Mama Bird Loves Her Baby Chicks Valentines Day Bento!

I didn't think I would be able to get around to a Valentines Day bento this year, but I just made it! I know I should have put more hearts in it, but you get the picture. I think I made a similar bento last year too, to show my babies how much I love them. That's me, with my MisterMan and TinySprite! That's what bentomaking is all about! 

I used a hen's egg for the mama bird, and two quail eggs for the babies. To get the eggshell effect, use a small paring knife to make zigzag cuts all the way around the hard-boiled egg (not too deep, or you'll scratch the yolk). Then, gently pull the top white part off. These eggs are sitting on a nest of soba noodles, with two grape tomato hearts. The upper tier holds a colorful variety of other stuff: Okinawan sweet potato, kiwi, blueberries, blood orange, carrots and a strawberry. I put a container of tsuyu sauce (not shown) too. Hope you guys all have a fantastic Valentines Day with your loved ones! Muah! 

Tiger Bento

Tiger Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

MisterMan gets a tigerrrr, since this pumpkin sage ravioli (from Costco) is ready-made with stripes and everything. Facial details are cut from red lettuce using tiny scissors. He also gets roasted asparagus, sweet potato and new potato sun and clouds, & steamed broccoli and peapods to add to the jungle effect. Fruit side includes green plum, rasp- and blackberries.
Rawr!

Bunny Pancakes Bento

Bunny Pancakes Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

MisterMan gets bunny-shaped zucchini-squash 10 grain pancakes, vinegar chicken, little rice "cupcake" with furikake and red pepper "cherry", colorful cauliflower and romanesco, peapods, cucumbers. Fruits include grapes (underneath), strawberries and tiny sugar plum.

For the veggie pancakes, I used Bob's Red Mill 10-grain mix, and added wheat germ as well as quick-cook oats. I shredded one zucchini and one yellow squash, and added this to the mix along with an egg, 1T oil, and some milk. I use only enough milk to moisten the batter; this makes the pancakes fluffier and cuter... Also, easier to form into shapes :) I tried making bears too, but the bunnies looked better to me.
It's a veggie pancake, and I didn't serve it with syrup (or anything), but the kids still loved them, ha! For packing, I had to rearrange the ingredients slightly. But I think it still packed okay. ^_^

Werewolf Toddler Snack Bento

Werewolf Toddler Snack Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

I have lots of Halloween-themed bento this year ~ too many to blog. They were a lot of fun, though, and if you want to see them all in one place, you can glance at the dedicated set I made in flickr. I'm posting this one here just to let you know this one made Front Page on Flickr Explore, which was a first for me and was very exciting! This means the photo was cycled on the front page for some time (about 5 hours) on October 24th. Here's what the screen shot looked like.

I made the chicken and sun-dried tomato ravioli "werewolf" for TinySprite with mozzarella and nori facial details, and cut curved pieces for the paws. My mom thinks the paws are the best part of the bento. There are also peapods, strawberries and blackberries. Her Jack O'Lantern is cut from a mini orange sweet pepper. It's my favorite cutting material and I love that the vegetable is naturally hollow too! Here's how I cut my little pepper jack-o-lantern (a recent post), if you are interested :)

It's only 2 more days until Halloween! Tomorrow my boy has the day off, so he will spend it hanging out with his sister and me. Who knows what will be in store?