Bento Anarchy

Love Bunny

2012-01-31T08:34:00.000-08:00

I have decided that the exacto knife is the bento maker's Sonic Screwdriver. That thing is awesome! This morning instead of playing it safe and cutting hearts in the apple as usual, I took the adventurous route and used the exacto knife to cut the heart shapes instead. Eureka! Clean edges and no bruising means that the perfect apple carving tool is finally within my grasp. *Insert sinister laugh here*

In the bento: Miniature pancakes, a container of feta, carrot hearts, Morningstar Farms sausage links, apple, sugar snap peas, a lemon wedge, and blackberries. The little monkey container has strawberry icing inside.

The bunny face was made with nori, carrot, and provolone cheese with strawberry jelly for the cheeks. The pancakes are part of my freezer stash - Frozen miniature Eggo pancakes. They are easy to cook on early mornings but I still wish that I could make homemade pancakes. One day I will learn, but for now I won't try my hand at burning more.

Pastitsio Bento

2012-01-30T09:06:00.000-08:00

Ahhh, Monday. The sun is shining but it is as cold as all get out! I've never been exactly sure what that phrase meant. My grandparents used it a lot as I was growing up and it is now part of my brain function whether I understand it or not. Might as well use it, right? Today's bento of leftover vegetarian Pastitsio is perfect for this weather and it's all for me. Happy Meatless Monday!

The package of sesame leaves that I picked up last night is the excuse for making myself a bento today. They looked so pretty and it's been a long time since I've done anything experimental food-wise. These are actually Perilla leaves which are related to Basil and Mint, but are often marketed under the name Sesame leaves. Since I'm allergic to Mint, today's experiment is very cautious. If I have no reactions today I will be more adventurous later in the week. I love how the leaf looks in the bento - can't wait to actually try tasting it!

A-chan chose Starfruit as her food experiment. So far she hasn't liked it, but I am so proud of her for trying it! And since she doesn't like it that just means more for me...

In the bento: Vegetarian Pastitsio, Perilla leaf, an almond, baby carrots, a huge cherry tomato, blackberries, steamed broccoli, a slice of starfruit and an orange slice.

Pastitsio is a Greek meat and pasta casserole. I adapted a recipe to be made with Morningstar Farms recipe crumbles. The recipe is posted on my other blog so if you're interested, go check it out. It makes a huge amount! (And you can substitute real meat for the fake meat if you happen to be a carnivore. Just sayin')

Friday Onigiri

2012-01-27T08:02:00.000-08:00

After all the hearts yesterday I decided to do a bento classic for today and made happy onigiri because it's Friday! This weekend is going to be pretty busy with A-chan's Taekwondo sparring camp and me going to dance rehearsals for a show in Feb. I'm making our plans into excuses to make weekend bentos.

In the bento: Two round and happy onigiri, orange slices, a container of blueberries with a pink hedgehog pick, a baby tomato and a bread 'bowl' filled with tofu, carrot and broccoli stirfry.

The onigiri faces were punched out of nori except for the cheeks which were cut from gari. The pretty bow was painstakingly cut from lemon peel and orange peel using the exacto knife, which was more difficult than I expected.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

A Heart-full bento

2012-01-26T07:58:00.000-08:00

This bento turned out to have a theme, though I didn't know it until I was taking the picture. Hmm. I guess it's almost Valentine's Day! Oh boy, we get to make chocolates! A-chan is already gushing about the chocolate making tradition and has started counting down the days. I was informed this morning at breakfast that there are only 19 days til Valentine's.

In the bento: A heart shaped container filled with chickpeas and feta, steamed broccoli, baby carrots, two bamboo picks with veggie hot dog slices and provolone cheese hearts, a lemon slice, two potato and cheese pierogies, pear slices, blueberries and a tiny tomato on a heart pick.

I find it difficult to make the heart shaped container fit into my bentos so it usually sits unused in my bento gear box. However, this bento was designed around it! It was the first thing to go in and I worked everything else around it.

Favorite Things

2012-01-24T14:44:00.000-08:00

There are very few bentos where I don't use a container of some kind. They are so useful! I love them for fruit, stirfry and cheese. Today I used my absolute favorite container to pack black eyed peas. The peas are a bit juicy and this container with its lid is perfect for things that might lead to a sloppy messy bento disaster otherwise.

In the bento: The smaller tier holds plain spaghetti noodles, a tomato flower and pear leaf. The larger tier contains the panda with black eyed peas, Morningstar Farms chik nuggets, carrot flowers, steamed broccoli, orange slices and panda picks with blueberries.

Not shown are a small bottle full of grated Parmesan cheese, a container of ketchup and a soy sauce bottle.

Here is my new fun thing! I'm calling it the Bento Treasures link-up. I want to know what container is your favorite. Link -up to a picture of a bento with your favorite container in use. It can be one of your bentos, it can be one of my bentos. It can be someone else's bento (as long as there is proper attribution, of course). If you don't make bentos or don't own any containers yet, show me a container that you'd like to have. I'll have a new theme for the next four weeks. Let's find out more about our bento obsession!

Where is the Sun?

2012-01-23T13:21:00.000-08:00

A children's book inspired today's bento. 'How the Sun was Brought Back to the Sky' by Mirra Ginsburg was published in 1975, the year I was born. We found our copy at Mr. Reed's Odds and Ends Antique store. It's pretty much out in the middle of nowhere and filled with all kinds of things. I like to describe it as a giant treasure trove. In this sweet book some intrepid chicks decide that the sun has been gone for too long and go on an adventure to find it. My thoughts on getting out of bed this morning mirrored theirs. It's been raining for days and days - I need some sunshine!

In the bento: Tofu kaarage, blueberries, a tiny tomato, steamed broccoli, navel orange slices, rice with furikake, eggsheet chicks and flowers.

The tofu kaarage is adapted from a recipe for Chicken Kaarage on Just Hungry. My camera seemed to love the tofu as much as I do - every shot that I took this morning was focused on the tofu instead of the chicks! The furikake is one that I made from toasted sesame seeds, sea salt and tarragon. And I even managed to have enough space for one of the new soy sauce bottles that I got at Christmas!

This post is my 400th bento post! That is a lot of bentos :D A while back I noticed that this big number was coming up and gave a lot of thought to a way to celebrate. What I want is to start doing a link-up that focuses on our favorite things about bentos. There are a lot of other bento peeps out there that I would love to know more about - what are your bento treasures? Unfortunately I'm not feeling very good today so I'm going to start this whole new adventure tomorrow when I'm certain that I can be more coherent.

A Lion of a Pancake

2012-01-20T08:21:00.000-08:00

In the jungle even a pancake can roar. If it were so inclined. I'm thinking that this cute little guy wouldn't roar, though. He might just run around saying 'nyan' all day. Continuing with this week's interesting bento moments - I learned this morning that an upside down heart shape at the end of a tail does not make a shape that is recommended for a child's bento. Luckily I realized that in time to replace it with a flower shape. I'm sure you guys could work that out for yourselves, but I'm in the sharing mood.

In the bento: Grapes with two cute lion picks, flowered carrot sticks, veggie sausage links, nectarine chunks, and miniature pancakes.

Mr. Lion was made using the two cutting tools at the top left. I cut his mane, muzzle and tail fluff out of provolone cheese. And of course the other facial features were punched from nori. Since the pancakes were going to be eaten with icing, I decided to 'glue' on the face without using mayo which I thought might spoil the taste. Instead I painted each piece of cheese and nori with a tiny bit of strawberry jelly using the sharp end of a toothpick.

Just a little flower

2012-01-19T07:16:00.000-08:00

Coffee is one of the most wonderful things that has ever existed. It is purely by the power of coffee that I managed to pull myself together to make a bento today. Have I mentioned before that this is one of my favorite bento boxes? I'm sure it's not a big surprise since I seem to use it a lot! I love the half-size container and the fact that the lid has a little extra vertical room for decorations.

In the bento: Rice with a carrot and pea flower, corn kernals on picks, steamed broccoli, sauteed tofu, a baby carrot, pear slices and nectarine slices.

Originally the little elephant pick was stuck into the top piece of tofu. However, it looked too much like the elephant was being sucked into a tar pit or something and I couldn't stand it. So I moved it and tried to disguise the original placement with black sesame seeds.

Kero-chan!

2012-01-18T07:57:00.000-08:00

Over the school break for MLK Day I decided to do some egg sheet practice. I wasn't sure what I was going to use all of the egg sheets that I made for exactly, so I wrapped them up in cling wrap and stored them in the fridge until inspiration struck. I think I'm getting better at making them! Although I'm still not sure why my egg sheets are always so shiny in pictures, lol.

One of A-chan's favorite manga is Card Captor Sakura so I decided to make Kero-chan for her.

In the bento: Cheese and soy turkey sandwich, egg sheet kero-chan, steamed broccoli, baby carrots, baby corn, grapes and plum slices.

I used scissors to cut the crust off the bread slices. Most of the time when I try to cut bread with a knife I end up with a much smaller piece of bread and a lot of crumbs. Instead of using scissors to cut the egg sheets, this time I utilized my handy dandy exacto knife which was way more fun.

Mama's Bento

2012-01-17T12:40:00.000-08:00

There wasn't a need for a bento today. A-chan was home from school yesterday and today for MLK. So I made up an excuse to make a bento for myself. It got eaten at home and satisfied a creative need. As a bonus I made myself some quick pickles which I adore!

In the bento: Two lozenge shaped onigiri with nori wraps and eggsheet flowers, quick cucumber pickles, leftover Mongolian suegai from the Chinese restaurant, Moro orange slices, a small bunch of tiny grapes and a couple of chunks of Dubliner cheese.

The onigiri weren't quite large enough to stretch to both sides of the box so I placed them inside a large lettuce leaf to hold them in place and add to the prettiness. The eggsheet flowers were held onto the nori with sriracha as 'glue' and sriracha dots grace the middles of the flowers as well.

We ate at local Chinese restaurant the other night where I got one of my fav dishes - Mongolian suegai. Yum! There wasn't a lot of it leftover so I had the perfect amount for a bento. It was a delicious lunch and a quick bento.

I had promised a while back to write up my vegetarian Spaghetti recipe that has been seen in several bentos here and there. Technically it's my grandmother's recipe that I hijacked into going vegetarian. But the recipe is now up on my other blog! Woohoo! Here is the link: http://incaseofasparagus.blogspot.com/2012/01/make-spaghetti-vegetarian-style.html

Hug Me!

2012-01-13T07:14:00.000-08:00

What is your opinion on kissing frogs? Mine tends to be along the lines of 'Ewwwww'! But I'm okay with hugging one. Anyway...

It's Friday! The happy Friday dance commenced a little later than normal this morning. Ahhh, lovely Friday. I am so looking forward to the weekend. Not only am I planning to put away the Christmas decorations, there is going to be a huge cleaning spree!

In the bento: Vegetarian spaghetti, picks of black olives, a lemon slice, nectarine chunks, baby corn, a strawberry balloon, cucumber froggie and cheese letters.

The tiny letters were made with my brand new letter cutters that I got at IchibanCon. Aren't they cute? I'm loving them! The frog face was cut from cucumber peel using a frog/teddy bear face cutter. His body was cut with a knife but the arms were left over from the face cutting. The eyes and mouth were cut from provolone and his nose is sesame seeds.

Here is a link to my vegetarian spaghetti recipe (on my other blog): http://incaseofasparagus.blogspot.com/2012/01/make-spaghetti-vegetarian-style.html

Panda Sammie Cuteness

2012-01-12T08:12:00.000-08:00

Today is going to be a blast from the past! I'm going to resurrect some ancient primitive technology skills to demo for A-chan's class. We're talking way back. Only a few of the artifacts that were created in our days of primitive skills glory will get to shine today. The ones I'm most proud of were the bone needle, awl and pins that I carved with flint tools that I knapped myself - it was so cool. The part that A-chan is looking forward to the most is the atlatl demonstration. That's the one I'm nervous about. While my husband is a spear throwing genius, my skills in that area generally lead to embarrassment. But the kids will still enjoy it and get to learn about ancient techniques to go along with their early human class arc. What does this have to do with a panda sandwich in a bento? Um...nothing...I'm just totally excited!

In the bento: Panda sandwich filled with cheese and mayo, nectarine slices, steamed broccoli, baby tomatoes with musical picks, lemon slices, a flowery container of tofu, baby corn and carrot stirfry, cheese stars.

The panda's features were cut with a nori punch and glued to the bread with tiny amounts of mayo that I applied with a toothpick. The same technique was used to place the sesame seeds for the eyes. The veggies and tofu were quick stir fried with with ginger, garlic and soy sauce.

Butterfly on a Pancake

2012-01-11T06:43:00.000-08:00

I love doing Henna. And I love that it can translate into decorating food! When A-chan asked me to combine miniature pancakes with butterflies I was thrilled and jumped on the opportunity to put one of my favorite henna designs in her lunch.

In the bento: The large tier holds a mini muffin cup of tiny grapes, two slices of fuji apple, miniature pancakes , one carrot flower and one cheese flower. The small tier has three waffle fries, a carrot butterfly, a tomato on a plaid pick, three veggie sausage links, steamed broccoli and more cheese flowers.

To draw the butterfly I made a henna cone which is basically a tiny version of an icing bag. I filled it with strawberry flavored icing and piped out the design. In the background is a tiny monkey container that is filled with more icing to be spread on the rest of the pancakes. It is honestly very small and doesn't have room for much icing, but it makes her happy and is much less messy than syrup or honey!

