Domokun Sandwich Bento

Domokun Sandwich Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

RAWR! It's Domo today! I recently realized I hadn't made a Domokun charaben in a long time. Here's another Domo sandwich I made. And another one. (Seems I only made him on field trips! How funny.) And why not? He's so cute. I made a tiny cream cheese sandwich using rye cocktail bread, which is square-shaped and comes in a long loaf. His eyes are bits of grapes, his mouth is a red plum, and his teeth are cut from mozzarella. This was a snack bento for TinySprite, so she got a few little cups of fruit: peach, nectarine and raspberries, along with cherries and grapes. I also squeezed a few peapods, carved carrots and tiny broccoli florets next to him. He looks like he wants a hug, doesn't he?
Added to What's For Lunch!

Shifu and Kung Fu Panda Field Trip Bento

Shifu and Kung Fu Panda Field Trip Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

It's another field trip bento for tomorrow: I packed MisterMan a char siu bao decorated as Shifu from Kung Fu Panda. To remove the brown top layer of the bao, I slipped my small paring knife underneath and it came apart easily. His eyes are made from cheese stick and nori. Did you notice his goatee? I also added an egg panda decorated with blueberry ears and nori facial features. On the side: corn on the cob, broccoli, peapods, oranges blackberries and strawberry. Everything is wrapped in wax paper and packed in a recycled self-sealing strawberry box for disposal after use. All finger foods make it an extra bonus; no utensils needed. Have fun!

Totoro and Girl's Day Empanadas Bento

Totoro Empanada Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

We were gifted with handmade empanadas today, so the kids get a treat for their bento. There are a variety of flavors, and they are a hit. As an enclosed baked pocket of goodies, an empanada (and other similar types of foods) makes an ideal candidate for bento. They are easy to eat, neat to pack, and require no utensils. Perfect for kids! I decorated MisterMan's as Totoro, with yellow carrot and watermelon radish details, and on the side I packed some strawberries, carrots, grapes, lightly steamed broccoli and yellow cauliflower.

TinySprite's empanada is decorated as a girl in honor of Girls' Day, which is celebrated on March 3rd. Her head is a quail egg with nori detail and a flower pick, and her kimono has yellow carrot and watermelon radish detail. I was able to squeeze in some strawberries, a carrot and some peapods as well. This bento is an enameled metal bowl (from Daiso) with a plastic sealing lid. It's lightweight and a perfect size for my 4 year old. Added this one to What's For Lunch!

Fish Tacos and Hello Kitty Bao Bento

Deconstructed Fish Tacos Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Fish tacos, without the tacos, is what I packed for MisterMan in the 4-square bento, and I think it's what I packed in this box the last time too. There's grilled cod with lemon pepper on a bed of lettuce wraps, cabbage tossed with chopped cara cara oranges for citrus zest and topped with cilantro and green onions, a veggie cup with broccoli, yellow cauliflower, carrot, kabocha and peapods, and a fruit cup with grapes, blueberries and strawberry. Looks kinda nice and fancy, even, when you lay it out like this, right?

TinySprite asked for char siu bao Hello Kitty. I said, "Again?" But when I went back to see how many I'd done already, I couldn't find a single one. Could that be right? Am I missing something? I remember going through a huge Hello Kitty phase over the summer, but for some reason I never used baked char siu bao. The closest I could find was the steamed one here. So here we go: the first ever HK char siu bao. I whipped her out in a couple minutes; still not out of practice yet! I got a bow cutter from my cousin that I used with watermelon radish, then poked blueberries for eyes, carrot for nose, and purple carrots for whiskers. And cut two triangular slits for ears. Done! I thought it would be cute to add a separate HK box for the fruit and veggies. Awwww... ^_^

Sushi Bunnies Bento

Sushi Bunnies Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Who can resist hot dog sushi? Especially when they're hot dog bunnies? For these little guys I simmered turkey dogs in a shoyu-sugar sauce, the way my dad used to do with Vienna sausages when I was a kid. They're really good to eat over rice just plain, or with a fried egg on the side for breakfast. Here I just rolled them up in regular white / brown rice and sliced. I added nori facial details and edamame ears. This is the bottom layer for my 7 year old; I added more on top after I took the picture. There's also a couple of grape tomatoes, carved carrots, steamed broccoli and chopped cara cara oranges. All packed in my LunchBots Uno. Nice and fresh :)

These hot dog sushi were also my contribution to our monthly Twitter Food Party. This month's theme was Hot Dogs. There were lots of fun and interesting takes on the basic dog in a bun; you can take a look at the other entries, as well as examples from previous parties at the flickr group here.

