Inari Maki Bentos!

My daughter's bento: Rice hidden under peas, corn & sesame carrots. Inari zushi sleepy time friends with mozzarella heads, carrot hair & hands, origami paper faces, cheese slice blankets. Skewer of peas, corn & carrots, Japanese sesame cookie, babybel cheese, hash rounds, broccoli & black olives

My Bento: Japanese turtle shaped cookie who hid sesame carrots, babybel cheese, hash rounds, broccoli, 3 inari zushi with provided seasonings and corn centers. Rice hidden under sesame carrots, corn & peas/broccoli mixture.

My husband's bento: 3 Inari zushi with provided seasonings, pea and corn centers, Japanese wheat cookie, broccoli, hash rounds. Rice hidden under corn, sesame carrots and pea/broccoli mixture.

This is the first time that we've tried Inari Maki. It was yummy! At least, I thought so. My toddler had vastly different opinions and stopped at one bite. My husband felt that it was okay. (I'd thought he knew what it was, but he didn't. He mentioned that the pastry was a little squishy, poor guy.) It was a little bit sweet and the seasonings for the rice were a little bit sour. Overall I was pleased. They were easy to make and fun to eat, although these were tiny - much smaller than I had expected.

On a side note, I learned this evening the difference between inari zushi and inari maki. The zushi refers to filling the tofu pocket with sushi rice while the maki refers to regular rice or vegetable filling.

The japanese wheat cookies were yummy. The turtle and the folded one have a taste and texture that reminds me of fortune cookies, but with something extra added to give them a little kick. The sesame cookie is harder to describe. It was very good too, especially since I (and apparently A-chan) love anything with sesame seeds in it/on it.