Bento Corner

Hinamatsuri bento for Girl's Day. Bento includes 3 nori maki with takuan, cucmber, and shibazuke; sauteed shimeji mushroom with snap peas; cube steaks sauteed in butter and garlic; and tamagoyaki. The emperor and empress are made of cheese, nori and imitation crab.

Today the girl has observation of Hinaningyo (special dolls displayed at Hinamatsuri) at her kinder. When I was a kid my parents bought me the huge 7 level set that every girl had back in the day. I still have this set but the girl has never seen it nor know of its existence.

I  have no idea of the condition of the dolls as it just gets stored away whenever we relocate. I have no gumption to display it but this is the one item I cannot part with because of the shame and the guilt associated with it knowing my parents spent a lot of money to get this for me.

In America I could totally get away with ignoring tradition, but in Japan, especially if your child is not attending international school, it's hard to ignore it. There's some pressure to do as everyone else does or your child could get left out. I'm trying to maintain a balance to hold onto our own values but I still cave in some places.

So to march on with this tradition, my son and I made this to display in our current Tokyo residence:

It was technically my son's project but I had to assist. But he did a great job with the empress' mouth, no?

3 Flower bento with edamame caterpillars, sweet teriyaki chicken, and snap peas. Please excuse the blurry photo -- I got so lectured by the husband about how to properly take photos. He should know by now it's useless to talk to me from a technical standpoint because I listen to him like Charlie Brown listens to his teachers..."wah, wah, wah....wah, wah, wah..."

My daughter asked why the one star is wearing sunglasses -- I told her that was actually a rock star flower. Then she said, "Whaaa~t? That's no rock star, mom. Rock stars are suppose to have their mouths open because they are singing!" Kids these days -- they are just so hip.

Speaking of kids we are getting a break from ours this weekend! My parents have (insanely) agreed to try and take them off our hands a couple of weekends this month since the husband and I are celebrating our wedding anniversary.

But you know the joke is our proposal/marriage is not exactly legal...if not legal at least very questionable. No, really I'm not kidding. It's true.

When my husband proposed to me he was incredibly sick and I had to tend to him like Florence Nightingale. The dutiful, devoted girlfriend I was. Uh, no. I just drugged him so he was completely high on Nyquil until he slurred "wanna get married?"

Intention behind propsal -- questionable tactics.

Me, on the other hand, completely forgot my vows at the alter and laughed it off (yes, indeedy, I laughed) while my husband had to "remind me" (read: forced me to say with gritted teeth) of what it was I had vowed to fulfill.  

Commitment to marriage -- not taken very seriously.

Yet here we are two kids later, still going over our proposal/marriage play by play and continually questioning our level of sanity. Because that's what it takes to keep our marriage alive.

You notice both of them have the peace thing down now. My son even says, "Hai! Cheezu!" when we take photos of him.

With Roger Rabbit.

If any readers ever make it to Tokyo Disney, you must experience the Winnie the Pooh ride. It is nothing like the one in the US -- it's probably the most popular ride at Tokyo DL. They even have Fast Passes for it, but it's completely ridiculous to even get one because they ask you to return 6 hours later. We stood in line for 70 minutes to catch the Pooh ride and ignored our Fast Passes. Well worth the wait though since right after we rode it, my girl said, "Let's do that again!".

Above is not quite a cake, but it's actually a "unagi rice cake" that my friend, Mrs. Yamada made! Wow, right?!

Mrs. Yamada invited a few moms to her house for a Hinamatsuri Party!

I must apologize for the poor picture quality -- I took it with my phone cam since I wasn't expecting to take food pictures. It's too bad since the picture doesn't do it justice.

All the ladies were amazed at her talent and presentation so we asked her how she did it and this is what you need:

• plain white rice
• unagi (already cut into bite size pieces with sauce)
• shredded egg omelet
• sakura denbu
• round cake pan
• heart shaped mold

Mix together rice and unagi with sauce, then press the mixed rice into the cake pan. There is a ready-made already cut up unagi mix that is sold in Japan which can make the process easier.

Then top with shredded egg. I was floored when I found out that they also sell pre-made shredded egg omelet which makes this whole process even easier.

Next, take the heart mold and place on top and sprinkle in the sakura denbu. Repeat this until you've created a flower on top of the "cake". 

Mrs. Yamada said it was all quite easy to make. The rice was still warm and it was soooo good! Try it and impress your friends!!

This was my contribution to the party.

Here's what you need:

• strawberries
• chocolate
• microwave

Wash strawberries and make sure they are completely dry with paper towel (otherwise chocolate will not stick). Pour about half a bag of chocolate chips (or bar, whatever type of chocolate you are using, I always use chips) into a bowl and heat in the microwave for 30 seconds. Take out, stir, put back in for another 30 seconds. And repeat the process until everything is melted. It usually takes 3-4 tries depending on the strength of your microwave.

Then lay out some wax paper/kitchen paper, dip the strawberries and lay them out on the paper to dry.

You can do variations of this mixing with white chocolates or dark chocolate. I've made tuxedos before by dipping in white chocolate first on one side of the berry then letting it dry. Then dipping in dark chocolate by creating a "V" shape surrounding the white chocolate. Then draw the tux tie and buttons on the white part with dark chocolate.

Or do something like this if you wanna get fancy.