Book Signings!

Here is an updated list of my book signings for Hawai`i’s Bento Box Cookbook, 2nd course! If you are in the area please stop on by, I would love to meet you all!  I will be having food samples, like the ones pictured above, at the following locations- Barnes and Noble Ala Moana, Japanese Cultural Center, Barnes and Noble Kahala Mall, Borders Express Mililani, and Borders Kaneohe.  They are mini versions of a pumpkin sandwich that I have in my new cookbook and are filled with slow cooked pulled roast beef, a recipe that is in it as well.

Sat. May 1^st- Barnes and Noble- Ala Moana, noon
Sat. May 1^st- Borders- Ward 3pm
Sun. May 2^nd- Japanese Cultural Center 10:30am
Sun. May 2^nd- Borders- Waikele 2pm
Tues. May 4^th- Marukai- Dillingham 10am
Tues. May 4^th- Marukai- Ward 1pm
Sat. May 8^th- Borders- Pearl Ridge 1pm
Sun. May 9^th- Costco- Waipio 1pm
Sat. May 15^th- NEX 10:30 am
Sat. May 15^th- Costco- Iwilei 1pm
Sat. May 22^nd- Barnes and Noble- Kahala Mall 1pm
Sun. May 23^rd- Borders Express- Mililani 1pm
Sat. May 29^th- Borders- Kaneohe 1pm

Hope to see you there!!!

How To Make Bunny Maki Sushi #77

Okay folks, here is my how to make an easy bunny maki sushi post!  For my bunny maki I used hotdogs and SPAM cooked in teriyaki sauce with sushi rice and nori.

Sushi Rice for Kids

• 2 cups rice (makes 4 cups cooked)
• 2 tablespoons Japanese rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt

Wash the rice and cook in a rice cooker.  Combine the vinegar, sugar, and salt in a small bowl and mix well until the sugar and salt have dissolved.  When rice is done let steam for another 15 minutes.  Next, fold the vinegar mixture into the rice and let cool some so that the rice is easier to handle.

On a sushi mat, place a small amount of rice as shown above.

Place strips of SPAM along each side of the rice and then press the strips on to the rice at an angle.

Add on more rice evenly to each side, leaving about a third of the nori sheet uncovered.  Then place the hotdogs on top of the rice between the two strips of SPAM.

Using your fingers hold the hotdogs in place and then roll the top part of the mat over

Keep rolling over all the way until you form your maki sushi.  While still in the mat, form the sushi into a cylinder shape by evenly pressing all sides.

To cut the sushi, wet your knife and then cut the roll into half.

Clean your knife and lightly dampen the blade with water before each cut.  Bring the two rolls together and then cut again in half.

Cut each side again in half  to make eight slices.  

Tada!!!  Wasn’t that easy peasy?  You now have bunny sushi!  In my sushi bento I only decorated the first two bunnies with eyes and noses, since you can’t see the rest anyway.

Bunny Maki Sushi #76

Let me premise this post by saying that I cannot roll sushi to save my life.  So if I am able to make this very simple bunny maki sushi then so can you!  Unfortunately in the midst of trying to make the bunny maki I forgot to take pictures so I will save that for a later post.  With luck, I should be able to get those pictures up by tomorrow.  The bunny maki is made with hotdogs for the head and SPAM for the ears.  I also used a little bit of fish sausage for their noses.

Paige stayed home from school today with a fever and cough.  It seems that something has been going around her classmates, so I guess it was just a matter of time before she got sick too.  Hope everyone is doing well and keeping healthy!

Chicken Katsu Bento: Past and Present #75

In conjunction with Hapabento, Bento Zen, and Happy Little Bento we thought that it would be fun to post about our first bentos and how they have progressed over the years.

