bento by sick raqx

Its been a week since my last blog entry. As my current mood (turo sa gilid/point to the side) would give away, I’ve been terribly infested by viruses. Lots of it! I tried to make bento despite of but I just won’t trust my taste buds at this point in time. I also use a lot of olfactory when cooking, but that too is impaired. Therefore I will not blog how I did it. I’ll show some images though. I think even my digital camera is sick. Auto focus was bad.

Tuesday, November 20


herbed potato


honeyed pork


fried rice



Wednesday, November 21
Pardon the miserable photos carelessly taken because raqx is late to work again.


Pork and shrimp with basil


baked eggplant


I’m blogging this on a Thursday night and I just confirmed from my husband that our flight to SG will be on Friday which is..tomorrow!! Yay! We’ll be there for two days and then we’ll fly to Bangkok to meet up with mom-in-law. I better get packing!

I’ll end this post with a little jap humor that I haven’t noticed until Maui saw it on her paper bag where she (and we) brought the SLR. I guess they meant “just for you” modified it a little bit probably to be more unique and thoughtful.

rushed bento part 2

Bento Thursday, November 15

If late, be efficient.

Shepherds pie


I boiled potatoes and mashed it after it softens. Put a tsp. of butter and salt and set aside.
Stir fry ground beef and add about 2 tsp. rice wine and 2 tsp. soy sauce and season with salt and pepper. In a baking dish lay ground beef and mashed potato to make two layers. Then bake 170 degree Celcius for 20 minutes.

Garden fresh salad


While baking the shepherd’s pie I proceeded to tearing and cutting of vegetables for salad. Then I peeled the egg that was boiled with potatoes and put them all together. I used cheese, carrots, turnip, tomato, lettuce and one more leafy thing that’s a frequent find in jap market. I will id as soon as possible. Whip mayonnaise with ketchup and assemble in the bento box.

Cold cuts


These are just combination of hotdog, ham and a shrimp seasoned with salt and pepper. Kitchen saver!

Rice balls

I first lay saran wrap and sprinkle with nori and the other one with sesame seeds, put the rice, wrap and shape it. Both ready to go!

there goes our bento for the week! no bento last Friday, coz after 2 weeks of eating homecooked food we somehow missed eating out!

two days rushed bento part 1

I recounted the time I have to spend preparing a simple bento versus the time of making a bento with added “fun stuff” to sound a more appealing package. One hour for both. Considering the timeframe, I fancy to do the latter. So I have to wake up only one hour extra early to make not only his but my stomach turn giddy at lunchtime. The sleepyhead that I am who almost always leisurely avail my 5 minute snooze trip at least few days a week do oftentimes turn up late in my kitchen. And it happened again two days in a row.

Wednesday, November 14

This was what he had because I have to rush. I have no bento that day coz I was craving for seafood cup noodle.


Ground beef Szechuan


Easy and fast! Julienne onions, and red bell pepper, mince garlic and slice eggplant diagonally. Put them all together in a heated pan with oil, add ground beef and wait for the pink color to turn brown. Add oyster sauce and salt and pepper to taste.

Sausage wrap

We have some leftover pancakes from Tuesday’s bento so I reheat it and wrapped it on sausage and secured with toothpick.

Fill in spaces with mikan slices and shower the rice with shredded nori and let the entire pack cool down before placing the lid.

i was supposed to blog the Thursday bento too but decided against it because I'm running late again!!

His anniversary bento

13th will always be special in our hearts. While some people would be spooking over the number you can probably find us celebrating on this date. It was the 13th of February when we confirmed to ourselves that we’d finally be a couple, that we entered a commitment. Even as just boyfriends and girlfriends. I can’t speak for him but I was never noted to be good at commitments…until that day. *wink*

Thus another bento unfolds with a touch of my specialty. Pasta mia!


Baked Penne in tomato and cream

I set the pasta to boil while preparing for the sauce. Cut the ham or bacon into strips and upon hubby’s request add some shrimps, I used the market prepared mushroom so I don’t need to cut it anymore. And hmmm yeah that’s about it. In a heated pan stir fry the ham bits, shrimp and mushroom. Pour the contents of 400g can sliced tomato in tomato juice. Add 1 tbsp. tomato paste and a pinch of dried basil (fresh is always preferred) some salt and pepper to taste. Let simmer for 5 minutes in very low fire just so flavors would blend well. Then add 150g pack whipped cream. Adjust the taste with salt and pepper. Lay penne in a baking dish, pour the sauce and top with parmesan. Bake in 170 degree Celsius for twenty minutes.

Home made mcgriddle

Its one of our favorite breakfast at mcdonalds. Since its only available until 10 in the morning I prepared one for us to eat for lunch. So easy! Cook ready-to-make pancake, fry some round ham and egg, stack them together and that’s it!

Sausage onigiri

To fill up spaces both in hubby’s bento box and his stomach I added two onigiri. Just ball Jap rice and stuff sausage with mayonnaise in the middle. I sprinkled some shredded nori and some sesame seeds for additional color and flavor.

till tomorrow!

bento and more autumn in Tsukuba

Yesterday was my day-off. Monday, November 12.

