Bento Corner

Lion yakisoba bento with gyoza.

This bento was so easy to make! The lion face is made of egg -- just mix it as if to make scrambled eggs and just fry in a pan. Cut out a square for the face and cut nori pieces to make the face. The mane is made of yakisoba. I placed all the veggies and meat underneath the egg face. The gyoza is from the frozen food section at the Japanese market.

The kiwi is cut out in the shape of birds but you can't really tell. Also cut some mango which can hardly be seen in the photo and apples. My daughter was so curious to see this bento before I packed it, so I showed her. She recognized right away that it was a lion and admired it for awhile. Then she requested that I peel the skin of the apple. I told her that she should challenge to eat the peel so I just packed it as is. When she got back she had eaten everything without complaints.  yay!

Moon shaped onigiri and stars made of kamaboko and cucmber.

I didn't have a moon shaped cutter, so I used the fish cutter to mold the rice and then cut and shaped it by hand into a moon shape. I actually mixed the rice with yukari (prepared beefsteak plant) and then topped it with plain rice so the face would be more distinct. The eye brows and mouth are made of kombu and the eye is made of black sesame seed.

Bento also includes hijiki under the kamaboko stars. Under the cucumber stars there is a spinach and corn sautee. I also fried some sweet potatoes and added a strawberry and blueberries for dessert.

Car shaped onigiri with kamaboko hearts.

I know the car looks quite ambiguous, but I did use the car shaped onigiri pattern.  The cooked carrots are in place of windows and cheese cut out to look like tires. I made gomoku gohan last night, so used that again for the bento. Bento also includes grean bean gomaae, fried sweet potatoes, and raspberries and oranges for dessert.

Taken just yesterday 2/21. I love this photo. The husband doesn't like it, but I think it captures their personalities.