Hot Dog Mouse Bento and Yum-Yum Bento Box Book Review

Hot Dog Bun-to Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Can you tell by now this is field trip day? I have lots more recycled containers for the rest of the summer too. I was going to make him a pizza bento, but while I was at the deli I saw this hot dog bun. If I tilted it on end you would see the hot dog baked inside the fluffy bun. Remember in elementary school we had something similar called Pig in the Blanket? On the side, separated by wax paper, I added the veggies: steamed broccoli, yellow cauliflower and romanesco, and raw carrot flowers. In the little (recycled fruit sauce) cup I tossed in the fruits: strawberry cherries (which I think are just Rainier cherry variety), homegrown apricot, grapes and a little lychee. I left his "hat" on for fun. Usually I like to put a leaf pick in the lychee, but I'm not using any accessories that I want to keep, since they probably wouldn't make it back home on the bus.

When I was looking at the plain bun, it seemed a little boring, but nothing was coming to me. So I decided it would be a good opportunity to open up my Yum-Yum Bento Box cookbook and find some inspiration. That's where I saw this cute little mousie! He is made of boiled quail egg, with radish ears, nori facial details and rice stick whiskers and tail. The tail has a double use as an anchoring tool; I poked it all the way down into the bun to keep him stabilized. He still looked a bit lonely, so I added a piece of egg disguised as swiss cheese. I made the holes using a coffee straw.

If you think this idea is cute, wait till you see the rest of the book.

Yum-Yum Bento Box, by Pikko of Adventures in Bentomaking and Maki of cuteobento is filled with full-color full-page photos of cute bento creations, each accompanied by another full page of description, instruction, recipe and helpful tips. I found it very useful for getting ideas for cute charaben. Even if you don't make the entire example, there are tips for using just one of the characters, like I did here. In the book, the mouse is sitting on top of a cute pancake sandwich. I personally love pancake sandwiches so I am definitely going to make this too.

In the back there are a few pages of recipes for snacks and my personal favorite, tips for using natural coloring agents.

My absolute favorite character in this book is the walruses. It is just so adorably creative to use a tiny rice ball for their muzzle, and the mushroom nose is perfect!

At $16.95 in softcover, it's a reasonable and practical addition to any bentomaker's library. Even if you're not skilled at charaben, like me, you will find these characters easily doable and a fun addition to your everyday bento!