Innie or Outie

This version of a local bento meal, with portions large enough to meet almost any appetite, had deep-fried pork cutlet, deep-fried chicken, rice, pickled plum, and a cornucopia of veggie mixes including two types of seaweed, soy beans, pork, carrots, tofu, string beans, squid, konyaku, and white onions.

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This “hungry man’s” meal from a new eatery in the area that offers Tex-Mex influenced dishes included red rice, refried beans, tortilla-wrapped shredded chicken and a large bean-stuffed tortilla (both smothered with melted cheese), and a shredded-beef soft shell taco.

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Here’s a simple meal for those hot summer days, Ensalada Italiano:

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For this meal, I sautéed frozen bell pepper strips, canned button mushrooms, and julienned white onion with diced bacon, white pepper, and minced garlic paste, mixing in cherry tomato slices towards the end; tossed the cooled mixture with iceberg luttuce, dried oregano flakes, powdered thyme, chopped chives, parmesan cheese, olive oil, and leftover combination-pizza croutons; and added instant miso soup as an accompaniment.

This is another of hubby’s delish meals, Papa’s Wine-Sauce Fish Dinner:

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For the meal, hubby sautéed frozen bell pepper strips and frozen mustard greens in sesame oil, then added chopped cherry tomatoes; sautéed cod in butter and smothered it with a white wine, white pepper, chopped fresh parsley, chopped fresh chives, and sour cream sauce; and completed the meal with rice.

This local version of the popular bento meals included rice, pork cutlet with sauce, potato, omelette, carrot-seaweed-soy bean-pork mix, konyaku-seaweed mix, hotdog with ketchup, pickled ginger, and veggie tenpura.

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Here’s another original homemade meal that’s full of flavor, Pepper-Shrimp Wrap Dinner:

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For this meal, flour tortillas were toasted and sliced in half; stuffed with a frozen shrimp, frozen julienned bell pepper, and sliced white onion mixture that had been sautéed in sesame oil with minced garlic paste, powdered coriander, white pepper, and black sesame seeds added; cherry tomato slices were placed on a bed of julienned iceberg lettuce in a flower pattern; topped with Spanish olive slices, snipped fresh basil, dried oregano flakes, grated parmesan cheese, and a fresh basil sprig; and drizzled with olive oil; and leftover rice was combined with the remaining leftover crockpot curry; reheated in a microwave; molded; and garnished with spiced, dried seaweed slices and Spanish olive pimento pinches.

This homemade meal is hubby version of a Western classic, Papa’s Chicken-Fried Pork Cutlet Dinner:

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For this meal, hubby included flour-dipped pork cutlet sautéed in vegetable oil smothered in a sake, mirin, tonkatsu sauce, garlic chive, white pepper, and flour sauce; frozen mixed veggies sautéed in sesame oil and balsamic vinegar and minced garlic paste; and steamed rice,

This sampler-style bento meal came in a built-in, faux serving dishes box and included rice with black sesame seeds and pickled plum, assorted veggies, sliced ginger, shrimp tenpura, salmon, omelette, kamaboko, chicken, and seaweed.

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It’s that time of year again. This birthday celebration was topped with a delish and charmingly-packaged chocolate cake extraordinaire from a new bakery in the area.

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We recently had a birthday celebration for our youngest dog, Jaco, and I came-up with this Asian-influenced twist on one of our family’s favorite cooking methods, Grilled Miso-Sake Steak Dinner:

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This meal consisted of grilled steak in a red miso, sake, powdered red chili pepper, powdered cumin, powdered marjoram,and olive oil marinade; chicken in an apple cider vinegar, sesame oil, minced ginger paste, powdered thyme, and white pepper marinade; foil-wrapped canned button mushrooms slices and frozen bean mix with butter, olive oil, chopped fresh parsley, and butter; sliced carrot, bell pepper, white onion, and garlic skewers; and a mixed mini-pasta salad with mayonnaise, wasabi, soy sauce, crushed senbei, and dry ochazuke.