Play With Your Food

My 4-year-3-month old has learnt how to play Tic Tac Toe from my husband since a couple of months ago. She plays it while we wait for our orders, or whenever we want her to stay at one place instead of running and jumping around especially in crowded places. She loves this bento and we played a few (like 8-10) rounds before she started eating her food. Final score: Daddy - 8, Aleesya - 146. However the winner is Mommy for making a bento which daughter loves :D

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P/s: Apologies for posting too many pictures; this bento is a special one ;)

A Croaker On Crack

It is just one of those days. When everything doesn't seem right. All you do turned out all wrong. 

I saw a tadpole-themed bento, and it was in my bento-theme-to-try list. (We caught some tadpoles back in spring; my daughter held some in her hands.) And since she has recently grown a liking to black olives (to make into the tadpoles), I thought it was the perfect time. I even went ahead and bought green olives to make into a frog. Sound perfect, right?

Well, some how the frog ended up looking like it was on crack (maybe when making the bento I was!), and the tadpoles looked a bit ghostly. What's more, my daughter made it clear that it was not a pretty bento this time >.<

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Look at him!! LOL!!

Got to be one of the weirdest (or ugliest) bento I have ever made.

Well, it is October after all ;D

Croaker is made of:
- Green olive
- Cucumber for the feet
- White kamaboko coloured with red food-safe marker and a bit of nori for the crazy eyes
- Pink kamaboko for the tongue

Tadpoles are made of:
- Black olive
- Nori tails
- Sesame seed eyes

Water lilies are made of:
- Cucumber
- Pink kamaboko and cheese for the lilies

Pretty Peppers

Last night Tokyo was hit by a typhoon; the laundry (which I had forgotten to bring in) was ruined, the noise of the strong wind and heavy rain kept me awake for a while, and this morning I had to clean our porch from all the messiness the typhoon had caused.

However, today turned out to be such a bright sunny day. Thus it calls for a rainbow-themed bento!

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The rainbow is made of:

- Purple: Japanese pickled vegetable

- Blue: Crab stick with a little bit of blue natural food-dye

- Green: Long beans

- Yellow: Pepper

- Orange: Pepper

- Red: Pepper

The sun is yellow cherry tomato, the clouds is kamaboko, and the birds are tiny bits of raisin. 

I am not a fan of green pepper, and this is the first time I really had the red, yellow and orange peppers. I was pleasantly surprised of their yummy taste, and my daughter finished hers too!

B is for Bento

This is such a popular theme to make into a bento, and I have seen so many. Recently, I saw one done by Mommy Kiki Can! who did one with a blackboard :D It was so cute, I wished I had come with the idea myself  >.< Needless to say, I copied it... LOL! I also need to credit Bento School Lunches as I got the idea for the writing pad from her bento. Thank you ladies for the inspirations!!!

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I came up with the idea of a stack of books MYSELF!! *pat on the back*

Alphabet baran as 'classroom posters' 

The writing pad is made of:
- White rice
- Strands of vermicelli dipped in blue food-dye
- Crab stick
- Alphabet pasta dipped in black food-dye

The pencil is made of:
- A sausage cut at one end to look like a pencil and covered with a tiny piece of nori
- Egg sheet
- Pink kamaboko as the eraser

The blackboard is made of:
- A cookie
- Nori
- Cheese letters

The book is made of:
- White kamaboko
- Egg sheet

Chef Aleesya

My daughter did some baking yesterday, so I thought it was only appropriate to make her a bento which portrays her as a chef. She loved it <3 Score!

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The chef is made of:

- White rice mixed with some sweet soya sauce for the face, nori for the hair and facial details, pink kamaboko for the cheeks.

- White rice for the uniform, white kamaboko for the buttons and hat.

- Crab stick for the scarf.

The pan is made of:

- Cheese layered with nori.

- Cheese as eggs.

- Sausage cut into tiny strips as sausages.

The flower is made of:

- Sausage dipped in turmeric powder diluted with water, and pink kamaboko.

The cake is made of:

- Tamago and sausage.

The orange is made of:

- Carrots (I found them round just like that) and edamame pinned together with pasta.

The kiwi is made of:

- Sausage, a slice of mini cucumber and sesame seeds.

Lunch At Mc D's

I found the idea of a mini hamburger made from sausage from a bento magazine by Maki Ogawa and decided I had to make it because I know it would amused my daughter. While doing more research for this bento, I stumbled upon a post by Bento, Monsters (I think I have copied her ideas a few times before. Stalker much, LOL!) who actually had done it! So credits have to go to these two bento artists :D 

The mini hamburger is made of:
- Sausage
- Cheese
- Salami
- Salad

The fries is made of:
- Sausage cut into mini strips and coloured with a bit of diluted yellow food-dye
- The package is made from waxed cupcake liner (see picture below)

The milk shake is made of:
- Sausage cut into a small piece and wrapped with the same cupcake liner
- A straw cut short

Check out Maki Ogawa and Bento, Monsters' websites; I drool at every single of their creations >.<

3D-Carrot Flower Tutorial

I learned how to do this from one of the Japanese bento magazines I have, but I cannot recall which one. Thus the steps below are all from memory >.<

You need a flower cutter, a sharp knife, and a carrot medal (about 1/3 inch thick). Using raw carrot will give you a nicely defined flower, however I have found that carrots which are too hard or too soft make cutting more difficult. Slightly soft carrots are the best.

STEP 1: Use the cutter to make a flower.

STEP 2: Cut lines from the centre of the flower to all five inner groves of the petals. The dots pictured below show where the five cuts are supposed to be.

Cut about half way down. (Do not cut all the way through.)

This is how the carrot looks like from the top after making the five cuts.

STEP 3: Place the knife so that it is in the middle of one petal and align it about 45 degrees slanting to the right. Start cutting towards the left inner grove of the petal. This may be a bit difficult. 

This is how it looks like from the top after step 3.

This is how it looks like from the side after step 3. Notice the bit to be taken away shapes like a triangle.

STEP 4: Do step 3 to the other four petals. Take away the unwanted bits.

If I have explained the steps clearly, you will then get your 3D-carrot flower!