Onefish’s lunch for tomorrow:
It has come to my attention that onefish gets way too distracted by preschool to eat more than a couple bites of his lunch. So, I put his favorite carbs (pretzels) and protein (Kraft slices) in the top layer and fruit (which he always gobbles up) int he bottom. As you may be able to see, the leftover cheese bits are padding under the pretty cut-outs.
No, not the ones about the meaning of life (though, the answer to most of those would be: to drink, be merry and eat fun food!) – the ones about the hows and wheres of my bento. Some of my friends contacted me outside of this blog to ask the following questions:
* When do you make these; night before, nap time, or with itty bitty helpers?
All of the above. And, it’s not as time consuming as it might seem. I actually find cooking even semi-complex recipes more time consuming than creating fun bento lunches/meals.
* Where did you get the plane and train shaped cutters? Did you use mini size cutters or regular size cutters?
Most of my food cutters are mini aluminum cookie cutters made by Fox Run (which I buy through Amazon.com), but R & M makes some really cute mini cutters, as well.
* What do you do with the extra bits of turkey you have left after cutting out your shapes?
I (or bluefish) eat them. Yum.
* Where did you buy the bento boxes?
My favorite place to get bento boxes is Happy Japan. They’re in Nashville, TN (in case any of you are local to that area), have tons of cute bento accessories, very reasonable/fast shipping, and great customer service. They’re currently back-ordered on some products which they said should have in stock in the next couple of weeks.
* Is there an English website that sells the egg yolk shapers?
Yes! You can get them from Happy Japan (though I believe they’re out of stock right now) and JBox.
* Where did you get that camera?
Heh. I shoot with a Canon 5D mark II. If you’re looking to get a DSLR, I would get it from a reputable seller like B&H Photo.
* Would you come be Personal Chef for my kids and me?
I bet you can cook WAY better than I can! And, bento is fun and easy to learn. It’s especially fun to make it with your little ones!
This was our dinner last night:
I wanted to make something that everyone could eat that was fun, fresh and appetizing. Onefish, bluefish and I love almost everything you see there (the turkey rolls have avocado and mozzarella inside them). Twofish, who is only 14 months old, can’t get enough of hummus and fresh fruit so she was covered with this spread. Also, that fresh garlic bread was amazing. I’m embarrassed to say it wasn’t from scratch (or even from my bread maker), but the fresh garlic butter-sauce was all mine. It was quite a hit with everyone, and everything but a couple baby carrots were gone when I carried the tray back into the kitchen.
Hello Kitty turns 35 this year! How do I know this? Well, both of us were born in 1974. Earlier this year, I bought a couple Hello Kitty shaped ice packs for the bitty fishes’ bumps and bruises. We call them boo-boo kitties. So, now onefish thinks Hello Kitty is actually called boo-boo Kitty. And, he loves boo-boo kitty. I’ve seen the hello kitty vegetable cutters and egg shapers (both are on my I Would Like list), but they are expensive for what they are… and I was really hoping for something that would make sweet treats for the kids for bento box desserts or anytime treats. I saw the Hello Kitty waffle maker on Amazon, but it was out of stock. After some searching, I found out that it has been discontinued. There are a couple being sold on Ebay for $60, but they still had some in-stock at toysRus.com (<- I was hoping to link you to the item, but they are now sold out) for $25. I snatched one up, and I'm so glad I did.
Last night we made chocolate chip Kitty, Cathy & Tippy waffles. They were so cute (as you can see) and delicious! And, Cathy and Tippy are the perfect side for toddler hands, while Kitty is the perfect size for slightly larger hands. Like mine.
Onefish is going to flip when he opens his new bento box tomorrow. Like so many three-year-old boys, there is nothing he loves more than trains. Planes land in third place, but only because “Harry Potter’s flying car” is firmly in the number two spot. In any case, I think he’s going to enjoy these turkey breast shapes (three layers on cheesy rice crackers, with nori accents and a pepperoni tower/station, riding on top of string cheese clouds/cobblestones) a great deal:
Though, after running around with his little friends all morning, he may be more excited about actually eating the second layer (halved grapes and orange slices) of his bento box:
And here’s his new Kamio Dreamy Friends frog bento box all ready to go:
I think I’m experiencing kawaii overload with these little boxes!
Ingredients: sushi rice, mozzarella string cheese (in sixths), roast turkey breast (sliced in strips), avocado, baby carrots, nori sheet (thin strip with faces made by nori cutters ).
(Those hard-boiled eggs are from my first try with the Dream Land Egg Shaper. It’s quite a labor intensive gadget, but how much fun are hard boiled eggs with star, heart, flower and diamond shaped yolks? I think I’m going to try a bit of non-stick spray next time in the hopes of making the process a bit less, well… sticky.)
(Toast painted with a mix of butter, sugar, cinnamon, ginger and red food coloring.)
Behold my second try at veggie rolls:
This time I actually made sushi rice (complete with rice vinegar, sugar and salt) and I added cucumber to the mix to keep the avocado and carrots company. And, I shaved fresh ginger for the eating. The finished product was delightful. Even bluefish gobbled them up without pause.
