Onigiri what?!

Feeding my pet Panda an onigiri from Cream Pan!

I was introduced to onigiris on our trip to Japan back in 2008 when we took a family trip to visit my brother since he was stationed there for the Navy.  When he picked us up from the airport he had a bunch of onigiris waiting for us to snack on, but he probably got them because he was hungry himself.  This morning I visited the Japanese Bakery, Cream Pan in Tustin.  I bought two salmon onigiris and a pork cutlet sammich--a staple throughout our whole trip.  As I was reversing from my parking spot in the Cream Pan parking lot, I feasted upon the first onigiri and savored it like it was my last meal.  I have another one for lunch, but it's taking A LOT of will power to save it until then (another 2 hours).  My little onigiri is just staring at me... saying, "Eat me! Eat me!"  So before I nom nom nom on it, I decided to write my ode to onigiris---

An onigiri is a Japanese rice ball that can be found at most convenience stores.  My favorite--Seven and I Holdings which is the parent company of 7-Eleven.  Didn't know that?  You learned something new today! :o)  Well this 7-Eleven type convenient store is completely amazing compared to the 7-Elevens here in the States.  It's like a mini mart of goodies that are actually delicious and cheap.  I don't think I've been in a 7-Eleven here in the States for like years.  And if I go into a 7-Eleven here, it's just for their Slurpees.  As much of an "adventure" eater I am, I don't have any desire to eat a hot dog from here.  However in Japan, their convenient store is full of cheap Japanese street food right at your finger tips.  So from that first day in Japan, my heart belonged to the onigiris.  

On our flight home from Japan with my last Japanese Onigiri!

There are various onigiris but the base of this snack is simple--rice wrapped in nori or seaweed.  My favorite kind of onigiri is the salmon kind.  Bits of salmon is mixed in the shoyu/soy sauce rice and provides a good basis for a quick snack. Other kinds of onigiris are filled with tuna w/ mayonnaise (The Japanese love their mayo!), pickled plum and other stuff I don't know of.  Onigiris are commonly shaped into either fat triangles or ovals.  It's often wrapped in plastic and easily portable, hence me devouring it in my car as I backed out of the Cream Pan parking space.  Onigiris are similar to sushi but I don't think they consider it the same.  I think the rice is different and I don't remember seeing onigiris with any raw fish in it but I could be wrong since I mostly just ate the salmon and tuna ones.  It's also very similar to Spam Musubi which is a Hawaiian staple consisting of a slice of spam (you are NOT my friend if you don't like Spam haha jay kay), sticky rice and wrapped in nori/seaweed.  Spam Musubi is found in all ABC Stores in Hawaii but not in any ABC Stores in Las Vegas.  I learned that the hard way.  Enter Jenny's sad face here. 

Back to onigiris, there's also a whole art form of creating onigiris into fun shapes for bento boxes,  Check out http://www.yumyumbento.com/.   My good college buddy Justin gave me the book Yum Yum Bento Box so I can make cute rice balls into shapes such as pandas (my favorite), hearts, penguins, etc.  It is such a cute book and you should all go to the book store and browse through it then buy it and make your own onigiris.  :o)

Pork Cutlet Sammich from Cream Pan

Happy nom nom nom-ing!

P.S. Pork cutlet sammiches---buy them, eat them, wipe your drool off with a napkin.  If you're in town, I know you can get them at Cream Pan and at the Mitsuwa Japanese Market Costa Mesa.  I really hope the Mitsuwa in Irvine starts to carry them too.  Please share if you know additional places around here where I can get these magical delights.