Weekend Fun Bentos

This past weekend was amazing.  We had an incredible time at Anime Weekend Atlanta.  Then we went on to participate in the Color Run 5k with A-chan's godparents.  And there was a Fall Festival after lunch at The Flying Biscuit.  Eating lunch while covered in colors was just a bit strange but also kind of fun.

These bentos were for our lunch at AWA on Friday.  Inari zushi are easy to make and quick to pop into bentos when I'm in a hurry.  I wanted A-chan's to be cute.   I wanted mine to be more elegant.  There were plenty of egg sheets left over from making Vash the Stampede the day before so I used them for fans and flowers.  Everything in this bento was about being quick to make and easy to assemble.

In the bento:  Inari zushi, corn on the cob, grapes, black plum slices, carrot flowers, baby tomatoes and cream cheese soy turkey rolls.

The bunny faces were cut from provolone.  The butterflies were punched from nori with one of my fav nori punches.  It was bought at Michael's and I love it!  I use it all the time on bentos for myself.

After the Color Run

A-chan at the finish line

A-chan's Lion Cake

I love this!  A-chan's newest obsession is Cake Boss which we found on Netflix this past Sunday.  Wow.  She is now all about creating cakes.  There was the pillow cake on her bed that was topped with a fake pearl necklace and stuffed kittens.  And she made a picnic themed cake from her play food.  All of this got me inspired to make a last minute cake so that she could truly enjoy making one.

We had friends over for the evening.  They are so awesome and totally joined into the craziness of last minute cake making, including picking up the grocery items that were needed!  The four of us jumped in and worked together to make the cake as a team effort.  Keep in mind that I've made maybe two cakes in my life.  It was wild.  And a ton of fun!  A-chan learned how to seperate egg yolks out.

A-chan did most of the icing and she did all the decorating by herself.  It was so much fun to watch her with the piping bag.  She obviously had a clear idea of what she wanted.  I am super proud of her!  We finally got it finished much later than I would normally allow cake to be eaten.  We ate it anyway.  And it was delicious!

Vash the Stampede

I am a huge fan of anime.  It's never been a secret, though I haven't made much mention of it lately.  Here it is, then.  One of my absolute favorite anime is Trigun.  I have loved it for years and still do.  A-chan is a fan of Vash as well, though she hasn't seen all of Trigun - only the first part which is lighter and silly.  It was so exciting to immortalize one of my fav characters in eggsheet, nori and cheese.  I feel as though this bento took much more prep work than other kyaraben.  Five egg sheets were cooked the night before and stored in the fridge.  And you should have seen the mess I made of my kitchen over this one!  

In the bento:  Jasmine rice as a background, carrot and nori stars, fried tofu, checkered apple, grapes, steamed broccoli and black olives.  

Vash was made on a platform of provolone cheese.  His hair, face and donut were cut from egg sheet while his distinctive red coat was cut from a red pepper.  All the black details were cut from nori.  The letters on the sign for his name were cut from cucumber peel.  Kuroneko-sama is provolone and nori with cucumber eyes.  He's slightly a crazy kitty in the anime so I'm not over worried about how crazy he looks in the bento.

Tomorrow we head up to Anime Weekend Atlanta for a day's immersion in anime, manga and cosplay!

Froggies and Fireflies

JapanFest was the best thing since onigiri molds!  We had a blast watching the sumo wrestling, taiko drumming and Bunraku puppetry, not to mention seeing all the smiling faces throughout the weekend.  Thanks so much to all the people who came to the lectures and stopped by the booth.  It's always a difficult transition back to normality after an exciting event, but we're trying our best.  Silly frog onigiri were a great way to usher in the week.

In the bento:  Frog onigiri, potato salad in a container, strawberries, lemon slices, steamed broccoli, a vegetarian tsukune patty, carrot and turnip flowers and a couple of nori dragonflies on cheese circles.

To get green rice I added a couple drops of food coloring to the water before cooking the rice.  The onigiri shapes were made with an onigiri mold.  Provolone cheese and nori were used for the facial detail.  The frog's tongue was sweet potato peel.  It was pretty simple to cut the dragonflies out of nori using a stencil punch from a local craft store.

I love using black sesame seeds for detail on flowers and things like the dragonflies' flight paths.  Sesame seeds are extremely versatile, not to mention yummy!

A Kitty for Me

Are there too many cats in my bentos?  I think not.  There's no such thing as too many cats.  I make plenty of kitty bentos for A-chan and love doing so, but this one was for myself.  It was yummy!

We're getting ready for JapanFest this weekend.  I can't wait.  I'm not sure what I'm most excited about, the sumo wrestling or the archery.  A-chan is looking forward to the games and sweets most, though she is also happy for the excuse to put on her yukata.  

In the bento:  Jasmine rice, purple potato hearts, half of a huge cherry tomato, orange slices, black olives, steamed broccoli,  and fried tofu.

The kitty was cut from egg sheet and provolone cheese, with facial details punched from nori and uncooked somen noodles for whiskers.  His ball of yarn was made from a few spaghetti noodles that were dyed green.  I was attempting to dye them blue, alas.  

Easy Peasy Lion

Whew!  Back from vacation and almost ready to jump back into reality.  We had a stressfree and relaxed time.  All of the things on our have-to-experience-that list actually got done.  I have to mention it because I think it's the first time that has ever happened.  Ah, but jumping from Princesses, safaris and and roller coasters back to early school mornings and homework is an adjustment.  I'm taking it slow.

In the bento: Spaghetti noodles fill up the big tier while kiwi slices, an apple bunny, edamame, carrot ribbons, grapes and turnip flowers are nestled in the smaller.

The cute lion is made with soy turkey slices, turnip, nori and uncooked somen noodles for whiskers.