Midori okowa bento for flower time – Green tea rice lunchbox

Bento today. It’s a leisure lunch, a picnic for a park bench. I do it for the fun. For the pleasure of using nice boxes too.

I don’t live the lunchbox at work lifestyle. I don’t need to as most days, either I work at home or I can arrange my schedule to be back to eat.

Then, it’s inconvenient in a Japanese big city. There is no place to eat in business areas. No parks, you don’t have your own desk anywhere. In small towns, I have visited friends at their job, and all the staff stopped working for lunch break, so the office was turned into a dining room. No such thing in Osaka. That never stops, people take their break in turn, if they take it. You can eat in from of customers, not very professional. So if your only option is to eat your packed lunch standing in the company’s closet or in emergency staircase, it’s better to have a sandwich. It’s good for the mood to get out of the workplace for a few minutes, and there are countless delicious shokudo (small restaurants).

Green rice. The idea comes from the Shizuoka Gourmet’s eki-ben cha meshi.Okowa means it’s sticky rice, mochigome. It’s 50% sticky and 50 % brown rice here. I added a few used tea leaves and macha green tea powder diluted in water at the end.

Veggie side. Steamed carrot and green peppers, white beans with sweet chili sauce.

Protein side. A ball of ikanago (eel fish bait) with curry spices, rolled in bread crumbs and black sesame. Dices of konnyaku

The whole lunch with a crisp apple as a dessert.

Don’t forget to put the flower in the box. That will be nice to see it at lunch time.