給食だより

ごはん　牛乳　えびシューマイ

ナムル　マーボー豆腐

【Lunch Report byALT】

Today’s lunch is Mabodofu with a dumpling and salad, a classic kyushoku menu.  Today’s salad, namul, was a bit saltier than I was expecting since normally it has a more sweet sesame flavor.  The saltiness was nice and went well with the rice and it had a nice juicy crunch as well.  Today’s shrimp dumplings, the ebishumai, were good and had a lot of shrimp flavor.  The mabo was pretty good today, nice and hot.  I like that it is so meaty and the tofu is quite nice as well.  I am always surprised that there is no spoon on mabo dofu day.  My image of eating mabo dofu is that it is always eaten with a spoon.

ホットドッグ（ミルクパン・ソーセージ・キャベツ・ケチャップ）

牛乳　えび団子スープ　りんごゼリー

【Lunch Report by ALT】

Today’s menu is a hot dog, soup, and jelly!  The hot dog is the classic kyushoku style with a very big bun, cabbage, and some ketchup.  It is tasty and smoky from the sausage and the cabbage and ketchup add some moisture giving balance to the bread. The soup today is quite yummy and I love the juicy clear noodles.  The shrimp balls are also juicy and packed with flavor adding some heartiness to the dish.  Of all the jelly types we get in school lunch, today’s apple jelly is one of my favorites because of the many apple chunks.  It reminds me of eating an apple pie, although this jelly is usually cold and frozen, which is still very delicious.  A wonderful meal.

【入学・進級お祝い献立】

赤飯（ごま塩）　牛乳　とりのからあげレモンソース

五目きんぴら　すまし汁　お祝いデザート（さくらのジュレ）

【Lunch Report by ALT】

Today is a special menu celebrating school entrance and all the students going up a grade.  How exciting!  And it is a super yummy menu with lemon karaage and delicious sides including sekihan!  The gomoku kinpira was super juicy and delicious with lots of interesting flavors.  I like the gobo’s earthy flavors and the sweetness of the sauce it was cooked in as well as the juicy abura age too.  Today’s soup was filled with lots of tofu and seaweed.  It tasted great and was pretty filled although it was soup!  Today’s sekihan was so delicious.  I love ‘red rice’ very much and the gomashio is my favorite as well.  It’s such a treat.  I know many students (and adults!) who don’t like it, but I think it is super delicious.  The karagae with lemon sauce was stupendous.  The flavors of the sauce were lemon, but also a little bit more like it was mixed with soy sauce or something to really make it special.  Today when we were preparing lunch, Kyoto sensei carefully poured the remaining sauce on top of the chicken which was very nice and allowed us to enjoy the flavor much more I think.  The sweet and sour flavors of the chicken going back and forth with the more salty and smoky flavors from the roasted sesame seeds in the sekihan were a great combo.  The jelly dessert had a very interesting and unique flavor as well. ‘Sakura Jure’, which was a light flavor that tasted like cherries and was fragrant like peach as well.  I truly wonderful meal worthy of the celebration of the new school year for everyone.  And the best menu to date of course!  Gochisousama deshita!

はちみつパン　牛乳　フレンズサラダ

花野菜サラダ　白菜スープ

Today’s lunch has a slightly western vibe to it with the gratin tart, and bread. I started with the flower vegetable salad which was loaded with broccoli and cauliflower. The dressing is light and nice adding a little tart flavor to the mix, which the veggies soak up like a sponge, and the little squares of ham add a nice flavor that balances it well. It is a really good salad. The soup was excellent and the noodles and hakusai add nice texture and the meatballs were a pleasant surprise. They were tasty and make the soup quite hearty. The gratin in the tart shell was good too. I love anything that comes in these little tart shells, sweet or savory, and today was great. The gratin was creamy and had a very light flavor, but the crunchiness from the shell made it quite nice. Today’s bread is hachimitsupan and it was super fluffy and soft. I think it pairs best with the milk to bring out its sweetness, but I dipped a few hunks into my soup as well of course and it was still delicious. Nice to see the interesting and more adventurous menu items coming out! I love when kyushoku adds surprises.

【１年生初めての給食】

ごはん　牛乳　おろしハンバーグ

もみづけ　みそ汁

Today is the first lunch that the new first graders will ever eat in elementary school! How exciting. I have eaten kyushoku in hoikuen and yochien before and compared to elementary school they are very different. Elementary school lunch matches much better to the pallet of older kids and adults in many ways so it should be exciting. Also, today’s menu is hamburg, with momizuke, and miso soup. A classic menu! The momizuke salad was quite god and had a great crunchy texture and the light flavor from the sesame seeds was nice. The miso soup had a nice light flavor as well and the tofu and aburaage were great. I love how juicy the aburaage becomes filled with soup broth. Today’s main dish, the hamburg steak, was awesome. The oroshi sauce had a really nice onion flavor that paired perfectly with the meat and went well with rice. I always put my hamburg on top of my rice and enjoy it like donburi. A classic menu, but a superb meal! I hope the new students enjoyed their first kyushoku as elementary schoolers!

【入学式】

ごはん　牛乳　かつおのゆずみぞれ煮

五目ひじき　むらくも汁

Today is a Japanese style lunch with fish, hijiki, and soup.  The hijiki was nice and I like the beans in it.  Today’s soup is called ‘murakumo’ soup.  So in English it would be called cloudy soup!  It is hot and delicious and the eggs are great.  Today’s main dish is the Katsuo with a yuzu miso sauce.  It is absolutely delicious and the flavor is so strong.  The miso base is good, but the yuzu has such a powerful and fresh flavor it is amazing.  And the fish itself was very meaty and hearty.  An excellent lunch today and one of the best so far!

フィッシュバーガー　牛乳　コーンシチュー

Today is an interesting menu. Corn stew and 'fish burgers'. The fishburger is a hot dog bun, some cabbage, and tar tar sauce which is topped with a nicely fried very crispy fish katsu. It was very delicious and the tar tar sauce matches well with the fish. The cabbage also adds a nice texture and moistness to the sandwich. The fish and the buns aren’t the same size, so I saved a little of the bread to enjoy with my stew. The corn stew was superb. Great flavor and creamy and hot. Pops of sweetness from the corn and nice textures from the rest of the vegetables as well. A truly delicious meal! The first week of school lunch starts out strong!

【始業式】

三色丼　牛乳　けんちん汁

The first kyushoku of the new school year! Sanshokudon! To represent the variety of challenges and experiences we will all share this year maybe? The kenchin soup was delicious and hot. A nice way to warm up before I dug into my three colored rice. The greens in the sanshokudon were delicious, sweet, and had a nice sesame flavor. The soboru and egg mix was also quite yummy and had a nice salty flavor which balanced very well with the greens. A great lunch to start off the new school year! Best school lunch of the year so far!

【６年生を送る会】

紅茶パン　牛乳　キャベツのマリネ

ビーフシチュー　アイス

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Final kyushoku of the month!  Recently the final kyushoku of the month is always exciting and has something special.  Today there is ice cream and interestingly, kouchapan, or black tea bread.  The cabbage marine is a simple salad of cabbage, cucumber, and ham, but has a very delicious dressing and is quite complex with flavors and textures.  A real surprise of a salad that I always enjoy eating.  Today’s beef stew was delicious and loaded with beef.  It reminds me of the hayashi rice, but I think there is a bit more beefy flavor in this stew.  It is very good.  The bread is also very delicious and has a light coating of sugar on it as well which makes it almost a dessert.  I saved some to eat with the ice cream.  And today we got haagen-dazs vanilla ice cream which is quite the treat!  Today is a special lunch for the 6th year students since this is their last year eating lunch in elementary school.  I wish them well. Today’s lunch was amazing!

三色丼（そぼろ・ごま和え）　牛乳　鮭団子汁

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Today we have sanshokudon and fishball soup.  A great menu!  The soup was amazing and the fishy salmon balls add a lot of great flavor to the soup and mix perfectly with it.  This is one of my favorite soups in kyushoku.  The sanshokudon is like a Japanese bibinba.  It is very good and the greens have a delicious sesame flavor and the egg chicken mix is sweet and savory at the same time.  It is so delicious.  This is one of my favorite meals and a top 15 for sure.  Gochisousamadeshita!

黒とうパン　牛乳　焼きそば　

こんにゃくサラダ　ヨーグルト

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Today is yakisoba day.  The konyaku salad is slimy and juicy and has a nice flavor.  Sadly I have very severe hay fever so I can’t really enjoy the flavor of the foods as much as I want to!  The yakisoba has a strong flavor so I can taste it and it was delicious.  Also, there is a lot of meat in it today which was quite nice.  Lastly I ate some of my bread with the salad and milk, but I saved it to eat alongside the yogurt.  I think that the flavor of the yogurt and bread are a really nice match so they go well together.  A nice lunch today.

