Taro Bread Rollups Bento

Taro Bread Rollups Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Here's a bento I make quite often for TinySprite, in several variations. She likes finger foods, and rollups are a favorite of hers. Sometimes I use tortillas, sometimes sushi, and sometimes -- as here -- I use flattened bread. I've posted a tutorial of how I make the bread rollups here. The purple color of this taro bread is so pretty that I decided to use it today. It's also a nice bread to use because it's soft and fluffy. Whole grain breads are often on the dry side (it can still be used though, like I did here). After rolling the bread flat with a rolling pin, I smeared cream cheese and lay some smoked salmon on top before rolling and pressing to seal. If I had arugula I would have rolled some in there as well. I also added a golden beet-dyed hen egg decorated with a face made of carrot and nori. (Been on a kind of yellow egg roll these days. Of sorts.) There's some satsumaimo (underneath) and regular sweet potato flowers as well as steamed broccoli tucked in there. Finally, I gave her some sliced yellow peaches as a sweet treat. Cheep cheep! ^_^

Honeybees Bento

Honeybees Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

A couple more days of school, and a couple more bentos to make. Here's one from last week, which I forgot to post in the craziness. It contains shoyu chicken and furikake rice, which used to be my ultimate favorite meal when I was a kid. I always requested it if my mom asked what I wanted, and I always chose the drumsticks. I don't usually pack rice for my boy since it's not his favorite, but it would be nice to start adding it. He didn't object to it here, and of course it was completely consumed, so maybe he'll come around to loving it as much as I do. Rice in bento also provides a nice backdrop for decorative details.

In this one I dyed two quail eggs in golden beet juice before adding strips of nori and cute tiny faces. The heart picks make perfect little wings. The other section contains regular and Okinawan sweet potatoes, a cup of edamame, some sliced (super sweet) white peaches and a strawberry. I personally love this bento. Gonna make one just like it for myself one of these days ^_^
Posted at What's For Lunch!

Red Spring Bento

Red Spring Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

This bento ended up with lots of red in it, which wasn't planned, but which nicely represents the feeling of spring awakening with lots of color!

Along with more chicken and furikake rice, I added a piece of steamed broccoli and a giant cherry tomato. The salad is composed of watercress tossed with diced Cara Cara oranges (with their nice dark orangey-red hue) and crushed walnuts. The third section has cottage cheese studded with ripe strawberry slices and sprinkled with pumpkin seeds and wheat germ.

And because I am currently obsessed with beet-painting satsumaimo sakura blossoms, there are a bunch of those too! Instead of fingerpainting them, you can also simply steam a slice of satsumaimo with a slice of beet on top (you can layer them alternately too) and the beet color will stain the imo it's touching. The color comes out uneven, lending a kind of "tie-dye" effect which is really cool! It might have been prettier to make a lighter pink color, but I guess I got kinda carried away. Well, plenty of chances to try again! ^_^