Santa Egg Snack Bento

Santa Egg Snack Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Another snack bento for TinySprite; this time a beet-dyed hard-boiled egg decorated with nori, radish and carrot to look like Santa Claus. Or Humpty Dumpty with a Santa hat and beard on. There's also bowtie pasta, steamed broccoli, grapes and satsuma mandarin. We're almost halfway through the last week of school for 2010, people! Woo!

Hello Kitty Ninja Bento

Hello Kitty Ninja Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

This Sunday, December 5, 2010, is Day of the Ninja, and Hello Kitty is celebrating in her ninja costume. Since she's a peaceful warrior, she doesn't have any weapons except a flower-adorned dagger and floral "throwing star". I used two hard-boiled quail eggs wrapped in nori to make her. She's surrounded by grapes, steamed broccoli and carved carrots. How will you celebrate? Happy Day of the Ninja!

Frankenstein Bento

Frankenstein Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Only one bento today, since TinySprite only goes to preschool 3 days a week. I used my two-tier red usagi box and put pan-fried chicken and red pepper sausage on a lettuce leaf in the bottom tier, plus a Frankenstein musubi made from broccoli rice and decorated with nori facial details plus sriracha cheeks. Upper tier has carrots (yellow carrot flowers in the bottom too), purple cauliflower, grapes, strawberry and golden cherry tomato. MisterMan told me his classmates thought it was The Hulk, but he set them right, telling them it was "FrankenstEEn". Uh huh, okay.
I added this bento to What's For Lunch; head over there to see more!

Hello Kitty Quail Egg Bento

Another Hello Kitty Quail Egg Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

I haven't posted a TinySprite bento for awhile so here's one from last week. It's a post-nap snack bento, with various fruit: pluot, kiwi and superripe saturn peach; a cup of edamame, carrot sticks and a little furikake mahimahi. I boiled a quail egg and tried to use a metal star cutter to form a star, but you can see it didn't really work. So instead I stuck some radish ears, rice stick whiskers, nori eyes and a yellow carrot nose (and the very useful red bow pick) and turned it into baby Hello Kitty. She was so excited about this bento; I was glad I had the presence of mind to take some pics of her eating it. The last time I did was almost 6 months ago. She looks so much older now, doesn't she? But still sitting in the baby booster seat, haha! She still prefers to eat with her hands, even though I always provide a utensil. So, things usually end up getting kind of.. messy. Ah, well. ^_^

Mouse Wraps Tiffin Bento

Mouse Wraps Tiffin Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

This bento is another example of no-cook bento. I just realized that I have posted several no-cook bento lunches in the past few weeks, possibly due to the hectic nature of back-to-school and the feeling of having no time as we transition back into the school routine. Sound familiar? It's a good idea to have a series of no-cook bento ideas to fall back on in times like this, just in case you find yourself too busy or tired or maybe you just forgot to go grocery shopping in time. Oh, that's just me? Oops. Anyway, we'd just got back from a Labor Day weekend out of town, and I wasn't in the mood to cook anything after unpacking and all in the 80F heat. So my boy got turkey dog rollups with cheddar, spinach, roasted red peppers, and baby dills in a whole wheat tortilla. I cut it into three pieces and held the wraps together with leaf picks. Then, as I was looking at the three cross-sections, I noticed they looked like little faces with pickle ears, so I decided to add some nori faces. I put the fruit assortment into a stainless steel cup (strawberries, grapes, rasp- and blueberries), then filled in the gaps with steamed broccoli and little baby tomatoes. I also stuck in two tri-color (pink, purple and orange) carrot skewers; I think they look so pretty just aligned together like that. No need to even cut shapes with them. I put everything in my round stainless steel tiffin, which always seems so cool during the hot days. This one comes with a top, shallow tier but I left it out and the lid fastens on perfectly well without it. Score! Totally love this box a lot!