ごはん　牛乳　白身魚フライ

五目ひじき　とん汁

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Today’s lunch is Japanese style.  Fried fish and hijiki salad.  The salad was good and I always enjoy the meaty bits with the hijiki.  It is quite sweet as well.  The tonjiru was nice and hot today and filled with lots of vegetables.  It was just regular tonjiru and it was nice to eat it after getting many special varieties recently.  Today’s fried whitefish was excellent.  The perfect amount of crunch and still juicy and warm on the inside as well.  The sauce adds a little extra flavor giving it some zing and its delicious on rice.  A lovely Japanese lunch today!

【地産地消献立：にら】

ホットドッグ　牛乳　チャンポンメン

とちおとめゼリー

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Today is a nice little hotdog with a side of noodles and jelly for dessert.  The chanponmen was very delicious and hot.  I liked the variety of veggies and proteins in it as well.  The hot dog is great as well and I always enjoy it.  It has a nice smokey flavor which is a flavor we don’t see often in kyushoku.  And the cabbage also helps to make up for the buns to dog ratio as well which is nice.  The strawberry jelly was amazing and filed with flavor.  I usually eat it in slices, but today I mixed it up and it was very good too.  A wonderful sweet ending to a delicious meal.

ハヤシライス　牛乳　じゃこサラダ

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Today is a very simple menu, but it is filled with great flavors!  The Jyako salad is crunchy and has a yummy dressing.  I can’t really taste the jyako very much since they are so small.  I really like the aburaage in this salad.  The other main item in today’s lunch is hayashi rice.  An excellent tomato based meaty stew with lots of vegetables.  It is excellent.  One of the most reliable items on the kyuyshoku menu.  Delicious as ever!

米粉パン　牛乳　ササミチーズフライ

ブロッコリーサラダ　ワンタンスープ

～Lunch Report By ALT～

An interesting menu today.  A super creamy and delicious broccoli salad with sweet corn and crunchy cucumbers was first on my list.  It was great.  The wonton soup was quite good as well with a nice flavor.  Savory and filled with umami, it was warm and hot too.  I particularly liked the crunchy and juicy takenoko.  Usually I like to make a sandwich using the bread when we have a big meaty main dish, but komekopan isn’t really good for making sandwiches so I mostly dipped it into the soup.  I love komekopan very much.  It’s chewy and had a really interesting texture to someone like me who has eaten white bread for most of their life!  The baked (or fried?) chicken with cheese was tremendous.  Such delicious flavor from the meat and the cheese protected by the bread topping.  We rarely get a chicken dish like this and it is super good.  Takes this menu into the top 10 or maybe even top 5 kyushoku menu range for this semester.  Gochisousamadeshita!  What a treat.

ごはん　牛乳　青ヒラスのみりんじょうゆ焼き

五目きんぴら　すいとん汁

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Today’s menu is very Japanese.  This menu is one that everything in it goes well with rice.  The kinpira was delicious and sweet. I liked the gobo in particular, because it has such a nice flavor and texture.  I learned that ‘suiton’ means flour dumpling.  I was wondering what those noodles were!  They are quite nice and add to the texture of the soup.  Today’s potatoes were especially well cooked.  Finally the Hirasu.  I researched a little bit and found out that it is actually called the Hiramasu and today we ate Shirohiramasu, although the kanji says blue!  It is a confusing fish name!  Today was a fine lunch.

ビビンバ（焼き肉・ナムル）　牛乳

白菜スープ　ぽんかん

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Korean menu day!  Bibinba with a tangerine!  The vegetable mix was delicious and had nice nutty flavor.  The Korean style beef was amazing and filled with flavor.  I took a small taste of each and then mixed them into one big bowl and enjoyed it like it is eaten traditionally.  Today’s hakusai soup was great as well and I especially love the clear noodles.  And a nice cold tangerine after the meal is perfect for cleansing the pallet.  Delicious Monday lunch!

【バレンタイン献立】

はちみつパン　牛乳　ハートのハンバーグ（ケチャップ）

ハムと大根のサラダ　クリームシチュー　チョコプリン

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Yesterday was a holiday and Sunday is Valentines day so today’s lunch is a Valentine’s day themed meal.  The daikon and ham salad was crunchy and nice.  The dressing is a little sour, but tastes amazing.  Today’s cream stew was amazing.  It is always good, but today it tastes like there is some extra love in the stew.  I think it is the umami from the meat.  I also made a mini hamburg sandwich with ketchup using the honey bread.  Today’s hamburg is shaped like a heart!  It is very cute. My hamburg sandwich was great and the ketchup was just the right amount.  Today’s very special treat is the chocolate pudding dessert.  It was quite chocolatey and even a little frozen which I like.  It was a true treat and a rare appearance of chocolate on the school lunch menu.  Today’s menu is easily a top 15!  Gochisousama Deshita!

えび天丼　牛乳　もみづけ

キムチ入りとん汁

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Today is parents day! There are many family members in the school today watching lessons.  Today’s lunch is also very special!  Instead of squid tempura, we got shrimp tempura!  What a big upgrade!  The momitzuke was excellent, fresh, crunchy, and had a great sesame flavor.  Whatever they pickled it with was very fresh and reminded me of ginger! The pork soup with kimchi was excellent.  This soup comes out for lunch sometimes and it’s always delicious.  Today, along with the ebiten and salad it is a perfect match.  The shrimp tempura today was amazing.  It was super crunchy and perfectly fried and not oily at all.  Also, the shrimp inside was very juicy and delicious as well.  What an amazing treat that with the tendon sauce makes it a true gift.  Top 15 menu today!  I love the ebiten and kimchi soup.  Gochisousamadeshita!

ごはん　牛乳　包焼（パオシュー）

大根とツナのサラダ　マーボー豆腐

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Mabo Dofu day!  Tuna salad was excellent and packed with crunchy vegetables and loads of meaty tunafish.  I ate it quickly and then put my dumplings into my mabodofu to warm them up.  The mabo had a nice mild flavor and was packed with tons of meat too.  Always a delicious lunch menu.  The dumplings today were interesting and I don’t know how to describe their flavor!  They were meaty and salty, but unique somehow that is difficult for me to taste.  They were very good though.  A delicious lunch today.

ごはん　牛乳　銀だらの西京焼き

切干大根の煮物　どさんこ汁

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Today is a Japanese style lunch.  The kiriboshi daikon nimono was pretty good and great with rice.  Today’s fish was gindara and it is called Japanese bluefish in English.  It was a little oily, and reminded me of the sea.  The dosanko soup, or Hokkaido soup, was excellent.  My favorite part of the meal today.  Filled with plenty of veggies that Hokkaido is famous for producing and even a little bit of butter in the soup as well I think.  Tomorrow is Mabo dofu day!

【JAよりいちご無償提供】

バターロール　マーシャルビーンズ　牛乳

スパゲッティミートソース　ツナサラダ　いちご

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Sadly, I was unable to eat yesterday’s lunch!  I am sure it was very good!  Today is spaghetti with salad and bread as well as a pair of strawberries and MARSHALL BEANS!  The tuna salad has a nice bright dressing which paired very well with the tuna.  I always appreciate and love the mixture of the sweetness from the vegetables, namely the cabbage and corn, and the salty umami from the fish.  The pasta had a nice salty tomato flavor and some hidden carrots, peas, and mushrooms among the meat sauce.  When I saw today’s desserts and sides I came up with a plan.  I wanted to make a chocolate strawberry sandwich for dessert using the strawberries and marshall beans spread.  I took a bite of one of the strawberries alone and it was very sweet and juicy.  My sandwich idea was quite delicious, and the chocolate and strawberry were a great match and the juiciness of the berry actually soaked into the bread making it much easier to eat as well.  Today was a very interesting menu despite using elements that we have seen many times! 

【初午献立】

赤飯（ごま塩）　牛乳　とりの照り焼き

しもつかれ　にら玉汁

ナン　牛乳　キーマカレー

野菜ポテトサラダ　とちおとめヨーグルト

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Today is Keema curry and nan bread with potato salad and strawberry yogurt.  The potato salad was creamy and the big chunks of potato were delicious and there were nice flavors and textures from the ham bits and vegetables in it as well.  I like the nan since it is such a rarity in kyuushoku and a nice change of pace from always eating rice with curry.  Also, the keema curry has a nice indian style spice to it which is delicious.  I try my best to always eat the curry only using and nan and not the spoon, but it is difficult!  I love the flavors and paired with the nan is it perfect.  I really think that this is one of the regular kyushoku menus that really tastes like being at a restaurant! Finally the amazing tochiotome yogurt with pretty big bits of actual strawberry inside was great.  Very sweet and more creamy than usual.  We have been getting a lot of ‘Tochiotome’ style foods and desserts recently!  What a treat!

