July 4th, 2010 Bento!

July 4th, 2010 Bento!, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

This 4th of July bento was meant to be a star-themed snack for TinySprite. In the upper left section she gets cottage cheese with a red plum and kiwi star encircled by blueberries; the lower left has two small corn cobs, halved grapes and more kiwi stars; upper right has taro bread nutella star-shaped mini sandwiches with a strawberry and celebratory star picks; and the lower right has a fruit bar with carrot cutouts wishing her and you a Happy 4th of July!

Snowfuman Bento!

Snowfuman Bento!, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Get it? Tofu-Snowman? Snow-tofuman? Hm. Okay, nevermind.
One more snowman bento -- I forgot to add him into the last post, but it's okay.. I think he may be my favorite. Doesn't he look happy? Maybe because he's making his final appearance in a long week full of snowman bento? Or because I finally managed one that looks kind of cute rather than "interesting"? Trouble is, since I have been in snowman mode so long I may have a hard time remembering other Christmas theme possibilities for this week's bento... Well. Anyway.

For this one I made ma po tofu using ground chicken, fermented mustard greens, green onions, black bean sauce and a little guilin chili garlic sauce ('cuz I love it, but the kids can't handle too much). Also, I roasted some asparagus in olive oil and garlic powder. I made the tofu snowman face with nori and carrot facial detail and purple potato hat with yellow carrot buckle on a bed of white/brown/black (Forbidden) rice mix. Raw carrot stars. Fruit section has kiwi flowers with blueberry centers, satsuma mandarins, strawberry and raspberries.

Is it cold where you are too? Snowman is happy about it, but I'm not! I am counting the days until we are on vacation.. to a sunny and warm spot on the globe where we can thaw out ^_^

Snowman Bento 'R Us!

Snowman Egg Toddler Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

I have finished up a week of Snowmen bento, as a kind of fun challenge for myself! I did a similar thing during Halloween, with jack o'lanterns. I think the results here were mixed, with some snowmen turning out cute and others, more - well - interesting. I'll post the series here, and you can decide for yourself! Which one do you like the best?

In this first one, I made TinySprite a snack bento featuring a snowman egg wearing a purple carrot scarf, and with nori facial details and a mini carrot stick nose!
Along with him, she gets a fruit selection of satsuma mandarin, strawberries, blackberries and raspberries. Also, some edamame skewers.

This guy is made of roasted baby potatoes, and goes with lemon garlic salmon and brussels sprouts, along with purple potato "chips" and starred fruits :)

This happy snowman is made of spinach ravioli with purple potato and purple carrot detail. There are those purple potato chips again!

Okay, the cauliflower snowman isn't quite as cute, but perhaps I can get some props for being adventurous? The fried egg sandwich and 4-bean salad was a hit, though!

The minestrone seemed to call out for a little riceball snowman.

I tried for a nashi (Japan pear) snowman this time, surrounded by fruit! He went with chicken and pickle wraps.

Are all these snowmen starting to make you feel like singing? Go ahead! I know you are, hapa bento ;)Happy winter!

("Frosty the snowman...")