The sausage links were originally two links that I cut in half. For some reason I always tend to group things like the sausage links in threes. I'm not sure why. But I am always happy to eat the leftover portion for my breakfast.

Curry is Yummy!

2012-01-10T07:54:00.000-08:00

Coming home from a trip to find that I had large amounts of Japanese curry already made and waiting in the freezer brought forth feelings akin to winning the lottery. This stuff is a perfect foil to the rainy, dreary weather that is plaguing us this week. Add to that the fact that it freezes well and was awesomely easy to reheat and you know why I'm in love with this dish!

In the bento: Japanese curry and rice, chunks of pear in a container, baby corn spears and a cherry tomato.

The curry contains onion, carrot, potato and tofu. There is a small layer of rice underneath the curry sauce in addition to the sidewall of rice to keep the curry contained. A carrot flower with black sesame seeds and snap pea leaves gives the curry a little pizzazz. I am always amazed at what the black sesame seeds do to carrots - the orange color suddenly pops! The panda pick just adds a tiny bit of cuteness :)

Here is a link to my Japanese Curry recipe. It's very simple and totally incredible. (I think everyone should try it!)

Bearly Corndogs

2012-01-09T13:55:00.000-08:00

IchibanCon was amazing! We had a wonderful time meeting new people and enjoying the ...well, everything! Everyone was incredibly friendly. The hallway decorations were way cool. I loved the panels that I got to go see and desperately wished that I had been able to get to more of them. I'm hoping that I get to go back next year :) And we even got home safely despite getting lost in Greenville, SC in a vain search for a Thai restaurant. (That was an adventure...)

While I usually try to pack A-chan's bentos with more healthy food than junk food, sometimes I just can't help slipping in some good old fashioned corndogs. These, however, are better than regular corn dogs. They are miniature vegetarian corndogs with no sticks! It can't get better than that!

In the bento: Three miniature corndog bears, a cherry tomato, steamed broccoli, checkerboard apple, two potato and onion pierogies, carrot flowers and two plaid picks for fun.

The corndogs took only 60 secs to microwave to perfection. The pierogies took longer since they had to be boiled and then pan fried in butter, but they were still under the ten minute mark.

The bear faces and ears were cut from provolone cheese (surprise, surprise, lol) and nori. Tiny pieces of uncooked somen noodles were stuck halfway through the ears and half into the dogs. Ketchup was applied with the blunt end of a toothpick to create cheeks.

Simple ravioli bento

2012-01-05T08:11:00.000-08:00

There are days when I just can't help but smile. Today is beautiful! Bright sunshine, blue skies, temperatures are back to levels that are not crazy cold. 2012 is starting out as a wonderful year. A-chan and I are heading to IchibanCon in Charlotte, NC tomorrow. It's our first event of the year and we can't wait!

In the bento: Four cheese ravioli with red peppers and feta, Morningstar Farms veggie link sausages, clementine pieces, steamed broccoli, apple bunny and a tiny wedge of lemon.

This bento is very simple, but very filling!

Lila's Gift

2012-01-04T08:11:00.000-08:00

Hi Y'all! Happy New Year! Long time no see - how ya been? The holidays were fantastic and fun, but I feel a bit like I've been trampled by an elephant. Slogging through molasses somewhat towards the direction of the normal groove, I am finally doing the first bento post of the year! I am so excited, I can't wait to see what bentos everyone comes up with in the new year!

Technically this is a bento from last year. One of my dance students asked me to buy a bento box and fill it with food as a Christmas gift for her boss. She wanted to try and inspire her boss to eat healthier lunches in the new year, which I thought was a sweet gift idea. This cute box with matching fork and case came from Ohayo Bento's store. It is filled with easy to make things that I consider to be classic bento foods.

In the bento: Sugar snap peas, carrot flowers, cauliflower, vegetable gyoza, clementine pieces, cherries, vegetable fried rice with nori on top and cherry tomato halves.

The three color vegetables is one of the most recognizable bento dishes. I can't count the number of bento books that I've seen it in, not to mention the tons of bento posts out there on blogs and flickr! It is usually cauliflower, zucchini and carrots. I substituted the snap peas for the zucchini because I wanted their texture. The veggie gyoza were store bought and were cooked straight from the freezer. First they were browned in a bit of olive oil and then I finished them up by steaming with a small amount of water.

Ornamental Fruit

2011-12-19T14:26:00.000-08:00

Wow. The last few days have been crazy busy! Here is A-chan's Pizza friday bento. The bento only has fruit to eat alongside the pizza. Are you ready for the holidays? We are having so much fun with parties and decorating and cookies and craziness!

In the bento: A clementine ornament, an apple ornament, some blackberry ornaments, pomegranate seeds, pink egg sheet flower and some steamed zucchini slices.

Notice how I snuck some veggies in there? Yeah, I'm sneaky like that. The ornament designs on the clementine were cut with an exacto knife while the apple stripes and zucchini stripes were cut with a paring knife. I was delighted to find a way to use all of these picks! For some reason I have a difficult time figuring out uses for them.

I hope that you are all having a wonderful time!

Snowman Sammies

2011-12-14T07:51:00.000-08:00

What do you do with leftover Japanese curry when you've run out of rice? Make curry sammies! One of the most intriguing food items that I've seen in Anime is 'curry bread' or 'curry pan'. Now, I have no idea if this is anything like real curry bread, but I decided to make my own version. I spooned some curry sauce onto a slice of bread, making sure that at least one piece of each type of veggie was included. After placing a second slice on top, I used a plastic cup to cut out the sammie and seal the edges at the same time. All the leftover bread pieces got saved into an airtight container to be used in the fake greek meatballs I'm making for dinner tonight. I love it when things work out that way!

It was extremely difficult to get the smaller snowman to look jolly instead of sinister. I'm not sure why. Maybe because he is peeking over the tomato? He still has a crazed look about him, but I think the pink cheeks helped.

In the bento: Two curry sammies, a huge cherry tomato, carrot sticks, steamed broccoli, blackberries and pomegranate seeds.

The snowmen faces were made from nori and provolone cheese. I cut small slits into the bread to stick in the cute carrot triangles noses. The psychopath snowman has pink cheeks cut from leftover pink egg sheet. All of the facial features were 'glued' onto the bread by small amounts of mayo.

I love their hats! They were cut from large pieces of zucchini, with thin slices of zucchini flesh for the dapper bands. To make them more festive I added tiny pieces of steamed broccoli and a pomegranate seed to each. I used a dried spaghetti noodle stuck through the bottom to attach them by then sticking the other end of the noodle into the sandwich.

A small confession - I got into trouble with this bento. The hats were huge! There was absolutely no way that the lid could fit onto the box. I had to take the hats off and stick them inside the bento in another location. A-chan was very understanding and said that she was fine sticking them back onto the snowmen herself at lunchtime. Whew!

Christmas Stamps

2011-12-13T07:30:00.000-08:00

Cheese ravioli is one of the most versatile pastas. It can transform into so many things or look elegant without any interference. Most people, myself included, prefer to eat them with a sauce. Luckily my daughter is happy to eat them plain or with a little Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top which makes them perfect for decorating her bentos. With so many Christmas letters, cards and packages going everywhere, I thought some Christmassy stamps would be fun to make and eat!

In the bento: Cheese ravioli, rice with black sesame seeds, fried tofu, carrot and nori stars, blackberries, and a huge cherry tomato.

The Christmas tree is zucchini with tiny strips of zucchini flesh for the garland. Pink egg sheet left over from yesterday was used for a couple of ornaments and carrot for the others. I cut the star from a slice of American cheese. I used zucchini again for the holly leaves and cut berries out of tomato peel.

In the background is one of the cloth napkins that A-chan takes to school with her bento every day. This one she decorated for Thanksgiving. It was an easy and very economical way to get her (and me) excited about the holiday. Please see my new blog for pretty pictures!

Mittens

2011-12-12T13:12:00.000-08:00

Oh baby it's cold outside! Our glove box is in full working mode with the frigid temperatures that have come to our area. Since mittens are weighing heavily in A-chan's mind these days I thought I'd include an edible pair in a bento.

I was feeling a bit better this morning so it seemed like a great time to try to perfect the art of corn cutting. Perhaps I have been intimidated by my failures in the past, but the thought of trying to cut corn on the cob into smaller sizes to fit in a bento seems an impossible task. Today there was a revelation. I forgot to cook the corn the night before and ended up in a tight spot this morning. Instead of giving up I tried microwaving. Ta Dah! It was so easy to cut right through. It didn't squish, deform or break the knife. Wow, I wish I'd tried that a long time ago!

In the bento: Couscous with mittens, tofu and zucchini stirfry on top of a bread container, microwaved corn on the cob slice (yahoo!), cherry tomato and blackberries.

The mittens were cut from a pink egg sheet and provolone cheese with nori hearts and ties. I cut them free form with scissors which explains why they are a little bit different from one another.

Here is A-chan working on the batch of snowman cookies that we made last night. She is getting the hang of the piping bag!

Sick Mama bentos

2011-12-09T06:10:00.001-08:00

Sometimes you just slog food in the direction of a bento box and hope that it lands at least 90% inside the box. Yesterday was one of those days. Today was a little better. Since I was feeling bad I needed things to be simple, easy and above all fast. I have said this a lot, I know...but thank goodness for the freezer stash! It really helped to not have to think but just take what I had in the freezer and make a bento with it.

In today's bento (top): Couscous with green peas, veggie hot dog flowers with corn centers, carrot hearts, steamed broccoli, a strawberry and a small bunch of grapes.

In yesterday's bento (below): A slice of flatpie, veggie hotdogs, black olives, strawberry halves, steamed broccoli, pomegranate seeds, grape halves.

Rudolph's Getting Ready!

2011-12-07T07:13:00.001-08:00

Rudolph is primping for his big day, putting on his new collar with the huge bow. He's counting down the days until Christmas and so are we. A-chan was so inspired by our Advent Calendar this year that she asked Santa to bring her some mittens. I managed to talk her out of the automatic snowball throwing machine she also wanted, whew!

In the bento: Cheese sandwich with rudolph on top, steamed broccoli, soy sauce tofu, a huge strawberry, two picks with carrot flowers and black olives, a couple of tiny slivers of mango.

Rudolph was cut from soy turkey with my food scissors. The soy turkey that I like to use for sandwiches comes in very thin slices so I used three layers to make him more substantial. His eye and antlers were cut from provolone cheese and his beautiful red nose was the end of a strawberry. The handsome collar was cut from nori and has a pasta bow with a strawberry slice, provolone circle and a nori heart for festive decoration.

Cooking all took place in one pot - first boiling the pasta. I cooked three pieces of bowtie pasta just in case something untoward happened and I needed backups. Once the pasta was done I removed them with chopsticks and then cooked the broccoli with the still hot water. After the broccoli was ready I poured out the water and replaced it with sesame oil to cook the tofu. It took about 15 minutes total cooking time, during which I was making the sammie and reindeer. I could have cut down on the cooking time and used two pots (one for veggies, one for tofu) but I was focusing on tidier cooking this morning.

What do you think of the labels, etc. that I've been putting on some bento pictures? Other bento makers have caught my eye with labels and decor on their bento pictures, like Lia Chen at Bentolicious whose are always gorgeous. I wanted to give it a try. It's fun and I've enjoyed doing it but I'm not sure if I should keep it up. I need opinions from you guys! Is it okay or ickle?

This post is linked up at Today's Creative Blog.

Snow Lady

2011-12-06T08:42:00.001-08:00

Rush here, rush there, rush everywhere! It seems like there isn't enough time to get everything done today. We have three sick cats so I'm spending a good bit of today at the Vet's office. Luckily this bento was really fast and easy to make, not requiring much brain power. Which was good because I forgot to turn on the coffee maker this morning. A snowman is always a must for winter bentos. I realized after I had gotten the body into the box that there wasn't enough room for a hat. So it became a snowlady instead.

In the bento: Three onigiri for the snowlady, veggie hotdogs, mango chunks, carrot flowers, steamed broccoli and a strawberry.

The Snowlady's buttons are pomegranate seeds. Her eyes and mouth are nori but her nose is carrot and her cheeks were cut from veggie hotdog. She has a bit of nori hair and a carrot bow. The scarf was cut from spring onion which made a wonderfully frayed end when cut lengthwise with kitchen scissors.

A few tiny snowflakes were punched from a mamenori sheet. I didn't have any natural color mamenori left so I had to use the orange.

Here is A-chan holding her kitten and a sneak peek of the Christmas tree. The kitten is already getting big. I love this pic with her tongue sticking out! We're still working on Holiday decorating. I don't think we'll have any time for it today but hopefully tomorrow will see all the boxes emptied and Christmas cheer spread around the house.

Fluffy Pinkness

2011-12-05T07:55:00.001-08:00

Today's bento is brought to you by the fluffy goodness of pink. A Hello Kitty bento most definitely needed a fluffy pink background. Fortunately one was provided for me in the form of A-chan's new fluffy pink skirt which was left on my kitchen counter for no fathomable reason. Since it made such a nice backdrop I can't be too upset about it. I am still left wondering why the kitchen counter?

In the bento: Morningstar Farms Chik nuggets, carrot flower with a corn center, spring onion, Hello Kitty onigiri, corn filled picks, a piece of apple, steamed broccoli, more carrot flowers and some halved grapes.

