Boston Bento

I am the first person to admit that I never really thought much about traditional Canadian cusine.  It’s not that I didn’t think it was any good, I just never stopped to think about what foods they might eat in Canada.  I just assumed they put mayo on their fries and pretty much called it a day.

Luckily for me, I have a friend who is not only Canadian, but she also revels in “setting me straight.”  Horrified by my lack of interest in the food enjoyed by our neighbors to the North, we took a trip up to Manchester to a little place called Chez Vachon.

See that?  Little, right?

Famous for their Poutine (more on that later) we managed to get there before their closing closing time of 2pm and had some lunch.

I had their pork pie, which was pretty much your basic meat pie with a few things of note.  Firstly, the slice was drenched in thick gravy.  Secondly the meat itself was seasoned with what seemed like allspice and cinnamon.  This turned out to be a nice contrast to the gravy.  And thirdly, the meat itself was so soft that you barely had to chew it.  My guess that is that pork is blended with mashed potatoes or something because it was almost like a pate in texture.

Poutine (which sounds more like putsin when you say it) is a very popular Canadian comfort food. So popular in fact, that in addition to an Ice Cream Truck, my friend claims that a french fry truck used to drive down the roads of her youth selling its delightful gravy-covered spudsy wares. Poutine itself consists of three things: french fries, gravy, and fresh cheese curds. While it isn’t uncommon for people to add additional ingredients, it’s not poutine without the cheese curds. The cheese curds must be fresh and almost squeaky as you chew them. To me, they tasted like a mild cheddar which in addition to gravy, pretty much goes well with almost anything. I will say this though, we barely made a dent in that plate. However, next time I find myself drinking in Canada, this is going to be the only thing I am going to want.

We finished up the meal by sharing this crepe which came swimming in maple butter. Before you ask what maple butter is, allow me to spare you the smack on the head from my crazy Canadian friend. There is no butter in maple butter. Like apple butter and other such things, it is only butter in that it is smooth and spreadable like butter. Maple butter is made by heating and cooling maple syrup while stirring it. After some time it becomes lighter in color and takes on a consistency closer to frosting. I was worried that this crepe would just taste like it was doused in syrup, but the taste was much lighter than that. Since I’m not normally all that into sweets, I must admit that this was a pleasant surprise.

Overall, it was worth the hour trip from Boston for a really reasonably priced meal. It’s certainly not something I can eat very often, but if you are looking for comfort food, this kind of thing really hits the spot. Now, I just wonder what their salmon pie is like…

The thing about cheap bento boxes is that they exactly what they are, cheap.  No matter how careful you are to never put it in the dishwasher and treat it as gentle as can be, there is still a pretty good chance the once adorable designs on the top are going to get scratched and look a little worn.  I think of these $1-3 bentos like those gladware containers, no matter what, I’m just going to have to replace them at some point.

Now some of you know and some of you may not know that I am turning the big 30 pretty soon.  So as prepare for my biological clock to start ticking, I am also looking to start by 30s by getting rid of things (other than myself) which are starting to show their age.  Worn out zippy with holes in the pockets and sleeves?  Gone!  Socks worn so thin you can see through them?  You are out of here!  Scratched up and cracked bento boxes meant for preschoolers?  As much as it pains me to say this, it’s time for me to see other boxes.

The good news about all this bento cleansing is that I was able to make a trip to Kam Man market.  I’ve mentioned this place before, but it seems like they realized just how popular bento culture was getting in the US because I h ave never seen such a selection there before.  And the prices?  Well, let’s just say that I am ready to have quite a wild fling with several new boxes.  Here is just a sample of the goodies they carry:

See that? Sensible, understated, and microwave safe to boot.  But since old habits die hard, I did manage to throw these lovelies in too, you know, to mix things up.

Overall these boxes ranged from $2-$8, with the $8 one being made of sturdier stuff with an additional microwave top underneath the colored outer one.

A few weekends ago I went to the house of some friends to try my first fried turkey.  I suspect that our chef that day was annoyed that he made it through the holidays either without getting his fill of turkey or he just didn’t get to have his turkey made the way he wanted.  Regardless of the reason, he set up his propane burner in the snow and we were off.

Before we even got there, my friend had seasoned the turkey with cajun spices both inside and out with the use of one of those flavor injectors. Then after a decent amount of measuring (so the oil wouldn’t spill over when you add the turkey) and keeping a close eye on the temperature, the turkey was lowered into the vat of boiling hot oil.

Three to four minutes a pound later, we got this:

And let me tell you people, yes…fried turkey is just as good as people claim it is. The skin is crispy while the meat inside is nice and moist. I blissfully chewed on a wing and some dark meat while completely forgetting about the snow falling outside. Seriously, if you are careful and know what you are doing, this can be an extremely enjoyable meal…especially with good beer and good friends.