【節分献立】

ごはん　牛乳　いわしのごまみそ煮

白菜のおひたし　ぶた肉と大根の煮物　福豆

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Happy throwing beans day!  Today we have a nice salad, some pork and radish soup, fish and lucky beans.  The salad is a classic and I love the soft crunch with the smokey flavor of the katsuoboshi.  The pork and daikon soup was very flavorful and had a light sweetness and umami from the pork, carrots, and daikon.  It reminded me a little of sukiyaki or nikujaga. I might sound crazy, but I feel like I tasted a warm spice in the soup as well like cinnamon or something.  Today’s fish iwashi, which is known as pilchard or sardine in English, was pretty good.  It was cooked in a nice sweet miso sauce which made it go well with rice.  The fish itself had a small layer of fat on the outside of it which gave a little variety to its texture. Not bad at all.  The lucky beans packet was also a nice little snack after finishing the meal.  Very crunchy and a nice mix of sweetness and saltiness since there were beans, some small candied fish, and other goodies in there.  A nice lunch to celebrate the special occasion of setsubun today.

スタミナ丼　牛乳　えび団子スープ

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Happy February!  The first lunch of the month is stamina rice bowl and shrimp ball soup.  The ebidango soup is super good and I love the thin harusame noodles.  They are so light and add an interesting texture from the noodle while still being very juicy.  The flavor is light and salty but each shrimp ball explodes with flavor.  Such a great soup.  The stamina don was also excellent.  Very flavorful and packed with tons of meat as well.  A great meal to kick off the new month!  Thank you very much!

【全国学校給食週間】

はちみつパン　牛乳　メンチカツ

ブロッコリーサラダ　インド煮

～Lunch Report By ALT～

The final day of Kyushoku week brings indoni, menchi katsu, and broccoli salad with honey bread on the side.  I like this menu a lot.  The salad is delicious and the juicy broccoli is filled with creamy dressing and joined by yummy and sweet bursts of flavor from the corn.  The indoni is quite good and has lots of delicious flavors from Indian style foods and even has a little more spice than usual.  I am surprised by the satsumaage and quail eggs, but they are delicious as well.  I liked how there were many potatoes in it.  Today’s menchi kantsu is also excellent and super crunchy on the outside while still being juicy and meaty on the inside.  Although the katsu is salty and fried, and the honey bread is sweet, I still made a sandwich with them and it was very good.  Great lunch today!

【全国学校給食週間】

【とちぎ地産地消元気アップ・牛肉献立】

ごはん　牛乳　ハッシュドビーフ

じゃこサラダ　ぽんかん

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Day 4 of school lunch week brings fancy hashed beef on the menu!  The shako salad was pretty good and I enjoyed the aburaage strips and dressing especially.  The hashed beef was a delicious stew with great flavors from the meat.  The stew itself got tons of flavor from the tomato base and many vegetables inside of it as well.  It was hot and delicious and perfect with rice.  Very hearty and filling and supports my theory that all school stews are delicious.  Finally we also got a ‘ponkan’ which in English is a ‘ponkan orange’ or tangerine.  Basically a slightly different mikan.  They were served very cold and were delicious and sweet after the stew.  Great lunch and certainly a top 10 for sure!  School lunch week is unbeatable! Gochisousamadeshita!

【全国学校給食週間】

米粉パン　とちおとめジャム　牛乳

いも入り焼きそば　大根とツナのサラダ

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Day three of school lunch week!  Today is yakisoba with potatoes, salad with tuna, and bread with jam.  Lots of ‘with’s’ today!  The salad was excellent as always with its unique mix of tangy dressing and tuna flavor.  Of course I used some of the bread to soak up the dressing.  The yakisoba was good and the potatoes inside it gave it a new texture compared to the noodles and normal ingredients.  It was good.  A member in the teacher’s room mentioned that potatoes in yakisoba is ‘soul food’ in Tochigi.  I think that is very interesting, and delicious too. The VP mentioned that potatoes in yakisoba is more a tradition in southern Tochigi.  I will have to visit those places and try it out!  Today we got a special tochiotome jam, but the teachers in the teachers room got tangerine jam instead!  It was will very delicious and perfect with the rice bread.  A wonderful lunch today!

【全国学校給食週間】

【地産地消：野口菜】

ごはん　牛乳　手作りとんカツ（ごまソース）

ボイルキャベツ　にこにこ汁

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Today is a another special menu day!  Handmade tonkatsu with soup and boiled cabbage.  The boiled cabbage was essentially a garnish for the katsu so I ate it quickly.  It was fairly sweet and crunchy.  The nikoniko soup was good, but the nameko gives it a slightly slimy texture.  The main event, tonkatsu.  Today’s katsu came with a nice big packet of special sesame sauce.  The katsu was very big and almost as large as you would get at a restaurant.  This is a real treat and it was still very crunchy and tender at the same time.  The sauce was basically the same as high quality tonkatsu sauce.  I didn’t taste the sesame flavor strongly, but there was certainly ground goma in the sauce.  It was fantastic.  What a treat today.  Another top 10 kyushoku with the huge delicious katsu. Gochisousamadeshita.

【全国学校給食週間】

【とちぎ地産地消元気アップ・水産物献立】

ごはん　牛乳　ヤシオマスのたまりじょうゆ焼き

いそ香り和え　キムチ入りとん汁　とちおとめアイス

～Lunch Report By ALT～

This is the first day of National School Lunch week here in Japan  I don’t know what that is but I imagine that all schools in Japan are eating the same basic school lunches? Like everyone gets the same basic menu but each prefecture adds a little special flare to it?  Today is also The Tochigi Genki up menu AND the aquatic menu as well.  It has three separate special names today!  I hope that its really good!  The Isokaoriae salad was delicious.  It means beach scent salad basically and I did get some sea side smells from the seaweed and sesame flavors when I was eating it.  It was great.  Next up was pork soup with kimchi.  It has a ton of flavor thanks to the kimchi and really fills you up.  I think this is where most of the genki up part of the menu comes from.  The soup went so well with the rice that I almost ate all of it, but I saved some for the sea trout.  The trout was meaty and delicious with a very light flavor which let the great flavor of the fish take center stage.  It was very delicious.  Finally the Tochiotome Strawberry icecream was tremendous.  It was mostly strawberry sherbert with a few perfectly balanced layers of ice cream which took it from a delicious dessert to something of legend.  No doubt the most delicious ice cream I have ever eaten with Kyushoku.  Today’s menu is the best we have eaten so far and I could imagine it remaining in the top 3 for a long time.  Great lunch today! Gochisousamadeshita!

ミルクパン　みかんジャム　牛乳

オムレツ　ポパイソテー　マカロニのクリーム煮

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Today is a wonderful day!  Macaroni stew!  I seriously love this stuff.  The ‘Popeye’ sautee was amazing.  Very delicious and the flavor of the ham with the spinach was buttery and nice.  I am surprised that Popeye is actually known in Japan since it is such an old cartoon.  Today’s omelet was good as well!  No cheese today, but it was filled with a nice tomato sauce which was perfect with the egg.  Of course I use my bread to clean the plate of the salad and spilled sauce from the omelet.  Today’s macaroni stew was amazing as always.  It has a very gentle flavor which allows the vegetables natural flavor to be easily tasted, especially the onions.  I ate it very quickly!  Finally the tangerine jelly and bread.  I saved half of my bread for the jelly and it was sweet and refreshing.  Enjoyed with milk it is a wonderful combination.  Fantastic lunch today and a top 10 for sure!  Gochisousama Deshita!

ごはん　牛乳　春巻

ハムとニラの和え物　ワンタンスープ

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Today is a Chinese menu.  The ham and nira salad was crunchy and filled with ham too.  The flavor from the nira and dressing gave it a zingy oniony flavor that was very delicious and refreshing.  I could eat a ton of it!  The wonton soup was very good too.  Nice and hot.  But I got way more Naruto slices than wontons in my bowl which was interesting.  Finally, I saved my favorite for last, the spring roll!  Today’s spring rolls were perfect.  Super crunchy, flavorful, and not too oily either which was very nice.  The taste of the filling and the wrapper is simply delicious and has a nice salty and savory flavor which makes me want to eat more and more.  Wonderful meal today!