Hello Kitty's nose was made from a piece of corn since I happened to have some left over after filling the two toothpicks, but the rest of her face was punched from nori. Her bow was cut from apple peel. The small carrot flower got the last leftover corn kernel. I used a small cutter to make a hole in the center of the flower and gently pushed the end of the kernel into the space. Now I wish that I'd had enough corn to do the same with the larger flowers!

On the side A-chan had a soy sauce bottle and a small container of ketchup. These are usually constant companions to her bentos but are never shown because I forget to put them in.

Beary Christmas

2011-12-01T06:59:00.001-08:00

This bear is ready for Christmas with his festive hat and bowtie. We've just begun to get ready. It's only the first of December but I already feel like we're behind. I'm not worried, we'll start catching up quickly this weekend. I had to finish this year's advent calendar on time for today before any other decorating could occur!

In the bento: Vegetarian spaghetti, black olives, steamed broccoli, a miniature corn croquette, carrot and provolone hearts, grapes, apple slices and a cute bear.

The bear was made in two layers: a provolone cheese layer topped by a soy turkey layer. I used a Hello Kitty bow cutter to make the ear shape in the turkey layer so that the cheese could show from beneath. His muzzle is provolone cheese, facial features are nori and his bowtie was cut from apple peel. To make his cheeks I dipped the end of a toothpick into sriracha sauce and dotted it onto the soy turkey. The festive hat was cut from tomato peel and provolone cheese. There is a second layer of provolone behind the hat to help it stay in place.

I love this spaghetti recipe! It's so good that A-chan didn't bat an eye at having it for lunch today even though we'd eaten it for dinner last night. And I would love to share the recipe with you guys. But I feel strange posting recipes on a bento blog, even though they can be used in a bento. I'm a habitual compartmentalizer. Everything must go in it's own box. A-chan's toybox with everything all jumbled in drives me nuts. So...I created another blog where I can do all the posts that I want to do that aren't necessarily bento related. Recipes can have their own box now! And I can post them all, mwahahaha! With maybe some crafts and other miscellaneous stuff as well. Starting it off with a bang - this year's Advent Calendar.

Tofu Aliens!

2011-11-30T06:34:00.001-08:00

A-chan requested Tofu Aliens in her bento today. The Tofu Aliens had originally started as doodles last Christmas during a long drive up to visit family. They were so fun to draw that I kept doing more and more! We even thought up a few stories to go along with them. I wish that I had time to share one with you, but today is Advent Calendar day. That means I need to get to work on wrapping little gifts and hanging them up!

In the bento: The fruit tier holds a container of pomegranate seeds, checkered apple pieces, tangerine slices, a small bunch of grapes and two picks with black olives. The second tier has three peanut butter and sugar sprinkle sandwiches, carrot flowers, steamed broccoli and two tofu aliens.

The tofu aliens are made from extra firm tofu blocks that were lightly pan seared in sesame oil. Their eyes are nori and half cooked spaghetti noodles were perfect for the antennae. The ends of the antennae were cut from apple peel pieces that were removed from the checkerboard apples. After a failed attempt at making cheeks with pomegranate juice I decided to use soy bologna to hide what turned out looking like bruises as the juice turned purple.

Here is one of my silly but fun Tofu Alien doodles!

Onigiri Kitties

2011-11-29T08:18:00.001-08:00

Snow in Georgia. In November? Nah! They forecast snow for our area today but it hasn't materialized. I think they were joking. And I'm blaming the fact that I couldn't get a decent picture of this bento on the fact that there was no snow. If there had been snow I would have gotten a perfectly lit, completely focused picture. I'm sure of it.

In the bento: Two orange kitty onigiri, steamed broccoli, Morningstar Farms chik nuggests, black olives, a Forelle pear, small provolone and sugar dot flowers and a small clump of grapes.

I put the onigiri in paper cups for prettiness. That technique shows up myriad times in bento books so I decided to give it a try. I like the end effect! The kitty faces are made with provolone cheese and nori, both of which are glued together and to the onigiri by small amounts of mayo. The ears were cut from a carrot slice - you can see the rounded bottoms from the curve of the carrot. To hold the ears in place I used small pieces of spaghetti noodles stuck first into the carrot and then poked into the rice.

Luckily this Tare Panda box has an extra bit of vertical space for the pear and grapes!

Hide and Seek Panda

2011-11-28T06:27:00.001-08:00

Happy Monday! Did you have a wonderful Thanksgiving? I hope so! Ours was peaceful and crafty. There are wild turkeys strutting through our back yard this morning. I wonder if they know we're vegetarians?

I'm slightly sad to greet this rainy Monday morning, we were enjoying the no-school laziness of the last week. Bentoing helps to make up for it, though. Knowing that I would get to play with food got me awake and through the early shower!

In the bento: Rice, apple bunny, pan-seared tofu, carrot circles, steamed broccoli, lots of tiny black olives on picks and a heart full of pomegranate seeds.

Do you see the panda playing hide and seek in the snow? His face was punched from nori and put in place on the rice after the rice had been given a chance to cool. If you put the nori on too soon while the rice is still hot there will be nori shrinkage. His cheeks were cut from pickled ginger (gari).

Goos luck to everyone adjusting back to regular schedules after the holiday!

It's All About the Pear

2011-11-18T04:58:00.001-08:00

Sure, there are other fruits in the bento. But it's all about the pear. As A-chan got out of bed this morning her first question was, "Is there a tiny pear in my bento?" Obviously the orange slices, cherries and apple bunny are just there to make the pear look pretty!

Pears aren't as photogenic once they have been cored so I waited to do that until after taking the picture. Coring ensures that there are no classroom casualties when A-chan runs into a seed and tries to spit it out at the speed of light.

Even though there is no school next week I'm still planning some excuses to make bentos. I have some wild ideas for a Fernbank Museum visiting bento!

The Bento of Blah

2011-11-17T06:58:00.001-08:00

During the summer all that I could see out the living room windows was a stretching canopy of green. Today there is blue sky showing through the tree limbs and bright orange leaves. Autumn is constantly amazing and inspiring. Today's bento, however, is a bit on the blah side. It is dreary and dull compared to yesterday's bentos. Even with a case of blahs it is healthy and tasty though!

In the bento: A layer of rice underneath the scrambled tofu, green peas and sesame carrots. In the blue container are chunks of feta, an elephant pick crowns a cherry tomato next to apple chunks and an apple star.

Provolone cheese hearts were cut with a heart shaped cutter. The nori hearts were punched with a scrapbook punch from Hobby Lobby.

The new kitten has been officially named Midnight, though I usually find myself calling her Little Bit. She is ever so cute and finally getting used to us.

It's a Field Trip!

2011-11-16T13:12:00.001-08:00

A-chan's class went on a field trip today and I was so excited that I was able to join them! We went to an old Gold Mine in Dahlonega. It was much more fascinating than I was expecting. At first A-chan was nervous about being underground but then the guide pointed out lots of cute brown bats hanging from the ceiling. She got so interested in finding more bats that she completely forgot to be scared.

In A-chan's bento: Rice with black sesame seeds, carrot butterflies and flower, baby corn spears, steamed broccoli, a lemon wedge, an apple bunny and Tofu Kaarage.

Earlier this week I attempted making a vegetarian version of a well loved and popular Japanese dish, Chicken Kaarage. I was inspired by this bento at Soul Soup Soap and I knew just where to go to look for a recipe. Maki's site Just Hungry had not only a recipe, but tons of other info too! The finished product was delicious and I think that it will become a regular hit around here.

Almost as exciting as the walk deep down into the dripping rock tunnels was the fact that I got to pack a bento for me! Again I kept it simple in the need for speed this morning.

In my bento: Rice with black sesame seeds, tofu kaarage, lemon slice, carrot maple leaf and flower, baby corn, two veggie gyoza, steamed broccoli and an apple bunny.

While I would normally have steamed the gyoza, the oil was already hot from cooking the tofu and I gave in to the impulse for easier cooking. There was one less pan to clean up if I fried them which partially makes up for having two fried foods in one bento, right? (Okay, maybe not a great argument healthwise, but it sure made lots of sense at seven o'clock this morning!)

Inari and a Pear

2011-11-15T04:52:00.001-08:00

Yesterday's lunch had a Pikachu inside it so I decided to turn things around and pack today's lunch inside a Pikachu. We don't use the Pikachu bento box very often because it is awkward for A-chan to open and close. There isn't anything very messy in there today so I've got my fingers crossed that it will be okay.

In the bento: A container of sesame carrots and baby corn, steamed broccoli, Rome apple slices, inari zushi with furikake, a tiny pear and a few teeny carrot flowers.

After seeing the tiny pear in a beautiful bento on Ohayo Bento's blog, I had my eye out for some at our local grocery store. This weekend we managed to nab some and A-chan has been gobbling them up. Yesterday's pear was forgotten since it wasn't in her bento and she had to eat it for snack at home. Today's pear had to go inside the box! One great advantage of the Pikachu bento is that the top tier has a lot of room for vertical food. Once the pretty picture had been taken I removed the core of the pear so that A-chan wouldn't have to worry about the seeds.

Good Morning Pikachu!

2011-11-14T09:09:00.001-08:00

Hello Monday! As the new kitten scampers across the floor there are five, count them, five adult cats cowering on the couch with me. You'd think that they would have the decency to look slightly aloof rather than terrified. I'm not sure whether to laugh or sigh.

A-chan claimed that it has been too long since she's had a Pikachu bento so today's was a great hit! It was great for me too since the onigiri was already made and waiting in the freezer. The veggie hot dog and the broccoli cooked at the same time while I cut the nori and tomato peel to decorate the onigiri.

In the bento: Pikachu onigiri, veggie hot dog stars, carrot star and sticks, steamed broccoli, cherry tomato, baby corn on picks and a checkerboard apple.

If you've been following my ramblings for a while, you know that I have a hard time making veggie hot dogs look pretty. These star hot dogs were inspired by some that I have seen...somewhere. I have no idea where but they are certainly not my own idea, they got stuck in my head and then I had to try them. (If you know whose bentos I saw them in, please tell me so that I can attribute properly!) My attempts are chronicled below. Thankfully no one was awake to witness my victory dance!

An Autumn Lunch

2011-11-11T06:09:00.001-08:00

The sun is shining and brightly colored leaves are floating slowly to the ground. It is a beautiful day. Today's bento is in homage to autumn with big slabs of cold-fighting flat pie. We've been waiting until the last of the plums were finished before cutting open the dragonfruit and today is the day! I'm not sure who was more excited, myself or A-chan.

In the bento: Dragonfruit, orange slices, cherry tomatoes, a container of green peas and 2 slices of Scottish Flat Pie potato & onion goodness.

There are some radish sprouts sprinkled about in this bento. I have no hope that she will actually eat them. My sneaky plan is to have A-chan get used to seeing them before pulling a fast one and mixing them in something. Yes, I am evil.

Emergency Hello Kitty

2011-11-10T06:27:00.000-08:00

Ugh, I'm so sick! Luckily A-chan is nice and healthy and has not caught this plague from me. Bento making seemed almost impossible this morning, but Hello Kitty came through for me again! It is nice to have a fallback for those times when my brain is fogged by nasty germy things. Oops. I just now realized that I forgot to put in the soy sauce bottle. Yikes, I'm going to hear about that later.

In the bento: Peanut butter and sugar sprinkle sandwich, cherry tomatoes, carrot sticks, provolone cheese flowers, black plum slices, steamed broccoli and a half orange slice.

Hello Kitty was made from provolone cheese, nori and carrot, using an HK onigiri mold to cut the cheese and a special HK nori punch for the face. The HK onigiri decorating set came with a cutter for the bow and the flowers. I keep it all together in a box for just such emergency occasions so that I don't have to search for any tools. Her backdrop was cut from a slice of soy bologna with a large cookie cutter.

Here is a link to the deco set that I used :)

Pirates Say Arrrr!

2011-11-09T06:46:00.000-08:00

The new kitten certainly helped A-chan to wake up bright and early this morning! And because she was up before I started decorating her bento she got to choose the theme. I was all set to make cute little girls with flowery hats out of these onigiri and inari, but she decided on pirates instead.

In the bento: Two adventurous pirate onigiri with inari hats, steamed broccoli, a lemon slice, a huge carrot flower, chunks of black plum, tomato slices and simmered orange cauliflower.

A-chan tried the orange cauliflower the other day but wasn't impressed. Today I simmered some along with the inari in water, soy sauce, mirin and brown sugar. We will see what she thinks! Behind the huge carrot are more carrot slices nicely hidden because I didn't have time to make them pretty.

The pirate faces are made with provolone cheese, nori and tomato skin for the mouths. They bear an X on their hats - I wasn't prepared to make skulls this morning with no warning! Large golden earrings show off their previous plunder.

Our new kitten is installed in our bathroom for the nonce while we work on getting it acclimated to humans. It is still a bit feral though we did get to pet it once this morning. We are still not sure if it is a girl or boy. Discovering that all important fact is my task for today. Luckily no one lost any blood during the capture of the little one who at the time was intent on stalking a possum in our front yard. Yikes!

Pancakes, stars and a kitten

2011-11-08T06:11:00.000-08:00

You might be wondering why there is a kitten in the title but not in the bento. That would be because my daughter can do magic. It's a special kind of magic where she creates kittens out of thin air. Like the one that she wanted for her birthday. The one that we didn't get for her but showed up on our front porch the day after her birthday party. Yep. The four legged, long haired, black and white prince of cuteness that currently bears the name 'Meow'. I'm campaigning for Meow Meow McFargus. Hubs thinks Meow Meowkins McFargus.

