The Life of Julia: Episode 3
Today I tried, for the first time on my own, to make an obento for school lunch. An obento (お弁当) is a traditional Japanese packed lunch, consisting (ideally) of three parts rice, two parts veggies, and one part meat. Mine today was vegetarian - aside from some tamago yaki (egg rolls). Anyways, they are normally packed in "bento boxes", but Anri has told me that in modern-day life just plain Tupperware is fine. Then, you wrap up the box/plastic container in a handkerchief in a special kind of way, and tuck chopsticks either under the knot at the top or put them inside with the box. All of that to say, I ate it, it was good, and I got a lot of strange looks from the other diners in the cafeteria. My friends were impressed though - they also thought it was pretty amazing I could cook. I was thinking , "Shouldn't we all know how to cook? I mean, we're girls after all..." But no, that's too sexist.
I did learn a few things though, which I am going to share. Okay, a lot of things. Here they are for you to laugh at and learn from - and for me to jot down so I don't forget them next time.
1) Don't wrap the nori (seaweed) around the onigiri (rice balls) the night before. It was slightly soggy at lunch today... so to circumvent this, I will include a sheet of nori with my bento tomorrow to slip around the onigiri once I open my bento to eat it.
2) Don't pack the whole bento the night before. Keep the different food items in their separate containers, and then put them all in the next morning. Otherwise the smells/tastes all get kind of muddled together while it's sitting for 8 hours in the fridge. Especially don't put anything such as crackers, biscuits, cookies, or whatever you call them in until last minute. They will get soggy and taste like the vegetables that were sitting on the other side of the box.
3) For the rice for the onigiri, make sure it's got enough water in it while it's cooking (you want it to be sticky) but not too much.
NOTE TO SELF: 1 CUP RICE WITH 1.5 CUPS WATER WAS LITTLE TOO WET. NEXT TIME TRY 1.4 CUPS WATER.
Other than that, it was brilliant. Because it was all in the fridge last night, it was still nicely cool by lunchtime - and the tamago yaki were amazing. Best ones I've made yet. Only thing is, I don't measure - just used three eggs, added a bit of water, salt, pepper, sugar, dashi, and out they come.
SECOND NOTE TO SELF: THREE EGGS MAKES A TAMAGO YAKI OF ABOUT THE RIGHT THICKNESS. ALSO, PUTTING DOWN A NEW LAYER OF OIL EVERY TIME WORKS TO NOT LET THE EGGS STICK.
On the whole though, for my first time, it was success. (Relatively.) I was able to manage my chopsticks without making a fool of myself, and although the onigiri fell apart quite embarrassingly, I did well for being the only person in the school eating a packed lunch (that I could see), using chopsticks, and eating foreign cuisine. Self-confidence is reassuring, no? (Especially when you have to fake it... like me. ^^)
Now, if I can find my cable to connect my camera to the computer, I can get some pictures up. Just bear with me, okay?
Different topic... on life in general. As of today, chemistry is done FOREVER!! Had the exams - we're talking Standard Grade here, so I had to sit General and Credit papers. General was easy as anything, and Credit was slightly more difficult but nothing suicidal. So, やった!!
Only downside is tomorrow I have Greek... four papers... and I know like, nothing. I should be studying right now, but I'll get to that eventually. Like, a little later tonight.
Julia
ジュリア
樹利亜
I did learn a few things though, which I am going to share. Okay, a lot of things. Here they are for you to laugh at and learn from - and for me to jot down so I don't forget them next time.
1) Don't wrap the nori (seaweed) around the onigiri (rice balls) the night before. It was slightly soggy at lunch today... so to circumvent this, I will include a sheet of nori with my bento tomorrow to slip around the onigiri once I open my bento to eat it.
2) Don't pack the whole bento the night before. Keep the different food items in their separate containers, and then put them all in the next morning. Otherwise the smells/tastes all get kind of muddled together while it's sitting for 8 hours in the fridge. Especially don't put anything such as crackers, biscuits, cookies, or whatever you call them in until last minute. They will get soggy and taste like the vegetables that were sitting on the other side of the box.
3) For the rice for the onigiri, make sure it's got enough water in it while it's cooking (you want it to be sticky) but not too much.
NOTE TO SELF: 1 CUP RICE WITH 1.5 CUPS WATER WAS LITTLE TOO WET. NEXT TIME TRY 1.4 CUPS WATER.
Other than that, it was brilliant. Because it was all in the fridge last night, it was still nicely cool by lunchtime - and the tamago yaki were amazing. Best ones I've made yet. Only thing is, I don't measure - just used three eggs, added a bit of water, salt, pepper, sugar, dashi, and out they come.
SECOND NOTE TO SELF: THREE EGGS MAKES A TAMAGO YAKI OF ABOUT THE RIGHT THICKNESS. ALSO, PUTTING DOWN A NEW LAYER OF OIL EVERY TIME WORKS TO NOT LET THE EGGS STICK.
On the whole though, for my first time, it was success. (Relatively.) I was able to manage my chopsticks without making a fool of myself, and although the onigiri fell apart quite embarrassingly, I did well for being the only person in the school eating a packed lunch (that I could see), using chopsticks, and eating foreign cuisine. Self-confidence is reassuring, no? (Especially when you have to fake it... like me. ^^)
Now, if I can find my cable to connect my camera to the computer, I can get some pictures up. Just bear with me, okay?
Different topic... on life in general. As of today, chemistry is done FOREVER!! Had the exams - we're talking Standard Grade here, so I had to sit General and Credit papers. General was easy as anything, and Credit was slightly more difficult but nothing suicidal. So, やった!!
Only downside is tomorrow I have Greek... four papers... and I know like, nothing. I should be studying right now, but I'll get to that eventually. Like, a little later tonight.
Julia
ジュリア
樹利亜
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