Practice Run #1 for Workshop...

OK, so I think I've mentioned on here that we'll be doing a bento workshop at the anime convention here in NJ in June - Now only 2 weeks away :o

This is just a quick practice run for the bottom tier of the two tier boxes that some will receive (some will get the 2-ties, some will get a one tier).  I don't actually plan on using green rice, but this was made from some of the leftover rice from the frogs I did for Monday.  I didn't do a very good job on it - I think the small ball needs done with plastic wrap - it's too small to form by hand (at least I found it to be...).

It is supposed to be a walrus - as seen in the new Yum-Yum Bento Box book, but it's definitely not obvious here - it's supposed to look more like this. 

Mine is missing the tusks as I knocked them off putting the other stuff in...

The egg will be one of 4 different shapes for the workshop (bunny, bear, fish or egg)

Anyway...  Just thought I'd share the first trial run - subject to change; I may be better off sticking to a cat ;P

A messy, but healthy and yummy bento

I think this bento just kinda looks like a mess.  We had run errand after dinner and I  was tired and just threw the bento together - plenty of color, but the arrangement leaves something to be desired...

I thought about putting faces on the mini quiches, but decided not to worry about it.  I am down to scraps of nori anyway - need to make a run to the Asian Market!

In the left tier, he has mini quiches, baby carrot sticks, pea pods (from the local Farmer's Market they're running on the first Wed of the month through the summer - yay!), strawberries, blueberries and bold chex mix.

The right tier has a salad w/ cucumber flowers, sliced baby carrot, sliced grape tomato and sliced mini yellow pepper.

Dip 2 ways bento :)

Last night for dinner we had Ikea meatballs in cream sauce w/ roasted potatoes and lingonberries.

I have to ask: Are we the only ones who every so often decide it's time to go to Ikea just to have their meatballs meal?  lol - I know, we're a little strange ;)

When we purchased the frozen meatballs, cream sauce mix and lingonberries, we also purchased a package of giant round cracker things called knackebrod.

So, Rob decided we finally needed to crack into these things and made a seafood dip and an artichoke dip to have with this along with the meatballs etc.

I didn't actually measure it, but I would say it's about 14" across - I think there were 4 or 5 of them in the package (there are 2 left here; I'm not sure how much of it he and Kat ate...)

I found it to be a bit bland and dry for my taste - not quite so much as a water cracker, but closer to that than other crackers - I'm not a fan of water crackers myself; I like flavor and tend to eat flavored triscuits and that sort.

In the top tier we have the dips: artichoke in the bottom left yellow cup and seafood in the red upper right cup.  The cheese and spices were baked on top of the artichoke dip and I added a grape tomato rose to the seafood dip since it looked so plain and white :)

He also has a sliced strawberry and blueberries, baby carrot sticks and bell pepper strips.

I put a bag of some of the knackebrod in his bag for the dips.

In the bottom tier is his salad - only this time it is romaine instead of the spring mix.

For the ham, turkey and cheese this time I used my set of 3 flower cookie cutters in 3 sizes to cut it into shapes.  The bottom, largest flower is ham, the turkey is the next size on top of the ham and the swiss is the smallest in the corners.  I laid the scraps in strips on each end and then sliced a baby carrot and placed them on top of the ham and turkey.

Yesterday he just took leftover baked ziti again and a salad, so I didn't even bother to take a photo.

Happy Bento-ing!

Tiger cubs bento - A very fruity bento :)

I had so much fun packing the cute froggie bento for our friend that I really wanted to do another cute onigiri bento.  I've mentioned before that Rob doesn't really want rice for lunch; especially plain rice, so I thought about it and decided a fruit filled onigiri in a rice cooked with coconut milk would probably be a yummy treat - unfortunately, to my surprise, I was out of coconut milk...  But then, I noticed the cans of mango nectar and voila! Mango Rice - that sounded so good to me!  So I put the rice and a can of mango nectar into my rice cooker and added the little bit of water it needed to bring it to the correct amount and got it cooking :)

I was so excited that by using the mango nectar, my rice would be naturally orange :)  That immediately made me think of the cute tiger onigiri I've seen in a number of bento blogs and in the new Yum-Yum Bento Box book - so I grabbed the book and checked out their method and went from there :)

I chopped up a strawberry and the ends of the kiwi that are sometimes too small for the flower cutter I typically use for it, put some rice in the bear onigiri mold, added some of the cut up fruit, then added more rice to fill the mold.  Of course I tasted the mango rice; My disappointment at not having coconut milk quickly dissipated - it was pretty yummy :) 

I made 4 onigiri; Kat ate the other 2 :)

I absolutely love this onigiri box, though I haven't used it as much as I'd like. 

In the top, onigiri tier, we have the adorable tiger cubs, a peanut butter and fig preserve flower shaped sammie (I kinda wish I'd thought of something else here...), Cucumber slices, baby carrot sticks and broccoli and grape tomatoes for filler. 

In the shallow bottom tier we have 2 sliced strawberries, kiwi flowers and blueberries.

 I love when the berries start coming back into season - such a healthy and attractive way to add color to bento :)

Don't you hate when you're lying in bed trying to sleep and you just can't stop thinking about bento to sleep? haha

Between being concerned there wasn't enough protein in his bento and that maybe it wasn't enough for a grown man who goes to the gym in the morning and doesn't eat breakfast; and what if he didn't like the onigiri and didn't eat it? He definitely wouldn't have enough food then... and thinking about what I still need for our bento workshop in a couple weeks, I just couldn't sleep.

So, at about 1:15am, I got up and threw this salad together in about 5 minutes - I had boiled the egg the night before (I always do 2 in case one gets messed up and then I also don't need to do one for the next day)

It's just the usual organic spring greens, a car shaped boiled egg, halved grape tomatoes and ham and swiss pinwheels (I was out of turkey).

In the end he said his lunch was too big - yeah, but better than still hungry, right? :P

It was nice to have a cute bento to post today since I only got a few hours sleep last night (got to sleep around 3:30ish, was awakened at a little before 4:30 by some noise from the girls, woke up again about 7? when Rob came in and dropped off his gym bag and kissed me goodbye and then the alarm went off at 8 - you needed the details, right? lol)

If you stuck with me this far, thanks for reading - lol

and Happy Bento-ing! :)