Hello Kitty Egg Bento

Hello Kitty Egg Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Here's the next installment of kawaii quail egg bento: baby Hello Kitty! I just happened to have been given the perfect red bow by a super-sweet bento pal, and so what else could I do? It's obviously Hello Kitty's bow! The quail egg has cheese stick ears, rice stick whiskers, nori eyes and a mustard nose. The rest of TinySprite's snack consists of cherries, white nectarine slices, steamed broccoli, carrots, grapes and salami. These little bento snacks are a lot of fun to make! I think I can get used to this. ^_^

My Melody Bento

My Melody Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Well, it turns out that MisterMan's Summer Adventures program received a grant this year, thus enabling them to provide breakfast, lunch and snacks for the kids all the rest of the summer! In this age of budget cutbacks, it's kind of nice to see the kids get some benefit for a change. Of course, my boy is more than happy to enjoy eating with his pals at the pizza and fruit table. He even forgoes breakfast at home so he can have a bagel and banana over there. How funny. So where does that leave me? No bento in summer? *sob* Well, let's not forget about TinySprite! She's still home with me, and when she starts preschool I'll be providing lunch for her there too -- so no worries.

Today I made her a My Melody pork & veggie bao to go in her matching bento box. I've had this box awhile but don't usually use it since it's so deep. It's perfect for this bun though. To the steamed bao I added ears cut from nitrite-free ham, grape eyes, yellow pepper nose and nori mouth. I made a couple of carrot flowers for her ear as well. The other section is just right for grapes, strawberries and yellow tomatoes. The cover has two side latches and is decorated with My Melody's face; it also comes with a lid that holds a matching spoon. So cute. I haven't posted girly bento in awhile, have I? This might be a fun change for me too! ^_^

Up Bento

Up Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Can you see Carl Fredricksen and Russell? And their tomato balloons? I showed it to MisterMan and he said right away "Oooh, I know him -- he's the young Wilderness Explorer!" So I guess I did ok :) There's also some salmon, broccoli, lettuce baran, and carrot flowers. Underneath is also a layer of very cool rice: I made white + black quinoa and it came out pretty neat-looking. Fruit side includes cherries, white nectarine, homegrown apricot and blueberries.
Wonder what else I can do with quail eggs?
They've sure been a lot of fun to play with this summer!
Hmm...

Ponyo Bento!

Ponyo Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

We watched Ponyo yesterday, such a sweet and funny film by Studio Ghibli. It really spoke to me, as so much of it centers around the sea. Have you seen it? I especially loved the scenes where Ponyo is running on the giant fish to find Sosuke. She's so joyful you can't help but smile. Something else I noticed is that Ponyo kind of reminds me of TinySprite, in her very um.. high-energy way. Like when they're on the boat and Sosuke is trying to start it while Ponyo is bouncing and chatting non-stop (Is it hot? It's hot isn't it? Are you starting it? Is it starting? It's starting! Yay! Is it working? It's working!)

Today's bento is a tribute to Ponyo using one of my field trip favorites, the char siu bao. I cut her hair and fins from sweet pepper, and tucked some broccoli in the fishbowl as well. Her eyes are blueberries and her nose and mouth are nori stuck on with honey. I should have taken a picture of the (recycled) bowl with the clear lid on, since it kind of looked like a bubble or jellyfish. So cute. The other (recycled blueberry) box contains the fruit: strawberries, grapes, cherries and homegrown apricot. Yes, it's field trip day! They're going to the Lawrence Hall of Science. Have fun, MisterMan!

Napping Kitty Bento

Napping Kitty Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Quick-baked chicken bites get packed in a lettuce leaf wrap next to some steamed broccoli, tiny heirloom cherry tomatoes and a sleeping quail egg kitty. I tried to make a gray kitty using blueberry juice for fun. I should have let it sit longer in the dye but I ran out of patience. I added nori facial details, radish ears, rice stick whiskers and tail, and a teeny spot of sriracha for cheeks. This is a single quail egg cut in half. I was happy to find a curly tail; isn't it cute? Fruit tier has white nectarine, blueberries, homegrown apricot and lychee. You may be asking, is this box new? Nope; I've had this urara box for a long time just sitting in my cabinet. I also have the onigiri snack set too (and the matching fork, come to think of it). I really don't know why I never used it, but I'm using it today because I just got a new insulated tote bag for my boy, and it's tall and narrow. The stainless and 3-sectioned bento boxes I usually use won't fit in it, so I find I'm having to dig these two tier boxes out and give them a try. What do you think?