I woke up few minutes past seven in the morning and I headed straight to my kitchen to prepare my hubby’s bento. I have no idea what to make. That morning was one of those rare times that I have to succumb to recipe books for aid. Hubby said he wants something salty and sinful. And I picked one which doesn’t quite match but I know he will like. Here is how his bento box looked yesterday.


Pork Humba (Pork stew)


Since I needed to make one only serving I have to divide the measurements to its smaller proportion. But of course I didn’t do that. I went directly to cutting the pork into strips, and combined it in a pan containing one clove of garlic crushed, one medium sized bay leaf torn to smaller bits, one pinch of dried oregano, two tbsp. soy sauce, six tbsp. vinegar, 5 tbsp. water, half tsp. brown sugar and one tbsp. peanuts. I set it to a very low fire and let simmer until all the liquids dried up and the flavor absorbed by meat.

Sotanghon Guisado ( Sautéed glass noodles)

It was the smallest amount I have ever cooked my entire life! I only cut about 25 grams sotanghon noodles and soaked it in hot water. In hot pan with oil I simply sautéed one baby prawn with shells removed, one octopus ball cut to quarters, two short string beans sliced thinly, carrots, brocolli and drizzle with lemon juice and season with salt and pepper to taste. I arranged the sotanghon underneath all vegetables and top it with shrimp to avoid the noodles from drying up.

The dilemma of giving in to the cravings of my brat is how not to compromise nutrition despite his food being sinful. So I tucked in some fruits for fiber and endlessly remind him to finish his vegetables.

And so my day went swiftly. I cleaned our house, do laundry because weather forecast said its gonna be sunny, arrange clothes in the drawer and of course a bright day merits a picture perfect moment. The wind was cold and its slowing down my bicycle so I parked under the dampness of a tall tree. Look whats right behind and above me..




Finally I have to attend to an English tutorial duty. It went okay and when I got back home I prepared dinner and came another time to think for the next o bento…

oh bento!

One of the Japanese practices that I learned is they prefer to do most of their personal stuff in the evening. Few examples are taking a bath, cleaning their house, laundry, and even preparing food for the next day. Unlike most Filipinos I know who do the same in the morning. This habit of theirs may be more convenient sometimes but it is difficult to breakaway from my own. Since I was here for almost a year I noticed that I do clean the house and do the laundry after work but I would still rather bath in the morning. Guess I am not an old dog who can’t learn new tricks after all. One more trick that I submit myself into is to prepare most of our food bento at night. It happened again last Thursday, November 8.



Grilled pork

This was what we ate for dinner the night before. I grilled an extra for hubby’s breakfast and bento. He initially had a semi-violent reaction why I didn’t use the marinade mix that we’ve been using ever since. I told him its home made and asked him to taste it first. The entire batch almost didn’t see the light of day.

The fresh pork was very generous in flavor. I only marinated it for about 10 minutes with lemon juice (commercial, not even freshly squeezed) salt and pepper, a little garlic powder and tsp. of soy sauce to give it some color. Set it on a grill and wait till both sides are done.

Ginisang Sayote (Sautéed chayote)


One of the filipino’s home table basics. I sautéed onion, garlic, red bell pepper, carrots, sayote to make it. We usually put shrimp at home but since I don’t have any in my fridge I used a little pork and add half a cube of shrimp cube instead. Put a little water, soy sauce and season with salt and pepper.

Stuffed green bell pepper

The stuffing I used were still the parent of the meat balls and burger patties in my previous post. I just stuff half of red bell pepper and bake it for 15 minutes. Then top it with cheese and bake again for 20 minutes. The cheese didn’t melt because its cheddar. Mozzarella is the best option but obviously missing in my kitchen. :)

Semi-ohm rice and plain rice
I used the concept of ohm rice to separate the rice with sabaw ng sayote (soup of sautéed chayote) and plain rice.

Sooo I scooped the half amount of rice that can fill his bento box and put sabaw in it and mix. Pour a beaten egg on a hot pan with oil and swirl the pan to create thin egg layer. Put the rice (with sabaw) and fold the sides of the egg. Easier said err typed than done. It wasn’t easy since egg was too fragile. It almost cracked open when I placed it in. Then I filled in the other half of the box with plain rice and sprinkled it with sesame seeds.

There was still a little space left so I just chuck in a halved snicker for our dessert.

If you come to this point without noticing that hubby used a different bento box (because he left it in his lab) you were not looking at details close enough. :P

No bento last Friday, November 9.. November..November! I edited the previous posts coz it says October! Darn I’m so behind time!!

oh bento!

Because of my uncooperative digicam that ran out of battery and me running late for work I only have limited shots of our lunchbox. This was what I packed that went with us last Wednesday, November 7.




Rice (topmost)

I cooked an extra the previous night and the morning bahaw (leftover rice) was just modestly topped with the almost empty purikake that’s been sitting on my cupboard.

