Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Double Jacks Shrimp Bento


Double Jacks Shrimp Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.
It was a double bento day, and I wanted to make a black jack-o-lantern to contrast with last time's ghost pumpkin. Is it creepy-looking? It sits alongside some garlicky shrimp in a bed of lettuce. It's almost the end of summer fruit, and I had to pick up some apples because I have a feeling the stone fruit are going to be rather unsweet these days. Sigh. To brighten up the lowly apple, I decided to carve another jack-o-lantern. I'm not good at the apple carving, and rarely do checkered apples because I always end up cutting outside the lines and digging out too much flesh. I took kind of a long time to carve this apple, and probably won't be doing this again unless I have lots of time to spare. Also in this section are grapes, carrots, purple cauliflower, a couple nectarine slices, and those teeny yellow pear tomatoes were actually picked from my homegrown vine. There are still a couple more hangers-on, clinging to the final days of "summer".
TinySprite got more of the shrimp, and I also tried out my new quail egg mold. Can you see the faces? I dyed them in beet juice to enhance the definition, but not quite long enough. The quail egg molds are so cute. They came in a set of two: one makes these cute expressions and the other makes animal shape imprints. I never realized how much quail eggs vary in size, but each of the three I molded was a different size. The biggest one actually didn't fit at all; it split and oozed out the edge. However, that didn't really make a difference on the face side. I just cut off the excess and it looked fine. I also gave her some grapes, nectarine slices, carrots, purple cauliflower and a carved crabapple. This apple was really hard to carve and you can probably see that it didn't come out that nicely. But she didn't mind! She loved it. Last week you might remember that she didn't show much interest in eating at lunchtime, and I have been slowly increasing the size of her bento to see if she might start to eat more. Well, today was the first day I walked in and she was already in the play area. I asked her why she wasn't eating and she said she finished already. Wow! The teacher verified it. And get this: she ate everything; even the lettuce! I guess her appetite is increasing, what with all the INTENSE playing she's been doing at school. Twitter pals will know what I mean. ^_^

14 comments:

  1. you have done a neat carving on that Jack O apple. Does your yellow pear tomatoes taste the same as the cherry tomatoes? interesting.

    I got the same quail egg moulds you have here.. I failed on my first attempt, like what you said my quail egg was too big and it was squashed.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Bobo!
    Yes, the yellow pear shaped tomatoes taste the same to me. Guess we have to choose the smallest ones to mold, eh? Like to see yours too :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. OOh I love those little yellow pear shaped tomatoes ... too cute!!! I should try to plant it next summer.
    You are very creative and seems to always have so many ideas. Amazing!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Double Jacks double cuteness! Double pink quail eggs super cute too! Yeah ... TS is a good girl. All the worries gone now for you Sheri. Soon she will ask for the same portion with the one MM has hehehe :D Your yellow pear tomatoes are awesome! Couldn't believe how tiny they are :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Your bento make me want to dig my quail egg mold out again and use them! I love all your Jack O' lantern and this tiny apple is so so cute!

    ReplyDelete
  6. :D INTENSE playing! TS is a little hurricane like I would say. Glad her appetite is back!
    Lovely quail eggs ( do your kids call your mom batyan? ) .. and as usual, I adored your jack o´s ! Omg.. soon halloween is gone and then we need to wait next year to see more..
    Yellow pear tomatoes are so cute! *jealous* about your vine ^_^

    ReplyDelete
  7. Whoa, that apple jack olantern is amazing. I don't know how you do it! You have the patience of a Saint I think! I love that purple cauliflower, it really looks tasty. I'm also jealous of TS eating all that delicious whole goodness food! Ah, I want her good eating habits to rub off on K. Great double bentos!

    ReplyDelete
  8. It all looks fantastic, and great job an the Pple jack. Glad to hear that Tiny Sprite is getting her appetite back. It's gotta be the yummy bentos. :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Awesome double Jacks, all the way! :D I am super impressed with your carving skills! I'm glad Tiny Sprite is getting enough to eat for her intense playing :D

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wonderful bentos and I love the jacks! I am so sad that we don't have those cute bento perfect apples here any more. :(

    ReplyDelete
  11. Love the yummy garlic shrimp and summer-into-falll blaze of color, cute jacks, too! A delightful pair!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Lina,
    The little tomatoes are super easy to grow. All you have to do is put in sun and water when dry. Do try next year! Thanks a lot, you are always so encouraging :D
    Lia, I'm surprised! But I'll pack a big one for tomorrow and see what happens. She usually can't sit still for a big meal at home, but I would love her to eat more. Thanks!
    Xelia, thanks! You should use the quail egg molds. It's the first time I saw it, and they're so cute :)
    Thank you karaimame :) My kids call my mom Grandma, heh, so Americanized. Next summer I really want to try more veggies for sure.
    Thanks Chantale, but the apple jack is super messy. I just angled the jaggy parts away from you. Haha!
    Thanks Sonoma Bento! I hope so :)
    Thanks Jenn!
    Thanks Susan! I know; they're SO cute!
    Thanks bentobird! Waiting still for our blaze of color, but I think we'll go from green to brown over here :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. I wish you made my lunches! That looks so good, and I love the theme!

    ReplyDelete