Rilakkuma and Kiiroitori Field Trip Bento

Rilakkuma and Kiiroitori Field Trip Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Can you guess what day it is? That's right: field trip! They're going to visit a working farm with tractors and everything. I packed another recycled strawberry tub for him, with the standard field trip fare -- sandwich, veggies and fruits.

But this burger is even more awesome than yesterday's. I used the same burger mix and stuffed today's burger with cheese and salami, then pan-fried. The cheese oozed out the side and got all crispy and golden around the edge of the burger, and the parts of the salami that stuck out got crispy-fried too. Yum. And remember, he still gets the carrot and broccoli bits in the turkey burger too. Super score. I lay some dandelion greens in the whole wheat bun and placed the patty on top. I found these little buns and thought they would make a cute Rilakkuma. I used Susan's idea for raisin eyes and nose (but I later pb'd them on), and added a radish muzzle and nori mouth. His ears are salami rounds. And Kiiroitori is there too, to make sure he doesn't fall asleep. I dyed a hard-boiled quail egg with golden beet juice, and it turned a super dark shade of yellow. I love it, especially since it's totally natural! Facial details and feet are nori and carrot. I used grass baran to keep the fruit and veggies separate from the bread. Along with carrot sticks and romanesco, I tossed in a bunch of strawberry cherries, a half plum and a homegrown apricot.

Have fun MisterMan!

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!

Pandapple Fish Bento

Pandapple Fish Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Today's bento has Chinese style steamed snapper: just salt & pepper the fillet, steam in a little shoyu and mirin to taste until done, 10-15 minutes depending on size of the fish, and top with shredded ginger and green onion and a drizzle of sesame oil. I also steamed the brussels sprouts and cauliflower in the same pan to save time. By the way, the vegetables taste really good in the shoyu mirin sauce too! If you're concerned about the fish taste/smell getting into the rest of the food, you could use a box with a separate tier for the fish. Or, you might be able to simply put another lettuce leaf over to keep it more contained. My boy has never complained, so I just pack it as you see here.
I added a few tiny yellow carrot flowers (as usual) for visual interest on the brussels sprouts, and cut a radish into a Pandapple face with nori details. There's also purple cauliflower, raw carrots, a half supersweet apricot, some local cherries and my very own homegrown strawberry. For some reason a whole bunch of them are ripening at a very tiny size; maybe tomorrow I'll cut a whole sprig of them together. They are SO mini and cute. And dark dark red! I ate a few today and they're pretty good!

Raccoon Char Siu Bao Bento

Raccoon Char Siu Bao Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Kireizukin Seikatsu is a San-X character described by Sofia of From Japan With Love as: a raccoon who likes to relax and loves to take a nap. But since Mogura Sensei (mole teacher) covers racoon's head by a red riding hood, racoon becomes "kireizukin" to love cleaning like a tidy housewife. "Kireizukin" can't stop cleaning everywhere. It is like becoming a superman.

He's so cute, and I always thought his head looks so much like a bao. Don't you? Anyway, even though mine looks exactly like a bear, maybe you can use your imagination to envision he's a raccoon. I made the mole from a quail egg, and dyed with purple potato to look blue, and with nori details. Even though he's sitting there on his head, I left the red hood off so he can rest for lunch.

Besides the bao, whose face I cut with a paring knife and kept the cutoff part for the ears (since everyone knows the best part of the baked char siu bao is the sticky brown part) and decorated with purple potato for facial features, the upper tier of the tiffin contains baby carrots, strawberries, grapes, steamed broccoli and garlic enoki.

Happy Friday, bento friends!

Fish Tacos, Deconstructed Bento

Fish Tacos, Deconstructed Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Today's bento has snapper fried in pepper and lime juice, next to cabbage slaw tossed with red onion, oranges, cilantro, and cumin. At home we made fish tacos with tortillas and I added sour cream and hot sauce, but omitted that from the bento. We have a lot of fruit in the house right now, so I put some oranges, strawberries, red grapes and kiwi in there. I added some purple carrot discs for color and a purple / regular potato "mushroom" in the center for fun. That's it! Quick and easy.