Bento! #91: Cafeteria 'buffet' food - Hamu Katsu to Chikin Tatsuta

Whoa, was this expensive. Hamu katsu = ハムカツ = Ham cutlets. I just found out that Katsu is indeed short for katsuretsu. Chikin tatsuta = チキン竜田 = Japanese tatsuta-style fried chicken. I also had some spinach (hourensou; ほうれん草), cherry tomatoes, and that rice balls and sweet bean paste dessert thing again. This time, I also had 中華汁 / chuukashiru / Chinese-style soup, which had egg, seaweed (not the same as the nori in sushi), and a non-miso-based broth. This was all rather expensive at around 539 yen, I think because it had too much meat.

Bento! #90: Yasai Tappuri Tonkotsu Raamen

This one is 483 yen at the cafeteria. 420 yen for a regular size,
plus 63 yen to go 大盛り (oomori), or to "up-size" it.

The whole thing means "ramen/Chinese-style noodles in boiled pork bones soup topped with plenty of vegetables." Yasai = 野菜 = vegetables. Tappuri = たっぷり = plenty, full of. Tonkotsu = とんこつ = broth/soup made by boiling pork bones for a long period of time. Raamen = ラーメン = ramen. The Chinese-style soup spoon, by the way, is called レンゲ (renge), if I remember correctly.

Bento! #89: Cafeteria food - Syake Tatsuta

This is totally 439 yen. The rice is around 150 yen, and the miso soup is 31 yen.  Syake is Nihongo for salmon. Tatsuta  - oh check out my earlier posts. :D  I also got this new kind of dessert they have, which has some rice cake balls and sweet red bean paste. By the way, I took this photo already halfway into my meal - sorry about that!

These are the prices at the "buffet" cafeteria. For the soup (choice of miso or Chinese-style soup), 31 yen per cup. For the rice, 50 yen per 100g. For everything else (the "buffet" part), it's 140 yen per 100g. At the top, the "ビュッフェ　コーナー" or "byuffee koonaa" - buffet corner.

Bento! #88: Natto Teishoku

I previously talked about a rather Western-infused breakfast I had at Yayoiken, but this time, I had the chance to try their more traditional Japanese-style breakfast. This one is "ナット定食" which roughly translates to fermented soy bean set meal. This one's a very high protein-laced breakfast with "nama tamago" or raw egg, and four kinds of soy-based products: miso soup, the natto, tofu, and well, the soy sauce which I used for dipping the nori (seaweed). I wanted to call it the fourfecta of soy, but well, there's no such word. Plus, there's no edamame (the soy beans themselves, ready-to-eat) so it's not really a complete picture of the soy family in Japanese cuisine. Anyway, together with the all-you-can-eat rice, this is all just 350 yen and it was a yummy breakfast. I guess officially I now have acquired taste for natto; this is the most I've had in one sitting! What's best though was that this meal was free, thanks to my friend, Rei. ごちそうさまでした！

Bento! #87: Saba Tatsuta Don

Or "サバ竜田丼". Saba = mackerel. It is not usually written in katakana, though. Saba tatsuta = fried mackerel. I previously blogged about "Chikin tatsuta don," which is essentially the same as this one, which uses chikin (chicken) instead. Tatsuta seems to mean that the fried item is flat and closer to a square shape than, say, kakiage (flat but circular shape) or karaage (closer to a ball shape). Don = oh you know what that means already. The other difference between this and the chikin tatsuta don that I previously tried is that this comes with egg and some lettuce where as the chikin one only comes with negi or (spring) onions. I also expected this to be boneless - not the case. It wasn't too much though, so I'd order this again next time. Plus it's only 409 yen with "L" size rice (eru saizu raisu). With the miso soup, this is all just 440 yen. Yummy.

Bento! #86: Ika Kakiage Don

Thanks to Okada-san for taking this photo!

