Little dogs bento

Hello all!

Yea… I know… I haven’t posted for a while. So much has happened… all I can say is changes are (perhaps) coming in our lives (and for good I hope! *fingers crossed*)

Blogging, friends and readers are still very important to me, *big hug*. It´s just that right now I don’t have much time for the internets :( … for cooking… or crafting… time to myself and the girls. Weeee… sounds like busy huh?

Anyhow, I don’t know when I’ll be capable to write here again… please bare with my inconstant appearance online :P. I will try hard to keep doing something!

…

I made these bentos to my daughters couple of days ago ;).

Contents of the boxes: mini raw carrots, cherry tomato, tamagoyaki with spring onions (under the tomato), turkey hot dogs wrapped in egg sheets, cucumber slices, lettuce and juicy cherries. Little dogs made with zakkoku mai (mixed grains) rice, nori details and ketchup for the cheeks.

Those cherries were the first ones I spotted this year. Actually, Luonnonvoima spotted them first and asked me to purchase them. She really loves cherries… (can someone eat too much of them and get belly ache? Omigosh, that little girl can eat big amounts every time! >_<)

:)

 

This post was written by karaimame exclusively for Acquiring Taste. All writing, images and other materials in this blog remain the property of Acquiring Taste and cannot be used without permission.

 

 

 

Bento box food play set – Bento4Japan auction

Update on 27.04.2011: The box has been sold for $107,50! I am so happy it reached such price :). Thank you very much for everyone who got interested about it and specially, to the auction winner! The set is already on its way to WA ^_^!

As I posted here before, a group of bento lovers across the globe got together to raise funds for Japan. My fabulous fellow bento bloggers have been working hard keeping the Bento4Japan alive and at full steam.

The charity auctions on eBay have been terrific! Lots of bento boxes and gear had found new owners and I can only thank to the beautiful people´s generosity.

Everyone knows that I wanted to offer something to be auctioned for the cause. The problem is that I really can’t find anything suitable for the theme where I live.  Bento gear is rare, most of my personal purchases were made online.

It is true I selected stuff from my own collection to offer in the Bento4Japan raffle (by the way! The winners had been picked already, just give us a little more time and we will announce them :). My contribution is already traveling to the lucky one!).

So I thought… would it be bad to offer something handmade? Inspired by my friends who always support and keep me going ahead, I decided to craft my offering for Bento4Japan ^__^.

Bento box food play set – eBay auction

I handcrafted this lovely take away style bento box meal, perfect for pretended play or for display. The items are about life-sized and hand stitched with love and care for details.

I really try my best to make things in a way they last but felt and yarn creations are not as plastic ones, they won´t probably last as much as they would have been made from another “long lasting” material.

This set will be a joy for your little one to serve you obento anytime! (And you can also sneak to the play and practice making your bento too ;))

Most of the items which belong to the box were featured in my previous post , with addition of these little ones:

So… without further ado, what is inside the box!

• 1 lettuce leaf
• 2 onigiris (rice balls)
• 1 shiozake piece (salted salmon)
• 1 lotus root (renkon) slice
• 1 kabocha (Japanese pumpkin) wedge
• 1 broccoli floret
• 1 shiitake mushroom
• 2 tamagoyaki (omelet) slices: spinach and traditional
• 1 carrot flower
• 1 edamame pod
• 1 cherry tomato with wooden pick
• 1 usagi ringo (apple bunny)
• 2 grapes
• 1 strawberry
• 1 orange slice
• 2 food cups (paper and felt polka dot)
• 1 pair of bamboo chopsticks – not disposable type
• 1 origami chopstick “envelope”

The full description of the materials and other important information can be read in the auction page for the bento box.

I hope this can raise some money. Remember, 100% of the proceeds will go to to GlobalGiving’s Japan Relief fund. If you win, be sure you are getting something made from the heart.

Please take a look, this is the auction page! Check out the other Bento4Japan auctions too ;).

 

This post was written by karaimame exclusively for Acquiring Taste. All writing, images and other materials in this blog remain the property of Acquiring Taste and cannot be used without permission.