In the bento: Two miniature pancakes with provolone stars, three crinkle cut french fries, soy sausage links, edamame on a pick, korean red grapes, orange wedges and a sweet panda that contains shredded cheese.

This bento took two dishes to cook: Pancakes and fries went in the oven together, edamame and sausage links went in the same pan to simmer. The longest part of this was waiting for the oven to heat up! The panda container was filled with shredded cheese last night and put in the fridge to await the morning bento.

On a side note - did you notice the Tare Panda chopsticks? Kawaii!! We arrived early for a movie this past Saturday and I found these while we wandered the mall to kill time. Love them!!

Fruit in a Bear

2011-11-04T04:49:00.000-07:00

Isn't it cute? The box, I mean. Pizza day was the best excuse to pop out my new bento box and give it a whirl. It's the Kuma White Donburi from Bento and Co. Dude, it's a deep bento box! Those aren't orange wedges they are half slices. Half a black plum fit alongside the oranges. Some might call the lemon wedges citrus overload with all the orange slices, but I wanted something to fit perfectly in that tight curve. The side container holds a ton of blueberries and pomegranate seeds.

In the bento: (Hmmm, I think I've already told you everything, but oh well!) Lemon wedges, half orange slices, black plum chunks, blueberries and pomegranate seeds. There are a few provolone cheese stars and a strawberry divider because it went with the fruit theme and made things cuter.

You may have noticed that the blueberry/pomegranate seeds combination has been going on all week. That is usually part of how I plan my bentos - A-chan chooses two fruits and then I combine them in different ways all week. Only...there aren't a lot of ways to combine blueberries and pomegranate seeds. They do look pretty jumbled together in a container, though!

Happy Friday everyone!

Noodles and Some Cauliflower

2011-11-03T06:31:00.000-07:00

When I saw orange cauliflower for sale at the grocery store this week I had an irresistible urge to buy some. I didn't spend any time thinking about it, just grabbed a beautiful head of it and ran. But at home I began to wonder about it. What makes it orange? Does it taste any different? I had no clue.

According to this engaging article by Saveur, the orange cauliflower originated in Canada. Another article from Cornell University tells us that this type of cauliflower is higher in beta-carotene and therefore more nutritious than its paler version. The flavor is similar to normal cauliflower with a little extra sweetness but the texture is smoother. My taste buds said 'woohoo'! I'm hoping that A-chan will have the same reaction, though she normally does not like cauliflower so I am not expecting too much from it. The bright color definitely perked up her interest.

In the bento: Spaghetti noodles, a carrot flower and snap pea leaves are in the bottom tier. The top tier contains steamed broccoli and orange cauliflower, blueberries and pomegranate seeds, and Morningstar Farms chik nuggets with carrot flowers separating each. A container of ketchup is in the background. Not shown are a container of grated parmesan cheese for sprinkling on the noodles and a soy sauce piggy.

The spaghetti noodles were cut into shorter pieces to make eating them easier. The bento doesn't look as pretty when they are cut up, but it's better to be able to eat them without mishap. The carrot flowers were cut with a flower shaped cutter. To make the leaves I cooked a snap pea then opened it and removed the insides before cutting it into leaf shapes with scissors. To contain the fruit I used a miniature muffin cup.

Panda Luv

2011-11-02T06:47:00.000-07:00

Whoa. It was 35 degrees out there when we went to school this morning. Thirty-five. Degrees. 35! Good thing the glove box is installed in the foyer since we certainly needed warm fingers as we ran out the door.

For today's bento I wanted to play around with my letter cutters. My only complaint about them is that they don't have the centers cut out. So far I've been unhappy with my efforts to cut them out by hand and wanted to try something different. I used the inside bow area of the Hello Kitty bow cutter to create the P's space. The D's space was cut using the teddy bear mouth cutter. The spaces for the two A's were made with a triangle that I cut down to proper size using scissors. I'm happy with the results!

In the bento: Grape halves, pomegranate seeds, steamed broccoli, blueberries on panda picks, a miniature corn croquette and two tiny slices of Scottish Flat Pie, provolone cheese and soy bologna letters and hearts.

The Flat Pie is our traditional Halloween meal. It never fails to provide comfort and stamina for the long stints of candy-hunting. Potato and onion slices lightly fried with olive oil, butter and garlic, wrapped in a biscuit crust and smothered with cheese. Yum!

Cutie pies?

2011-11-01T18:18:00.000-07:00

The day after Halloween dawned bright and way too early for my liking! And even worse, without any bento ideas in my head. Things were basically thrown into the bento box at random with some lettuce for padding and crossed fingers for luck.

In the bento: Lemon wedges, pomegranate wedge, blueberries, grapes, carrot flowers, green peas, cheddar cheese cubes, soy sausage links, heart shaped onigiri cutie pies.

I'm calling the onigiri 'cutie pies' because I don't know what else to call them. They aren't anything in particular - just something cute that I could make out of frozen onigiri. Their faces were made from nori with pomegranate juice for the cheeks. The tiny flowers were cut from provolone cheese and I used leftover nori punched pieces for their centers. There are random pomegranate seeds and carrot flowers all over the place for no good reason, lol.

Did you all have a wonderful Halloween? I hope that you got tons of candy! There were a few hiccups to our Halloween evening but overall we had a great time. One of the cats stole my dinner while I wasn't looking. Snatched it right off my plate and under the couch. A-chan and I had fun Trick or Treating until the poor girl fell on two different staircases, after which she decided not to continue with a hurt leg. Luckily it was just bruised and felt much better this morning. She looked very cute in her Garden Fairy costume.

It was designed by her and sewn together by me. The wings were purchased at the Ren Faire several years ago and we added some flowers and sparkly beaded strings. My roman outfit was not quite suitable for the freezing temperatures, but I was crazy enough to wear it anyway - any excuse to dress up in costume!

Little Witch

2011-10-31T06:58:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween! Are you ready? There is one last piece of A-chan's costume to be sewn before I can declare it finished and ready for the evening. Her school costume is that of a Medieval child around 800 AD. It looked extremely cute! I adore the fact that her school requested that no one wear scary or grotesque costumes to class. One warning for anyone contemplating a medieval costume - the circular cloak is more than a match for a 5 point car seat. It took 10 minutes to get her buckled in safely this morning.

For the bento today I wanted to make something that was Halloween themed but also cute. My mind whirled with images until I finally decided upon this one. I added some of A-chan's most favorite fruits and had to make her promise to wait until lunch to eat the pomegranate seeds!

In the bento: Rice, blueberries, pomegranate seeds, carrots stars and jackolantern, steamed broccoli, steamed squash, sauteed tofu with black sesame seeds.

The little witch is primarily made from cheese but her cute green hair is zucchini. The hat, eyes and nose are nori. The mouth, red star and collar are all tomato peel. The results of my morning experiment with tomato peel made me very excited! I peeled a strip from a cut tomato with a paring knife before scraping the flesh away. It left a very thin but workable piece that cut easily with scissors.

Twins

2011-10-28T07:16:00.000-07:00

A-chan had a wonderful birthday yesterday! I was amazed and a tad aghast at the amounts of sugar she managed to consume in one 24 hour period. And it's not even Halloween yet. This week has been a candy corn extravaganza and to finish it up we have candycorn onigiri twins! Luckily these candycorn contain no trace of sugar and have some very healthy stuff to go along with them.

In the bento: Candycorn onigiri, raspberries, steamed broccoli, potato ghosts, apple slices and orange slices.

The potato ghosties were pan fried in a little olive oil. They have black sesame seeds for eyes. The onigiri have nori faces. I'm sure that everyone who has tried using punches with nori occasionally runs into the frustration of getting bits and parts that aren't whole. I've saved up some of my punch 'rejects' and used them for onigiri hair today.

Cupcake Cat

2011-10-27T10:25:00.000-07:00

I don't think we've ever been so late to school! That's okay though, today is A-chan's birthday. I went a little crazy in saying yes to everything this morning, including blueberry muffins for breakfast and letting her open her present before school. It is so hard to believe that she is seven years old. I'll probably be saying that same phrase every year on her birthday, hehe :)

Her bento today is a representation of something that she loves to draw all the time - cupcake cat! I absolutely adore the things she draws and wanted to do a special birthday bento for her. My version isn't quite right since I had to miss out on some details due to time constraints.

In the bento: Confetti rice, cupcake cat, raspberries, carrot heart, edamame on a pick, fried tofu, orange wedges and steamed broccoli.

When we made the candy corn onigiri we had bits of all three colors leftover. So I combined them all together to make confetti rice! Cupcake cat is made from provolone cheese, egg sheets, nori and sugar dots with a carrot flower and edamame leaves.

A-chan was very specific regarding cupcakes for her class today. She wanted orange flavor cupcakes! I have never before owned a zester and had never used one before last night, but I have quickly fallen in love with my brand new one. With different colored cake layers and then white icing on top they became candy corn cupcakes! Each cupcake got a candy corn with cute faces done with chocolate icing. Here's hoping that she likes them when I take them to school this afternoon.

Chili for all

2011-10-26T08:53:00.000-07:00

It's time for a change of menus! I'm craving things that are hearty and made for the lovely fall weather. Chilly weather is perfect for chili. Warm and thick, a bit spicy and very filling. My recipe for vegetarian chili makes a huge batch, leaving tons for leftovers and bentos. Today's bento is very simple which left me enough time this morning to get ready to make cupcakes for A-chan's birthday tomorrow. As soon as I dropped her at school it was time for shopping. I needed a zester and a way to carry 36 cupcakes all by myself and luckily found both! Now I just have to make them all, plus ice them and oh gosh, the 500 other things that have to be done by tomorrow. Can you say Eeek!

In the bento: Vegetarian chili with shredded cheese sprinkled on top, raspberries, sugar snap peas, apple bunny, carrot Jack'o'lantern and sauteed zucchini slices.

Hidden underneath the apple bunny are more apple pieces and another carrot pumpkin. For just a bit of quick cuteness I added a chocolate sweet divider sheet.

One Sided Love

2011-10-25T07:28:00.000-07:00

Isn't autumn wonderful? There is a nice chill in the air this morning, just enough to make us shiver at the first step outdoors. We haven't quite managed the wardrobe change for the new temperatures yet. A-chan has grown so much that every morning there is a new discovery of cold-weather clothing that no longer fits!

Today's bento was inspired by the beautiful zucchini that I found at the store last night. They were a perfect green for froggies!

In the bento: Lots of four cheese ravioli, zucchini froggy faces, carrot flowers, steamed broccoli, a lemon wedge, raspberries, tofu hearts.

The strange shapes left over from cutting heart shapes out of tofu were cooked as well and are hidden underneath the hearts. The froggy faces were cut out of zucchini with facial features made from provolone cheese, carrot and sesame seeds. A container with grated parmesan is in the background, ready to be sprinkled over the ravioli.

Jack'o'Lantern Pancakes

2011-10-24T13:51:00.000-07:00

Coming in on the heels of a fantastic weekend of taekwondo sparring camp and the first of three birthday parties, this week's forecast includes chaos, panic and incredible amounts of sugar. Amid the scramble of Birthday preparations, bento lunches are turning out to be a haven of calm and relaxation. Today's bento contained more sugar than I normally like to put in (With abject apologies to A-chan's teachers today) but I needed something that wouldn't take much brain power to put together.

In the bento: Jack'o'lantern pancake sandwiches with yellow tinted icing, soy sausage links, raspberries, tiny carrot flowers, sugar snap peas and two pan fried potato kitties.

Not only was this bento a snap to put together, it only needed one pan for cooking the veg. sausage, snap peas and potatoes. I boiled the snap peas in the pan for 3 minutes and removed them with chopsticks. Into the hot water went the sausage links straight from the freezer. They got cooked for 5 minutes. When they came out the pan was dried and then used to lightly fry the potatoes with a tiny bit of olive oil.

The Jack'o'Lantern faces were cut with a fillet knife very, very carefully! I put a generous dollop of the icing in between so that it would squish through the faces a bit.

A Sweet Surprise

2011-10-21T06:27:00.000-07:00

Today is Pizza Friday at school so A-chan took a fruit bento to have alongside it. The strawberries are completely luscious. I had a hard time not snacking on all of them while I was packing her bento this morning. There isn't much color variation in this one - I hadn't realized all the fruits were red/yellow until I got them all out this morning. However, there are a ton of differing flavors in this box which makes up for the homogeneity of color!

In the bento: Apple bunnies, a lemon slice, strawberries, black plum slices, nectarine chunks, provolone cheese flowers and a surprise in the chick container.

A-chan didn't get to see what's inside the chick, but I'll go ahead and tell - it's candycorn! Only a few would fit into this tiny and very cute container. A few is all that she needs, though. It's rare that we have sugary things in the house, though October is an exception. Not only is it the month of candycorn (I've mentioned my candycorn obsession before, right?) but it's also A-chan's birthday month and she is having three different birthday parties. Oh yeah, there's that little Halloween thing too, lol. Let the sugar festivities begin!

On a side note today's post is my 375th! Wow! Luckily Blogger keeps the count or I'd have no idea. Surely I need to do something when I hit 400. What kind of thing should I do to celebrate?

The Terror of the Deep

2011-10-20T07:02:00.000-07:00

The terror of the deep is ... a cute little yellow octopus. Doesn't her cuteness terrify you? The huge eyes and the pink cheeks are horrifying enough but the bow sends shivers down my spine! This ghastly apparition from the deep is going to tickle you...