Or "イカかき揚げ丼" in Japanese. Ika = squid, although it is not usually written in katakana. Kakiage = a round, flat kind of tempura made from vegetable strips (usually carrots, potatoes, onions, etc.), usually with shrimp instead of squid. It is similar to the Filipino "okoy." The age part, is similar to that in karaage (Japanese-style fried chicken). Don = short for donburi, bowl and in this case, a bowl of rice. With "L" size rice, this is just 409 yen. But as you might guess, it's not very heavy. So I had spinach, cherry tomatoes, and fried potato wedges from the salad bar to go with it. It's all delicious, nonetheless.

Chokoreeto! #1 and #2: Bourbon Almondrush + Glico Almond Peak

To start the new month, I'm starting a new series on the Japan! Japan! blog, and it's called "Chokoreeto" which is essentially Japanese for "chocolate." I'm not sure if I can sustain this series though, because I have to cut down on beans (including soy-based products and food extenders) and legumes (peas, etc.) and peanuts - but I'm not quite sure yet if I should likewise cut down on other kinds of nuts because they're not on this list of things that I should best avoid.

Anyways, here's a couple I picked up this week from the grocery, and well, they're two kinds with almonds. I usually get macadamia nut chocolates but those weren't available so, here we are. I usually take chocolates as an energy booster or a hunger buster in the morning for breakfast, late in the evening hours after dinner, or in-between meals. There is a huge selection of chocolates here in Japan - ever heard of Wasabi Kit-Kats and their many other variants? And some of the chocolates are only limited edition or seasonal. These two appear new to me, or at least their packaging seem to be new.

Bourbon (brand) Almondrush / ブルボン アーモンドラッシュ / burubon aamondo rasshu (above) and Glico (brand) Almond Peak (below).

Bento! #85: Burger King's Fresh Avocado Whopper

I'm lovin' it. :D

Actually, I went to BK and didn't notice that they have this new whopper burger that uses black bread, made from squid ink and some, I think, green tea "charcoal" or something like that. I'll try it out next time. By the way, in Japanese, this is フレッシュアボカードワッパー, "furesshu abokaado wappaa."

Bento! #84 - Yuzukoshou Hanbaagu

Or "Yuzukoshou Burger." With "M" size rice, this is only 399 yen from the school cafeteria. According to Wikipedia,

Yuzukoshō (柚子胡椒?, also yuzugoshō) is a type of Japanese seasoning. It is a paste made from chili peppers, yuzu peel and salt, which is then allowed to ferment.[1] It is usually used as a condiment for nabemono dishes, miso soup, and sashimi. The most famous types of yuzukoshō come from Kyushu, where it is a local specialty.

Yuzu is by the way a kind of citrus fruit found in East Asia. According to me:

Yuzukoshō Burger is sweet, sour, and yummy.

Also, this one had a rather huge, larger-than-usual burger patty. It's not 100% beef though, of course. It came with some lettuce and a cherry tomato. I dressed the lettuce with some Italian Dressing which I think complemented the Yuzukoshou sauce quite well.

Speaking of beef, I think I might have said in previous posts that the Pawaa Don (Power Rice Bowl) is like gyuudon (beef rice bowl) with egg. It actually contains pork, not beef.

Bento! #83 - Negi Shio Karaage Don

Or ネギ塩唐揚げ丼 in Kanji. My first Japanese meal back in Japan. Negi = onions, but more specifically, spring onions / green onions / leeks. Shio = salt. Karaage = Japanese-style fried chicken bits. Don = short for donburi, or bowl, where in this case it signifies that this is a rice bowl meal with topping (i.e. the chicken). For "L" size rice, this is 441 yen at the school cafeteria. And it was delish.

By the way, I just decided to merge my "Bento" and "Bento Breaktime" series into one "Bento!" series, and thus we are now at series number 83. Makes for easier blog posting. :D  Let's get fatter in Japan again, shall we? Hehe. :-)

MNL-NRT food

I took Philippine Airlines this time on my way back to Japan. Usually if it's a trip to/from Japan, one of the choices is a Japanese dish. Like at least on the Cathay Pacific flight from Haneda, there was at least the cold soba noodles which was a Japanese thing. The food served on this trip though was far from being Japanese. Nonetheless, it wasn't bad. I guess it's good, too, that Japanese taking this flight going home would have one last shot at the Filipino flavor.

