Pumpkin Patch Bento with Kalbi and Chap Chae

Paige had a lot of fun yesterday at the botanical gardens and came home telling me about all of the different things they saw. Being the girly girl that she is, she was most impressed with a tree called the Lipstick Tree. Paige excitedly told me about how they make lipstick (and other cosmetics) with the seeds of the tree and how their guide even demonstrated the color by rubbing some of the seeds on herself. Apparently it is also used as a spice and food coloring as well. Paige also came home with a bunch of mosquito bites too. Unfortunately I forgot the bug spray.

Any way, last night we had kalbi for dinner, so I saved a few slices to cook this morning for Paige’s bento. I added in a small portion of chap chae, rice, and furikake (stored in the little monkey container). The pumpkins are made of kamaboko dyed with food coloring and decorated with nori and fish sausage.

Lipstick Tree (photo from Wikipedia)

Field Trip Bento and How it Feels to be Toothless

Paige and her class went on a field trip to the botanical gardens today. The school suggested brown bag lunches for easy disposal, so I made her lunch in a disposable bento box. The PBJ sandwiches were made with a sandwich maker that both cuts off the crust and seals the edges. The triangle sandwiches are made by spreading 1 slice of bread with peanut butter and jelly, fold in half so that it forms a triangle, and then cut the sandwich with the cutter. I made two of the PBJ sandwiches and added in a few pretzels and goldfish to fill the box.

Last night Paige woke up at 10 and came running out to tell me that her tooth fell out. It was the last and biggest of a bunch of loose teeth to come out. She was a little frightened and in awe when she saw how much blood this last tooth loss had produced. I must say that it was a gusher. Most of her teeth just kind of fell out without incident and bled very little in comparison. When she woke up this morning, and after examining herself in the mirror for a while, she told me “I like having no teeth!”. O_O I think she likes that she has a little lisp now too.

Ghosts with Fried Mandoo and Shiitake Mushroom Soba Bento

Over the weekend I made a huge batch of Korean mandoo. We ate mandoo soup for dinner on Saturday, then fried mandoo for dinner last night, and I also froze a bunch of uncooked ones for a later date. By preparing the mandoo two different ways, I saved on time and my family didn’t get tired of eating the same thing. Today’s bento consists of fried mandoo over a bed of soba and sauteed shiitake mushrooms and to keep in the Halloween theme, I made a couple of ghosts with thick slices of kamaboko cut with a tulip shaped cutter.

Mandoo Soup!

Witch Sandwich for a Halloween Bento

As a kid, I envisioned all bad witches to look like either Witch Hazel (from Bugs Bunny) or like the wicked witch from the Wizard of Oz. My favorite of course was Witch Hazel because I loved watching Bugs Bunny cartoons. Check out this clip of Witch Hazel, the Romeo and Juliet parody still makes me laugh to this day. I just love her cackle!

My sister requested a witch themed bento and I had a difficult time coming up with something cute. Instead I chose to do a witch cut out from nori against a mozzarella cheese moon, which in retrospect is probably something for older kids. It’s definitely not cutesy enough for Paige and Sean, but I thought it would be something different than the stuff that I’ve been doing lately. Hope you enjoy it.

Boo! Bento

Ghost PBJ sandwiches make a quick and easy Halloween bento for your child. Use a wide heart shaped cutter to cut the bread with and then cut the bread in half to make the ghost. I added on sugar paste eyes and cheddar cheese mouths that I attached with a little bit of peanut butter. Then I added this cute spider pick that I found at the Executive Chef store at Ward Warehouse. By the way they sell the sugar eyes as well.

Honolulu Advertiser’s Small Talk Blog

If you have a chance, check out Diane Ako’s blog Small Talk on the Honolulu Advertiser’s website. She was so kind to feature me on her blog, but read the rest of her posts. I love her, she’s so funny and down to earth.

Kona the Cat with Carrot Somen and Pork and Vegetable Gyoza Bento

I made today’s bento for Sean. It’s carrot somen with pork and vegetable gyoza, with a kitty made from an egg sheet and fish sausage. Sean called the kitty, in his lunch, Kona because that’s the name of our neighbor’s cat who frequents our home. Sean likes Kona but is afraid to pet him because, not only is Kona a very large cat but he also likes to play a little too rough for Sean’s liking.

Sean riding on an elephant statue at the zoo.

Panda Bento with Korean Chicken

What do pandas and our rabbits have in common? They love to eat bamboo. We have this huge bamboo bush in our yard that grows like weeds. The more that you trim it back, the fuller it grows back. We’ve been giving our rabbits the bamboo leaves which they seemingly prefer over their rabbit pellets and hay. I guess it’s a great way to recycle the bamboo cuttings.

Paige’s bento has panda musubis stuffed with Korean chicken, a few more pieces of chicken on the side, veggies, and a slice of orange. I also made a little panda out of kamaboko to decorate her lunch with. I hope you all having a great Aloha Friday!

Singing Bird Bento

After being sick again this week, Paige finally went back to school today. Nothing serious, just a low grade fever with no other symptoms. Paige loved the fact that she was home schooled for a few days just like her BFF Avi. She did miss her school pals though and was getting a little stir crazy being in the house for so many days.

Paige’s bento today is called the “Singing Bird Bento” which was inspired by all of those pesky birds that loudly chirp at the crack of dawn right outside of our bedroom window. Those same birds have been eating the flower buds off of Grandma’s orchids and have stole a few of our cherry tomatoes right off of the plant. Grandma says that they are called Bulbuls and I think that this is a picture of one below.

Anyway, I didn’t want to make a black bird and opted to do a yellow, friendlier version of the bird. It was a great opportunity to try out the yellow egg sheet tutorial that I saw on Mothering Corner . When I made the egg sheet, I mixed 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch with 1/2 teaspoon water and mixed that with 2 large egg yolks (I used the leftover egg whites for my breakfast). Poured it in a small nonstick pan on medium- medium low until it set and flipped it over once so that the other side would set. It was very easy to do…thanks Shoppingmum for the tutorial. The rest of Paige’s bento included chicken and vegetable gyoza, furikake tamago, and a few veggies including a couple of miniscule stunted cherry tomatoes from our garden.

This is the cutter that I used. It is one of many that I inherited from my good friend Dan (same guy who gave me those Halloween ones)!

PBJ Halloween Sandwich Bento

I know that I’m a little early for Halloween, but a friend gave me a bunch of cookie cutters that I just had to test out. The cutters actually worked really well and you can see the imprint pretty clearly (click on the photo to enlarge). These types of cookie cutters are a great alternative to the Japanese sandwich cutters that I used in previous posts. I used bread that was slightly thicker than your average slice, about a 1/2 inch. If you want the imprint clearer on the top slice, after using the cutter to cut the bread, lightly press the bread into the cutter with your finger tips. It was quick and easy, and the kids loved it! Thanks Dan for all of the cutters!