ごはん　牛乳　さばのみそ煮

れんこんきんぴら　むらくも汁

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Today is a Japanese menu!  The Renkon kinpira is great.  Renkon is called lotus root in English and many people in America don’t eat it, but I think it is great.  The kinpira has a nice earthy and savory flavor with hints of sweetness here and there that make it a delight.  The Murakumo soup was nice.  In English, murakumo are “Gathering Clouds” and I understand the meaning since the eggs look a little like clouds in the soup.  The saba misoni was excellent. Maybe today’s best menu item with its nice flavorful meaty texture and the sweet delicious miso sauce on top.  Saba is mackerel in English.  It’s delicious and cooked perfectly I feel.  Not to mention a bit bigger than usual too which is a surprise.  Another excellent school lunch today!

チキンカレーライス　牛乳

海そうサラダ　ヨーグルト

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Today is chicken curry with rice, seagrass salad, and some yogurt.  A classic school lunch menu.  I like the seagrass salad very much and enjoy the sweetness from the corn and cabbage mixed with the slightly sour and tangy dressing.  The chicken curry was excellent and the spice level was quite nice.  It tasted spicier than usual and I enjoyed it quite a bit.  In winter I think that spicy curry is delicious.  Today’s yogurt was Yakult flavored and it has an interesting sweet and sourness which is unique.  Nice lunch today!  Also, I was unable to eat lunch yesterday but am bummed that I missed out on the oroshi hamburg and gobo salad.  I love gobo!

ごはん　牛乳　おろしハンバーグ

ごぼうサラダ　みそ汁

ミルクパン　マーシャルビーンズ　牛乳

きのこスパゲッティ　イタリアンサラダ　お米のババロア

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Today is another great menu. Pasta, salad,babaloa, and bread with MARSHALL BEANS!  The Italian salad is wonderful as always, but today I was very happy with how the salad looked.  The variety of red, pink, green, and white is very nice and reminds me of the Italian flag and is very bright and beautiful.  The mushroom spaghetti came with some seaweed flakes as a topping and that gave it a Japanese flare.  There was more than one type of mushroom in the pasta and it had a nice earthy flavor backed up by the onion and carrot slices.  I recommend using some of the bread to clean the salad bowl and pasta bowl and then eat it with the marshall beans to improve the beans to bread ratio.  Its great!  And finally the babaloa was great.  I love the mix of the creamy soy pudding and the fruity and tart orange topping.  A great finish.  This is one of my favorite lunch menus.  Top 10 for sure!  Gochisousamadeshita!

ごはん　牛乳　えびシューマイ

切干大根のナムル　マーボー豆腐

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Today is a Chinese style menu.  Mabo Dofu, Shrimp Shumai, and namul salad.  The namul is excellent, crunchy, and packed with flavor and lots of vegetables.  I love the sesame flavor mixed with the nice fresh flavors of the vegetables and ham.  Today’s namul feels like it had extra ingredients in it.  The mabo dofu today was very good and I think it was a tiny bit more spicy than usual.  The sauce looked a little more red than last time.  It was excellent as always.  The shumai were full of shrimp flavor and quite good, but mine were cold.  Next time I will put my shumai into my mabo dofu to warm them up!  Today’s best menu items for me was the mabo dofu and the namul.  Wonderful meal.

ココアあげパン　牛乳　ハムと大根のサラダ

コーンシチュー

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Today is a great menu.  Special Cocoa Agepan, Corn Stew, and Ham and Daikon Salad.  The tangy and bright flavors of the crunchy daikon and cucumber contrast the savory meat in the salad perfectly and make it extremely delicious to enjoy.  The corn stew was hot, delicious, and extremely hearty.  Filled to the brim with vegetables and some meat as well, it was absolutely wonderful.  Again, kyuushoku stew cannot be beaten.  I liked the sweetness of the corn strew soaking into the soft potatoes and eating them with the slightly savory and juicy onions for a great combo of flavor and texture. Today’s agepan seemed like it had a lot more sugary coating on it than usual so it was very very sweet.  Normally it has a kinako sugar coating on it but today is cocoa and it was good.  The chocolately flavor was interesting and went very well with milk.  Excellent lunch today and easily the best lunch of the 3rd semester. Gochisousamadeshita!

 

ごはん　牛乳　青ヒラスの味勝焼き
白菜のおひたし　どさんこ汁　みかんゼリー

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Today’s hakusai salad was quite good and I enjoyed the katsuo boshi flavor the most.  The ‘Dosannko’ soup was really delicious and had a very rich flavor and was filled with vegetables.  I like the buttery flavor of the broth and the soft texture of the potatoes in particular.  Today’s fish was good, but not my favorite.  I would like to try it hot.  The tangerine jelly was quite good and still quite frozen because it is so cold! Today’s best menu items to me were the soup and the salad and of course the tangerine jelly.

【始業式】
黒とうパン　牛乳　チキンのオーブン焼き
カリコリサラダ　きつねうどん

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Happy New Year!  This is the first school lunch of the new year and the 3rd semester at Imasan.  Today’sa kitsune udon was delicious and had a perfect balance of sweetness and savory from the noodles and the abura age.  The crunchy cube salad was amazing.  I love that salad.  The dressing tasted special today, almost a little smokey.  Maybe I am imagining things.  I want to add a new ‘corner’ to these food reports to keep them interesting. ALT Kyushoku Urawaza: Use half the bread to make a sandwich with the baked chicken!  Use the other half in quarters to soak up the soup and dressing from the salad.  The chicken sandwich was my favorite part of today’s meal!  Thank you and please have a wonderful new year in 2021!

【終業式】

ホットドッグ　牛乳　チャンポンメン

～Lunch Report　By ALT～

Merry Christmas!  I really wish we had yesterday’s menu today, but in Japan many people think the 24th is Christmas and it isn’t. The 25th is Christmas day.  Today we got a hot dog and some chanponmen.  An interesting combination.  The chanponmen was quite delicious and I enjoyed the salty flavor very much.   The hot dog was very good as well and I like the little container that the ketchup and mustard come in.  It was a fine lunch, but this isn’t what I could consider a Christmas meal!  Thank you!

【クリスマス献立】

セルフチキンピラフ　牛乳　もみの木ハンバーグ

ミネストローネスープ　セレクトデザート

～Lunch Report　By ALT～

Today is clearly a Christmas themed school lunch! Minestrone soup, ‘Make your own chicken pilaf’, A christmas tree shaped hamburg, and a choice of dessert! Quite wide variety of items on the menu today. I started with the pilaf and it was superb. Tons of chicken, and a great variety of vegetables giving it a really nice onion flavor with bursts of sweetness from the corn which stood out. Delicious and a new menu item I think with excellent flavor. The minestrone soup was nice and had a light tomato flavor. I enjoyed it and even think I saw a snowman naruto (Or maybe a ghost? Haha.) in the soup as well. The hamburg was very cute looking and with ketchup it was quite good. Finally the cake! We got a choice of classic strawberry shortcake, a chocolate cake, and ‘cup dessert’, which was pudding or jelly I think. I went for the classic strawberry shortcake because it had the highest weight! Also, believe it or not, I prefer a lighter style of cake and think many chocolate cakes are very dense and heavy. The strawberry was a great choice and it had two layers of sponge, two layers of light and fluffy strawberry cream, and a layer of strawberry jam in the middle. An absolute delight and a wonderful finish to this excellent meal! This was a top 10 for sure! Gochisousamadeshita!

米粉パン　牛乳　白身魚フライ

ブロッコリーサラダ　マカロニのクリーム煮

～Lunch Report　By ALT～

Today is another great day for school lunch. The wonderful macaroni cream stew as well as broccoli salad and fried fish. The salad was delicious and had a lot of creamy sweetness from the corn and the dressing. The fried fish was pretty good and it came with sauce as well which was nice. I enjoyed mixing it with bites of bread so the sweetness of the bread complimented to saltiness of the fish and sauce like a mini sandwich. It was great. My favorite dish of the day though has to be the macaroni stew. I said it before and I will say it again, I love every stew that comes out for lunch and today is no different. Creamy, filled with delicious vegetables and meat, and the macaroni is a great change of pace from the normal ingredients. It was awesome and perfect with the bread. Wonderful lunch!

そぼろ丼　牛乳　鮭団子汁

～Lunch Report　By ALT～

Today is a nice simple menu of saborodon and soup with salmon balls. It looks simple but is packed with flavor. The soup was great and very delicious. The salmon balls had a light but very enjoyable flavor which made the whole soup taste better. The saborodon was amazing as always. I love that unique flavor. It reminds me of ginger and soy sauce. The mix with the eggs is perfect and the lima beans add a really nice crunch in there as well. It goes perfectly with rice. Today is a great lunch!