HND-HKG in-flight views and food

We're about to take off!

R Burger

R Burger. Two things I love. "R." and Burgers.
I ate here already once or twice already,
but not this time around. R Burger is not
commonplace around Tokyo, at least; I think
it might be just a Haneda International Airport
thing.

Haneda Airport International Terminal

I'm back!

So I left Japan last September 9 to go on a holiday in my home country, the Philippines, and I promised I would blog about the Japanese food there. Well, oops. I didn't have time. It's because the reason why I went on a holiday there was actually to meet my very first, newborn son for the very first time. I was actually a week too late already but at least I got to spend time with him on his 2nd and 3rd weeks on earth. And man, if you're a parent, you know what those first few weeks entail. But, it was all good.

So anyways, I do have a few things to blog about, with some related to food in Japan. This first one is all about the Haneda (Tokyo International) Airport International Terminal from where I took off. I have lots of pictures. Check 'em all out below.

RocketNews24

Speaking of RocketNews24, their website contains a ton of English language articles that is all about Japan. Well, and the rest of East Asia. Check it out; it's a website I'd include on my "Welcome to Japan" list of articles for all of you new to Japan or looking to learn more about Japan and her culture. Check the articles out at the URL http://en.rocketnews24.com/category/japan. Or for all about East Asia (including China, Taiwan, and Korea), check out their main English site at http://en.rocketnews24.com.

A different kind of charity event... only in Japan?

First question: Is this for real? I read about this event via this article on RocketNews24, which you should probably read first, too. I also haven't heard about "oppai momi" pubs until I read this news article...

Thanks to my friend who shared this link with me! ;-)

Bento #49: Bunch of fried stuff bento

Alright. This is my last bento before I go pay a visit to my motherland. I've long tried to avoid bento with salmon, because I've had bad experience with them. I think it's only if you get unlucky and get one that's been out there on the konbini display shelves for a while already, and the salmon tastes a bit fishy/oily. But also because the salmon still has bones! Like this one did. But thankfully, it wasn't fishy/oily at all. Otherwise, I love salmon. This is another packed one. You can see the rice has been "sliced" into 10 rolls, sprinkled with black sesame seed, and topped with "divine protection" in the form of a plum. There's the salmon - baked, maybe? And an ebi (shrimp) tempura. There's an okonomiyaki-like deep-fried thing. Half a weiner. A small pork hamburger patty. Rolled egg. Lotus roots and carrots salad, and some seaweeds on the side. Only 398 yen! From 3F; where else. The quantity was not enough, though, so actually I got me a bowl of pasta to complement this meal. :)

Anyway, like I said, while on a 2-week hiatus in my home country, I hope to visit some Japanese or Japanese-themed restaurants back there and post my "bento" from those joints. Meanwhile, check out the rest of The Japan! Japan! Blog. I was here for 2 months in 2005, so I have stuff written during that time. I came back here in 2010, from whence I started blogging yet again. Until next time, I'll see you guys around.

Bento #48: Egg and chicken and egg rice bowl

480 yen from 3F. One egg is sunny-side-up-like, and one is scrambled. And, talk about magic. You're looking around for which bento to eat. You see the bowl and you see, wow, this is a lot for 480 yen! But actually the egg+egg+chicken is separated from the rice. When you pour them over the rice, it fills just half (or less) of the bowl. Wow. Anyways, this "donburi" (rice bowl) bento comes with some spices, and at least a leaf of some veggie.

Bento #47: Trifecta of Kansai-area goodness

Okonomiyaki (Japanese-style pancakes), Takoyaki (Octopus balls) and Yakisoba (Japanese style fried/grilled soba noodles). 398 yen from 3F. Yum. There's 3 pieces of takoyaki. In the Philippines, some "takoyaki" shops don't actually have any tako (or they say they do but…). The yakisoba doesn't have the usual stuff with it (usually cabbage, carrots, and some meat), though it does come with pickled ginger as usual (the pink stuff on the lower right of the photo). The okonomiyaki is a simple, cabbage-only one as well, I think, and enough mayo and okonomi sauce. Okonomiyaki, by the way, means something like "grilled anything-that-comes-to-mind." "Yaki" means grilled, but in many cases, they just use a teppan grill; i.e. a big flat heated pan on which often they'd put oil - so in that sense it's really fried. Yakitori and yakiniku (barbecue chicken, and barbecue in general) though are usually charcoal-grilled. Oh, and these three things, as I mentioned come from the Kansai region of Japan (Kobe, Osaka, Kyoto, etc.).

