Kind of Japanese

For this day I made udon noodles with coconut-curry. It was accompanied by my beloved kinpira-carrots. As dessert I brought little homemade fruit bars with cherry-marzipan-flavour. Yummy!
I also had a very hearty second breakfast - onigiri and raw bellpepper sticks.
I had never eaten onigiri until last week - I just never had had the occasion. Then last week a friend took me to this beautiful Japanese café: http://www.akashigallery.com/, and I tried my first onigiri. I had always wondered if these were made with plain sticky rice or if they were seasoned with rice vinegar like sushi. The one I tried seemed to be seasoned, although subtly. It had an avocado-wasabi filling, and today I tried to recreate it at home. It turned out quite nicely.

Pasta with Pesto and Cabbage Wraps

This lunch wasn't a big success... I brought pasta with pesto, cherry tomatoes and wraps filled with coleslaw. The coleslaw recipe was new to me and kind of meh, so I will try something else next time.

Rice with Vegetables, Lentils and Hummus Rolls

For this lunch I made a colourful rice with fried vegetables and accompanied it by a fruity lentil dish. My midmorning snack were carrot rolls filled with hummus. I wasn't to keen on the rolls because I had to precook the carrots to be able to bend them, and I don't really like the sweetish taste of cooked carrots, unless they are nicely seasoned or combined with something a bit stronger.
Today everything was vegan.

Leek Soup and Mushroom Sandwich

For this little lunch I prepared a leek soup with some soy milk and a sandwich with a mushroom-seitan filling. I brought two tangerines for second breakfast.

Couscous with Ratatouille

I prepared this lunch the night before and in a hurry, so I needed things that were easy and fast.
The main dish was couscous with a ratatouille sauce that was a convenience product, I just had to add vegetables and water.
I brought two different things as snacks - first little breadballs with nuts and seeds. They are quite simple - I unfroze a premade pretzel, cut it into pieces and covered those with the nuts, then I put them ten minutes into the oven - ready.
The strange white thing in the photo is a hardboiled egg. I usually don't eat many eggs, but I had bought some Japanese eggformers some time ago and never used them, so I wanted at least to try them. It didn't really work (the egg should look like a star, not like a blob), probably because my egg was too small. I think I'll try again and then I might pass the shapers on to somebody who eats eggs more frequently, maybe my little niece.

... and a Red One

Lately I seem to be drawn towards thematic lunches, especially those involving colours. Today I had a lot of red things - my lunch were spaghetti with a vegetarian Bolognese sauce and a cherry yoghurt. For second breakfast I brought little vegetable patties with pumpkin, carrots and red cabbage plus a little ketchup for dipping.

White lunch

I suppose this could be considered a thematic lunch, as this day everything I brought was white/whitish.
My main dish was a pasta salad that brings lots of childhood memories. My parents and I  don't have the same taste when it comes to food, but this is one of my mother's recipes that I make regularly.
It couldn't be easier, just mix cooked and cooled pasta with mayonnaise, cooked peas and pieces of tangerine. Salt and pepper, ready! Whereas usually it's recommendable to use fresh vegetables and fruit, this salad is best made with both peas and tangerines from the can. I find it quite retro. Or is it vintage, if my mother has been making it regularly since the seventies? ;-)
My second breakfast were sandwich bread rolls with cheese, mustard and gherkins, accompanied by raw cauliflower.