【冬至献立】

冬野菜カレーライス　牛乳　ツナサラダ　ゆずゼリー

～Lunch Report　By ALT～

Curry day! Also, it is a special menu today celebrating winter due to the solstice. Nothing wrong with starting a Monday with delicious curry and rice. And a yummy Tuna salad too with Yuzu jelly on the side. The salad was great and I love the sweetness from the corn mixed with the citrusy dressing. The tuna also adds a nice flavor to the mix as well. The winter curry was also quite interesting including renkon, daikon, potatoes, spinach, and pumpkin as well. Very fitting ingredients for the season with many root vegetables. It gave it a unique flavor compared to curry on other days. Interesting! The yuzu jelly was extremely refreshing and new as well. Yuzu has a special smell and flavor that is different from other citrus fruits and it’s very enjoyable. A delicious conclusion to a yummy meal.

コッペパン　マーシャルビーンズ　牛乳

スパゲッティミートソース　ハムと大根のサラダ

～Lunch Report　By ALT～

Nice! Pasta and bread with MARSHALL BEANS! I love marshall beans. It is a soy-based chocolate which tastes a little like peanut butter too. The ham and daikon salad is one of my favorites because of the nice juicy and crunchy texture as well as the lemony tangy dressing. It’s a great starter. Today’s pasta was very good and the tomato sauce was very delicious. I liked the meat and the mushrooms as well that gave it a nice texture. Finally I enjoyed the bread with marshall beans spread. I always use a little of the bread to clean the salad dressing and the pasta sauce from the bowl so that the marshall beans to bread ratio is better. A fantastic meal today and one of my favorite kyushoku combinations. Certainly a top 15 meal! Gochisousamadeshita!

【とちぎ地産地消元気アップ・水産物献立】

ごはん　牛乳　あゆの甘露煮

五目きんぴら　どさんこ汁

～Lunch Report　By ALT～

Today is another special Tochigi menu day. Today’s special menu features fish, konpira salad, and soup. The kinpira was sweet and had lots of gobo and aburaage which gave it a nice earthy flavor. The ayu was quite delicious and sweet, but had a little bitterness as well. It was a nice balance of flavors and I was able to eat it completely from head to tailfin! The soup as well was very well balanced and the sweet flavor of the corn mixed with the saltiness perfectly. It was a delicious lunch today!

きなこあげパン　牛乳　カリコリサラダ

白菜のシチュー

～Lunch Report　By ALT～

Today is another very good lunch day! It has been a great week so far for lunches! Today is hakusai stew, cube salad, and agepan. The salad is called ‘Karikori Salad’ which means ‘Crispy crunchy salad’, but I call it cube salad because everything is shaped like a square or a cube. It is delicious and although the dressing is light, it pairs very well with the natural juiciness of the vegetables and the flavor of the ham slices. I love this salad. And of course it was very crunchy. The stew was very good and the flavor of the hakusai was quite strong among the creaminess of the soup itself. Agepan. I think it is a mystery. Everyone likes agepan and I think it is good, but it is difficult for me to eat without making a mess because it is so big! Today’s agepan has kinako powder on it and it was sweet and nice. What a wonderful lunch. I love every stew that comes with school lunch.

【とちぎ地産地消元気アップ・牛肉給食】

県産和牛の牛丼　牛乳　沢煮椀　りんごゼリー

～Lunch Report　By ALT～

Today is another special Tochigi menu day.  Today’s menu is a power up Tochigi beef menu and it is absolutely decadent looking.  The soup was good and the crunchy texture of the ingredients cut into sticks was good.  The main menu of the day is the wagyu Tochigi Beef.  Wagyu in school lunch is unthinkable so this is a special treat!  So many special menus filled with delicious and rare ingredients in November and December.  We are very lucky.  The beef, onion, noodle, and carrot mix was transcendent.  The best beef I have ever eaten in school lunch and was perfectly seasoned as well.  The taste of the beef was like eating a large steak and the light sweetness and aftertaste of being cooked was perfect.  The whole thing was an umami festival in my mouth as well.  Wow what a great lunch.  This wagyu was no joke and this is easily the best kyushoku of the year.  Maybe one or two of the other special menus could come close, but the simplicity of a beef bowl with such high quality ingredients cannot be challenged and I will defend it against any other lunch this year so far. And after eating such a treasure as that, we also get a dessert as well.  The apple jelly was great and a nice cap to the meal.  Beautiful. Gochisousama Deshita to the best kyushoku of the year.

ごはん　牛乳　ねぎまんじゅう

切り干し大根のナムル　マーボー豆腐

～Lunch Report　By ALT～

Today is a wonderful day!  It is mabo dofu day!  The namul was excellent and flavorful  I loved the crunch of the daikon strips and the tangy sesame goodness of the dressing.  Today’s mabo dofu was good and nice and hot.  I got a lot of tofu in mine today.  The dumplings might be the best part of today’s meal I think.  I like to put them into the mabo dofu to warm them up and add their flavor to it as well.  Great lunch today!

黒とうパン　牛乳　ハムチーズピカタ

ごぼうサラダ　カレーうどん

～Lunch Report　By ALT～

It’s curry udon day! Today I started with the gobo salad and it was delicious and sweet. I love the texture of gobo and the sweetness from the dressing and corn was quite fine. The ham and cheese picata was superb. The ‘stuffed’ egg dishes that come in kyushoku always feel like a roulette with what is inside and the flavor changes often so it’s a nice surprise. Today’s was very good. The curry udon was nice today and had a gentle spice to it which was good. The bread today was brown sugar bread and it had a light sweetness to it, which was nice. I think today’s theme was the color brown because the curry and bread were brown obviously, gobo is kind of brown, and the picata had some brown marks where it was cooked as well. I can’t say anything about the milk though! It was all white. A delicious meal.

ビビンバ　牛乳　えび団子スープ

～Lunch Report　By ALT～

Today’s menu has many Korean elements to it! Bibinba and shrimp ball soup. The greens for the bibinba were very nice and had a sesame flavor. The meat and root(?) mixture was excellently seasoned as always. I like the soy saucey flavors. The soup was very delicious with light flavors and an interesting texture from the noodles and vegetables. The shrimp balls were excellent and packed with flavor. A great lunch today!

ごはん　牛乳　さばのみそ煮

五目ひじき　さつま汁

～Lunch Report　By ALT～

Today is a Japanese style lunch with fish, hijiki, soup, and rice. The hijiki salad was good as always. Today there were some noodles in it, which was interesting. Also, I was lucky and got a big piece of meat in it which was nice. The satsuma soup was quite an interesting experience. It is just the regular miso style soup we often get, but with some sweet potato chunk in it. If you eat it without the sweet potato it is just normal soup, but after taking a bite of sweet potato the soup comes to life and tastes even better. I liked that. Today’s fish, saba, was cooked in a sweet miso sauce which paired very well with the natural flavor of the fish. It was quite delicious!

ごはん　牛乳　春巻

ハムとニラの和え物　八宝菜

～Lunch Report　By ALT～

Today is happousai, fried spring rolls, and salad. A Chinese-style menu. The salad was really good and I liked the tangy flavor of the dressing and the nice flavor from the sesame and ham. The happousai, or ‘Eight Treasure Vegetables’, was good. I like happousai but think it has a LOT of flavors and ingredients. All the flavors mix up so I don’t know how to describe it! I taste mostly the shrimp and squid though. Its great with rice. Today’s secret superstar is the fried spring roll though. The wrapper is salty and so good and crunchy I love it. The filling is nice and juicy and has great balance with the wrapper which is nice. I could eat like 20 of these I think haha. Great lunch!

ごはん　牛乳　厚焼卵

小松菜のごま和え　肉じゃが

～Lunch Report　By ALT～

Today something special has happened. Nikujaga has broken free from natto for the first time in the history of kyushoku! I walked past the menu and saw today’s menu was nikujaga, and knew that meant natto, but to see there was no natto was such a big surprise! The salad was excellent and the sweet sesame dressing was great. It was creamy, juicy, a little crunchy, and very hearty. The Tamagoyaki was very good too. It too, was sweet and juicy and very delicious. Japanese tamagoyaki always reminds me of French toast since it is so sweet and eggy. The nikujaga is like a masterpiece. The slippery and juicy noodles contrasted the potatoes and carrots which were filled with the delicious broth. Flavorful meat, onions, and green beans which have absorbed all the goodness from the soup were treasures as well. Today’s lunch was phenomenal and I am very happy. Top 10 if not a top 5. Certainly the best if not one of the best Japanese menus to date. Gochisousamadeshita!

