JapanFest was the best thing since onigiri molds! We had a blast watching the sumo wrestling, taiko drumming and Bunraku puppetry, not to mention seeing all the smiling faces throughout the weekend. Thanks so much to all the people who came to the lectures and stopped by the booth. It's always a difficult transition back to normality after an exciting event, but we're trying our best. Silly frog onigiri were a great way to usher in the week.
In the bento: Frog onigiri, potato salad in a container, strawberries, lemon slices, steamed broccoli, a vegetarian tsukune patty, carrot and turnip flowers and a couple of nori dragonflies on cheese circles.
To get green rice I added a couple drops of food coloring to the water before cooking the rice. The onigiri shapes were made with an onigiri mold. Provolone cheese and nori were used for the facial detail. The frog's tongue was sweet potato peel. It was pretty simple to cut the dragonflies out of nori using a stencil punch from a local craft store.
I love using black sesame seeds for detail on flowers and things like the dragonflies' flight paths. Sesame seeds are extremely versatile, not to mention yummy!
