Bento Making 101

One of the many transitions I made when I came to college was my diet. After leaving the comfort of my Arizona kitchen and being transplanted to Seattle, I suddenly was left without an area to make my own meals. This spurred the opportunity to explore numerous different types of cuisines. One of the first local specialities I came across was the Thai food restaurant- Thaiger Room- on the Ave. Never before had I sampled Phad Thai, but it was love at first bite.

Next I became enthralled by sushi, which I assumed to be the entirity of Japanese cuisine. I started out slow with some avocado rolls from QFC. I have always been a bit apprehensive about eating seafood- especially raw seafood- because I hail from Phoenix, land of no water and thus no fresh seafood. But during a date I went on to Saito's, a Japanese Cafe and Bar in Belltown, I fully immersed myself in the idea of toro and eel, even Nigiri.

 

I prematurely thought I had eaten all that Japanese culture had to offer- like Sushi was the only thing eaten in Japan. But during the Bento Box making experience we had in class on Thursday, I realized there was much more to the Japanese cuisine, and most of it was pickled. I don't enjoy "American" foods that are pickled, so it was a challenge to appreciate the Japanese foods that were. To the left is a picture of the colorful Bento Box I prepared for Elizabeth. Most of the items are labeled to the best of my memory. The tastes were so unique on my palette- flavors I had never before experienced. I enjoyed the rice ball, though I was unsure if I was supposed to devour it in one bite. That is also my issue with pieces of sushi. I look like a slob if I try to fit the whole thing in my mouth, but it falls apart if I eat it in multiple bites. I believe I need to attend an etiquette course on how to properly eat sushi, or sit in a sushi bar and observe how it is done.