食パン　とちおとめジャム　牛乳

焼きそば　海そうサラダ　ヨーグルト

～Lunch Report　By ALT～

Today is yaki soba day! Always a crowd pleaser. The seaweed salad was a little slimy as always but the crunch from the cucumbers, cabbage, and corn are nice and the flavors are a nice mix of sweetness and salty from the dressing. Today’s yaki soba was good as always. I got lucky today and had a fair amount of little pork chunks in it which was nice. For dessert we got a slice of white bread with some strawberry jam as well as yogurt. Bread and yogurt often come in a pair I notice which is quite interesting. I wonder if the nutritional content of bread and yogurt compliment each other. Either way I am a big fan and love kyushoku yogurt. It’s so sweet and creamy. Great lunch today!

いか天丼　牛乳　もみづけ　キムチ入りとん汁

～Lunch Report　By ALT～

Today is an Asian fusion style meal between Korean and Japanese food I think. Ika tendon and Kimchi tonjiru as well as a salad. The momitzuke salad is lightly flavored, but the sesame seeds are very good and add a lot of depth to it. It’s a personal favorite. The kimchi tonjiru is today’s secret champion since its warm and hearty and the flavors of the kimchi make the tonjiru really shine. It’s an excellent dish. I’ve said it before and I will say it again, the sauce for the ika tendon is seriously the best. I love that stuff. A wonderful lunch today. Thank you!

コッペパン　牛乳　スラッピージョー

チーズポテト　ワンタンスープ

～Lunch Report　By ALT～

Today is a wonderful lunch and I am extremely happy since I missed the last time that sloppy joes came out. Besides them, cheesy potatoes and wonton soup. What a mix of foods today, it is almost like a birthday present. I started with the wonton soup. It has noodles and chicken in it so we would probably call it chicken noodle soup back in America which would fit better than wonton soup which is a Chinese dish. Either way it was delicious and had a lot of umami and the chicken chunks were pretty big. The cheesy potatoes were great as well. We rarely get potatoes as a side on their own and they are my favorite vegetable for sure. I like the cheesy addition, but they could have used a little salt and pepper. I love pepper on potatoes. And finally the sloppy joe. This sloppy joe mix is pretty good and the onion flavor is excellent. Sloppy joes taste very similar if not exactly like this in American schools so it’s very nostalgic for me to eat this. What a treat. Today is a top 3 lunch for me and maybe the best kyushoku of the year. Maybe! Gochisousamadeshita!

ごはん　牛乳　さんまのみぞれ煮

白菜のおひたし　すいとん汁

～Lunch Report　By ALT～

Today is a Japanese style lunch with Miso Sanma, ‘Suiton’ soup, and some salad. I am excited to try the fish and soup. The flavor from the katsuoboshi in the salad was great and the crunch of the hakusai was nice and also quite juicy. A nice salad today. The suiton soup was great and had a nice flavor. It was almost like the broth of ramen since it was flavored with soy sauce. Suiton is apparently a small noodle-ball made of mochi. It was really good and nice with the soup. I liked this soup a lot and was really happy to try it. The Sanma was excellent and I love it and the flavor of the miso sauce it was cooked in. I ate all my rice very quickly thanks to that. Today was an interesting Japanese style lunch with some new textures and flavors which was great. Thank you!

そぼろ丼　牛乳　けんちん汁　みかん

～Lunch Report　By ALT～

Today is the last day of November and we have another nice lunch. Today is Saboro-don and soup with a mikan. The soup was good and warm and had a light flavor. I liked the cabbage and onions the best. The saborodon is very good. I love the ginger flavor of the ground chicken and the mix with eggs and some lima beans is perfect. One of my favorite kyushoku dishes. And the mikan was sweet, a little tart, and delicious. Also my second mikan today since I ate one with breakfast too! Vitamin C!

メンチカツバーガー　牛乳　マカロニのクリーム煮

～Lunch Report　By ALT～

Wow! Cream stew with macaroni is back! I love this dish. Also, delicious menchi katsu burger as well. The menchi katsu burger is bread, katsu, cabbage, and sauce. The katsu tasted great and had a perfect crunch. The cabbage added some nice texture and moisture as well. The sauce went perfect with the katsu of course, since it is katsu sauce! I liked the bread as well which added some sweetness to the whole sandwich. I like to save some of the bread for the stew since they are a nice pair as well. The stew was nice and hot and on another very cold day it was quite welcome. The flavor was mostly of milk, but a little bit of the vegetable flavor came through along with some of the meat flavor as well. It is such a nice and delicious stew and I love it. Great lunch today, top ten! Gochisousama Deshita!

ごはん　牛乳　ねぎまんじゅう

じゃこサラダ　マーボー豆腐

～Lunch Report　By ALT～

Today is Mabo Dofu day. It is a wonderful day indeed! The ‘Jako Salad’ was a nice and easy start to the meal and I saw that there were little fish inside of it. I think they are the ‘Jako’ part. I liked the fried tofu bits and they reminded me of croutons. The steamed onion dumplings were superb. I could eat 20 of them easily haha. Today’s mabo dofu was hot and fresh and tasted great. I think the dumplings had the best flavor of the day, but mabo dofu is always one of the best kyushoku meals of all time. An excellent lunch and of course a top 10. Gochisousamadeshita!

いちごパン　牛乳　スパゲッティナポリタン

ビーンズサラダ　プリン（豆乳）

～Lunch Report　By ALT～

Today is a western style lunch with pasta, salad, strawberry bread, and pudding. The bean salad was yummy and hearty as well. The creamy dressing was nice and brought all the ingredients together. I like how the ingredients were the same size or cut to be similar to the size of the beans. The spaghetti was delicious and the slices of wiener add some savory goodness to the sweet tomato sauce. I was surprised to see how pink the inside of the bread was. It smelled so fresh of strawberries and was a treat. The sauce on the bottom of the pudding was excellent and had a nice caramel flavor. A great lunch on this cold and rainy day.

【とちぎ地産地消元気アップ・水産物献立】

ごはん　牛乳　ヤシオマスのフライ（ソース）

五目ひじき　沢煮椀

～Lunch Report　By ALT～

Today is a Japanese style lunch with fried fish, hijiki salad, and some soup. The hijiki salad is quite delicious and the meaty aburaage adds some nice texture and flavor. Today’s lunch theme is that many if not all of the ingredients are from Tochigi and from bodies of water like rivers and lakes. The soup ‘Sawani Wan’ translates roughly to ‘River Bowl’ and the ingredients are all cut into strips so that they flow easier I think. Interesting idea and very delicious. When all the ingredients in the soup are in small strips it adds an interesting texture like with gobo salad. Finally today’s fish, the fried Yashio trout was very big! Also, it is rare to get red fish in school lunch so it’s a real treat. And I heard that the Yashio trout is native to Tochigi which is interesting. Like the beef in the curry last week, this week’s trout is very high quality and really good. Nice and crunchy on the outside and juicy on the inside. Normally Japanese menu days are conservative with size, but today was special! A top 15 menu for sure. Gochisousama Deshita!

【地産地消週間】

県産小麦のコッペパン　とちおとめジャム　牛乳

ハンバーグのトマト煮　ポパイソテー

オニオンスープ　県産ヨーグルト

～Lunch Report　By ALT～

Today is a very big lunch! The ‘popeye sautee’ was quite good. I like spinach and the corn and ham were nice additions to the hot salad. The hamburg with tomato sauce was also very well seasoned and tasted great. I made a sandwich using my bread and it was yummy. We don’t often get onion soup and it was pretty good. I like onions a lot. I ate the strawberry jam with some of my bread and yogurt. It was a delicious mix of sweetness and creaminess. My kyushoku strawberry danish! Excellent meal today. This week was a very great week of good school lunch!

【とちぎ地産地消元気アップ・牛肉献立】

県産牛のビーフカレーライス　牛乳　ハムと大根のサラダ

～Lunch Report　By ALT～

Today many people are talking about the beef in today’s curry because it was raised in Tochigi and very high quality. I am very excited to try it! The ham and daikon salad with cucumbers was great. I love the crunchiness of the daikon, and the flavor of the dressing too. I can taste citrus in the dressing and it has a nice bright flavor that is satisfying. And next is the famous beef curry. The curry flavor was the familiar as always, but had a slightly more complex flavor thanks to being stewed in the meat giving it more umami. The beef was more tender and had a softer texture than usual which was nice. Also the flavor of course was a bit more ‘meaty’. I mean that I could taste the meat more than the curry seasoning when I was eating it and really enjoyed the savory and creamy flavors from the beef. It was an excellent curry as always, being able to enjoy such high quality beef from Tochigi is a treat, and I am thankful for the opportunity. A top 5 kyushoku of course! Gochisousama Deshita!

