Bear Friends Bento and Apple Bunnies

Bear Friends Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

We're back to school again after a week off for Spring Break. Did you miss us? I admit it's a bit slow getting back into the routine; I have to stock up the refrigerator and start menu planning again. So today's bento is a no-cook one consisting of ready-bought mini char siu baos. I cut the ears using a round cutter for a guide and scoring with a paring knife, then propped them up with a bit of rice stick. The facial details are cut from nori and I also used an oval piece of mozzarella cheese stick. The cheese is stuck on with rice stick too. The nori sticks well to cheese, but the eyes I glued on with honey. There's also steamed broccoli, orange and purple carrots, a half mandarin, black grapes and a strawberry. Here are some closeups of the bear friends:

Today was our monthly Twitterfoodparty, and this month's theme was apples. There were lots of delicious and creative recipes using this year-round fruit! I knew I wouldn't have time to cook anything in time, so I resorted to that bento staple, the apple bunny. Here I've carved a family of three, happily munching a broccoli-topped carrot together. Aren't they sweet? You can get the ears to curl if you let them sit in ice lemon water for awhile. The lemon will keep the apples from browning. Just a few cuts (and maybe a bit of practice to avoid shortened ears) and you've got a quick cute addition to your ordinary bento. Yay!