Food
~ Lunch for Monosus members ~

Lunchtime between work is a fun time.

Monosus members are diverse, with some eating lunch outside, others bringing their own bento, and others just buying food from convenience stores.

This time, we'll be following three people who we're told make their own lunch as they eat it on a particular day.
We make our lunches in our own kitchens and make it easier to prepare them every day.
It seems that she also enjoys cooking as a way to change her mood.

While I was listening to her talk about what inspired her to start making lunch, the conversation turned to food-related memories and the fun of cooking. She also shared some recommended recipes and cooking tips.

Weekend freezing techniques are key!
Homemade bento: evolving through failure

Today's Lunch

• Hamburger
• I boiled komatsuna and still had mayonnaise
• Shredded cabbage
• White rice

Today's Lunch Box Points

The main dish is hamburger steak.
Once I tried making it using just onions and minced meat without any binding agents, but it failed, but now I make sure to add eggs as a binding agent!
The rice is plain and has nothing on it, so you can enjoy the combination of meat and rice.

I often make miso balls with miso, powdered soup stock, and dried wakame seaweed, then dissolve them in hot water to make instant miso soup.

How do you usually make it?

On weekends, I divide meat dishes such as hamburger steaks and stuffed peppers, and boil vegetables into portions and freeze them. I also season chicken thighs, divide them into portions, and grill them in the morning. I try to make them ready in 10 to 15 minutes. Fish is still a bit of a challenge.

What made you start making bento?

I started living alone six months ago and started making it to save money.
I used to work part-time in the kitchen of an izakaya, so I have a sense of cooking and enjoy making it.
I also make a lot of different dishes when I eat at home!

I make keema curry using tomato sauce pasta and a skillet. I am trying various dishes such as hamburger steak and oyakodon.

What are some tips for making bento?

Prepare food on the weekend and freeze it. I usually do my shopping on Sundays and prepare a week's worth of food. If food goes to waste, I feel depressed and think, "Oh, what a waste...", so when I buy food, I cook it right away and freeze it.

Also, I recently bought a knife! It's a chef's knife from a manufacturer that Hayashi-san recommended. It's sharp, so cooking has become even more fun. I'd like to get some in different sizes too.

What's your favorite menu item?

I often make Chinese food like mapo tofu and green pepper and pork stir fry. I eat green pepper and pork stir fry for breakfast and also pack it in my lunch box for lunch.
I also bought oyster sauce and make it myself!
I often get information about cooking from YouTube, and I often watch Kokoro Kitchen . It's very educational because it teaches you about the logic of cooking and the best cooking utensils.

Finally, a few tips on making mapo tofu. The trick is to add some potato starch and let it brown a little at the very end. It makes it fragrant. Also, sprinkle some sesame oil and Japanese pepper on top... (smiles).

The long-awaited begewappa.
Colorful finish

Today's Lunch

• Fried chicken
• Soft-boiled egg
• Vienna sausage
• Cherry Tomatoes
• Plum and yukari rice
• Perilla

Today's Lunch Box Points

It's a beggar!
I had been looking for a round bento box for a long time, but I couldn't find anything that was just right... Finally, I found it. I thought it might be a little small, but it was deep and just the right size. It smells good and absorbs the moisture from the ingredients just right, so I'm glad I bought it!

How do you usually make your lunch?

I usually make a lot of soup and put it in a soup jar, enough for about two days, and bring it with me.
My favorite is minestrone soup. I remember making minestrone soup for the first time on Mother's Day when I was in junior high school. I cut cabbage, onions, carrots, and bacon into bite-sized pieces and stew them in a can of tomatoes. I've made it many times, so I measure everything by eye (laughs). I also make pork and Chinese cabbage soup and pork soup. I try to eat a lot of vegetables.

What made you start making bento?

I went to culinary school, so I've always loved cooking, and I find it more comforting to eat homemade food.

What are some tips for making bento?