【地産地消週間・ごはん献立の日】

ごはん　牛乳　さんまのみぞれ煮

県産ごぼうのきんぴら　にこにこ汁

～Lunch Report　By ALT～

Today is ‘Rice Menu’ day! So there are many dishes that go great with rice. The gobo salad is great and has that earthy sweet flavor which I love. Of course it goes well with rice and is complimented by carrots, konyaku, and satsuma age. The king of food that goes great with rice today is the Sanma. Sanma with a delicious savory miso sauce is a perfect match and absolutely delicious and makes rice disappear quickly. The ‘niko niko’ soup was also quite good. I liked the daikon in particular for the juicy crunch it adds to the dish. Today’s champion was the sanma for sure and I would eat it again and again. Excellent meal today!

【地産地消週間】

ごはん　牛乳　県産ぶた肉ぎょうざ

かんぴょうサラダ　ワンタンスープ

～Lunch Report　By ALT～

Today’s lunch has a Chinese theme to it and looks delicious. Sadly I missed lunch yesterday, but it was natto so maybe I was lucky? I would have loved to try the ginger flavored nikujaga though. The salad was really good and I enjoyed the dressing a lot. After speaking with the Nutritionist, they mentioned that almost all the kanpyo in school lunch was made in Tochigi! The wonton soup was excellent and had a great light salty flavor with the wonton noodles adding a nice texture and soaking up the broth making for a nice juicy bite. Today’s gyoza used all Tochigi pork and were wonderful. A nice char and crunch on the skin while having a yummy ginger and pork flavor for the filling. An excellent school lunch today. Top 15 for sure. Gochisousama Deshita.

【地産地消週間】

ごはん　牛乳　県産納豆

小松菜のいそ香り和え　しょうが風味の肉じゃが

はちみつパン　牛乳　スペイン風オムレツ

白菜とツナのサラダ　カレーうどん　お米のババロア

～Lunch Report　By ALT～

Today’s lunch has a lot of items! It feels like a lot to eat and I am hungry! The hakusai and tuna salad is amazing and it has been a while since I’ve eaten it. Great as always and filled with vegetables and yummy flavor. The ‘Spanish style’ omelet is always a mystery to me. It tastes fine, like a small slice of quiche without any crust and has potato in it. I don’t know what is Spanish about it though, but it is still delicious. Last time I recall it had onions and this time potatoes. The curry udon has the classic kyushoku curry flavor and the spongy and yummy udon instead of rice. I actually dip some of the honey bread into the curry for a salty and sweet mix of flavors and it is pretty good. I like to save the bread for the dessert though since they are a nice pair and it’s almost like a Danish. The ‘bababloa’ was actually a surprise to me and tasted like a creamsicle. A creamsicle is a type of ice cream with fruity orange ice on the outside and creamy milky ice on the inside. It reminded me of the states. Today’s lunch was excellent and I loved it. Top 10! Gochisousamadeshita!

ごはん　牛乳　さばの味勝焼き

もみづけ　筑前煮

～Lunch Report　By ALT～

Unfortunately I missed two days of school lunch including yakisoba and Korean style karaage. What a heartbreak.. But today’s lunch looks delicious so I am very happy. The ‘momizuke’ salad was quite nice and had a bright ginger flavor with sesame too. The ‘chikuzenni’ soup was nice and earthy, with a few bits of sweetness as well. I liked the daikon radish and it reminded me of oden. The fish was great with rice and the oil and salty flavor were nice with the natural flavor of the fish. A nice Japanese style kyshoku!

黒とうパン　牛乳　焼きそば　根菜サラダ

ごはん　牛乳　とりのからあげ韓国風

切り干し大根のナムル　みそ汁

コッペパン　マーシャルビーンズ　牛乳

きのこスパゲッティ　イタリアンサラダ

～Lunch Report　By ALT～

A nice Italian style lunch today with the main and side dish. Mushroom spaghetti and Italian salad. Also, one of my favorite school lunch treats, Marshall Beans. The Italian salad was great as always. I love the bright flavor of the dressing and variety of the textures from the vegetables and squid and shrimp. One of the best salads for school lunch and such a variety of interesting ingredients which come together very well. It may sound silly, but whenever there is a topping with lunch, I always worry if I will put it on the right dish. Today we got some seaweed flakes and I put them on the pasta. I hope it is right! The pasta was great and had a nice light flavor. It wasn’t too oily and the chicken and mushrooms were delicious. Finally I enjoyed the bread and marshall beans. I love how creamy and sweet it is. And the fact it is mostly soy beans is amazing. I love this stuff. What a wonderful lunch. A top 10 lunch for sure! Gochisousama Deshita!

ごはん　牛乳　厚焼卵

白菜のおひたし　鮭団子汁

～Lunch Report　By ALT～

Today is a Japanese style lunch with a soup, salad, and tamagoyaki. The salad was very nice and the flavor of the katsuoboshi was great. The tamagoyaki was sweet and the natural flavor of the eggs was quite nice. Of course it was soft and fluffy as well. Today’s main dish was the soup featuring salmon meatballs. It was like normal miso soup, but with the delicious and cute little salmon meatballs in it. They added a new dimension of flavor to the normal soup and it was really good. Went very well with rice! Today was a delicious school lunch!

コッペパン　牛乳　お豆とかぼちゃのコロッケ

グリーンサラダ　クラムチャウダー

～Lunch Report　By ALT～

I am unable to eat school lunch today! I am very sorry to miss clam chowder too. I bet it was great. Also, the pumpkin and bean croquette sounds super yummy.

ごはん　牛乳　いわしのしょうが煮

小松菜のごま和え　キムチ入りとん汁

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Today’s salad was very nice. I liked the sesame flavor. I think I tasted kinako too. It was good. The tonjiru with kimchi was excellent. Great flavors from the kimchi and a little bit of sour along with the garlic. It warmed me up very well. Today’s fish was quite tasty too. At first the taste was very fishy, but the ginger flavor started to come out more with each bite and it was wonderful. A great lunch today which warmed me up despite the grey and cold weather outside. Thank you.

セルフフィッシュバーガー　牛乳　かぼちゃのシチュー

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Today is another amazing lunch day. Excellent looking pumpkin stew, and a ‘make your own’ fish sandwich. Both of those items are delicious and I know before even tasting them. I started out with a fish sandwich. Although I think it is a lot of bread, the sandwich was good and the fish was nice. The tartar sauce completes the sandwich along with the cabbage. The stew was amazing. Maybe the best stew I have had with school lunch in a long time. The pumpkin flavor is warm and spicy and the vegetables are hearty and delicious. Truly a treat. A top 3 kyushoku for the stew alone! Gochisousamadeshita!

そぼろ丼　牛乳　けんちん汁　ゆずゼリー

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Today we have a kind of Japanese lunch I feel. Saboro don and Kenchin soup. The soup was quite nice and tasted very earthy. Recently, I feel like we are seeing taro in lunch a lot more recently. Saboro is a super yummy mix of minced chicken, scrambled egg, and edamame. It is really delicious and I love the flavoring that they give it. It is a little sweet and a little savory. I am interested to know the recipe! I’d like to try and make some at home someday. Finally, I finished the meal with the delicious yuzu jelly. It was very delicious and the yuzu flavor was quite strong. Refreshing and good. A fantastic lunch. I am a big fan of the Saborodon. Thank you.

コッペパン　牛乳　チキンのチーズ焼き

花野菜サラダ　ポトフ

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Today’s lunch is awesome! A big salad, an interesting main dish, and a yummy soup. The ‘flower vegetable salad’ was great. It had a similar dressing to the Italian salad and it was very hearty too. I liked how the broccoli absorbed the dressing and exploded with flavor when I bit it. The potofu was delicious too. I liked the hotdog and daikon slices. The chicken cheese sandwich was my favorite today. The seasoning and flavor of the chicken was fantastic. An interesting meal, maybe with a French theme? Either way, a top 10 easily. Gochisousamadeshita!

ビビンバ　牛乳　えび団子スープ

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Today is a Korean style lunch with bibinba and shrimp ball soup. I started with the soup and it was excellent. Hot, shrimpy, and juicy. The bibinba had a vegetable mix and a meaty mix with royal fern. The vegetables were steamed and lightly flavored and quite good. The meal had an amazing flavor cooked in soy sauce which was the best. I loved it. Today’s meal is a top 15! Gochisousamadeshita!

