Leftovers lunch box and snack box

Dinner leftovers of rice, thinly sliced store bought marinated pork, bok choy, fish paste stuffed peppers (peppers from my garden!). Top layer has vanilla yogurt, strawberries, bananas and granola. And of course, the yummy soy milk. Box made by my sister for her lunch.

Here’s the snack box I made for my self since all I do is bum around at home. Same yogurt and fruits. Other layer has baby carrots, homemade hummus (which tasted bad!), and mixed nuts with golden raisins. Yum.

Two bentos and Tempura Jalapeno Poppers

My sister and I made bentos for lunch today. She made one to bring to school and I made one for our younger brother. It took quite a while but it was fun. They came out quite pretty I think considering this was my sister’s first time making a bento box.

My sister’s box:
Contents: bottom has ham and cheese flying pig on bed of rice and cucumber and carrot garden; top has dried cranberries, plum slices, cucumbers, chicken strips and a piece of chocolate.

Here’s the one I made for my brother.
Contents: bottom has two mushroom caps with cheese, dried pork tamagoyaki (i make it with soba sauce and sweet soy sauce), and chunks of cucumber; top has cubes of colored and plain rice, ham, cucumber and carrot sticks.

Close up:

I went to the Sunrise Mart in Soho for the first time today. Sunrise Mart sold tons of Japanese groceries, snacks, drinks, cookware, bento boxes, prepared sushi and bento boxes to eat in store or for take out. It was great, the prices were cheap but they were reasonable. They even had prepackaged onigiri in different flavors for only $2 a piece! I highly recommend a visit. Check them out on yelp.com here.

So after having some spicy tuna sushi and a strawberry Calpico yogurt drink with a good friend of mine, I walked around and bought a tempura batter mix and panko (Japanese bread crumbs). I knew there were several jalapenos in my pot-garden that were ready to be eaten. So I went home and made jalapeno poppers – tempura style.

There are two eggplants in there because I had extra batter left.

I didn’t measure anything but here’s what I did. I cut four large jalapenos in half after removing the stems and removed all the seeds and membranes with my BARE fingers. Unfortunately, I forgot this fact and touched my eye for the briefest of moments. Instantly I felt like my eye was on fire. My stupidity didn’t end there because while tearing up in pain, I removed my contact with my fingers instead of asking someone else to do it. This resulted in 100 times more stinging and pain. I had to stand with my eye pride open under running water for almost 15 minutes before it stopped burning. So this serves a warning to you.

Anyways, after that scenario, I mixed together about 4 tbsp cream cheese, 1/4 cup of shredded cheddar jack cheese, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp onion powder and a dash of salt. I filled the jalapeno halves with this cheesy mixture, dipped them in the tempura batter made from the mix, dredged them in panko and then fried them in oil until golden brown. I probably will make this again soon, maybe with different fillings. It was really good.

Summer garden

Some plants I’m growing this summer in my shared driveway. Not actually a garden.. they’re all in pots.

Tomato! I forgot what type but they’re small ones. Not rip yet.

Two pepper plants. The one on the left is sweet bell pepper and the one on the right is jalapeno. My mom managed to sneak in a taro plant in the middle (that big leaf) but it’s not going to grow. Taro is a root and would need tons more soil than that. Hopefully it won’t affect my peppers though it’s probably stealing nutrients. =/

The rest of the peppers and one tomato hidden back there. Basil on the right hand side. Smells so good. Too squished so they’re not growing well but the jalapenos are pretty big.

Rosemary and some old scallions in the background.