Bento BreakTime #35: Pork cutlets with Nagoya-style miso sauce

The cafeteria is open again starting this week, after their summer vacation ("natsu yasumi") hayatus. Which only means more food for less. This one's only 441 yen (but almost 1000 calories) from the cafeteria, with "L"-size rice. It's called "Nagoya miso katsu" in Japanese. Comes with shredded kyabetsu (cabbage) which I dressed with my favorite, Italian dressing (though I really like it better with lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, croutons, some onions, i.e. the usual salad veggies). By the way, I should mention that at the cafeteria, when you order "large" rice, you just say "Raisu, eru-saizu." For "medium" and "small" and "super small" rice, you say "emu," "esu," "esu-esu" instead of "eru." Say all that out loud and you'll know why if you haven't yet guessed.

Bento #46: Another kind of katsudon

Sorry for the blurry photo!

This is probably the fifth type of katsudon I've blogged about already, but this one's "new," as you can see. The main difference I think between this and earlier ones are the use of pickled plums (as well as plum-colored pickled radish). Yummy and interesting and expensive, as usual. 498 yen from 3F.

Toyota Auris 30-second TV Commercial

Careful with ogling skinny young women in Japan.



Thanks to my buddy SG for sharing this link!

Bento BreakTime #34: "Umai Karaage" and "Hashudo Poteto"

I almost forgot to take a photo of this one, and when I did,
it turned out blurry!

Tasty fried chicken balls and hashed brown. 105+80 yen from 3F. Nice. I ordered these to complement my not-so-heavy main bento. There are four pieces of the fried chicken balls but I already finished one before taking a photo! :D

Bento #45: "Ebi mayo daburu chiizu sarada"

For my main course tonight, I had something that I've already shown you before - this pork barbecue rice topping thing pictured on the left above. To complement it, I tried one of the new salad offerings at 3F (which is expensive at just over 300 yen). But it's probably a complete meal already for others. Its name translates to "Shrimp mayo double cheese salad." And that's what it is. Cheese balls, with shrimp in sweet mayo sauce (mixed with a little ketchup?) topped with some parmesan cheese, and cabbage and lettuce, with a sour/vinegar-based dressing. It was a very interesting combination of tastes; I liked it. But I wouldn't get this again just because it is just too expensive being within a 100 yen less than the price of my main course (which was at 398 yen).

Bento #44: Demi Omu Raisu

That's the Japanese short form for "Rice topped with omelette and demi-glazed sauce." I've told you already before about how the Japanese like demi-glaze sauce. And here again, as you can see, they serve this with spoon, and I think to them this is not Japanese food. To me though, it has the kind of taste that you can only find in Japan. It was a little bit sweet. It was nice, but I never liked the idea of eating "omu raisu" without any other fried meat (like hotdogs, bacon, ham, corned beef which they call as hashed beef or "hashudo biifu" here, or Spam) to go with it. But again, I'm just glad I've tried it once. It is an expensive 498 yen bento though from 3F. As you can see there are some herbs sprinkled on the omelette, plus inside there are bits of mushrooms or lotus roots, and one very tiny bit of meat. The rice is also flavored; it was a little bit orange-reddish.

With this for dinner, and the shrimp-asparagus spaghetti for lunch, I almost had a no-meat day today (if you don't count the shrimp and the eggs as meat). I guess that's great. But let's see how hungry I will be by around 11:00pm tonight.