ごはん　牛乳　おろしハンバーグ

ごぼうサラダ　みそ汁

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Today is a nice lunch with hamburg, gobo salad, and miso soup. All classics. I am a big fan of the gobo and the salad was quite nice. The creamy dressing is very good. Today’s miso soup was standard, but the abura age and tofu gave it a fluffy and juicy element which was nice. The hamburg was excellent and meaty and juicy. The oroshi sauce was also very delicious. I liked the onion flavor with the meat. Wonderful lunch.

はちみつパン　牛乳　焼きそば　こんにゃくサラダ

ヨーグルト（※栃木県牛乳普及協会さんからの無償提供）

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Today is yakisoba and konyaku salad with yogurt and honey bread. The salad was good, but the konyaku and wakame were very slimy. It was very refreshing though. The yakisoba was good and the sauce was nice. Can’t beat it. Today’s true treat was the yogurt. It was made in Nikko I think. It is slightly less sweet than usual, but tastes very fresh. It also had a much thicker texture and was an absolute delight. It went perfect with the honey bread too. Great lunch today.

秋野菜カレーライス　牛乳　ツナサラダ

～Lunch Report By ALT～

I feel that fall has some of the best foods. Stew, nabe, etc. Today’s fall veggie curry is amazing. The tuna salad was excellent. Today’s dressing was special. I think I tasted shiso leaf in there. Curry is delicious as always and in particular I appreciated the sweet potato for its texture and flavor. Smooth, creamy, and sweet. An excellent day for school lunch. Top 5! Gochisousamadeshita!

米粉パン　牛乳　スペイン風オムレツ

ブロッコリーサラダ　マカロニのクリーム煮

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Today is another great menu and a sign of good things to come. I love stews and school lunch stews are great. Today is ‘Macaroni nimono’, but it is a stew. The broccoli salad was creamy and sweet and I liked the crunchy cucumber. The ‘Spanish omelet’ was good. I think there was potato in it. The pasta stew was very hearty and delicious. It had a very light flavor and I could taste the onions. The rice bread was great and went well with the stew. I like the interesting texture and sweet flavor of the rice bread. It is very unique. Excellent lunch. Top 5! Gochisousamadeshita!

ごはん　牛乳　あげぎょうざ

ホイコーロー　わかめスープ

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Today is a holy day! I think horikoro is my favorite kyushoku menu item. The soup was light and had a gentle seaweed flavor. The wet crunch of the wakame was nice. The gyoza was flavored excellently and the garlicy meat filling was awesome. Today the gyoza had a darker crust and the char added some nice earthy flavors. The honorable horikoro never fails to please my palate. Today’s was even a little spicy too. I don’t know if it is the best, but it is a top 3 meal easily. Thank you! Gochisousamadeshita!

【地産地消献立：里いも】

ごはん　牛乳　とろあじスタミナ焼き

五目ひじき　いものこ汁

～Lunch Report By ALT～

I was unable to eat school lunch on Friday sadly. I have few regrets in life, and not eating sloppy joe is one of them! Today is a very Japanese style lunch. The hijiki salad was awesome with a light sweetness. The texture was good and it was hearty thanks to the beans, pork, and tofu. I moved to the fish next and was greatly surprised by how delicious it was. Today’s flavor was garlicy and salty. The Toro aji was very nice and great with rice.Today’s menu highlighted the locally grown sato imo. I usually don’t like the mushy slimy texture of sato imo, but in today’s soup it was good. I am very thankful for all the people and plants and animals who made my lunch possible today. Thanks as always!

コッペパン　牛乳　スラッピージョー

チーズポテト　野菜スープ

ごはん　牛乳　春巻

ハムとニラの和え物　マーボー豆腐

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Mabo dofu day! Yeah! Today’s salad seems new! It’s quite good and has a nice tangy flavor that compliments the meal well. The spring roll was perfect and had a nice crunch. They tasted nice and salty with a warm filling. The mabo was great today. So much meat and tofu. With rice it is perfect. A classic kyushoku menu, but one of the best. Top 5! Gochisousamadeshita!

【ごはん献立の日】

ごはん　牛乳　さんまのみぞれ煮

五目きんぴら　さつま汁

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Today is 'rice day'. So it looks like a menu that pairs well with white rice. The kinpira is great and has a variety of textures from the vegetables, meat, and fish cake. It has a variety of nice flavors too. The sweet potato soup was a great mix of salty and sweet. The texture of the potato is nice with the soup too. The true champion of 'rice day' is, of course, the miso sanma. The yummy sauce and fish are a perfect pair and I would be surprised if anyone left any rice at all after eating it. A great meal.

ごはん　牛乳　納豆

もみづけ　ピリから肉じゃが

～Lunch Report By ALT～

I finished off my natto and cleansed my palate with white rice and salad. The salad was like a sponge, cleaning the natto taste and texture from my mouth and replacing it with bright ginger and delicious sesame flavors. Thank you salad. My hero, as always on natto day, is the nikujaga. So good and filled with with so many vegetables. It is always a treat.

ごはん　牛乳　ぶた肉と野菜のしょうがいため

豆腐入り中華スープ　オレンジ

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Today is ginger stir fry and Chinese soup with an orange slice on the side. The stir-fry was excellent and the ginger flavor and plentiful vegetables were delicious. In particular, the green pepper slices added a little excitement to the mix. The tofu and egg soup was nice and the calmer flavors were a nice contrast to the stir-fry. Finally, the orange was a bright and sweet end to the meal. A Top 10 lunch today! Gochisousama Deshita.

食パン　牛乳　肉団子

大根とツナのサラダ　きつねうどん

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Today is a big lunch with a lot of variety. The daikon tuna salad was filled with veggies and had a bright flavor which brought out the best in the tuna. The kitsune udon was great. Tons of proteins with fish and chicken, and the delicious juicy sweetness from the fried tofu. I love kitsune udon and today's was excellent and hearty. 

ごはん　牛乳　さばのみそ煮

小松菜のおひたし　里いもと大根のそぼろ煮

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Today is a very Japanese style lunch. The salad was crunchy with strong katsuo bushi flavor. The satoimo soup was quite good. The sliminess of the sato imo theickens the sou into a stew. It was mostly a salty savory soup, but I tasted a little sweetness. My favorite part of today's lunch was the fish. The sweet miso sauce on the fish is amazing and with rice it's perfect.

コッペパン　牛乳　ハムチーズピカタ

ほうれん草サラダ　ミネストローネスープ　りんごゼリー

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Quite a valiety of items today. The spinich and tuna salad is wonderful as always, with a nice sweetness from the corn. Normally there is tuna inside the little stuffed omelet but today it had ham and a little bit of cheese. It was super good and I'd like to try are fresh out of the oven. Today's main was minestrone soup. The shells and bakon stood out today in texture and flavor. My apple jelly was in perfect condition and loaded with chunks of apple.

ハヤシライス　牛乳　イタリアンサラダ

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Hayashi rice and Italian salad are always delicious. Crunchy texture and cheese-like squid are a nice combination and the dressing is great. So I researched Hayashi rice and there are 2main ideas about it's origin.

1. It is named after a person called Hayashi.

2. It is from the English word "Hashed Beef".

I don't know the answer but today's Hayashi rice was super good!

いか天丼　牛乳　大阪づけ　むらくも汁

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Oosakatzuke is a salad of pickled daikon strips and cucumber with a light ginger flavor. It was pretty good. Murakumo soup was a nice flavorful egg drop soup with lots of onion and sea weed. Salty and savory. Very nice. Next up, Ika tendon. Squid tempura is OK, but with that sauce it is excellent.

コッペパン　牛乳　ハンバーグきのこソース

コールスローサラダ　えびだんごスープ　十五夜デザート

～Lunch Report By ALT～

This is a great line up today. A cole slaw salad with mayo, corn, and cucumbers which has flavor from the mayo, corn, and something tangy too. The dumpling soup was nice with a salty flavor but the dumplings had a very strong shrimp flavor and a meaty texture. Very good. I like to cut my hamburg lengthwise and make a sandwich using the bread. It was delicious and the mushroom sauce was terrific finally the cute jelly had a little rabbit shape in it for the celebration of moonviewing.

ごはん　牛乳　ポークシューマイ

ナムル　八宝菜

～Lunch Report By ALT～

Today's lunch has a Korean theme to it. The 'namul' was good with a nice crunch and sesame flavor.  The 'Happosai' soup was interesting.  Quail eggs, pork, shrimp, and squid too. So many proteins! But the flavor was nice and there were many vegetables too. The pork shumai ware great and I ate them with rice and soup to warm them up. The flavorful pork had garlic and other tastes as well.