A month in meals.

Thursday September 1st

Milk, rice, tomato salad, something that was somewhere between bacon and gammon on the pork scale with a miso dressing, and soup featuring noodles, seaweed and sweetcorn.

Thursday September 1st

Friday September 2nd

Milk, rice, cabbage and miso soup (yummy), grilled fish (plain and simple, very scrummy), some cucumber, and the big pile of mushy stuff is pumpkin absolutely gorgeous dinner today

Friday September 2nd

Monday September 5th

So the delicious meals can’t always be served. Today we had milk, rice, a salad with a strange black sea plant that I actually like, a delicious fruit jelly, yummy soup, and squid. Served in such a way that it still resembled a squid, or rather its tentacled lower half. One tiny nibble and I left those.

Monday September 5th - note the squid tentacles on the left!

Tuesday September 6th.

Yummy!!!!! Milk, rice, tofu, potato and daikon miso soup, vegetable selection including sweet potato and pumpkin, and meat and veg in a sauce of some kind. Delicious

Tuesday September 6th

Wednesday September 7th.

Ok, not actually a school lunch today as a bizarre series of events has given me a random day off. So instead of school lunch, I went to my favourite little coffee shop in Nagai and had my favourite lunch there – toast set – toast, salad, pudding and a drink for 500円.

Wednesday September 7th

Thursday September 8th.

Yummy, back to school Milk, rice, a nice cabbage selection for veg, miso soup with tofu and potato and onion, and this wierd main, which I think is fish, but I’m not entirely sure. It’s nice anyway.

Thursday September 8th

Friday September 9th.

This is turning out to be the worst month to be doing this in. Today, due to a whole pile of random things going on, I ended up not having school lunch. Instead, with 5 hours to kill between morning and evening work, I drove to Yamagata, had a lovely swim and then went to Cafe Forum for lunch. Here, for the very reasonable 700円, I had dry curry (called this because there isn’t a load of sauce with it), rice, salad, yoghurt, Japanese pickles and coffee. Very nice

Friday September 9th

Monday September 12th.

Today was an unbelievably delicious lunch where I could have happily eaten 2nds, 3rds or 4ths of everything!! The usual milk and rice were served with cabbage, sweetcorn and sausage, a piece of very nice fish, a lovely soup with rice balls in and a gorgeous jelly pudding.

Monday September 12th

Tuesday September 13th.

So, yet another day out of school, this one because of a speech contest, so lunch was in the wonderful Cocos, a family restaurant chain. The main course wasn’t overly photogenic (plus I’d eaten half of it before I remembered about taking a pic) – I had hamburger steak, salad, rice and fried minced chicken (basically a chicken burger). However, pudding was scrummy. A traditional Japanese pudding – shiratama – rice stuff, with red beans and ice cream – much more tasty than my description suggests.

Tuesday September 13th

Wednesday September 14th.

Today was bread day, so we had a large bread roll with a sachet of marge to go on, a bowl of spring vegetable type soup with tofu, a very scrummy salad, and a main of pork and pineapple.

Wednesday September 14th

Thursday September 15th.

Yummy!! Heaven on a lunch tray today. Milk and rice as usual, a salad of thin noodles with cucumber and tiny bits of squid, yummy soup with tofu and egg, and a main of veg, potatoes, mushrooms. Pure yumminess.

Thursday September 15th

Friday September 16th.

I helped dish this one up today! So the usual rice and milk came with a veg, chicken and tofu soup, a pile of veggie salad and a fried fish. There was also a banana, but as I have never been a fan of the squishy yellow fruit, I donated it to a hungry student instead.

Friday September 16th

Monday September 19th.

No school lunch today. School is closed for the first of 2 days this week due to Japan’s national holiday obsession. So whilst the rest of the nation is respecting the aged, I have been making a pizza for lunch. Lots of cheese and sweetcorn. Delicious.

Monday September 19th

Tuesday September 20th.

Back to school today. And a bizarre but scrumtious meal. Milk, with a little strawberry flavour to add, rice, miso soup with tofu, a carrot and daikon salad, and scotch eggs. You read that right, scotch eggs.

Tuesday September 20th

Wednesday September 21st.

Bit of a let down today. A school selection consisted of fried shrimp, potato and veg with a mild curry flavour, minestrone soup (not my favourite), bread with jam, and a yoghurt, along with milk.

Wednesday September 21st

Thursday September 22nd.

