This morning when I was wondering what to make for lunch, I opened the fridge to see what kind of ingredients I had on hand. There was a lot of pumpkin, a handful of okra from the garden, a huge tupperware container of eggplant pickles I had made the day before, two sad-looking shiso leaves, three pickled plums, and in the freezer, two lonely pieces of thin-sliced pork. Rather than go to the grocery store and buy more ingredients, I was determined to use what was already in the fridge and make something (anything!) for lunch.
今朝、今日の昼ご飯どうしようかなと考えていた時に、冷蔵庫を開けて中にどんな食材があるのかを確認しました。いっぱいのかぼちゃ、庭から採ったオクラの一握り、昨日作ったナスの浅漬けの大きなタッパー、悲しそうな大葉2枚、梅干し3個と、冷凍庫の中にある孤独な生姜焼き用豚肉2枚がありました。スーパーに行って、食材を買う代わりに、冷蔵庫にあるもので昼ご飯の何か（何でもいい！）を作ろうと決めました。
I cut the pumpkin into bite-sized pieces, and steam-fried them in 3 tablespoons of olive oil until they were cooked through.
かぼちゃを一口大に切って、オリーブ油大さじ3で火が通るまで蒸し焼きにしました。
Then I took of the lid, turned up the heat a bit and browned the edges. Finally, I tossed the pumpkin pieces gently with a teaspoon and a half of rice vinegar and about one third of a teaspoon of salt.
それから、蓋を取って、火を少し強くして、両面がきつね色になるまで炒めました。最後に米酢小さじ１1/2と塩小さじ1/3を入れて、軽く混ぜました。
For the okra, I sprinkled them with salt, rolled them back and forth on the cutting board to remove the tiny hairs, then rinsed them in water.
オクラに塩少々をまぶして、うぶ毛をとるために板ずりして、水で洗いました。
Then I trimmed off the hard tip of the okra with a knife. (I guess I didn't rub them hard enough with salt, because the the tiny hairs are still there!)
次は、包丁でオクラのへたの部分を切りました。（この写真から見ると、うぶ毛がまだあるみたいです！板ずりは足りなかったかもしれませんね。）
Once I trimmed all the okra, I boiled them for two minutes, then transferred them to a bowl of cold water. After patting them dry, I cut them in bite-sized pieces on the diagonal, and tossed them with half a teaspoon of seasoned soy sauce and some bonito flakes.
オクラのへたを全部とった後で、オクラを2分で茹でて、冷水で冷ましました。水気を切ってから、斜めの一口大に切って、醤油だし小さじ１と鰹節で和えました。
The day before, I had pickled eggplant in a salted water with konbu seaweed and dried chili peppers. All I had to do was give a few slices of eggplant a good squeeze to get rid of the water and they were ready to eat!
昨日、塩水、昆布と鷹の爪でナスの浅漬けを作りました。今日は食べる準備としては、ナスの数枚をとって、水気を絞ることだけでした！
And finally, the two lonely pieces of thin-sliced pork! At first I thought about making a single serving of ginger pork, but changed my mind when I remembered the sad-looking shiso leaves and pickled plums waiting patiently in the fridge. I topped each slice of pork with a shiso leaf and minced pickled plum, then rolled it up.
最後になりましたが、孤独な生姜焼き用豚肉2枚ですね！最初は一人分の生姜焼きを作ろうかと思いましたが、冷蔵庫で大人しく待っている悲しそうな大葉と梅干しを思い出しました。豚肉2枚の上に大葉と叩いた梅干しを乗せて、くるくる巻きました。
After dipping the pork rolls in flour, egg, and panko crumbs, I deep-fried them for about four minutes until they were crisp and golden on the outside, then cut them in half diagonally.
豚肉巻きに小麦粉、卵とパン粉を順番につけてから、衣がかりかりできつね色になるまで4分ぐらい揚げて、斜めに半分に切りました。
It felt so good to finally use those two slices of pork that had been in the freezer for the longest time, not to mention the slightly wilted shiso leaves that were begging to be eaten!
長い間冷凍庫に入った豚肉2枚をようやく使うことができて、とても嬉しかったです。「頼むから、早く食べてください！」と言わんばかりに少ししおれた大葉は言うまでもありませんね！
It can be really difficult to think of a good combination of side dishes for a lunch box when there are TOO many options. In a way, it was actually helpful to narrow down the options with rules like "you can only use the vegetables in the fridge" or "see what you can do with all that leftover meat in the freezer". Not only did the "empty fridge challenge" make my lunch box making routine a lot easier, but I think the pork and the shiso leaves were happy to finally be eaten as well!
選択肢が多すぎると、お弁当の献立を考えるのが本当に大変です。ある意味では、「冷蔵庫にある野菜だけ使わないといけない」や「冷凍庫にあるお肉の残り物を使って何か作ってみて！」というようなルールで選択肢を絞ると助かりました。冷蔵庫の食材使い切りチャレンジのおかげでお弁当作りが楽になったし、ようやく食べられた豚肉と大葉も喜んだでしょう！
