Goldfish Bento

Goldfish Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

I stir-fried spinach yakisoba with shiitake mushrooms, bean sprouts, garlic and green onion; no meat because I didn't have any. Topped with carrot goldfish. These goldfish cutters are handmade with built-in eye cutouts; very intricate and precise. I have found that carrots are the optimal substrate for this cutter: they are the desired color, and they are stiff enough to hold up well to display the lovely curved shape. If you cooked sweet potato only until firm, you might get a nice result (but I like sweet potato much softer).
I also quick-sauteed horenso (spinach) in garlic and shoyu and topped with sesame seeds. Satsumaimo / Okinawan sweet potato flowers (I could have used my double flower cutter for this one, but instead I used a simple cutter for the flower, and cut out the center circle using a bit of straw -- easy and convenient!), purple cauliflower and tricolor tomato skewer. Fruit side has strawberries, raspberry, blueberries and plum.
This is quite a bright and colorful one! I think it might be the ultra-violet purple background ;)

Salmon Misoyaki Bento

Salmon Misoyaki Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Wild salmon misoyaki with roasted asparagus, peapods, purple and yellow cauliflower, tricolor cherry tomatoes skewer, purple and yellow carrots skewer, and satsumaimo & sweet potato.

Fruits include strawberries, blackberries, Dapple Dandies plum, and red grapes (underneath).

The kids ate the salmon in sandwiches with crusty French bread for dinner, and used the sauce on all the veggies :) This bento box has a clear lid, and I should have taken a pic of it in MisterMan's lunchbag -- it looks so cool, like a little garden in his bag ^ - ^

"Shave Ice" Bento

Ginger fish over a bed of greens, with 2 yellow pear tomatoes and some roasted asparagus make up the main protein part of this bento for my 6 year old son. I made "shave ice" rice, using tricolor rice, shaping into a ball and placing into a cupcake cup. Do you think it looks like rainbow flavor? I used beet juice for pink, curry and turmeric for yellow, and nori furikake for green -- all natural colorings look best in bento, for a subtle (not garish) look. I also made caprese skewers, using very cool Japanese black cherry tomatoes, homegrown basil and fresh mozzarella. There are a few extra tomatoes next to the skewers sprinkled with feta as well. Fruit section has kiwi, blueberries, peaches, tangerines and Bing cherries.

I thought this bento would feel "cool" on a hot summer day, but too bad it can't be a real shave ice, right? :)

Mini Bento: Fresh from the Market

Sometimes a bento can be cute, and sometimes cute. Miniature = cute. Miniature edibles are super cute, and miniature bento are awesome! You will find that I like to make mini bento just for fun, from time to time. :)
For this one I used Okinawan purple potato as the table for the bagel chip and pretzel basket, holding some green onions and cilantro fresh from the farmers market. Also included in this bento are carrot spears, okra stars, a little brown rice onigiri with furikake and a cherry tomato, a lychee, cherries and blueberries.
Here is the real-life inspiration for this mini:
My recent farmers market haul that included purple and yellow carrots, purple peppers, various eggplants, golden beets, orange cherry tomatoes, and pluots. Whew! This produce was beautiful right out of the earth.