It turned cold here all of a sudden! We're wearing long sleeves for the first time today. The cats all insist that they need to stay warm too - preferably by sitting in a pile on my lap.

In the bento: Vegetarian pastitsio (greek macaroni and meat casserole), carrot flowers, a checkerboard apple, black plum slices, steamed broccoli and a miniature corn croquette.

Her scary cuteness is made from eggsheet with nori mouth and eyes, gari cheeks and a carrot bow. The eggsheet was made using the fantastic tutorial on the Bentolicious blog. I was thrilled with how quickly I made it this morning and with how perfect it turned out!

The vegetarian pastitsio is very yummy and perfect for chilly days. My recipe for it can be found on the recipe page. For a change I decided to use aluminum foil as a divider today. It added a nice bit of metallic sheen.

It was a dark October night

2011-10-19T07:17:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure why but bats were requested for today's bento. Without much thought I readily agreed. Now I know better. Cutting bats out of nori is very hard! Much, much harder than I expected so they came out a little wonky. Okay, perhaps it would have been better if I'd made larger bats or used better scissors. I must say that I absolutely love the tree!

In the bento: Couscous, cheese and nori trees and bats, apple bunny, lemon wedge, pink pig container filled with green peas, steamed sugar snap peas, carrot flowers. There are more apple pieces hidden underneath the bunny.

I first drew a pattern for the tree and bats on paper then cut them out of nori using the paper as a guide. With the nori on the cheese, I cut a larger shape from the provolone. One bat has eyes of sesame seeds and the other has bits of cheese.

A Proper Orange

2011-10-18T07:26:00.000-07:00

Ha! This batch of orange rice has an intense orange color that is perfect for a Halloween bento. I am much happier with it than with the one that I used for the candy corn onigiri. The plain old gel food coloring from the supermarket did the trick much better than the Wilton's colors. It's possible that the difference is due more to my being nervous about using the Wilton's though :)

A-chan was home sick yesterday but was feeling much better today. She asked for another onigiri bento for today so I went for the all-time Halloween favorite - Jack'o'lanterns! I love it when a peek at her bento turns her from a grumpy irritable morning grouch into a smiling happy to go to school girl.

In the bento: 5 spice tofu with edamame, black plum slices, two onigiri, black olives, steamed broccoli, cheese and nori stars and a corn croquette.

The pumpkin stems are broccoli stems and their leaves are split edamame. The faces were hand cut from nori.

Candy Corn Onigiri

2011-10-17T07:27:00.000-07:00

It's much harder to see the different color bands on the onigiri in the picture than in person. But they are there, I swear! To make the candycorn onigiri this year I decided to try a different coloring agent for the rice and it came out a lot lighter than I wanted. Next time I will go back to using the gel coloring. Making the candycorn onigiri has become a fall tradition for us and we had a great time making a huge mess out of the kitchen together.

Today's bento pic also features "Snowflake MacNeil" who came home with us from the Scottish Highland Games this weekend. When A-chan found a stuffed kitten for sale who also had a dashing scarf which just happened to be of our clan's tartan - how could I say no?

Our local Highland Games has started instituting a grand Children's program. We love it. She got to try a miniature version of the caber toss, sheaf toss and hammer throw which made watching the athletic events much more relevant. There were crafts and face painting, storytimes and dance lessons. We had a wonderful time and we did everything. I mean it - everything!

In the bento: Candycorn onigiri, black olive minions, sauteed tofu cubes, a tomato monster, nectarine slices, steamed broccoli and carrot leaves.

The tomato monster's eyes were made from soy turkey and nori. The small circles were punched out of the nori and then used for the onigiri's eyes. His tongue is also cut from soy turkey.

The Ghost Army Wants You

2011-10-14T06:53:00.000-07:00

The ghost army wants you! The ghost army says Boo! The ghost army knows Kung Fu! The ghost army will tickle you :)

A-chan has no school today so we have the whole day together! We are going to make candy corn onigiri, halloween cookies and maybe even do some chocolate painting.

In the bento: Four cheese sandwich ghosts, black olives and carrot stars in the blue tier. The yellow tier holds black plums, steamed broccoli, veggie hot dogs and nectarine chunks.

The faces on the sammies are made from nori and 'glued' onto the bread with mayo. The Boo! was cut from carrots with my handy dandy letter cutters.

Tiny Bunny Faces

2011-10-13T07:16:00.000-07:00

Taking a short vacation from Halloween, today we have tiny bitty bunnies! There are two things wrong with this picture - any guesses? Yep, that's right. No fruit. Ack, how did that happen? Well, it is all because of the trip we took this past weekend where I thought it would be easy to stop for some groceries on the way home from Alabama. Raise your hand if you know what didn't happen : D So we totally ran out of fruit. It's a horrible tragedy that I have cleverly hidden by my use of the red plaid food pick. Stare at the red plaid circle. It will fool your brain into believing that there is fruit in this bento. Stare, I say!

In the bento: Rice with vegetarian Japanese curry on top, a container of corn kernals, tater tots, steamed broccoli and invisible grapes on the red plaid food pick.

The cute bunny faces were made from provolone cheese with nori, soy turkey and sriracha details. The little flowers are provolone cheese with sugar dot centers and tiny bits of broccoli for leaves. In the side container was ketchup for the tater tots.

I do really try to keep fresh fruit on hand at all times. We may not eat it for every meal, but we sure try! The ability to easily pack all kinds of fruit and not have it get all squished is one my favorite reasons for using bento boxes!

Halloween Kitten Luvs You!

2011-10-12T06:34:00.000-07:00

Halloween kitten luvs you! Yes she does. She just wants to sit on your lap and get petted. Maybe bite you but only a little. And because she loves you she is going to destroy things that she thinks are a danger to you and maybe things that just look like they need to be torn to shreds just because, yes she is! It's all okay, right? Cause Halloween kitten is so cute!

So yesterday I said you'd all have to wait for a Halloween bento...but I lied. I was going to wait a few more days. And then I caved - I just couldn't stand to wait any longer. So here it is, yay!

In the bento: Rice with homemade furikake, huge Halloween kitten with a carrot Jack o lantern collar, a cherry tomato wedge, nectarine slices, black plum pieces, carrot flowers and tofu/veg stirfry.

I used a piece of bread with the edges cut off to make a nice absorbent container for the tofu stirfry. Halloween kitten was cut from provolone cheese and nori. Her collar was cut from tomato peel and the jack o lantern was cut from a carrot slice. Her ears and cheeks were cut from gari (pickled ginger).

The stirfry was very simple: I cooked the tofu cubes in sesame oil first then added small pieces of frozen broccoli and cooked them together for about 2-3 mins. Next I added a small handful of frozen corn kernals, soy sauce, a smidge of garlic powder and a bit of dried basil. Then I continued to cook it all together for about 2 more mins.

Onigiri Friends

2011-10-11T08:49:00.000-07:00

It's raining, it's raining! Our area desperately needed the rain so we're rejoicing. It's been raining for two straight days now. The bleary foggy day outside makes me want to sit with a huge mug of coffee and read books all day. Poor A-chan had her school fieldtrip cancelled because of the rain though. She was so disappointed and freaked out when she thought I had forgotten to leave her car seat - totally not getting the connection that no fieldtrip meant no need for the car seat to stay at school.

Today's bento has just a tiny hint of fall. I'm gearing up towards making Halloween bentos but you're just going to have to wait, nya!

In the bento: Raspberries, steamed broccoli, two large onigiri, carrot maple leaves, a corn croquette and some flash fried korean purple potato sticks.

The onigiri faces were punched out of nori as usual. But I decided to do something different for the cheeks and put raspberry pips instead of my normal sriracha/ketchup cheeks. It gives kind of a neat 3d effect :)

A Hetalia Bento

2011-10-07T04:29:00.000-07:00

Hetalia. Weird, wacky and totally wonderful. An anime series with pizzazz and currently one of our favorites. Italy is A-chan's favorite character so it's no wonder that he's shown up in her bento, waving his customary white flag. There is no pasta for Italy however, I had some leftover fried rice that I needed to use up before we left on more travels. In the background is the Hetalia movie poster that we picked up at AWA. We didn't get to see all of the movie and I was so bummed :( My favorite character is Japan but I admit to feeling a lot of sympathy for Germany in terms of cat-herding. Who's your favorite?

In the bento: Veggie fried rice with peas, carrots and scrambled tofu, steamed broccoli, veggie hot dog flowers, corn kernals on picks, a container of feta, raspberries, provolone flowers and Italy!

Italy's body was cut from provolone cheese. His hair was cut from soy turkey. The mouth was cut from veggie hot dog and his other facial features were nori. I tried a lot of different things to get the right look for his cheeks but nothing would cooperate with me. The last thing I did was a bit of Korean BBQ sauce. It still didn't look right but I ran out of time. Oh well, I'll just have to try again!

Fall is here!

2011-10-06T06:49:00.000-07:00

The leaves on the Japanese maple tree outside A-chan's window started to turn colors this week so it is officially fall! I love fall. It is absolutely my favorite time of year. Yesterday I got to wear my candycorn earrings and bought my first bag of candycorn for the fall season. That made me so happy! It's really hard to find vegetarian candycorn around here so when I do find it I buy lots! Soon it will be time for pumpkins and costumes and sweaters. Here are two fall inspired bentos. The top one is from last week and the bottom is from this week.

In the top bento: A small bowl of chickpeas, baby tomatoes and feta, steamed broccoli, grapes on heart picks, apple slices, two carrot maple leaves and two potato and onion pierogies. In the background is a candle that A-chan made at school. I just love her school - they do such neat creative projects! I want to join in :)

In the bento: Two inari zushi with homemade furikake sprinkled on top, steamed broccoli, baby tomatoes, tiny clementine slices and a momiji cake with sweet red bean paste inside. Two pokemon picks help to liven it up a little.

The momiji cake was left over from our trip to AWA and it looked so pretty that I just had to use it in her bento! The furikake is a mixture of dried and crushed tarragon leaves, toasted sesame seeds and sea salt.

Happy Fall Everyone!

Sleepy Girl

2011-10-05T06:22:00.000-07:00

Once again I got caught up in crazy scheduling and have neglected to post for a while. That's because this past weekend was the magnificent Anime Weekend Atlanta Convention that we go to every year. The week before it is always about getting the costumes and artwork ready. It only takes me a couple of days to recover afterward and set to rights all the damage the cats inflict on the house in our absence. (And wow were they unhappy this time) This year was A-chan's 7th AWA!

Thank you so much to everyone who came to the Bento and cooking panels. I had a great time and I hope that you did too! It was a pleasure to meet so many wonderful people and great gobs of kudos to everyone who came to the 10 am panel. Those of you who are waiting for emails from me, I will be getting right to them today and tomorrow :)

The above bento was actually from last week but I liked it so much that I am letting it supersede today's bento.

In the bento: A sleepy girl in an Inari zushi bed with nori designs on her blanket, apple stars, a star onigiri with apple peel decoration, baby tomatoes, sesame carrots and steamed broccoli.

The little girl's face was cut from provolone cheese with nori details and sriracha cheeks. Her hair was cut from carrot slices using different parts of my UFO shaped cutter.

Sho Totoro

2011-09-23T04:56:00.000-07:00

Fall makes me think of Totoro, mainly because of the association with acorns. It is definitely acorn season right now and A-chan enjoyed picking up a lot of them on our walk in the Botanical Gardens yesterday. The river that the trail runs beside is extremely low and showed us how much we needed the rain that has been falling the past few days. We could see all the trash on the riverbed that is normally hidden by the rushing water. It made us both very sad.

In the bento: Pink rice with black sesame seeds, stirfry with tofu, baby corn, broccoli, zucchini and orange bell pepper, grapes, apples, baby tomatoes and a carrot acorn.

Sho Totoro and the soot sprites are made from provolone cheese and nori. I did a really quick version of the little Totoro so he's looking a little bit strange but A-chan loved him all the same :)

One of the yo-yo balloons that A-chan won at the JapanFest game is barely visible in the background. She won four of them and unbelievably they are all still in existence!

Huge flower onigiri

2011-09-22T06:29:00.000-07:00

Good morning! It's still raining today, how awesome is that? The rain has been absent from our lives for quite some time so it's a relief to get two days worth. Except that all I want to do is curl up with a book and some coffee and forget about working :)

This huge flower onigiri is the reason behind the pink rice that A-chan requested. She wanted a pink flower onigiri bento! Our new rice cooker's first job was a huge batch of pink rice. And do I mean huge! We're probably still going to be eating pink rice next week.

In the bento: Pink rice onigiri with provolone cheese petals and carrot center, baby corn spears, apple bunny, a small bunch of grapes, fried tofu, steamed green beans and a pick of baby tomatoes.

The humongous flower onigiri mold is in the background. It's all sleek and shiny and I love it! However, the metal tends to get a bit hot when it's full of freshly cooked rice. I ended up having to get out my oven mitt to finish the onigiri.

The size of the onigiri also means that there is no way for A-chan to eat it by hand so she uses a fork.

A Quick Dinner

2011-09-21T06:19:00.000-07:00

Today the wonders of time-lapse photography will show the making of my quick and simple Curry Rice dinner bento from yesterday. You are seeing pink rice because that is what A-chan requested, please do not adjust your screen.

Rice

Lettuce as a divider

Curry plopped on top of the rice

Eggroll angled in the back of the bento

Next a small bunch of grapes

Hiding edamame and baby tomatoes underneath

Edamame pick and halved baby tomato are pretty!

