The sublime triumph of using a square pan for tamagoyaki

 

Today my life has been changed forever.

Green onion and pickled radish onigiri, ginger apple hijiki, and… what’s that? The world’s most beautiful tamagoyaki? Yes, yes indeed! You see, we went down the housewares aisle at Mitsuwa when we went last Sunday, and we picked up their cheapest square tamagoyaki pan.

When I first started making bento, I pored over as much YouTube as I could, and saw all these bento wives cooking the whole meal in the little square pan… and later, I saw them using these square pans to make the perfect rolled omelettes/tamagoyaki. I was like, “there’s no way it makes that big of a difference.”

Today I made the most beautiful tamagoyaki of my life, with coarse mustard and nori flakes. I wish I’d gotten pictures of this thing unsliced and fresh out of the pan. Jesus Christ. It looked like it was crossed between a perfect restaurant pancake and a bar of solid gold.

I’m not ever going back to making tamagoyaki in round pans.

Miso pork tenderloin bento

Here’s what waifu has today! We went to Mitsuwa (a Japanese supermarket) yesterday so bentos this week are gonna be a lot of fun. For today, I made her egg musubi, nori bell peppers in sesame oil, and miso pork tenderloin with kumquat garnish! We had the miso pork last night and it was way better than the last time I did it.

Chicken stew bento

Not my prettiest work but oh well. Chicken stew, Mac salad, and some very squished rice balls.

Mediterranean bento

 In happier news, I’m much more pleased with the bento I made Waifu this morning. Apple mint couscous, chicken skewers with pomegranate molasses, and a sesame carrot salad.

Recipes pending on the apple mint couscous and carrot salad, just need to figure out how much of everything to actually use past eyeballing everything (my most toxic trait…)

I’m sad about Arjava but feel grateful I have someone I love to cook for so much. Gonna spend today getting high and cleaning I think, the apartment is definitely a mess…