This weekend I went on a trip to Quincy to check out both JnJ Turo Turo and get some supplies at Kan Man Market. I will take some pics of the goodies I took home with me, but until then I would like to direct you all to check out the blogs of those who also went on this little food adventure:

Erin - who already wrote a nice blog post about Turo-Turo complete with pictures!

Elise - With even more pics of the food and some descriptions from the menu to boot!

Yes, I realize that I am lazy and allowing them to do the work for me, but frankly, they both did such a great job on their reports that I felt there wasn’t much left to add. We are hoping to find a reason to go back and sample some other menu items in the near future, but if you are local and like to suggest any other places we should check out, please comment below. Hooray for culinary adventures!

While my lunches this week are taking on a more healthy outlook, I am sad to say that they aren’t much to look at. I know that salad can be really fun and interesting if I push myself to make it look nice, but I’ve been too distracted with football game commercials, finishing up season 2 of Dexter, and now hula hoop lessons to dwell on what else can be done to make a carrot look like..well..something other than a carrot. So while I spend some time planning my next food project and bento, here is another bento blast from the past:

Monkey faces!!!

For details on the contents of the bento, just click on the picture.

Just a little something I made with leftovers from Chinese take-out. The Lo Mein was lacking in the promised vegetables, so I added a zucchini. I figured it was a good way to add volume without eating more of the greasy noodles. The dumplings in the top section are filled with spinach. Last but not least is my darling little clementine.

In between attempts to vacuum seal everything in my kitchen (I just got one of those FreshSaver things) , I managed to make this bento. I know that the use of the frozen veggies is “meh,” but I do have to confess to enjoying the ease of them. And also, I REALLY like them in my mashed potatoes.

Contents-
Ham and turkey (thanks mom!)
babybel cheese
white sweet potato mash with veggies

Some of you out there may remember my sadness over the closing of Kotobukiya in Porter Square. No really, the loss of that store really did change the look of my bentos and though I know there is another shop in Union Square…well, things haven’t been the same.

Then today, my sister sent me a link to Ebisuya. Rumor has it this store is owned by some past employees of Kotobukiya! Could this mean that I will be able to find my usual products with no problems? And what is this about free parking? Be still my little heart. There is hope for my poor lonely bento boxes yet.

I hope to get to the store myself within the next few weeks, but if anyone has been there yet, please feel free to write a comment below to let us know how things are looking.

You know you have a pretty intense obsession with food when you spend your day home sick reading a book about charcuterie. However, when you’re not feeling so good, slow cooking is definitely something you want to think about. Throw something in a slow cooker or oven, and don’t think about it for a bit while you take a nap. Or better yet, defrost something in the freezer and fry it up quick in a pan.

Both of the cooked elements in this bento were cured and brined by me. The bacon is something my readers are familiar with thanks to my “bacon odyssey.” And the chicken breast was brined by me as well. I tried brining recently because I wanted a way to keep my chicken breasts moist without adding fat. Also, i am such a fan of brined turkey at Thanksgiving, I thought I would give it a try. So after 2 hours in a lemon and garlic brine, I cut the breasts into strips and pan fried them with some Pam. Easy, easy, and something I will definitely do again…hopefully with some pork chops!

About two years ago, my friends and I got together to make blueberry mead. We combined several pounds of honey, bags of blueberries that we picked ourselves, water, and yeast. Once the fermentation process had begun, we pretty much left it in a carboy in my friends’ basement and forgot about it.

Not many people are all that familiar with mead. And a lot of people who have had mead before usually think of a sticky sweet honey alcohol that you get every year at your local Renaissance Faire. The truth is that mead is a lot more than that. While it can be quite sweet, it can also be dry, fizzy like champagne, and everything in between. It’s also known as “honey wine” which is a good way to think of it because it can be just as complicated as any other wine. The mead we made this time around is a melomel. A melomel is a mead made with honey and any kind of fruit.

We chose to make a blueberry mead because we had access to an amazing crop of blueberries grown by a neighbor in New Hampshire. We wanted a fruit that would add color and flavor. The end result was better then we hoped:

As for the flavor, it begins with a slight fruity taste followed by a drier honey taste that has really nice floral notes. I’m not the best at describing tastes, but it’s the kind of drink that you could lightly sip all day and appreciate how good it tastes with every sip. In fact, I had just recently bought a honey wine that I ended up throwing away out of disappointment. It was terrible. This mead, we are hoping to bottle this weekend and have already been discussing how we are going to be able to ration it out until we are able to make some more.