Bento #43: Spaghetti with Shrimp & Asparagus

Or in Japanese, "ebi to asuparagasu pasuta." 450 yen from 3F. Not great but it's not bad. As you can see, since this is not Japanese food to the Japanese, they serve it with fork. It is "pasuta" (pasta / spaghetti) after all. To my (limited) knowledge, I see this and it looks and tastes nothing at all like Italian or "Western-style" pasta and what not, and is to me more like Japanese food. There's also some cabbage and bell peppers in there. Wouldn't have this ever again, though I'm glad I tried it.

Bento #42: Beef & Mushroom (Japanese-style) Curry

This is a new, special/seasonal dish; 450 yen from 3F. My Japanese friend says this is (almost) the typical/standard Japanese-style curry. There's small beef bits in there, and lots of mushrooms, and potatoes and carrots and pickled radish, of course, which probably make a Japanese-style curry standard. Overall, I liked it, except maybe for the price tag. As usual, they give you a spoon although technically you can eat this with chopsticks because the rice is Japanese sticky rice.

Bento #41: some seafood spaghetti

430 yen from 3F. The seafood is only actually some mussel (shellfish) meat, as you might observe. I knew it wasn't going to be enough so I got me again a chicken stick (120 yen). I just found out that the chicken stick is not one solid cylindrical stick of chicken. It's actually a hollow cylindrical "tube" with mayo in the vacuum. Still, not bad for 120 yen, I think. In the spaghetti, there are some chopped chilis, and the sauce might be considered a white sauce but not really cream-based, and more likely (olive?) oil-based. I am not sure though if this is a "wafuu pasuta" (和風 or Wafu Pasta, where wafu stands for Japanese-style), but it didn't say "wafuu" on the label. "Fuu" (風) means style in this context, but it is the same sound and symbol for wind in some contexts, like "fuudo" (wind tunnel), although it might be pronounced "kaze" in other contexts where it is meant to be used as wind, like "kaze kougaku" (wind engineering). And as I've told you before, they rarely call spaghetti as supageetii; instead they more often call them just simply pasuta (pasta).

Bento #40: "Mikusu Furai Bento"

If you read that out loud, that would sound like "mix fry bento." But "mikusu" could also mean "mixed," in the same way that here, they would say "furuttsu" that means "fruits" or "fruit." Anyways, it's rice with some herbs, with spaghetti with red sauce as a garnish, and deep-fried breaded mackerel fish, ebi (shrimp), chicken, and ham+cheese, topped with tartar sauce (for the seafood) and some sweet tonkatsu sauce (for the chicken and ham). This is a special/seasonal/limited-time bento offering at 3F for 530 yen.

Thanks for Visiting!

There's still about 4 days to go in August, but the Japan! Japan! blog's number of pageviews has already exceeded that of last month's. As you can see in the graph above, it's my second record month in a row. And for the past 30 days, I have had almost close to 2000 pageviews, making my total pageviews for this blog just recently pass my previously number one engineering blog.

I should make a special shout out to our visitors through The Japan Blog List (JBL), which at this point is already the blog's second best source of traffic. And that is considering I applied to be included in the list just a month ago, I think. In that sense, I guess JBL is definitely a good resource for all of you new to Japan or interested to read up about Japan-centric stuff.

At third place, of course there's the Japan Blog Directory, also a very useful resource for those new to Japan, which started all this big jump in my pageviews.

Of course, my shift in topic to mostly about food and my extensive use of photos, and also having a presence on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus has all helped, but it is all nothing without your patronage and frequent revisits.

So, once again, DOUMO ARIGATOU GOZAIMASU!

Bento BreakTime #32 and #33: Sunday dinner

I saw these frankfurters at the supermarket and could not resist.
88 yen each piece. I got a "smoked" one, and a smoked
and spicy one. There was a "non-smoked" version but it didn't
look appealing. The spicy one is really on the spicy side - you
can see red juice come out of the inside, as if they infused
it with Tabasco sauce (which I like, by the way). Overall, the
smoked franks ("sumooku furanku") are yummy, but surprisingly their
skin was crunchy like weiners. Together with two packs of 200g
instant rice, and some lettuce with ceasar dressing, parmesan
cheese, and some black pepper sprinkles, it was a very good
meal, all for just under 400 yen.

