Bento Corner

Flower onigiri bento with chicken, salad, and fruit.

The chicken is actually from Hawaiian Drive Inn from yesterday's lunch. The salad is more a sunomono of cucumber and wakame. The onigiri is made of salmon maze gohan that was left over in the freezer.

Took some time off to visit family in Japan -- that's why there were no updates for a few weeks. Ate fabulous food, visited with long time friends and family, and bought a lot of cute bento goodies. I'll post some pictures later.

My daughter is already asking when we will go back to visit again. I just gave my daughter a very blank stare in disbelief that she would say this right after we get into SF after the 9 hour flight from Tokyo. Obviously international travel is much harder on the parents than it is on the kids...

Giraffe bento -- the banana is the neck...does it sort of resemble one?

This bento was requested by my daughter a long time ago, as she has been drawing giraffes for some time now. I'll have to scan one of her drawings soon. I showed this bento to my daughter and she stared at this bento for awhile until my husband just told her what it was. Since she couldn't tell what it was, I will have to give it another try sometime soon for a better looking giraffe. The face is made of rice mixed with hard boiled egg yolk and mayonnaise with a dash of salt to form the onigiri. The horns are made of cucumbers, the neck is a banana and used nori for the eyes and a tomato for the mouth.

Bento also includes sesame and cream corn croquette and brocolli.

The weather is so warm it almost feels like spring!

Heart Star Sandwich Bento

This weekend I helped organize a meeting of sorts which included other fabulous mothers and a mother-to-be. I bought Noah's bagels fresh from the store and they were a big hit! I've bought Noah's from Costco, but I  haven't had Noah's from their store in a few years...Is it my imagination or do fresh Noah's bagels from the actual store taste better than the fresh Noah's from Costco? There was such a big difference in taste and everyone else agreed. Topped with smoked salmon, cucumbers, and tomatoes, these bagels were so delicious! We ate them all too quickly and I am contemplating stopping by Noah's again this morning to relive that carb. intoxicated. dream.

OK then, back to bento. It's all left overs from this weekend minus the bagels. Smoked salmon, cream cheese (really it's that shmear from Noah's), and sliced cucumbers. No tomatoes because I thought they'd get soggy and my daughter has that aversion to tomatoes unless they have a cute face on them. Egg salad with corn and strawberries for dessert.

Bee bento with salmon.

I showed my daughter this bento this morning and she had no clue what the striped character was suposed to be. She thought it was a fish -- I guess the wings needed to be a bit more obvious next time. Anyway, bento also includes salmon, spinach gamaae, kamaboko flower and mandarin oranges and cherry for dessert.

My daughter got accepted into the trilingual school, but they want a two year commitment and we cannot guarantee that given our plans to relocate next year. Looks like we may end up extending the Japanese preschool for awhile afterall...