location, so I work whereever I want to. Today I decided to work at the library, so I made myself a bento lunch. I had been wanting to try making bento for a while (I was especially inspired by justbento.com; I even bought her cookbook!)
In today's bento I put some leftover hoisin glazed salmon and vietnamese spinach that I had frozen last week. I also had about 3/4 cup of "sushi rice" (read more to learn why I put quotations there) and some carrot kinpira, blanched bean sprouts, and "pickled" cucumber from the Just Bento cookbook. I had prepared the carrots and bean sprouts last friday, and they were fine today, although not as delicious as they were fresh on Friday. Especially the carrots, those were really darn good. The salmon was a tad dry, but the spinach was good.

The rice, however, kinda failed. It was mushy and the flavor ratio was off. I think one issue is that I put too much water in the rice cooker because I was trying to cook only half a cup of rice but the rice cooker does not have half cup markings. I also was not sure how much vinegar mixture to put into the rice. Well, with practice I'll get the hang of it.

As a sidenote: this recipe looks delicious.

Mango Dofu

I was cleaning out one of the cupboards in the kitchen and I found an old box of Mango Flavored Dofu (gelatin). I decided to make Friday night. So, I poured the bright orange powder into 3 1/2 cups of water and heated it to a boil. While I was waiting, I read the dofu box. Suddenly, the saucepan overflowed with foam! I turned off the heat and Lifted the pan out of the mess. Ick! There was orange foam all over the stovetop. My mom helped me clean it up with a spnge.
Next, I proceeded with the rest of the recipe. I mixed the milk in with the water+gelatin and ladled some of it into teacups with a couple of previously frozen raspberries. I made four small teacup desserts and put the remaining dofu in three large ramekin dishes. That night, my mom, dad, and I ate one teacup each. My brother was at Sadies (really surprising!!!! it was his first dance) so he ate his the next morning.
The dofu was good. It was like sweet mango flavored jello, and the raspberries added a nice tang. The teacups I used had a strawberry print that went well with the dessert inside.

Suisha House: a Japanese Bistro

Friday night, our power went out, caused by the never ending rain we are having. So, we decided to go out! We went to see the movie Juno, hilariously funny (not redundantly repetitive). After the movie we ate at some random Japanese restaurant we saw. It was called Suisha House The ambiance was pleasant. My brother ordered unagi donburi (grilled eel over a bowl of rice), my dad ordered a three peice combo with tempura, mackerel, and nigiri sushi, my mother asked for teriyaki beef, and I decided to try the chicken udon (chicken soup in western terms).
When my udon arrived, I could feel the heat radiating from it. The steam was intense and I believe the temperature was just under a boil. Once the soup cooled down I was able to taste it. Oishii! that means delicious in Japanese! The broth was flavorful and warmed my tummy after the "journey" under the rain :) After drinking some of the broth, I tried to drag some flat rice noodles up using my chopsticks. This proved to be easier said than done. The noodles kept sliding back into the bowl! I ended up using my spoon and chopsticks together Italian-style to keep the noodles out long enough to cool them and eat them.
In my udon I also some pieces of chicken, but they must have given all their flavor to the broth because they were quite tasteless. With the udon came three pieces of crisp delightful gyoza (fried pork dumplings). Gyoza are usually good and these were no exception. Nothing better than well made comfort food!
I also had the salmon nigiri sushi from my dad's combo plate. The raw fish was soft and nutty with the slightly sweet and vinegary rice underneath. A delight! Everyone liked their food, except that my mother stated that the teriyaki was too sweet. (it always seems to be). When I didn't finish my udon (big bowl, remember) we passed it around the table because my entire family wanted some. My dad wanted to finish it, but my brother, my mother, and I kept asking for another spoonful. Funtastic!

Success! or, partially... Tamagoyaki (sweet rolled omelet)

I made 2 omelets, one was eaten last night, and the other this morning. In the one I made first, I accidentally put 1 tbsp of soy sauce instead of 1 tsp as was directed. I tried scooping some of it out , but it was impossible. So, I didn't put the pinch of salt that the recipe asked for. This first omelet tasted fine and was a success.
For the second omelet, I made sure to just put 1 tsp and a pinch of salt. When we ate this in the morning though, it tasted too salty and not at all like the ones you get in Japanese restaurants. Now I know that 1 tbsp of soy sauce is the better.
Both omelets had the same problem though, The recipe said not to let the eggs darken, but I found that impossible. Oh well.

Final recipe:
3 eggs
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp dashi broth
-1/4 tsp instant dashi powder
-1/2 cup hot water
-Mix, stir, and take 3 tbsp

Break the eggs into a bowl, mix in the other stuff.
Heat a small frying pan with a small amount of oil.
Pour a third of egg into it and let cook about a minute, lifting the edges to let uncooked egg flow underneath.
Pick up one edge w/ chopsticks or spatula and roll it
Repeat twice with remaining egg mixture, letting new egg flow underneath rolled part, and rolling from the rolled part (if that makes sense).

This is actually quite fun to do, once you get the hang of it.