Mabo Tofu Snowman Bento

Mabo Tofu Snowman Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Today's mabo tofu elicited this comment from MisterMan: It's not REALLY mabo tofu because it's not spicy. Wellll, technically I suppose that's true. But the adult batch is certainly spicy! I always split the batch into two so that the kids can eat the bland half while the adults can enjoy the red spicy chiliness of authentic mabo tofu. We love it hot hot hot! Woot! I also made their version kind of dry so that it's more bento-friendly. I layered it over rice in a lettuce leaf before adding a tofu snowman on top. I used oval cutters to make the body, cut the hat free-hand from Okinawan sweet potato (and yellow carrot), cut purple carrot buttons, orange carrot nose, and nori eyes and mouth. The hands are those handy bone picks again. Told you these were versatile. Other side contains grapes, raspberries, strawberry, carrots, broccoli and baby crabapple.

Oh, and in other news, I was just notified by Stuart Reb Donald (Wannabe TV Chef) himself that I was awarded the 2011 WTVC Food Blog Best Niche Site Award. Wow, thanks Stuart! Will wear the badge proudly! Check out his site for interviews and commentary on all kinds of food-related TV and celebrity news and shows. Happy December friends! ^_^

School's Out!

No bento today; just a quick post to let you know about a fun interview I did with Stuart Donald on his Wannabe TV Chef website. You can take a look at it here: 7 Questions with Sheri Chen. To see some other places Happy Little Bento has been featured, you can scan the list over there in the right margin, just below our "Hello" picture (Find Me on the Web and In the News!).

Thanks to all of you for following along on our bentomaking journey this past school year. I had a lot of fun and enjoyed "meeting" some of you for the first time. We had many exciting and interesting experiences this year, and look forward to more challenges coming up in the next year. There's always something new to learn, whether you're still in school or not. ^_^ Today was the last day of school for MisterMan. He's a 3rd-grader now! After a short break, we'll be back to making bento again since he'll be enrolled in summer programs. Also, TinySprite will be attending preschool year-round, as usual. But for now, school's out for summer! Woohoo!