Cooking and Bento

I think a few entries back I talked about cooking. Well, I’m going to talk about it some more, so I hope you have a snack in hand!

The first year I ever lived alone I dropped a significant amount of weight. Most of it problem had to do with the fact that I was a broke exchange student who could barely afford to buy the mushy head of cabbage on sale, but a lot of it also was because I had no idea what I was doing. Some of my more notorious lunches at home in San Diego consisted of an entire box of Mac N’ Cheese, or baby carrots with peanut butter and Poptarts, or a whole can of Bush’s Baked Beans-I want my retroactively throttle myself too. Suffice to say, my year abroad taught me how to cook on a budget. A very tight budget.

Now that I actually have a salary, I’m a bit more lax about paying extra for good produce (except the $30 watermelons), and since New Year I have made a conscious effort to up the ante on my diet.

I’m proud to say that my meat consumption has dropped, I seldom eat any sort of refined or processed foods, and sugary snacks are a thing of the past. Occasionally I DO get a craving, and I will usually go with it. Thing is, my body feels better for it. I also haven’t gotten sick nearly as often as I did in the years past, despite working with diseased teenagers.

Last week, while perusing a department store’s going out of business sale, I decided to treat myself to a new bento box (They wanted $19, I got it for $11!). I have since used it every day to pack myself a yummy, healthy lunch that is devoid of the fried, greasy and mayonnaise laden foods typically found in my school’s purchaseable lunch order.

This is shrimp, so not meatless. It was an unusual bento day.

 Cooking in a Japanese kitchen is not without its challenges; I have approximately 2 square feet of countertop. It’s just big enough to put a cutting board on. I have 2 gas burners, one of which is designed to turn itself off if it thinks you are cooking too long. Cookies, cakes, brownies and all things baked are done in my convection oven that doubles as a microwave. I didn’t have a toaster until recently, so all toasting was carried out by the fish broiler. My crockpot has been a godsend (Thanks, mom!) and I used it a lot this winter for all sorts of things. 

Oh, remember what I said about meat? I meant it when I said I consumed less, although that’s also because the cuts of meat available here are pretty limited. No turkey, and no lamb. It’s a cruel world. Tons of pork, however I’m not a huge fan of pork, and beef is extortionate. What’s an omnivore to do?

My roommate and I decided to make an order with “The Meat Guy”, an online English meat seller. They are a bit pricey, but the quality and selection is fantastic. We ordered a 3kg (6 lbs) “Mystery Box” and crossed our fingers.

I was pleasantly surprised! There was only 1 item that I think may have to be given away-and that was beef tendon. Unless…anyone have ideas for cooking tendon? The rest of the stuff was exciting: beef tongue, 6 pork chops, 2 kinds of sausage meat, 3 all-beef sausage links, a rack of spare ribs, a crocodile leg, ground camel, and ground kangaroo.

No one sells buns either, so we made do with a baguette.

What to do with Roo? Simple. Meatloaf, my dear friends! Oh my, were we the talk of the staff room when we brought that in! And then we made some Roo burgers to finish it off. Yum yum!