Burger patties (bottom left)

It was just an encore of yesterday. I merely changed the shape this time. Cheese was still stuffed at the middle. Hubby requested for this because he claimed that he so loved the meatballs from yesterday *weee*. I spread some mayonnaise to break the dark color and it also tasted well with the patties.

Eggplant omelet (bottom middle)

I softened the eggplant buy passing it over through the fire until I can peel off the skin. This is a shortcut. I know I should have grilled the eggplant first like how my mama does it. Pour 1 beaten egg flatten and stuff a little bit of meat mixture (still the parent of meatballs and patties) before folding the sides, dash with salt, pepper and parmesan and fry. Because I was lazy, the egg burned so fast, the eggplant took its time to cook and meat inside cooked slower. Maybe I will try to bake it next time.

Vegetable appetizer

I cut a few piece from the broccoli head, carved some carrots (what was left from carving I placed in the ref) pinched some salt, pepper and parmesan with half a tsp. of butter and shove it inside a microwave. That’s it!

I cut some slack I know. Maybe the next bento will be better.

oh bento! ang pagbabalik

For few days now I have been spending more time in my kitchen than I usually do. And all we were having for dinner are home cooked meals! Some would be spilled for bento the following day although some were also made fresh. I wasn’t thinking of blogging our lunchboxes that’s why I don’t have all their pictures. But I realize that someday when my brain shunts to a different direction I can just do an encore of my husband’s obento. And always the better way to keep files tidy is to dump most of it online. Heehee!

Tuesday, November 6

You know when sometimes you have a little bit of everything and you don’t know what to do with it yet you don’t want to chuck it away in a bin? Plus by force of nature you are again procrastinating on some assignments? *wink* .This was the aftermath of that!

Fried Rice:

I sliced one sausage into bits and the same for the spinach. Heat the pan with oil. Put in the sausage until it brown and add the rice. I made a mixture of 1 tsp. tomato ketchup, 1 tsp. oyster sauce and 1tsp. of soy sauce and poured it on the rice. Season with salt and pepper then add spinach and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Meat balls:


I prepared the mixture night before and just ball and fry the following morning.
It was a combination of singkamas or yam bean, carrots, onion, garlic, leeks and ground beef all made into tiny pieces by my handy food processor. Oh its soooo helpful! I put in one egg and one bread slice to make it sticky and season with salt and pepper. Before frying I balled it with my hands and stuff a cheddar cheese inside for an extra surprise.

Spirelli as an appetizer

This one is so easy! I boiled the spirelli in cooking directions drizzle with olive oil sprinkle some tuna, chopped nuts and parmesan cheese and finish!!

Rolled scrambled egg

I only did this for purposes of presentation and color! Hehehe. Scramble one egg, season with salt and pepper put in a heated pan with little oil, spread thinly then roll and cut to pieces.

Excesses are good for hubby’s breakfast plate and I still have my usual green tea. Hmmm my dear friends who knows me from head to toe might find one of their eyebrow ceiling high.. but yeah…I’m having green tea and not coffee for some unknown reason.



ps. pictures not taken with my EOS kiss for a very frustrating reason.

better late than never..

Because its autumn and everybody who’s into this season seem to upload some one or two pictures then I’ll join in the bandwagon and post one or two myself (of course more on my flicker)


And because autumn falls on October and I haven’t uploaded any blog entry for a month I obliged myself to fill this space with my progress, frustrations, acquisitions, things I have done and more things I should do..

I initially vowed to study religiously and take an exam by spring 2008. The indicators I set however were blinking in red that I was so preoccupied (read: lazy) the entire month and I have decided to move taking the exam to fall of next year instead.

My Nihonggo lesson started October 2 and as far as speaking I’m okay. But I sucked big time at reading and much more at writing! My assignments are also piled up since I already missed one session because I have to attend a teachers meeting at Tokyo.

The beginning of October was also the beginning of more work since I landed as an art class instructor…a stint which towards the end of the month I gratefully handed down to the new caucasian teacher. It will still be my brainchild though. I will still design all crafts and art activities and the new guy has to do the demonstration. My plate is already full to accommodate another class. My hands have been numb from decorating our building that happened to be a one woman show. No complains coz I somehow enjoy doing and conceptualizing stuff. What better occasion can land on October calendar but the Halloween. So my class made these.. I’d probably blog how we did all these sometime. Unfortunately I don’t have photos of kids in action and some more of their projects. And oh! Our Halloween party at Planet Hollywood was a blast! I came as Snow white’s evil step mom.


Plus plus plus my hubby finally said yes to buy me an SLR! My precious Canon EOS 400D kiss so far has been my favorite frustration. Yeah its true. I’m totally learning on my own and nobody said its gonna be easy. I made very little progress and I don’t have the luxury of time to practice. Sadness! Some of the shots are already uploaded in my flickr.

To this point I have a pile of clothes to fold and assignments to furnish and more on my list that needed a check on the box next to it. I better get going. Belated HALLOWEEN!