I make them with the hope that the colors will be nice, such as red, green, and yellow.
Also, instead of using balan as a divider, I used shiso, whose scent I like.
If you use a bento box, the end result will be even prettier!

What's your favorite menu item?

This is the fried chicken that I put in my lunch box today.
This time, I heard that rubbing the chicken with milk before seasoning it would make it softer, so I did, and it turned out juicy! By the way, I prefer chicken breast because that's how my mother used to cook it at home!

And soft-boiled eggs too.
To soft-boil eggs, place them in boiling water for about 7 minutes, then chill in ice water.
I think a soft-boiled egg goes really well with a begewappa.
I would like to take this opportunity to try my best to make bento boxes!

Our motto is "Fast, cheap and delicious"!

Today's Lunch

• Cold tomato and avocado pasta

Tamaki always cooks lunch in the company kitchen. On this day, he made a special menu for four people that he thought was very Monosus-like.

It's noon and cooking starts in the kitchen!
Start boiling the pasta and cutting up the avocado...

Usually it's just one serving, but today it's four. We have some trouble opening a can of tomatoes, so the other members who are enjoying pasta start helping out.

Cool the pasta in cold water...

Make the tomato sauce.

"Wow! That looks delicious!" a member passing by exclaimed.

Finally, sprinkle basil on top and it's done!

Let's eat together with the other lunch box members!!

This light pasta dish was perfect for the hot weather. Everyone finished it in no time.
Eating freshly made homemade food together is both fun and delicious.

Thanks to this, it was a slightly special lunchtime, different from usual.

Today's Lunch Highlights

It's cream cheese!
But maybe I should have added a bit more olive oil, cheese and salt...
It was my first time making food for four people, so it was difficult to get the hang of it.

How do you usually make it?

Rotate between pasta, somen, instant ramen, and soba.
I always keep it simple. The important thing is that it can be made quickly, so I don't add any ingredients and make it quick and easy.

Today I wanted to make something that resembled "Monosus", so I put my heart and soul into making it!

What made you start making lunch?

When I'm busy at work, it's a good way to change my mood and save money. I thought, "I have a kitchen, so why not use it?"

What is your motto when cooking?

Of course, it's delicious even if you pay a lot of money. As a certain superman said, the important thing is "fast, tasty and cheap". How cheap and tasty it is. That's the romance of a man!

I started cooking about 15 years ago when I started living alone. But there were long periods when I couldn't cook because I was busy with work. I can't cook if I don't have the mental space to do so. Recently, I've been trying to shift my lifestyle to a morning-oriented style so that I can have the mental space to cook!

In the past, meat was the main dish, but recently, there are more menus with vegetables as the main dish and meat as a supporting role.
Yesterday I baked miso-stuffed shishito peppers and fried tofu in the oven, and drank lemon sour. Oh, I also made chive dressed in chili bean paste. This is also a good snack (laughs).

What's your favorite menu item?

It's Chikuzen-ni! It's definitely a home-cooked taste. Naturally, I try to recreate the taste my parents used to make for me. The flavors are well-absorbed, and it's even more delicious chilled in the refrigerator...

As for cooking, what I want most to achieve right now is to go back to my parents' house in Kyushu, where I can only go back about once a year, and have a meal in a friendly atmosphere with all my family, who have moved far away for the first time in 20 years, eating my mother's homemade food. Although this may be difficult to achieve...
After all, when it comes to food, it's not what you eat, but who you eat with. Ah, I guess that's my motto after all (lol)?

After all, eating is something we do every day.
As I ask about the food, before I know it, we're talking about our hometowns and families, and we get a glimpse into their everyday lives.
As the members treated us to freshly cooked pasta, we were reminded that just as the saying goes, "eating from the same pot," eating the same food together truly deepens the bonds between people.

And as I watched the three of them introduce their lunches, I realized that there's a certain pride in making something yourself. I'd also like to introduce the lunches of the other members!