I like ice cream especially when it's hot and I saw these.
I can read "ichigo shibure," but it's just "ichigo"
that I understand - strawberry, and it's quite obvious from
the color of the packaging. But what I didn't know is that
this isn't ice cream. It's (strawberry-)flavored shaved ice,
with a cream topping (that if stored in the freezer would
become like ice cream). Not what I expected. It was also
a little bit on the too sweet side. 390 yen for a 6 pack. I
wouldn't buy these again.

Learning Japanese

This blogger/poet started studying Nihongo and he started following The Japan! Japan! Blog and other blogs, and apparently he wrote a few articles for Nihongo Ichiban on the topic of "A newbie's journey through Japanese." He lists those articles on his blog, which is at this link:

A newbie's journey through Japanese: The very small archive

He talked about why he started to study Japanese and why he thinks it's important to learn how to read Hiragana and Katakana and not just rely on the Romaji all over the place nowadays in Japan. And finally he lists some podcasts that he listens to that have helped him improve his fluency in the language.

Nihongo Ichiban, by the way, is a good resource for learning Japanese.

Bento BreakTime #31: "Italian Burger" at Dom-Dom

Hey look, it's a larger-than-usual-in-Japan
Coke tumbler! They call it "MEGA" size.
You add 30 yen to upgrade your "S" size
drink in your set meal to "L" size, but
for just 20 yen more, you can get the
"MEGA" size.

But hey, look! They care about you. They
don't fill the tumbler to the brim because
they know Coke is bad for you. :P
And they even put enough ice there for you
because Coke is just better ice cold, right?
Well, this is also almost always the case
too in the Philippines and maybe
in the whole of Asia so, it's not really
shocking to me.

I ordered Karaage (Japanese-style fried chicken, but this one
is not so much J-style and it's more like the BK Tenders)
again, but this time I tried the tartar sauce, which was way
better than the mayo-teriyaki sauce I got previously.

This is the Italian Burger ("Itarian Baagaa"). It was delish.
Lots of lettuce, a small patty - that I just found out they use
100% beef - and this tomato-based sauce that was just
so appealing to my palate (I like tomato-based "red"
pasta sauces more than the "white" creamy sauces).

The basic set meal was 540 yen, but together
with the karaage and MEGA upgrade, it
all cost me 880 yen. Yikes!
But it was yummy. :D

Bento BreakTime #30: Burger King Japan's Buffalo Chicken Sandwich and Chicken Tenders

Before the fries came.

Midway through the sandwich (and fries).

Or "baffaro- chikin sando." Got an "L" upgrade to the sandwich "setto" (set meal), plus the 200 yen chicken tenders, this was a whopping 990 yen but overall a really good meal. I got barbecue sauce with the chicken tenders. Overall, I like the BK Tenders better than Mickey D's McNuggets. The sandwich's sauce was great, but it just felt more like a spicy garlic-cream sauce, but then that's probably what "buffalo chicken" should really be. In the sandwich, there's bell peppers, lettuce, tomatoes, and cheeeeeze as well.

Bento #39: Jaa-jaa-men

Sorry, no, Jar Jar Binks is not one of the Jaa-Jaa-Men. "Men" basically means (Chinese-style) noodles, as in ra-men (which I think is lo-mien in Chinese). And this is precisely just that. The noodles though feel almost like spaghetti. And in the end, it looks like spaghetti with meat sauce. Except it's not a tomato-based meat sauce; instead I would call it an Asian-style meat sauce. There was also some mushrooms (presumably as a filler that brings overall costs and calories down), and maybe the sauce was made primarily using soy sauce. While it may be labelled as "Japanese-syle" Chinese food, it doesn't exactly taste like Chinese nor Japanese to me. It really felt more like spaghetti. More like Asian-fusion spaghetti. As you can see it comes with a piece of "chingensai" which is similar to pechay in Tagalog/Filipino, or bokchoi or pakchai in Chinese, some bean sprouts, and some peppers. This jaa-jaa-men is only 398 yen, but I knew it wouldn't be enough so I ate it with one of my favorite yakitori from 3F, the 130 yen chikin sanzuku yaki. Lastly, note that when you buy this thing, the veggies are separated from the sauce and the noodles by a thin plastic film, and the sauce is not yet mixed with the noodles. Overall it was a good meal, but I don't think I'll enjoy the noodle bento so much by itself, although it's not bad by itself. It is just really better with more meat, particularly grilled meat. But then, maybe everything is better with grilled meat. :D