The final bento with a simple flower put in last.

In the bento: Pink rice, vegetarian Japanese curry with tofu, carrots, onion and potatoes, a small bunch of grapes, edamame on a pick,baby tomato and a Japchae and chili pepper eggroll.

There are more edamame and baby tomatoes hidden underneath the eggroll and grapes. The flower was cut from jalapeno cheese and I used a halved edamame for leaves and black sesame seeds for some contrast.

It's a lightsaber!

2011-09-20T06:52:00.000-07:00

There are only a few phrases that a bento-making mom dreads to hear. Among them are, "I dropped my bento", "What is the cat doing on the counter?" and the most horrible of all, "What is that supposed to be?" Guess which one was said this morning? Sigh. Yes, it was the last one. Once I explained that it was a boy with a lightsaber A-chan could suddenly see it. "Oh, now I see. It's Anakin!" She exclaimed. What is the most dreaded phrase that you guys fear?

In the bento: Frozen blueberries in a container, soy sauce tofu chunks, a baby corn spear, baby tomatoes, dill pickle slices, miniature pancakes (there are three more under the boy's face) and a carrot lightsaber.

A Bridie Day

2011-09-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

Today's bento is extremely simple, but still cute and fun. There are a few things missing in the color department due to the fact that I never made it to the grocery store this weekend. However, we went to JapanFest instead - so much better than the store! In the background is the lovely bento loot that I bought: The green crab furoshiki, the pink flower furoshiki and those elegant flower picks!

In the bento: A bunch of Mac n cheese, a bunch of grapes, some steamed broccoli, 3 vegetarian Forfar Bridies (the shy one is hiding behind the smiling ones). Because of my allergy to bananas I'm afraid that bananas in our house tend to be rather boring. This one is outside the box :)

JapanFest was a wonderful experience that we can't wait to repeat next year. We arrived at 10 am to watch the Sumo wrestling which A-chan still claims was her favorite part of the day. The traditional Japanese dancing was a pleasure to watch and also gave me a few pointers to work on in my own dance.

A-chan concentrating at the Children's Calligraphy Workshop

I was impressed with the detail and preparation that went into the Children's Calligraphy Workshop. The kids learned not only the way to draw the modern Kanji for 'friends' but also the history of the kanji.

A-chan and Ichigo

We couldn't resist taking a picture in front of the huge lucky kitty! The pink osanpo, instantly named 'Ichigo' was A-chan's happiest purchase of the day and continues to be well-loved even at home.

Our lunch: Udon noodles, dango and dorayaki

Finding Vegetarian food for lunch was a bit of a challenge. I had planned to make bentos but my rice cooker chose that morning to die leaving me devastated and bento-less. We enjoyed our noodles and desserts very much, though! Another aspect that we thoroughly enjoyed were the festival games. A-chan and I both went Yo-yo balloon fishing and she was rather delighted that she was very good at it while I...frankly stunk at it. She also got a huge kick out of the fact that even though she lost the ring toss game they still gave her some cotton candy. As we watched the anime 'KamiChu' last night, A-chan exclaimed with great pleasure over the scene where kids were given cotton candy at a temple festival.

Playing ring toss

We also learned about flower arranging, listened to a rock concert, watched a kendo match, enjoyed the large scale calligraphy demonstration, learned about the history of mecha anime and fell in love with the koi at the koi show. It was so much fun that we didn't leave until it ended at 6!

A Fruit Bento and a Thank you Bento

2011-09-16T07:08:00.000-07:00

These fruit bentos are starting to grow on me. Last Friday I was worried that I had given A-chan too much fruit for Pizza day but she ate every bit of it. So today I filled up the box worry-free! Unfortunately I didn't have much variety of color in fruit so it's a little heavy on the red. The little watermelon divider I stuck in just for fun.

In the bento: Strawberry slices, apple plum pieces, orange slices and provolone cheese flowers.

Sasha has been sick all week. Not only is she our smallest kitty, she is also quite feisty. So much so, in fact that even with her wrapped up in a towel and scruffed I wasn't able to give her the medicine. There was medicine on me, on A-chan, the chair, the table, the towel, the floor and even the ceiling - but none inside the cat. A friend of mine who happens to work at our vet office took pity on me and has gone above and beyond the call of duty to come over every day and give Sasha her meds. It's amazing to watch - it takes her 5 seconds and it goes where it's supposed to! To thank her for using her lunch hour to make up for my cat medicine ineptitude, I made her a bento yesterday.

For the box I used a brilliant idea from Sherimiya of Happy Little Bento and recycled a fruit container! I lined the bottom with two layers of basket wrap and then topped that off with a layer of lettuce leaves before packing in the food. That was mainly to prevent anything from dripping through the holes in the bottom.

In the bento: A huge slice of orange, edamame on a bamboo pick, two onigiri with beni shuga on top, persian cucumber slices, carrot flowers, beef gyoza, baby corn spears, a container of edamame and a bamboo pick of black olives.

Flower Garden

2011-09-15T07:52:00.000-07:00

I wanted to make a flower garden bento using some of my Japanese vegetable cutters this morning. Some of them are huge and don't get used very often because it is difficult to find veggies that are large enough. Luckily we picked up some Japanese carrots and purple yams at Super H Mart over the weekend.

In the bento: The fruit section contains apple plum slices, orange slices, strawberry slices and lots of pieces of baby corn including some on a leaf pick. The other side has a fake-tsukune patty with a circle of bread behind, steamed broccoli, carrot flowers, cheese flowers, a purple yam flower and hiding between the broccoli and carrots is a Mac and Cheese ball.

The Tsukune patty is decorated with mayo in a traditional henna flower pattern. Sesame seeds decorate the carrot and purple yam flowers and to make my pink-obsessed girl happy there is a pink flower divider. Not shown are a soy sauce bottle and a ketchup container.

Below was my lunch bento yesterday. I promised myself Indian food after going to a Bollywood dance class the night before. I love Indian food, the spicier the better! Since I knew that this feast wasn't going to be shared with A-chan I spiked up the heat to a level 20. So yummy :)

In my bento: Naan (frozen, from Trader Joe's), a miniature orange pepper with raita inside, persian cucumber spears, chana masala in the blue cup, veggie biryani and tofu musallam.

I adapted the tofu musallam from a recipe for Murgh Musallam which is 'Whole chicken baked in Aluminum Foil' from a cookbook by Madhur Jaffrey.

Three kittens

2011-09-14T07:13:00.000-07:00

Three little kittens said, "Meow?" in cute little voices which knocked their little whiskers all askew. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. :)

Notice all the strange looking, weirdly shaped carrot pieces in the fried rice? Well, maybe you can't. But they are very obvious to me because I know that they are there, lol. That is what I do with all the oddly shaped leftover pieces from the decorative carrot cutouts. All the flowers, hearts, letters, etc. leave a heck of a lot of pieces that get scooped into a container and stored in the freezer to use in things like fried rice. That way I don't have to chop up a lot of veggies for my fried rice, all the work is already done!

In the bento: Veggie fried rice with scrambled tofu, green peas, carrots and baby corn. On the side are several orange wedges, some Persian cucumber slices, baby corn spears, apple plum slices, a frozen cherry and a strawberry.

The kitten faces are made from Provolone cheese and soy turkey. The details are nori eyes, mouth and stripes. The whiskers are made from somen noodles.

I don't often post my bentos but I've decided to try and do that more often. Mine are usually not as cute as A-chan's and are generally very bland to the eye in comparison :) This one was actually my dinner last night.

In my bento: Sushi rice covered with scrambled tofu, sriracha, two orange slices, three persian cucumber slices, a Mac and Cheese ball (from Trader Joe's) and a cheese flower.

The Proof is with the Sumo

2011-09-13T08:11:00.000-07:00

Aha! I have it! Proof that my bentos do indeed stand the test of time and are remembered once they have been devoured. Yes, my daughter asked me to make her another Sumo bento with a sweet potato bun! Here is a link to the one I made last January: http://bentoanarchy.blogspot.com/2011/01/sumo-boy.html Apparently it really made an impression on her! One day when she is twenty-five she will ask me, "Why do I get really hungry whenever someone mentions sumo wrestling?"

This guy is a little different from the first one and his topknot kind of gets lost in the lettuce. I have my fingers crossed that we can go see the Sumo demo at JapanFest in Atlanta this weekend. A-chan would be ecstatic! There will be traditional dance demonstrations, archery and tons more so I am hoping, hoping, hoping :) Also, a certain vendor who is rumored to be selling dango will be getting a lot of my cash if it turns out to be true. For I truly love dango.

In the bento: A sweet potato bao made into a sumo, strawberry slices, corn croquette, a container of green peas with some carrot flowers, two bamboo picks with sauteed tofu and one solitary blackberry.

Fishy Inari zushi

2011-09-12T06:57:00.000-07:00

On Friday A-chan had requested a fish decoration in her bento. That had been school pizza day so I asked if we could postpone the fish until Monday. As we were grocery shopping last night she reminded me about the fish. Let me tell you that I was horrified when I discovered that I had no fish shaped cutters. Oh sure, I have a large cookie cutter that would have been perfect for a sandwich...if I'd remembered to buy bread. After a while I finally decided to try making a fish with Inari zushi. A-chan seemed delighted with it even if I think it's a little...fishy.

In the bento: Inari zushi filled with sushi rice, steamed broccoli, a container of simmered kabocha, one huge strawberry and one normal sized strawberry, some blackberries, a slice of lemon and three carrot 'bubbles'.

The fish scales and eye were cut from provolone cheese and nori. His tail was cut out of an inari pocket with my food scissors and there is more rice hidden underneath it. The inari pockets and kabocha were simmered in the same pot with water, soy sauce, mirin and a tiny bit of brown sugar.

Just the fruit, ma'am

2011-09-09T07:23:00.000-07:00

A-chan's school is doing a Pizza on Fridays fundraiser so she didn't need a bento for lunch today. At first this made me a little bit sad, but then I thought it was a perfect excuse to make a fruit bento! I am adamant about my fresh fruit fetish and try to have every meal accompanied by some type of fruit. She probably won't eat all of this bento with her pizza, but any fruit is better than none. Today was also a great chance to try a bit of fruit subterfuge by adding in a golden kiwi which we've never tried before. Hers looked so luscious that I am going to make me one for lunch too! Who needs savory - I've got fruit!

In the bento: Lots of peach slices, blackberries, raspberries, kiwi, and golden kiwi hidden in the far back.

It's a bit embarrassing to admit that I was positively giddy over the fact that I got to use my new Bento & Co. box today! The kitty on the lid is soooo cute. Ostensibly this one is mine...but I don't mind sharing it with A-chan. I'm very happy with the box. The slim lines and elegant no-nonsense styling make it a perfect frame for yumminess.

Just a little mouse

2011-09-08T10:28:00.000-07:00

There is just a little mouse in A-chan's bento today. I was very happy that she could recognize it this morning! I'm getting in gear for fall bentos this weekend. The anticipation of pumpkin season is killing me, I can't wait :) Pumpkin pie, pumpkin jelly, pumpkin yogurt, pumpkin decorations, candy corn...Ahhhh, it's all good.

In the bento: Potato hash in the green container, raspberries, a pick of edamame, three lemon slices, veggie sausage links and mini pancakes.

The mouse face and ears were cut out using two sizes of biscuit cutters and I applied strawberry icing to make the details. The leftover bits of pancake and a few more whole ones are hidden underneath the lettuce.

Switching gears

2011-09-07T06:50:00.000-07:00

Today's bento is completely different from what I had in mind. But the bread that I was going to use to make sandwiches turned out to be moldy and required a total switching of gears. My freezer stash saved the day again, yay! The two onigiri were frozen as were the fried tofu sticks and the broccoli which made for a panic-free morning.

In the bento: Small dill pickles, carrot flowers, raspberries, two flower shaped onigiri with carrot flower centers, two fried tofu sticks and a piece of steamed broccoli.

To reheat the onigiri for the bento I took them from the freezer and placed them on a microwave safe plate. Next I sprinkled them with a little bit of water and microwaved them for one minute. The fried tofu sticks were already deep fried before storing them in the freezer. To reheat them I put them into a 400 degree oven straight from the freezer and cook for 7 minutes. Reheating them in the oven takes longer than the microwave but preserves the lovely crunchy texture.

Hearts and Smiles

2011-09-06T06:18:00.000-07:00

We had a fantastic time at DragonCon this past weekend! It was a blast and I had so much fun teaching the Bento panel - thank you so much to everyone who came! Now that the convention is over I'm finding out how completely exhausted I am. It always seems difficult to get back in the groove after vacation and this morning proved to be no exception. So I kept today's bento nice and simple. There is one thing completely missing from it, though. Do you know what it is?

In the bento: One huge potato and cheese pierogie, a container of shredded cheese, steamed broccoli, cherry tomato wedges, baby carrots, black olives on picks and a vegetarian tsukune with a mayo heart for decoration.

The pierogie's facial detail was punched from nori and 'glued' on with a tiny bit of mayo. Not shown are a soy sauce bottle and container of ketchup. I was amazed that I could make a bento this morning without having been here for 5 days and not having gone to the grocery store!

Guest Post by Bou Shin!

2011-09-01T04:46:00.000-07:00

I am going out of town today so there is no bento this morning. However, there is this lovely Guest Post by Bou Shin of Shin's Vegan Lovin' who was one of the winners of my contest! She gives tons of great tips for bentoing - Thank you, Bou Shin! (I can't figure out how to turn off the underline and I have to run or I'll be late so I apologize for the massive underlining!)