Mixed day today. Milk and rice as usual. Main was a wierd type of fish, someone told me they boil it (???). It is both incredibly disgusting and incredibly nice at the same time (don’t ask how). Veg was a spinach concoction. Meal was saved by the soup – yumminess in a bowl – meat, veg, stock. Nice.

Thursday September 22nd

Friday September 23rd.

Today is the Autumnal Equinox and as such, we have another day off school. Feeling completely uninspired at lunch time, I settled for a very basic lunch of crisp sandwiches, except as the crisps weren’t Walkers, the sandwiches were no good

Friday September 23rd

Monday September 26th.

Today was one of those “I’m not really sure what I’m eating, but I love it anyway” days. Together with the usual milk and rice, we had miso soup featuring tofu, a selection of beansprouts in a delicious (sesame??) sauce and something which I think is scrambled egg and chicken mince. I think. It’s nice whatever it is.

Monday September 26th

Tuesday September 27th.

Rice and milk – yummy. Wonton (?) soup – also yummy. Salad and battered sausage – also yummy. Natto – smelly, gooay but for once I actually managed to eat all of it. Perhaps I should briefly explain. Natto is a food that has been eaten in Japan for years and by years I mean centuries. It is bursting with health benefits, and after the earthquake, was one of the first foods to sell out, as it needs no preparation other than stirring with chopsticks. Unfortunately, it stinks. So eating it is something I try and avoid. But with my favourite 2nd graders encouraging me, I managed a whole tub.

Tuesday September 27th

Wednesday September 28th.

Bread day today, and alas, instead of a nice fruity jam, we had tuna mayo. Tuna is one fish that I cannot take to in any form, so in order to make the most of my bread today, I bought some chocolate spread at the supermarket and had that instead. Also for lunch: milk, asparagus salad with dressing (yummy) and tofu and egg soup with pink things that are either shrimps or prawns (never sure, don’t like them anyway).

Wednesday September 28th

Thursday September 29th.

Once again, out of school, this time to another speech contest. As this would be an all day event, the place where we were going bulk ordered bento boxes for us. Last year, these had been like the ones you can buy anywhere. This year, they were much more fancy. A separate box of rice accompanied a posh looking black box of various sides which included fish, chicken, yakisoba, various bizarre vegetable stuff, Japanese pickles, a big chunk of pumpkin and other stuff which I am incapable of identifying.

Thursday September 29th

Friday September 30th.

Very nice day today. Rice, milk, salad, battered fish (yummy) and a very scrummy soup of veg and chicken. Simple but scrumptious. Nice way to end September.

Friday September 30th

Monday October 3rd.

October arrived in good form. Rice and milk came with chicken with a curry flavoured marinade, a noodle and stir-fry veg concoction that reminded me greatly of veg fried rice from the Chinese, and one of my favourite soups – egg, sweetcorn, cabbage and sausage. YUMMY!!!!!

Monday October 3rd

Tuesday October 4th.

A second day of yummy food. Rice and milk, plus miso soup with potatoes and cabbage, spinach, beansprout and mushroom veggie mix and fish, which was cooked to actual perfection. Sometimes I wish these cooks would come and cook for me all the time.

Tuesday October 4th

Wednesday October 5th.

Wednesday, so bread day today. 2 slices of yummy white bread, accompanied by dry curry, ‘cheese in salad’ (literally what the name suggests) and a veg and pork meatball (?) soup. Super yummy

Wednesday October 5th

Thursday October 6th.

Milk and rice. Cabbage, potato and something soup. Fish cake tube things. Wierd pile of stuff that I don’t know what it is but it tastes ok.

Bit of an odd one today. But still tasty

Thursday October 6th

Friday October 7th.

Today is a super yummy end to the week. Rice and milk, apple salad, gyoza (a Japanese/Chinese dumpling) and a very nice soup with tofu and veg. Very yummy, very nice way to end the week.

Friday October 7th

Monday 10th October.

Today is another national holiday, so no school, and I didn’t really do lunch, so no pic. Gomen.

Tuesday 11th October.

Bit of a mix today. Some good. Some not so good. The not so good – spinach (yummy) with pink prawn/shrimp things (YUK!), soup with not much going on. The good – milk, rice with chestnuts (super yummy) and tofu steak with veg in this wierd but tasty sauce.

Tuesday October 11th

Wednesday October 12th.

Bread day, so a nice big roll, with yummy hamburger, scrummy green salad, nice milk, but alas for soup – clam chowder. So in dipped the bread, but not actual eating due to the alien resembling shellfish things.

Wednesday October 12th

Thursday October 13th.

YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have been waiting for today for ages. School choice day, so heaven in a meal. The least nice part was the minestrone soup, which even though I love tomatoes, I can never take to them in soup form, but as they put pasta and bacon and big chunks of potato here, I can cope. Then milk, rice with seaweed bits, a ham salad and fried chicken with the most scrumptious sauce. And then pudding, these delicious little rice tarts that you can’t buy anywhere but they are delicious!!

Thursday October 13th.

Friday October 14th.

I had rather a lot to eat today. Milk and rice came with a piece of Shirataka apple not just apple, but one grown where I live), miso soup with daikon and mushrooms, a piece of fish, cooked plain and simple and therefore yummy, and a big helping of something that involves meat and veg and is very very yummy.

Friday October 14th

Monday October 17th.

Hmmm. Not the greatest today (but I am absolutely dead on my feet after my weekend so nothing really tastes good). Milk and rice, with a piece of fish in some kind of sauce, hijiki, which I normally love but todays mix wasn’t too scrummy, and miso soup with tofu and bean sprouts.

Monday October 17th

Tuesday October 18th.

No school today, as its a teacher training sort of day. So I went to my favourite coffee shop 山の下 and had the toast set with a cup of coffee. I had been about to order the desert set to follow, when my freebie arrived. Usually at this place, after you have whatever you order they bring you a small cup of Japanese tea (hot or cold depending on the weather) with either small rice crackers or plums. Today I got an ice cream sundae!! I don’t know if its a new one for the menu and that I was being the guinea pig, or if they were just rewarding me as a loyal customer but it was absolutely delicious!!

Tuesday October 18th

Wednesday October 19th.

Todays lunch was huge!!. Bread day, so a ‘small’ bread roll with strawberry jam, big noodles and soup for them, the only kind of squid that I can stomach with yummy sauce, and a very delicious salad, all served with a carton of Yamagata’s finest milk. YUMMY!!!!!!

Wednesday October 19th

Thursday October 20th.

Nice and simple today. Milk, rice, plain chicken, yummy salad in a very nice nutty dressing and miso soup with cabbage and tofu. Plain and delicious

Thursday October 20th

Friday October 21st.

Super yummy today. A Shirataka food day. Milk, rice, imoni (delicious stew type food), these wierd bean things that are very nice but a bit odd, apple and a peculiar salad with bits of flower in it. Very nice

Friday October 21st

Monday October 24th.

Rice and milk, yummy soup with tofu, salad which would be yummy if it didn’t have tuna in it, and a bizarre concoction of chicken and scrambled egg. Quite nice!!

Monday October 24th

Tuesday October 25th.

Milk and rice, soup with beans and tofu, salad with these wierd mini white fish things (why???) and something that I can describe as being kind of like sweet and sour pork.

Tuesday October 25th

Wednesday October 26th.

Day of bread, so 2 slices of yummy stuff with super chocolate spread!! happy days!! Also soup with thin noodles, a very nice daikon salad, milk, and a lovely piece of fish in breadcrumbs – yummy happy lunch day.

Wednesday October 26th

Thursday October 27th.

Curry day!! Woop woop!! So today was curry day, which meant a bowl of pork curry instead of soup (very very nice) and some rice, milk, a very delicious desert of fruit and yoghurt (very very nice) and the other part was a ‘select’. Usually once a month the meal people allow us to choose between two options. Students and teachers get to choose in advance, I get to pick on the day. Todays options were – mini gratin or hard boiled egg. The gratin was being considered until I spotted the pink shrimp/prawn thing, plus, usually when we have curry, we always have a hard boiled egg (don’t know why) so I stuck with tradition. The major perk of todays lunch, other than the yummy part, was that I was eating with little 1st graders. The teacher sensibly gives them small portions to start, and then dishes up seconds to those who want more. Today, I was included in seconds!! Which meant double portions of curry and yoghurt. YUMMY!!!!!

Thursday October 27th

Friday October 28th.

Hmmmm. well, the milk was good, the soup (chicken, veg and rice cake) was unbelievably delicious, the salad was very nice and the chestnut thing was absolutely gorgeous. Alas the rice was ruined by the addition on natto, which was made all the worse by being mixed with this bizarre selection of ingredients. I stomached 2/3rds before giving up.

Friday October 28th

Monday October 31st.

And we end on a halloween special. Milk, rice, mushroom and tofu soup, a pile of green stuff that tastes much nicer than it looks, a chicken and cheese fry, and a pumpkin desert that was somewhere between ice cream and jelly.

Monday October 31st

 

Fine.