A chance to get to Japan, kilted of course...

[Tartan Tess]

I love to travel and I love to read CDNSushi's stories about Japan.
But I like to build my meals around Dark Beer......

[Drac]

That looks like a tasty lunch (well, except for the kamaboko, never been much of a fan of crab). Sure beats my Salami sandwich.

Salami is good too. Another favorite lunch of mine is salami, bread, olives and cheese, marinated buffalo motzerlla if available.

I'm not obsessed with Japan, just a fan. I grew up on Japanese animation and later manga.

I love a lot of different cuisines from Oriental, Europian, the various Americas, can't get enough.

One of the reason for the bentos in not only becasue of a fondness but also health reasons. While a little high in carbs it is still fairly balanced for triglycerides. I choose the ingredients for things that can be frozen or stored, hence kamaboko. I also enjoy onigiri with furikake, various savory flavored sprinkle that remind me of fish food especially my favorite of shreaded shrimp, bonito flacks and nori. I have tried experimenting with fillings but sor far the umeboshi (pickled plum) and gourd strips (don't know what they are called) didn't work well for me. I'm trying a seaweed/seseme seed filling, genkina tsukudani goma kombu?

Sorry natto is not on the menu with or without mayo. Not trying to be mean but it reminds me of the "chum" the guys use for fish for catfish.

[CDNSushi]

I love to travel and I love to read CDNSushi's stories about Japan.
But I like to build my meals around Dark Beer......

Tokyo Black is a good place to start (for widely produced, widely available commercial products), and some of the microbrews around this region are tough to beat. I've gotten to know the brewmaster at Fujizakura Brewery -- he gave our "Good Beer Club" a proper tour of the facilities, and some of his creations have won international awards even. I'm particularly fond of the Rauch (smoked beer) when it accompanies certain foods...

Maybe, if some of you decide to enter the contest, you may wish to embark on a "microbrewery tour of Japan" with a detailed travelogue Blog of each stop along the way... Your contest entry would certainly be a bit more unique than your average "joe" entering the contest just to see the standard sites in Kyoto and Nara, etc.