15 Tips For Building A Better Bento

I'm going to let you in on a little secret - you don't need to order or buy anything from Japan to have a fantastic bento lunch! What you need to do is to decide what type of box you want and for whom.

If it's for you then it might be Tupperware - or if it's for a child it might be a Hello Kitty lunchbox that's perfect for their appetite. If you're anything like me - you're going to just buy the Hello Kitty lunchbox for yourself.

1. Identify what shape, size and type of bento that you want. If you get stuck then you can easily look up a bento size-locator and figure it out. For example, your average adult would need a 600-700 ml box, plus or minus any other factors.

Factors: If you're physically active or inactive - gender and appetite also play a role into this. Another factor is if you're into kyaraben (as I am) meaning that a smaller bento is needed for calorie-density.

2. Find a suitable box. Go to your local supermarket to look at the Tupperware and occasional Lock & Lock boxes. These are especially good if you want smaller servings and you want to look more like an adult and less like a five-year old eating from a Superman Lunchbox. Make sure that whatever you get has a nice secure top (it's okay if it doesn't, we'll solve that later).

3. If you can't find it - make it! Don't fret - you have the technology and the capability to build a better, stronger and faster bento, or at least one that's nice and sturdy. All you need is a good instructable, mineral oil, and non-toxic wood and glue to pull it together.

If you're still worried about finding the right box for you then you could try to search for some lovely French (or any other) Lacquer boxes.

4. Buy or make elastic bands. Instead of breaking out the superglue - you can easily stick a thick band of elastic onto fabric to go across the width of the box. Just leave it off until you've cleaned it and filled it.

5. Hand wash your bento box thoroughly. This way you can ensure that it doesn't get warped or damaged and it can still be used to carry your lunch correctly. Don't use too many scented products so that your box doesn't smell or taste like soap. Wood bentos need the least amount of water and cleaning time.

Additional Building Tips:If you order from any place online, be sure to try to get a scale size as well as using the millilter measure as explained on #1. There's a chance that your box could be big enough to feed a whole family or, more likely, small enough for a toddler.

Sanitary and Aesthetic Tips

1. Separate your food. For example, you could be eating a nice meal of rice and ume with a piece of jalapeno-pineapple-durian cake that you really don't want to touch anything. You can easily use muffin tins or something similar to those plastic eggs that you see in stores.

2. Want to make your bento cuter with food picks? Adding plastic picks that have little faces or stickers make a bento a lot brighter. You can make these yourself in the same way mentioned or you can check out your local craft store for mini-picks such as the ones mentioned by Martha Stewart.

3. Looking for chopsticks - but can't find nice ones that aren't wood or healthy for the environment? You can easily make your own with a or you can search for some with AllThingsForSale.

4. Keep sanitary wipes with you for yourself as well as your bento to prevent any nasty odors. Another way to help prevent this is to line your bento box with something entirely edible and fresh like thick Romaine lettuce leaves.

5. Find a bento strap for utensils or make one. Don't leave them in the bento box for sanitary reasons.

Additional Holder Tips: Be sure not to overcrowd your bento or to place your utensils inside of the box. Also be sure to look around the craft store for anything that can be used in a bento.

Food Tips

1. Whether or not you have little ones running around, it's best to make a large batch of your favorite food into small bits, cook it and freeze it until you're ready to prepare lunch.

2. When cooking, you don't need to have a large amount of white rice as seen in many Japanese bentos, it's best for fresh fruits and vegetables to be the majority of your meal, proteins being second. If you do happen to use a lot of white rice - I suggest mixing it with brown or black rice for a health boost.

3. Make sure that whatever you use in your bento box isn't too oily or too water-filled. The water can be drained and taken care of very easily but the oil won't be fully drained and can still seep into the bottom of your box even with protection.

4. As mentioned before - it's best to stay with local fresh fruits and vegetables (organic is even better!). The reason is not only for health - it's also for bento balance. If you put a lot of vegetables in whatever empty space you have, there is a lot less likely of a chance for your food to spill around in some gross mess.

5. Have fun with it and experiment - you don't have to stick to one type of bento or one type of food that goes into it everyday. You can use it to lose weight or to gain weight. Your bento essentially reflects you - so I hope that you'll enjoy it.

- Bou Shin of Shin's Vegan Lovin'
--

Yummy Tofu Soboro

2011-08-31T13:53:00.000-07:00

I love doing these color striped bentos. They are easy, yummy and so lovely to look at! This one features corn kernals, tofu soboro and green peas packed in tidy lines on top of Jasmine rice. The tofu soboro is very simple to make. It only takes a few minutes to sautee extra firm tofu in sesame oil, adding soy sauce, mirin and a tiny bit of sugar after tofu is mostly dry. Soboro is basically a meat (or tofu) furikake - something to mix with rice or sprinkle on top of rice.

In the bento: Corn, tofu soboro and green peas hiding Jasmine rice, raspberries, baby carrots, steamed broccoli and provolone cheese butterflies.

As part of our grocery store challenge I was supposed to cook Kale for A-chan this week. However, it just hasn't happened and tomorrow we're leaving for DragonCon! But I am still using the Kale in the bento, just as a divider instead of a food. The color and texture of the kale leaves are wonderful in the bento, I enjoyed using it.

Panda Onigiri

2011-08-29T07:20:00.000-07:00

Did you know that you can make rice balls ahead of time and freeze them? You can! It's one of my favorite ways to shorten bento prep time in the mornings. This morning I took these two out of the freezer, sprinkled a bit of water on them and popped them in the microwave for one minute. It only took a moment to put on the nori once they were in the bento.

In the bento: Two panda onigiri, an orange slice, a cherry, grapes on panda picks, black olives in a cup, babybel cheese and tiny carrot stars.

There is a small pink puppy soy sauce bottle on the side. Luckily it's relatively flat and fits inside the lid of the bento, as does the small fork!

It's a Hello Kitty Day

2011-08-26T06:57:00.000-07:00

It's definitely a day for the freezer stash and one of our favorite characters. Nobody wanted to get out of bed this morning :)

In the bento: Miniature pancakes with strawberry icing Hello Kitty, steamed broccoli, veggie sausage links with musical picks, pluot slices, and orange wedges.

The veggie sausage, pancakes and broccoli were all from the freezer and warmed up nicely in just a few minutes. The fruit was sliced while everything else was warming. I already had a small cone of the strawberry icing in the fridge. The thing that took the longest this morning was taking the photo!

Chubby Puppies

2011-08-25T06:51:00.000-07:00

When I was making the onigiri this morning I hadn't realized just how big they were til I put them in the box. They are huge! I used the same design that A-chan and I had put together for one of my birthday onigiri. The puppies are cute but really need more color. I tried to make brown egg sheets (colored with soy sauce) but they came out a lot paler than I expected. I'll try again another time, though!

In the bento: Two puppy onigiri with eggsheet and nori details, a frozen cherry, two orange slices, a babybel cheese, a container of sugar snap peas, two veggie hot dogs with corn in the centers.

The sugar snap peas are the challenge that A-chan set for me at the grocery store a few days ago. I simmered them in a mixture of water, soy sauce, mirin and brown sugar. She will eat them for lunch and tell me if I did a good job or not. I can't wait to find out the verdict! Next week she has challenged me to cook Kale :)

Oh Burger Man!

2011-08-24T06:10:00.000-07:00

There was a lovely hint of fall in the air this morning! The cool weather will be so very welcome after the incredibly hot summer. In the meantime we are still enjoying the summer tomatoes, yum! Today's bento features a Tsukune Burger Man. He is totally not a traditional Tsukune, being neither made from chicken or actually made of any meat at all. (Can I still call it Tsukune?) I altered a tsukune patty recipe by using Morningstar Farms crumbles.

In the bento: Kraft mac'n'cheese, a huge cherry tomato, grapes on a star pick, pluot slices, steamed broccoli, a carrot flower stick, a tsukune burger with a halo of bread.

The completely huge cherry tomatoes are not only beautiful but delicious! And in order to prevent lunchtime eye injuries I have taken to cutting them in half - still lovely but less likely to squirt across the table while being bitten into :)

Burger Man's face is mayo with sugar dots for cheeks. On the side is a small yellow container filled with ketchup.

A Lot of Hearts

2011-08-23T13:47:00.000-07:00

"That's a lot of hearts!" A-chan declared as she viewed her bento this morning. I agree. Maybe

too many, I'm not sure. One thing I relearned this morning is that round green peas do not easily hold a heart shape.

In the bento: Garlic and basil couscous with green pea heart and carrot hearts, black olives with a cute panda pick, baby corn spears, soy sauce sauteed tofu heart, diamond cut apple, and a container full of mango.

The tofu heart was cut out of a block of extra firm tofu with a Wilton's miniature cookie cutter. The heart and the leftover weirdly shaped pieces from the cut-out were then lightly sauteed in sesame oil and a bit of soy sauce was added at the last minute. The weird leftover pieces are hidden underneath the heart.

At the grocery store today I asked A-chan to find a green vegetable that she didn't think I knew how to cook. She was to challenge me to cook something new for a bento. In order to find out if I did a good job cooking her challenge she has to eat it. She chose sugar snap peas for this week and wants me to try Kale next week. I love it!

Smiling Bridie

2011-08-22T06:29:00.000-07:00

Whew! We survived the first week of school with only a few minor things going wrong. And we somehow lived a whole week without eating any broccoli. This travesty occurred because I went to the store without a list. But it has been rectified this week and A-chan was rejoicing to see broccoli in her bento this morning.

In the bento: Two miniature Scottish Forfar Bridies (vegetarian versions), pluot slices, steamed broccoli, one cherry, carrot hearts and a cherry tomato cut into fourths.

My birthday was this weekend and A-chan helped me make an extra special birthday lunch! She was so sweet :) Here are the cute onigiri that she made and decorated.

Playful Kitty

2011-08-19T06:43:00.000-07:00

The kitty caught a spaghetti string. Naughty kitty! A really simple bento today that I hope will be perfect and counteract the disaster of yesterday. The cute penguins in the top tier yesterday ended up on the floor of school :( Today I tried to make her bento extra easy and used a box that A-chan was extremely familiar with so that she wouldn't have any trouble opening it. Keeping my fingers crossed!

In the bento: Vegetarian spaghetti with a lovely black olive on top, a container of mango chunks, a container of green peas, two picks of black olives, one pick of corn and a cute kitty of provolone cheese.

For my spaghetti I took my grandmother's recipe (which was hard won and learned many years ago) and just switched the ground beef that she used for Morningstar Farms crumbles. It's now a family favorite and my mother likes the veggie recipe so much that she learned to make it from me!

The little kitty face I drew out on paper then cut out. The paper shape was then put onto the cheese and I used a sharp knife to cut around it. The details are nori and sesame seeds with soy turkey for the ears.

Can it really be...Penguins!

2011-08-18T06:21:00.000-07:00

When I was getting ready to sleep last night I suddenly realized that I needed to make penguins in the morning. But I had no clue how to do penguins in a bento - so I went searching for inspiration. I found it in LuckySundae's amazing bentos! Mine are a little bit clumsy, lol. A-chan was able to recognize them as penguins and that's all that matters :)

In the bento: The blue tier has cherries, a babybel cheese, baby carrots, a container of pluot chunks, three veggie hot dog flowers with corn centers, two picks of edamame and a corn croquette. The white tier holds two huge penguin onigiri and a ton of lettuce.

The penguins have nori, provolone cheese and carrot details. Two tiny little hot dog and corn flowers help distract from all that lettuce!

Mr.Turtle

2011-08-17T06:17:00.000-07:00

A-chan is absolutely thrilled that some of her class pets this year are turtles. In honor of this she asked me to create a bento for today that had a turtle. She is really getting into this whole asking for bento designs! So here is a rendition of my 'turtle sandwich'. And speaking of thrilled - the potato hash that I created for dinner last night was so loved by A-chan that she requested more for her bento today. Whoa. It's pretty hard to make a potato dish that she will eat these days.

In the bento: Peanut butter and sugar sprinkle sandwich with nori and soy turkey turtle on top, potato hash, grapes, cherry tomato and a baby carrot.

The nori of the turtle shell began to curl up as soon as I started putting the soy turkey on. But I decided that I liked the textured look of it and left it that way :)

Double Bunnies

2011-08-16T10:17:00.000-07:00

A-chan asked for Bunnies in today's bento. She didn't specify more than that so I took the easy road and made simple cheese cutouts. This box has lids which fit down inside a bit - something that typically throws me for a loop. I'm continually over-filling these types of bento boxes and then the lids won't fit on. Today I was very careful and made sure to leave room for the lids!

In the bento: The bunny tier is full of miniature pancakes (all from the freezer) nestled in lettuce with provolone cheese bunnies and heart. The non-bunny tier is filled with cherries, lemon slices, pluot slices, carrot flowers, baby corn slices, soy sausage links and green peas.

Sugar sprinkles got stuck to the cheese for the bunnies' eyes and to decorate the heart. Their fluffy tails are cauliflower. Inside the monkey container is strawberry icing to eat with the pancakes.

And.....Go!

2011-08-15T07:04:00.000-07:00

A happy Mokona is going to school with A-chan today. She was a little nervous so I wanted to make her a special charaben. Ah, the magic of the bento! The sight of this one helped turn off the nervous tears and got a sweet smile started instead. For the first day of school A-chan requested fried tofu and a number 1 somewhere in the bento. I remembered the tofu, but forgot about the 1. She reminded me at breakfast and I rectified my mistake with some hasty free-hand cutting.

