bento geek

What? taco rice style riceball with energy drink
When/Where? on my way to work, breakfast
Comments: OK, I know this isnt a bento. But this is good and I also realized most of what I show on here is "lunch" so I should show some other times too. I really like this riceball that they sell at the kiosk booth at my station. It's basically just tabasco sauce with a little bit of mystery ground-up meat with tomato flavored rice, but it is a good mix. I also included a picture of an energy drink (150YEN, from a vending machine) to show how I need to get a kickstar some mornings because I am so busy. The rice ball is 130YEN. Oh and on a personal note, I know I have been a bad bento geek. I have been slow to update! I hope to add more soon and I'm even thinking about adding a surprise to this blog. Check back soon!

What? german style lunchbox
When/Where? lunch at worrrk
Comments: This one place at the mall near my work sells "german style" lunchboxes that are actually quite good. The meat on this one was like a hamburger, and the sauce was strong and flavorful. The potatoes (upper left) were not soggy, tasted right. The noodles werent bad, and the slices of (as americans say) zucchini was a nice touch. It was all foreign and european so I decided to drink "euro style" iced cocoa (120YEN) with it. The bento was 609YEN

What? "girly" ekiben on shinkansen
When/Where? on bullet train back to tokyo
Comments: Let me make it clear it was already labeled "girly" by someone who worked at the ekiben booth. I had never had a "girly" lunchbox, so I decided to try it out. It was pretty good, lots of different flavors, basically many different bite size things with two different types of rice. It was a fairly good one, and my only problem was figuring out what everything was. This one cost 880YEN

What? pork cutlet ekiben
When/Where? on a shinkansen bullet train to yamaguchi
Comments: I went down to Yamaguchi to see my university friend Evan, and you know I had to have a ekiben (train station lunchbox) and here is the one I got in Shinagawa station. It was fairly normal, and although I guess it was supposed to be that way, the crust one the cutlet was too thin for my tastes. But it was fairly good, nice good quality meat. Rice tasted like most ekiben rice, which is a little less fluffy than I'd like. Good deal though. In the box picture you can see my book "Yellow Eyed Fish" that I'm trying to struggle through right now. This cost 850YEN.

What? cheapo chicken bento with sauce
When/Where? din-din dinner at home
Comments: Not a bad bento, if you want something simple and cheap. The chicken was ok, but boring, the sauce spiced it up a little. The rice was gummy and flavorless. The bits thrown on the side were ok, but not too exciting. A pretty boring bento. I think it was about 395YEN

What? cheese pork cutlet with asparagus
When/Where? at work, lunchie
Comments: This is one of my new favorite cheap lunches! There is a food court so to speak at the mall near where I work, but if you go behind it there is a food supermarket that sometimes has good packaged food. This one is yummy, all the right parts to make a yummy meal. A little too oily, so a little bad for the body. But I love this one, and it even comes with a cute label. A little monotonous to eat all 5 peices though, so I sometimes try to share with coworkers. Best of all is the price, less than 400YEN

What? gummy noodle tempura bento
When/Where? work work
Comments: This one had been sitting out for awhile, so it had gotten kind of "gummy" which was a good thing for the noodles (in my opinion) but a bad thing for the rice under the tempura. The sauce wasnt bad, and came with a packet of chives you could put in it. Had this with a fried hokkaido mashed potato patty and orange juice in a box. Not a bad combo, bento cost about 600YEN