New Year's bento box

First of all, let me start out by wishing you all a happy new year! *is aware she is just talking to herself at the moment* I've got to work on advertising this blog soon... It's been one hell of a year, wouldn't you agree? Yes. Yes I would agree to that.

Today I added a lot of little treats to this bento box, despite the fact that it isn't the normal box I'm used to. It's slightly smaller, but I can work around that! I haven't really explained to you what the little fish things with caps are yet, so maybe I should do that quickly.

Another very important part to bentos - and almost any kind of small meal where large sauce bottles aren't readily available - are sauce dispensers. Usually all that is contained in these fish are soy sauce, but I also use them for hot and dumpling sauces. You can find these in all shapes these days. They're reusable and cheap! again, jlist is a good place to find this product.

Star fruit (or Carambola) is delicious, colorful, and small enough to fit in a bento box. Although they aren't exactly cheap, I recommend them if you're looking for a way to add a simple twist to a bento box. Just make sure to dry off excess juice after slicing the fruit so the rest of the bento doesn't get soggy!

Konpeitou is a Japanese candy used for special occasions. I've read about it being handed out during weddings and other ceremonies, so I thought it was practical to add some to this bento. Konpeitou consist of crystallized sugar and a roasted grain of rice in the center. You can find them in many different colors. My Japanese teacher picked these ones up for me last time she went to Japan!

I decided to try something different today by making a flower out of some ham. It was very tricky when I needed to add something to support its structure. I'd love to make a tutorial for that later on.

As for now, I've got to get myself prepared for a video game convention. I'll be gone for a little over half a week, but I'll be back with more bento madness. Hopefully this con will give me a nice break from my town, yeah?

I <3 this bento!

I spent quite a lot of time working on this particular bento box, as you can see. I tried a few new things and was very happy to see how well things ended! It was pleasing to see the heart-shaped rice bed come out on my first try. I wasn't sure if it was going to work or not to be quite honest. I think I've developed a good technique, and hopefully I'll make a tutorial on it shortly!

The crab tamago rolls were a little tricky to make, but working on a low heat was vastly helpful. I only used one egg for this treat, and it turned out to be just the right size for the pan. After the egg had been cooked evenly, I placed a piece of fake crab onto the end of the tamago and began rolling it up. If you're having trouble keeping it together, applying a little bit of pressure can coax the roll to stay put.

I used one of the mini-cookie cutters I talked about in my first bento box post to cut out ham, cheese, and lettuce. I lined them all up and stuck a toothpick through them for an easy-to-eat bento shish kabob!

I found some very small paper cups somewhere in my kitchen that work the same way as partition grass. I was pleased to find such a good use for them, seeing as the package had been unopened! I little bit of blueberries looks good with the pink and green, and compliments all the warmer colors in this lunch.

Some cherry tomatoes and a kiwi gummy candy wraps this bento box up!

Elegance in a hurry!

Today's bento is... exceptionally blurry! This was a little bit of a rushed bento. That's never a good thing, is it? Nevertheless I stayed with a yellow, orange, and red theme with this little lunch. I wasn't able to bring the bento box back to my kitchen to prepare it, so I was very uneasy about making it. With the right amount of carrots, things worked out well despite the lack of partition grass.

Partition grass is a very important part to bento boxes. If you ever have two or more types of food that you don't want to mingle, a simple piece of plastic can add a little bit of cuteness and help keep things in order. The only place I've ever seen this for sale is jlist, but you can see them in any kind of take-out sushi bar.

I used the spare tamago from yesterday's lunch in this bento as well as some more apple rabbits. My onigiri (rice balls) came out alright, but were a little over-sized. It's a little difficult to tell how big they might become while you're shaping them. I learned my lesson the hard way!

I made a wrap by using swiss cheese and cracked pepper ham in a mini-flour tortilla. This worked exceptionally well and adds a nice mixture of textures. It's also easy to hold for those not used to chopsticks! I shall take this experiment further in the future... mwahahahaaa!

The carrots I used in this bento box were wonderful. I cheated with this one and stole some refrigerated steamed ginger carrots from Christmas. Small or cut vegetables and fruit work very well as "fillers" in bento boxes. If you ever have extra space in a lunch box, make sure to put some of these little morsels in - the recipient will be very pleased!

That's all I have to report tonight. I have a bunch of free time tomorrow, so perhaps I'll whip up a tutorial or some kind of crazy obento. Until next time... keep bentoing!

Our first bento box is...

So here we have it! My first bento box I bothered to display. I've only made a few before this one, but I happened to have a camera laying around the kitchen after I finished making this. (Sounds fishy, but I do freelance photography.) I'm using a two tier bento box that can be found at jlist. Here's a direct link to the product.

Today I packed some sushi rice with furikake and cheese in the shape of carrots. Furikake is a great way to make plain rice taste good! Groceries stores such as Foods of all Nations and a few Asian markets around your town are likely to carry it. Furikake is dried seasoning usually consisting of seaweed, sesame seeds, and salt, but you can also buy some crazy flavors like fish roe or egg.

I made sure to pack some dairy by putting the equivalent to one slice of orange cheese on top of the rice. A really easy way to make this bento look even more tasty is by using a mini cookie cutter to shape food! I'm guessing the vegetable-shaped set I acquired was something my parents picked up for me in Japan. There's another very cute set that I recommend that can be found here. Because they're metal, they can also cut through foods like ham and certain fruits and vegetables!

For protein, it's always good to pack some kind of egg product in a lunch. Tamagoyaki is no exception in Japanese bento boxes! Tamagoyaki literally translates into "fried egg", and is also called a Japanese egg omelet. The only problem is it requires a lot of practice to shape your tamagoyaki. Getting a tamagoyaki pan is very helpful, but a round pan can work as well. This time the omelet didn't turn out very well. 見えるかな？まずい~

A serving of tomato and an apple in the shape of a rabbit wraps up the healthy part of this meal. For desert I packed a melon-flavored mochi ball. These can also be found at certain Asian markets. (Usually red bean-flavored, which is traditional.) Melon mochi isn't that tasty in my opinion, and I would say stick with red bean flavor.

All-in-all, this was a fairly well-rounded bento for a beginner to make in my opinion. Hopefully I'll get better at bentoing and blogging. Stay tuned for more madness!

In the beginning...

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