Travel Food

I'm on my way to Honolulu, HI tomorrow to meet up with my family for Thanksgiving :)  You could always request a vegan/vegetarian meal on the flight ahead of time but I've done that sooo many times, and every time I have been disappointed.  Either they got my order but do not have my meal on the plane, which leaves me starving for the next 6 hours, or they do have my meal and it's allwayyss Indian food which can make me feel a little ill when traveling :(  So solution is to bring your own food.  Of course this has to be something that passes through security (no liquids and in some cases, like traveling from hawaii, no fruits or seeds) and does not spoil because it's a long flight and you can't use ice packs.  Solution...rice balls!!!!  Putting some ume paste or part of an ume plum in the middle allows you to have these rice balls for up to 3 days without refrigeration.  I had these with San-J instant miso cup.  What's great about this one is that they use miso paste, not miso powder like other brands, it's portable, and all natural.  Just ask the flight attendant to add some hot water and you're all set.  Here's a great trick to use for a clean way to make rice balls.

Place some brown rice in the middle of some saran wrap and part of an umeboshi plum in the center.

Put more brown rice on top to cover the umeboshi plum and then wrap up the saran in your hand and twist the top.  Mold it into a ball to make sure the rice completely covers the plum.  

Finally, shape the ball into a triangle, unwrap and place it in the center of a sheet of seaweed.  Completely wrap the triangle in the seaweed and seal with water.