Chikuwa

We love Chikuwa in our house.  We love it in soups, steamed, stuffed with cream cheese or pickles... pretty much any way to eat it.  We used to only be able to find it in one store but now they have it at our favorite Asian market, Saraga.  I picked some up when Monstro and I were on our first "date" of 2012. 

Today's lunch is pretty simple.  I need to pick up some of his favorite veggies but for now this is what we've got.

 I layered the bottom of the box with brown rice and then steamed and sliced chikuwa on top.  I found the tiniest pickle ever and stuffed a small piece of chikuwa with it then sliced it.  There's a little fence of carrots protecting an army of apple bears.  Over in the bamboo forest (chikuwa is made to look like bamboo) there are carrot and red pepper bears hanging out.

Monstro doesn't usually pay much attention when I put his lunches together.  Today he was really in to the process and was shocked that I used lime juice on his apple bears.  He said he thought I just used water on them.  It was a cool chance to talk about oxidation and how citrus fruits help stop it.  Hooray for science in the morning!