Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Tomato-chan Bento


Tomato-chan Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.
Went out for dinner today, since it was my *birthday* -- so I made a quick batch of balsamic vinegar chicken to pack into the double bentos today. They're both pretty much the same. And are you surprised to see kabocha in another form as well? Since the pan was already coated with balsamic sauce, I decided to quick steam a few Brussels sprouts and kabocha, then fry them all up in the same pan. Super easy, right? And if you have kids that might balk at plain steamed veggies or you can't spare the time to whip up a special veggie side, it's the perfect way to add flavor with minimal labor. If you look at my bento style, you'll see that I often re-use sauces for the protein as well as the veggie. In this case, the sweet balsamic gives a touch of bite to the mild kabocha and my girl almost gobbled them all up before I could save some to pack up. I quartered the Brussels sprouts to speed up the cooking. Some decorative cucumber slices serve as baran, and I included colorful carrot skewers to add focal interest. They both got cinnamon-sprinkled apple slices, and MisterMan had extra room so I added cottage cheese with raspberries, sunflower seeds and wheat germ. The cute touch in both is a tomato character, which was inspired by Tomato-chan, from a clip a twitterpal Alissa passed along. Warning: if you link, you might find the song stuck in your head awhile. It's very cute! Ton-ton-tomato chan!

17 comments:

  1. Happy Birthday Sheri ^_^ wish you have a wonderful one.
    That tomato chan is super cute!!! and what a great idea to sprinkle cinnamon on the apple slice ^_^

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  2. Lina, you're always so quick to comment with something sweet. I really appreciate you. Thank you so much!
    The cinnamon is a great way to add flavor to apples as well as hide browning spots.^^

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  3. wheeee~ great! So cute tomato-chan! Happy Birthday to you! I hope you get lots of presents and have a wonderful day! ^___^b

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  4. Happy birthday (again) Sheri! Hope you have a great time with your friends and family. Wonderful double bento! Saw the clip yesterday on twitter when you and the others talked about Tomato-chan. The song and clip was so cute hehehe ... :)

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  5. Thanks a lot Token and Lia!
    Tomato-chan is so cute; have to do kabochan next :o)

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  6. happy birthday! cute tomato-chan :)

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  7. double bento in your birthday... oh gods, you are really my bento-deity ^_^.
    cute tomato-chan!

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  8. Happy birthday!! Tomato chan? Super cute! Everything looks so good here. Hope you had a wonderful night out with your family. And because you are a sweet friend, I clear my throat and sing for you the traditional Québecois way of singing happy birthday (which has nothing to do with a birthday by the way. Don't ask me why): ahem... mi mi mi mi!!
    Chère Sheri, c'est à ton tour.. de te laisser.. parler d'amour! Chère Sheri, c'est à ton tour.. de te laisser, parler d'amour!!!!! Bisoux! xo

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  9. Happy Birthday! This looks very delicious: D

    I also want to give you the Versatile Blogger Award for your really brilliant blog http://oishiibentoblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/mein-1-blogger-award.html

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  10. Happy Birthday!

    Cute Tomato-chan!

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  11. Happy Birthday Sheri! The cute tomato-chan really brightened up the already colourful bento! :D

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  12. Thanks Sysyl!
    Thanks karaimame! Birthday wishes from my best pals gave me supreme bento-power. It's the only way I could have done it :D
    Hi Chantale! I just knew you'd have a stellar voice! I really need more French singing in my life. Please? Thank you!!
    Thank you Mokiko! So sweet to pass on such a wonderful award!
    Thanks Debra!!
    Thanks KidsDreamWork!!

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  13. Very Happy (belated) birthday, hope it was as full of joy and beauty as your bento art, Sheri!

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  14. sometimes such a simple little touch (here, a leaf pick and a punched face) makes SUCH a big difference in a bento's kawaii factor! love these adorable tomato-chans, and the healthy and colorful assortment of foods you have included as usual.

    hope you had a wonderful birthday dinner! happy happy (belated) :-)

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  15. Thanks Jenn! It was wonderful. I appreciate your kind wishes :D
    Megan, you're right. I especially like to make use of the easy-cute methods as much as I can. Thanks very much for the sweet wishes!

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  16. Tomato-chan. Help! Can't get song out of my head.

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