Announcement - The Japan! Japan! Blog

By the way, I just wanted to report that for a week I was in the Philippines where my internet connection was probably 100 times slower than here in Japan, and well, I didn't really had the chance to have Japanese bento to take photos of. And of course I enjoyed all the Filipino food I had during my one week vacation business trip to Manila. That explains why I didn't have any posts for about a week last week. In September, I'll be out of town again (back in Manila) for a personal visit and I hope to be able to visit some Japanese (or Japanese-themed) restaurants in Manila then, and upload photos of the bento there. But there's just that chance I'll have a two-week absence from regular blog posting in September.

At the same time, I've become quite busy yet again with tons of work and backlog that I need to attend to. I am scheduled to graduate in March and well it would really suck if I have to delay my graduation, even if that would probably mean more Japan! Japan! blog articles for you all.

And lastly, I should rant about Blogger having troubles with their post-by-email service. When I started posting photos of my bento meals, I had the convenience of being able to blog directly from my phone which I use to take photos of the bento. But in the past two or three weeks, that was not possible anymore and so it becomes a little bit more difficult to post new bento articles as soon as I can gobble them up. Add to that again, that I have become quite busy yet again.

Nonetheless, here's to more bento photos at least in the next couple of weeks!

Bento #38: Kodawari something-something Yaki Bento

It's basically a few fairly large slabs of pork barbecue with some sauce, string beans and corn on the side, and rice sprinkled with black sesame seeds and topped with a piece of "protective" plum. I can't read all the kanji in the label but yeah this one's kind of really expensive at 530 yen. It's a special, limited availability bento from 3F though, so I just had to have it.

Bento BreakTime #29: Jushii Chikin Mafin

I had bento one time and I was hungrier than usual so I got a "Juicy Chicken Muffin" to top up my bottomless stomach. It's quite good. I think this was 130 yen from 3F. Or maybe 150 yen. Not bad at all.

(Note: Updated because I remember this is called called juicy chicken muffin, not sandwich.)

Bento #37: Chicken in onion sauce bento

Actually, I wasn't able to jot down the exact name of this bento meal, but as you can see it is generally (Japanese-style) Chinese food. One piece of shuumai (dumpling), half a spring roll (with vermicelli noodles and apparently something like potato inside), the main chicken dish with lots of spring onions and light sauce, rice with some sprinkling of some green veggie, and vermicelli-carrots-mushroom-corn side salad. Notice there's some sort of sauce (little bit sweet) on the shuumai and spring roll. If I'm not mistaken, this was 498 yen from 3F. Quite good, not the best, but interesting nonetheless.

Bento BreakTime #28: K, F, C, fye, nuh, lee

After so many months of craving for real KFC chicken, I finally had the chance. I was on my way to a 1pm mass in Church and I was early enough to Honatsugi so I had lunch first. I ordered a "BOX" set, which comes with a drink, fries, a chicken sandwich, and a leg part. I upgraded the drink to "L" size, and this cost me a hole in my pocket: 900 yen. Note that here in rice-loving Japan, they don't have rice on the regular menu (as they do in the Philippines and probably other Asian countries). KFC, by the way, is known as "Kentakkii Furaido Chikin" or simply "Kentakkii" in Japan.

Awesome Bento Art Photos

Speaking of bento, check out this image gallery on Yahoo!:

Awesome Bento Art Photos

Thanks to RB for sharing this link!

Bento BreakTime #27: JAL food (Tokyo-Manila and Manila-Tokyo legs)

Haagen-Dazs vanilla for dessert!

Beef in "egg yolk sauce." Yummy.

There's cold soba with some noodle sauSe. Green mango salad and fresh fruits. Yum. Haagen-Dazs vanilla again for dessert. Yum.

A chicken dish that is more like a Chinese dish.