JLPT bento
For those who don’t know, JLPT stands for Japanese Language Proficiency Test. Last Sunday, I made a bento for my lunch break during this grueling five-hour test.
Usually the location is at a university near your neighbourhood but most campuses are in the suburbs and there are hardly any eateries or convenient stores. If there are, they would be crowded and it’s stressful to queue for food when all you have is a 45 min break.
They wouldn’t have anything very raw, anyway, so this is what I had.
Sorry if the pictures look blurry but I was in a screaming hurry that morning and it was still a little dark at 7am in my neck of the woods.
I love love love marinated broccoli and one of my fave recipes is this:
1 head of broccoli, florets only
¼ white onion
1 clove garlic
Handful coriander / cilantro
1 tomato, diced
Juice of half a lemon
1 tsp cumin
Sea salt and black pepper to taste
Let the mixture stand for at least two hours.
Here’s a close up of the second layer:
I didn’t throw in flax crackers because they can be a bit heavy and substituted them with cucumber slices. I wanted my mind to be alert so I ate lightly and could focus better on the test.
This spicy new pate was taken from this video. It’s supposed to be fermented to taste more like Cheeze-Its, but I’m a bit careful with fermented foods after a previous disastrous experience. But it’s very delicious fresh out of the blender and sports an enticing pinkish orange hue.
In a blender:
½ red capsicum
1 cup soaked macadamia nuts
½ tsp cayenne pepper
Sea salt to taste
½ cup water (or add in bit by bit to get the consistency you want)
Not pictured in these photos were an Apple Pie Larabar, a banana, and a bottle of potent green juice to round up my meal.