This was one of the first bentos that I made for Paige when she was in preschool back in 2006!  Back then I used a lot of  cute picks and store bought pre-cut nori which made making cute lunches a breeze.  For the first year I always packed way too much food and in fact, with this particular bento, she only ate the musubi and a few pieces of chicken.  As time progressed I got a little more creative and Paige became more adventurous with the kinds of food that she ate.  I also learned to send the right amount of food so that there wouldn’t be very much waste!  As you can see with my present day chicken katsu bento, I have learned to use a variety of colors and foods which helps to brighten up her lunch as well as make it a little more appealing and attractive.

Don’t forget to check out the before and after bentos of Hapabento, Bento Zen, and Happy Little Bento!!!

The Winners are….

Congratulations goes out to Bridget and Sheri C, the two winners of Hawai`i’s Bento Box Cookbook, 2nd Course!   I’ll be contacting you soon!

To see the drawing results go to RANDOM.ORG drawing #1959.

Pan Seared Salmon with a Strawberry and Passion Fruit Salsa #73

Adding a fresh fruit salsa is a simple and healthy way to add flavor to a main dish.  For example, Sean and I had for lunch today, this pan seared salmon seasoned with a little bit of garlic salt and pepper.  Then I made a very simple strawberry and passionfruit salsa to top off the salmon which also acted as a very light vinaigrette for the spring greens.  The ingredients for the salsa were very simple: passion fruit jelly, fresh lemon juice, a little bit of extra virgin olive oil, grated garlic, kosher salt, and pepper mixed together and then added to cut strawberries, baby tomatoes, Maui onion, and cilantro.  I know this is not exactly bento, but I thought it would be a great dish for Summer, which is just around the corner!

Also don’t forget to enter the giveaway to win one of two copies of Hawai`i’s Bento Box Cookbook 2nd Course! The deadline is tonight, 12 midnight HST and the winners will be announced tomorrow!!!

Chicken Katsu Bento #72

Paige took chicken katsu and a musubi for lunch today.  I already had chicken katsu that I had breaded and froze earlier, so all I had to do was pull it out to defrost in the refrigerator overnight.  Then this morning I cooked rice and the katsu and put together Paige’s bento.  I used a bear onigiri wrapper (that I received from a good friend!) for the musubi .  Paige loves these onigiri wrappers, they make any lunch super cute.

Old School Lunch Box #71

Remember back in the day when tin lunch boxes were the most popular way to transport your lunch to school?  Now for the most part they’ve been replaced by hipper looking eco-friendly lunch bags, cooler bags, thermal lunch boxes, and Laptop Lunch boxes.  These tin lunch boxes will always have a place in my heart because as a kid, I never had one but always wished longingly to have a cute girly one like this!  Growing up, we ate school lunches and whenever we had field trips, it was always brown bagged so there was never any need for a lunch box.

Anyway, I saw this tin box at the Kahala Sanrio store and picked it up for Paige (and myself).  Her lunch consisted of a roast chicken sandwich, a strawberry, clementine, and her favorite pineapple orange juice.

LOL, I finally got my lunch box!

Bird Sammy Bento and a Giveaway #70

I am happy to announce that Hawai`i’s Bento Box Cookbook, 2nd Course is finally in distribution!!!  I have seen it at Costco, but I am not sure if the other stores have it on the shelves yet.  To celebrate the books release, I am giving away two copies of my new cookbook and to enter, all you have to do is leave a comment below by Thursday 12 midnight HST.  This Friday (April 23rd) I will randomly choose two winners and make the announcement shortly thereafter.

For Paige’s lunch today, I made her a turkey sandwich with a bird made out of cheddar cheese, a few strawberries, and a thermos of chicken vegetable soup.  Hope you all had a great weekend!

Steamed Buns with Char Siu #69

Sean and I had steamed buns filled with char siu  for lunch today!  We had some extra dough from Saturday’s bento class, so I made more steamed buns and filled them with sliced char siu, cucumbers, green onions and hoisin sauce.  I added in a few steamed beets and broccoli, carrots, a cherry tomato, and a strawberry.  To make it pretty, I decorated it with a sprig of lavender and mini purple basil from our garden.  Hope you all are having a great week!