Finally Summer!

It's officially been midsummer here these few days. It's tiring to do anything in my hot room. While, I keep on making bentos as usual. Here are some of the ones I made recently. By the way, I will be away from this blog for a while longer due to stuff to do. I hope that y'all are enjoying your summer if you are in the Northern Hemisphere!!

Ika Fry Bento

It's Omusubi Tuesday today! I made sesame omusubi, shoyu-koji pork saute and ika (squid) fry. I actually thought this morning that it was Monday today because yesterday was a holiday here. That's why these bentos only contain two kinds of okazu... I thought *today is Monday so I'm allowed to be lazy yay* haha! But I happened to make some omusubi for Yuppi's bento this morning. I hope to share varied ideas of my favorite omusubi (onigiri) fillings on every Tuesday in the future.

In the meantime, although it's not that I'm so busy, I will be taking a short break from blogging in order to clear up tons of chores. I will be back in a week or two, maybe with many bento pictures. I might overwhelm you, so prepare yourself!

Hotcake Bento and Sukiyaki Bento

It's *Flour Thursday* today so I made hotcakes (Japanese pancakes, not that which have to be hot) for bento. Since I didn't do any prep for a flour-thing-bento last night this one turned out too simple. Wish I had bought sausages and fruits... I whipped up some hotcakes and rustled up some grub from the fridge. Chicken tender tempura (leftover) dressed in sauce, cheddar cheese in foil, butter and a ketchup bottle for the hotcake (Yuppi like it with ketchup).






This one is literally a simple bento for *Simple Wednesday* yesterday. It's safe to say that *Donburi style* (rice topped with savory foods) is perfect for simple bentos. By the way, for those of you who have no idea what I mean -- Simple Wednesday, Flour Thursday things, check out the last post!

Tenmusu Bento

I announced the giveaway winner on the last post. The drawing went quite smoothly thanks to Pig chan's big help LOL! Again, a huge thanks to everybody who livened up the event! The giveaway closed, but the bento gallery is still open. Your bento pictures are always welcomed if you haven't joined it yet.

Today's bentos feature Tenmusu --- omusubi (onigiri) filled with shrimp tempura seasoned with tempura dipping sauce or salt. I love both, but made salted ones this time. I did a bit different thing from the normal method. You would first make shrimp tempura, but I just salted a bit and floured some shrimp instead of tempura-battering, and then shallow-fried them, it's lighter this way. You can dip your shrimp tempura in tempura sauce or men-tsuyu (Japanese noodle sauce) instead of salting. I say, both work well. Then you just make omusubi as usual with the seasoned shrimp tempura and nori. Tenmusu is one of my favorite omusubi (onigiri) variations!

In the meantime, pay attention, I fixed my daily bento activities as follows. I thought I had to take steps to get out of my bento rut. I'm actually considering putting Meatless day in there.
Lazy Monday
Omusubi Tuesday
Simple or free Wednesday
Flour Thursday
Cleaning (fridge) Friday
Wow this sounds kind of funny haha! But I don't care, I'm currently going with it. How long I can continue, we'll see.

Winner of 200th Post Giveaway

Ahem, I'm going to be announcing the winner today! Ah wait, before that, I have to show you guys how the winner got chosen. I said I'd draw one name out of a hat. Yeah out of a hat. I literally put the pieces of paper with the names of all those who had joined the giveaway *in a hat*, by the way, which is one of my favorite ones I put on all the time. But the picker is not me. Our little darling birdie drew the winner LOL!









Eeny, meeny, miny, moe...



Pig chan is biting one right now lol.



Wahahah! Here is the one he picked out!



Ta daahhhh! The luckiest person on the planet! Congratulations!!!


Ahhh I really really wish I could give all of you the prize. Strange, Priscilla, Burinsmith, Tatabonita, Gamene, Angelenteo, Mande, Ohayobento, Bentomonsters, Lizzie and Torng Horng. Thank you so much for joining the giveaway and sharing your lovely hearty bento pictures. All of you livened up this event. And thank you for giving me a lot of inspiration to keep bentoing. Amazingly enough, every single one of the bentos is the type of one I want to eat for real. I am so happy to have you awesome bento mates! Let's keep making real yummy bentos!

Burinsmith, once everything is ready I will email you and post up a picture of the surprise coming to you. It'll probably take some more time, so please stay excited until then!!

Chicken Tender Katsu Bento

It was terribly foggy this morning so these photos are also kind of foggy haha. Today's bentos contain leftover chicken tender katsu with tonkatsu sauce, leftover korokke (fried potato patty, croquette), tamagoyaki with umeboshi paste in it, mayo broccoli, and plum cuties for refreshment. The shape of plums and that kind of fruits is adorable isn't it? I love how they brighten up bentos. Tomorrow is Tanabata (star festival) here. I'm drawing one person from those who've joined the giveaway wheeee! I'm so thrilled right now. Happy Friday!!

Egg Shrimp Salad Bento

Today's bentos contain chicken saute with snap peas, satsuma-age (fried fish patties) and mushroom stir-fry, and egg shrimp salad. I couldn't get clear shots due to the weather. It was raining.






Today's hit is the egg shrimp salad! I tossed boiled-shrimp and cut shiokoji eggs together with some mayonaise, lemon juice and chaat Masala (an Indian handy condiment). It turned out a lovely spicy salad. I will definitely make it again for sammies.