Happy Boys' Day Bento!

Happy Boys' Day!

This day is also known as Children's Day, Kodomo No Hi. In Hawaii when I was growing up we celebrated Girls' Day on March 3, and Boys' Day on May 5th. I made TinySprite a Pucca bento on Girls' Day and today I made a little boy with origami kabuto (samurai helmet) and koinobori (carp streamers) to signify strength. Do you know how to fold origami kabuto? It's a fun activity to do with your kids! May all the boy(s) in your life grow up to enjoy a good, happy and healthy childhood!

In our Ecolunchbox Solo Cube: roast pork, polenta, rotini pasta, carrots, tomatoes, Okinawan sweet potato, hard boiled egg, radish, strawberries.

Pork Roast and Jack Bento

Pork Roast and Jack Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Continuing on with the jack o'lantern theme... Today's jack is cut simply from a regular orange carrot cross-section. I hand-cut the facial details with my tiny paring knife. Placing it on a black rice ball makes for a nice contrast. I made roast pork over the weekend and since it was so big it may make several appearances in bento in the near future. I used my mom's recipe; called Ono Pork Roast, which says it all.

Mom's Ono Pork Roast
Rub a 3-4 lb pork shoulder with the following mixture: 1-2 minced garlic cloves, salt & pepper, and 2tsp Worchestershire sauce. If using stovetop, brown on all sides in a large pot. I just put mine in my crock-pot. Add 1 cup water and 1/4 cup shoyu, and cook on high for 3-4 hours, turning occasionally.

Delicious over hot rice. This is one dish that the kids will be tricked, er, tempted to eat lots of veggies to sop up the sauce. Really! Broccoli goes well on the side. For this bento, I lay the rice and meat inside a green lettuce leaf and stuck some peapods around it. In the other cups I added broccoli, yellow carrots and yellow tomatoes, some black grapes and some red plum.