I can't wait to hear about her adventures today. Almost all of the children that go to her Tae Kwon Do studio are in her class this year!

In the bento: Jasmine rice with furikake, provolone cheese mokona, fried tofu, baby corn spears, blackberries, grapes, a cherry tomato and three baby carrots. Not shown is the soy sauce bottle that somehow never seems to fit :)

The furikake is a mixture of sea salt, toasted sesame seeds and tarragon. It's a very simple flavor to go on the rice and A-chan has liked it a lot in the past.

Mokona's body was cut from provolone cheese slices using an egg shaped cookie cutter for the main body and the baseball bat shape from another cutter for both the feet and the ears. The face was punched from nori, with a sugar dot for the forehead and tiny smudges of sriracha for the cheeks. It was all 'glued' together with a bit of mayo. I first assembled Mokona on a plate while the rice cooled off in the bento box. Once the rice was cool to the touch on the bottom of the box I transferred Mokona on top.

Woohoo, the first day of school photo! We managed to only be three minutes late despite the fact that school started half an hour earlier this year. I believe the reason we were late had to do with the fact that we stopped to snap a photo of her new dress for the first day of school and our cat Purrpurr just had to 'help'.

Friday means pancakes

2011-07-22T06:26:00.000-07:00

Pancakes are not a breakfast food to me. I just don't like sweet foods for breakfast. It might be a holdover from my childhood when my Mom was very healthwise and didn't allow sugar in the house. The only exception to this rule is yogurt. I love yogurt for breakfast. In any case, pancakes in our house are good for lunch or dinner but they never appear on the breakfast menu. And I enjoy using these frozen miniatures for bentos because they are so easy to make and I can do so many cute things with them!

Today's pancakes have a thin layer of pink icing to make pancake sandwiches. I first took my tiny heart cutter and cut a heart into the center of the top pancakes.

In the bento: Baby corn covered by a provolone Hello Kitty face, baby tomatoes, soy sausage link,provolone cheese hearts, pancakes sandwiches with icing, an apple bunny and two lemon slices.

Unfortunately I did not pay attention to the type of box that I was using and packed it way too full - the lid wouldn't fit on! There was some major rearranging to get the food to fit without being squished by the lid.

The Hedgehog said to the Kitty

2011-07-21T06:19:00.000-07:00

"Isn't this a bland bento?" Hehe :) Okay, I just realized as I was putting up this picture that there is nothing red in this bento. Total Goshiki fail! Oh well. I can't always get the five colors into every bento, but I do try!

In the bento: a small bunch of grapes, a tiny plain onigiri with kitty nori, black olives on a hedgehog pick, blackberries, Jasmine rice hidden underneath sesame carrots, green peas and scrambled tofu. (The scrambled tofu can be replaced by scrambled egg.)

To make scrambled tofu, take extra firm tofu and press the excess moisture out with paper towels. ( For one person I use a 1/6th to 1/4th of a container depending on whether it's for a child or an adult.) Heat 1 TB of sesame oil in a sautee pan. Then slowly squish the block of tofu into the pan through your fingers. It's a strange feeling but also kind of fun! I use chopsticks to stir the small bits round and round in the hot oil, adding a small amount of turmeric and garlic powders. The turmeric turns the tofu yellow and gives it the distinctive 'scrambled egg' look while the garlic takes away the bitter taste of the turmeric.

It can also be made with the classic Iri Tamago recipe by adding small amounts of mirin, soy sauce, sugar and salt.

Another quick bento

2011-07-19T06:37:00.000-07:00

Somehow all through the winter and early spring I kept thinking that summer was going to be nice and relaxing. That I would have time to do all those things that I hadn't been able to do during the school year. Ha! This summer has been an on the go adventure of travel and performances. Today as I start to get ready for our next trip to drive to Pennsylvania and camp out for 10 days, I am forced to laugh at myself for those original ideas of summer. Next year I know what I'm getting into so I will be a little better prepared, I hope! In any case, be prepared for an onslaught of really simple and easy bentos as I spare my braincells to calculate for the trip ahead :)

In the bento: A Boca burger sauteed in teriyaki sauce and cut in half, an apple bunny, cherry tomatoes and green peas on picks, baby corn spears, cheese ravioli, and several lovely carrot flowers to top everything off.

Happy Saturn

2011-07-15T07:24:00.000-07:00

Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun. And made from yummy soy turkey, hehe. I love doing space themed bentos and this one was a very easy bento to make! Total cooking time - 5 minutes. Total decorating time - 5 minutes!

In the bento: Garlic pita toast cut into triangles, steamed broccoli, sesame carrots in a lovely pink container, garlic and basil couscous, soy turkey saturn with provolone ring and provolone cheese stars. The strawberry was carried on the side.

Saturn's face was cut from nori using nori punches and 'glued' onto the soy turkey with a tiny bit of mayo. The stars were cut with a tiny cutter but Saturn's ring was cut using my food-only scissors.

Cool guys and contest winners!

2011-07-14T08:43:00.000-07:00

And....I'm back! No one could possibly be as surprised as I that during my packing for my multi-state trip I managed to leave my laptop's power cord at home. It was a difficult two weeks without the internet. Now I'm jumping back in with both feet - cause it's time to announce the contest winners, yay!

Akane is the winner of the Bento Donburi. AikoVenus is the winner of the Bento Zoony. Thank you guys so much! I can't wait to see what fantastic creations you make with the new bento boxes :D

I had a great time in Memphis and enjoyed meeting so many wonderful people at Anime Blues Con. I wasn't sure what the weather would hold in Memphis, but it was just as hot there as it is here. There have been way too many 1oo degree days lately! The bento above is all about these sweltering hot summer days: Sunglasses and fruit!

In the bento: Two plain onigiri with nori sunglasses, steamed broccoli, orange wedges, a sakura shaped sugar cookie, a huge strawberry, and some tofu hidden underneath the strawberry.

Experimental Onigiri

2011-06-27T07:02:00.003-07:00

Here are three experimental onigiri. I've never done much with filled onigiri. Mainly because that seemed akin to a booby-trap for a small child that would end in disaster and a bunch of mess. Yes, I am sad to say that I let fear dictate my onigiri choices. But no more! For here are onigiri with three different fillings that A-chan loved and were eaten without catastrophe befalling us.

In the bento: Two apple bunnies, slices of lemon, purple grapes on star and heart picks, one teriyaki tofu and green pea filled onigiri, one scrambled tofu filled onigiri, one onigiri with tofu soboro mixed with the rice, carrot flowers with sugar dot centers and green bean leaves, a few waffle fries.

There is still time to enter the give-away! You have until June 30th to comment on a post or to follow this blog to be entered. Two really cute bentos from Bento & Co. are the prizes - two winners will receive a bento and hopefully be persuaded to do a guest post in early August.

Out of This World

2011-06-23T07:14:00.000-07:00

I absolutely love this bento! It's a pancake bento where the pancakes aren't the star focal point which is always a challenge. But even better I managed to use these strange little picks for the first time. I've always assumed that they were from Anpanman, but I'm not absolutely sure. Can anyone tell me what they are? A-chan enjoyed the little 'alien' guys stealing her green peas, though.

In the bento: A moon apple, fried potato rocket and UFO, orange wedges, steamed cauliflower, soy sausage links, miniature pancakes, and tiny provolone stars.

To make the moon apple I used a metal moon cookie cutter from Wilton's. (I've tried doing apple cuts with plastic cutters and it never works for me.) Then I carved the peel from the inside of the moon using a small knife.

The rocket and UFO were cut from raw slices of potato and then shallow fried in a mixture of olive oil and butter until browned. The black sesame seeds seemed to be a perfect decoration for them and were just held on by the grease.

Nori cat onigiri

2011-06-22T06:05:00.000-07:00

Another simple bento from the bento backlog. A-chan loved the nori cats on the onigiri and I loved the easy 10 minute morning bento! These two onigiri were from the freezer and I should have taken some time to smooth them down a bit, but I didn't notice until I was taking the picture.

In the bento: Two plain onigiri, soy sausage links, a container of carrot ribbons, a cherry tomato, a few random green beans and a tiny clementine.

Slightly Melted Panda

2011-06-21T05:55:00.000-07:00

This bento is a lesson in what not to do. I was too impatient and put the cheese panda on top of food that was still too hot. Poor panda, he started sweating and his black fur curled up! So, always remember to let food cool before putting something that melts on top. (Unless you want it to melt, of course!) As you see here, decorating the cheese ravioli with cut outs is now high on my list of ultra cool things for bento.

In the bento: Black bean, rice and soy sausage bake with a provolone and nori panda on top and bamboo made from broccoli stems, two cheese ravioli, steamed broccoli, a cherry tomato, purple grapes on a pick and a few carrot flowers.

To the left in the background is the nori punch that I used to make the panda face. It's not ultimately necessary, I could have cut it out by hand. But it makes things so much faster!

Pasta Simplicity

2011-06-17T06:52:00.000-07:00

Because I've never done a Give-away online before I am a bit muddled about it. I keep thinking that I should extend until the end of June since I haven't been posting a lot of put up very much information so far. So here is the official announcement of that, lol. I am doing a give away with two bentos from Bento & Co. at the end of June. It will be totally random. To get entered into the randomness you must either be a follower of my blog or have posted a comment between May 27th and June 30th. Now here's the kicker - in late July and early August I will be on a massive camping trip. What I would really, really, really love to have are the winners of the two bentos do guest posts for me to put up while I'm gone camping. That's voluntary and not a condition of winning!

In the bento: Tomato parmesan pasta with a tomato flower and cucumber leaves, two baby tomatoes on cute animal picks with cheese stars, a container of sweet corn, veggie hot dogs and a bunch of purple grapes on the side.

Cute cute teddy bears

2011-06-16T06:27:00.000-07:00

Here is another bento from the deep dark backlog files from the end of the school year. A-chan has been going to summer camp (Star Wars gymnastic camp - how awesome is that?) this week so now I'm starting to get a backlog of summer bentos as well! I need more hours in a day, lol. To explain my continued turtle pace of posting and not tweeting (how I miss twitter!) - in addition to my normal work load I'm transitioning to teaching dance class in a new studio where all the details are handled by me instead of the front office. I've also added a third class per week which is great! And my students are preparing for their student recital which is happening next week. We're in the midst of sewing like crazy, rehearsing like crazy and just being crazy in general. It's all good stuff but it's taking up a lot more of my time and I can't obsess over bentos as much. *cry* But soon I'll figure out how to balance all this new stuff and the recital will be over and I'll have a little bit more 'free' time, yay!

Anyway, back to bento stuff :) In the bento: Two peanut butter and sugar sprinkle sandwiches with teddy bear faces on top and a corn croquette between, a babybel cheese round, a small bunch of purple grapes and a Tuscany Italian flavored 'rice meatball' and lots of tiny carrot stars.

The teddy bear faces are made with soy turkey, provolone and nori with sriracha cheeks. I used the Thomas part of my Hello Kitty onigiri kit to cut the soy turkey slice and the provolone slice for the heads and then used the nori punch from the kit for the facial features.

To cushion the tiny corn croquette and make sure the sandwiches stayed put I rolled up a little extra piece of lettuce and stuck it in place to keep the three things secure.

A-chan didn't like the rice meatball at all. I'm not sure if that is because it was so different or because she just doesn't really like 'meatballs' in general. It was worth a try though and I was very proud of her for eating half of it to try it out!

Ravioli Girls

2011-06-14T05:11:00.000-07:00

For this bento I used a technique inspired by The Cute Food for Kids blog. An exacto knife made it very easy to carve the cooked ravioli, leaving the cheese exposed to make the cute faces! I used black sesame seeds for the eyes and nori for the smiles. I loved the way this turned out.

In the bento: On the left was a bed of Jasmine rice sprinkled with black sesame seeds, three cheese ravioli girls and a few tiny red cabbage flowers. To the right was a container of corn with a red cabbage flower and cut lettuce leaves, two soy sausage links, steamed broccoli and 3 tomato and cheese picks.

Another thing that I liked about this bento was being able to use the cow-head shaped container. It's extremely difficult for me to find ways to use that particular container, believe it or not!

OMG kitties!

2011-06-06T14:25:00.001-07:00

I apologize for the double post of the Turtle bento! I'm not sure exactly how it happened. The first one disappeared so I did a re-post. Today was the first day that the original post actually appeared for me, it's bizarre.

To everyone who came to the site recently, followed or commented - Thank you!! I love to get feedback and reading all of your comments brightens up my day! Some of you already know that I am doing a give-away at the end of next week in appreciation of all of you. If you are a follower or comment on any post during the last week and continuing into next, you will be entered into the hat for the give-away. It's not a very big thing, but I wanted to do something, especially since I've been so busy and not been posting recently. One person will receive a Zoony bento box from Bento & Co. and another will receive a Bento Donburi!

In the bento: Three cheese and mayo sandwiches cradled by lots of lettuce with Provolone and nori kitty faces on top. In the second tier is a strawberry pudding with a provolone kitty paw print, plum slices, a baby tomato, black olives on a pick and a container with carrot ribbons.

Now that we're done traveling for a couple of weeks (we went to San Francisco, L.A., back to SF, home to Georgia and then spent most of last week in Atlanta, whew!) I'm going to have time to start working on the bento backlog again and posting more! Thanks for hanging in there and not getting too irate with my lack of posts recently :D