 

 

Pizza bento and #twitterfoodparty

Can you guys believe is April already? Wow, time goes fast…

I had a busy week and I hope this one is going to be calmer….

Anyways… remember that every month a group of friends on twitter pick a food item/theme and agree to show a picture of the meal we are having? The #twitterfoodparty happens every last monday of each month… (hah? It went already!). Yes… but it was postponed for today! YAY!

The theme this time is… Apples!

I must admit I wasn’t that prepared to make anything… so I came up with these while preparing my daughter´s bentos.

Husband and I had Brie toasts with apple for dinner together with soup. Hors d’œuvre?? well… I don’t know, should I call this an appetizer or dessert? :P

Apple, brie & honey toast

Not a recipe actually but I will write how I did: toast gently two slices of bread, rub butter on tops. Slice thinly half green apple and cut 4 slices of brie cheese. Arrange the cheese and apple slices on the toasted bread, drizzle a bit of honey and sprinkle cracked nuts on top (pecan the best but I used almond praline). Grill until bubbling and serve.

Alternatively, make it “savory” seasoning with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

See? Simple… but it was very good!!

Pizza bento

The bentos for the girls today consists of last night´s leftovers. Pikkusiili wanted pizza for dinner and I usually make a bigger batch enough for snacks later. ^__^

The contents of the boxes: homemade pizza “bolognese”, baby carrots, cherry tomatoes, clementines, apple slices and lettuce. Little bees made with cheddar and white cheese slices and nori details.

I so love leftovers :P

Have a great week friends!

 

 

This post was written by karaimame exclusively for Acquiring Taste. All writing, images and other materials in this blog remain the property of Acquiring Taste and cannot be used without permission.

Sandwich bento – Pac Man

Sometime ago I was invited to make a guest post about obentos for a really nice Brazilian blog/site that I follow. Superziper is maintained by two lovely ladies (Cláudia and Andrea)  and they write about crafts and the wonderful world of handmade in general. The blog is in Portuguese but totally worth for a visit! ^__^

Today I show the bento I made for the post. The bento tutorial pictures are available in one of my flickr sets and can be seen in my guest post for their blog. Please take a look :).

Inside the box: a three layer sandwich made with whole wheat bread and rye bread slices, gouda cheese, cream-cheese and turkey ham. Pac-man made of cheddar and processed white cheese. Pink (monster) enemy ghost made of a baguette slice, cream-cheese and turkey ham, white cheese and nori for its eyes. Lettuce, dark grapes, half clementine and cherry tomatoes.

It was a really nice opportunity to introduce the world of bentos there and to show how to make a simple sandwich one. My tutorial pictures look a bit clumsy (and let me say, those who make tutorials I salute you! Wow, they are really time consuming … XD) but I think you can figure out what I did . EH!

I also made a small step-by-step of how to make decorative picks using tape and normal toothpicks. Nothing fancy, you can check up the pictures in the same places I mentioned above.

Hope more people will get interested about the lunch box – obento style. For the newcomers: the bento community online is very friendly and supportive, there are really great people you can count on and get inspiration from!

Update:  the same post was also mentioned in Casinha na Árvore and in Portal de Bom Humor (Natura). Thanks ladies!

“Can´t get you out of my head” sandwich bento

Not exactly a Valentine´s day bento, but I think it fits the theme :P. In Finland there is what we call “Ystävänpäivä” (translated to “Friend´s day”), celebrated on Feb 14th. According to Wikipedia, it seems to be the second most important reason to send cards and postcards (Christmas is the 1st) in Finland, but to tell you the truth… I didn’t get much since I moved here.

Well… I remember making Valentine´s cards at my English school when I was a kid and that was it… XD

I prepared the bentos in the morning so the girls could eat them after coming home, at lunch time. (And I just noticed I don´t have heart decorative picks! How non-romantic I am…)

Contents of the boxes: whole wheat bread sandwich with sun-dried tomato cream-cheese, turkey ham and cheese. Bear made out of rye bread (taikaruis-leipä), cheese and nori, “bird” made with cheddar, a tiny carrot piece and nori. Lettuce, steamed carrots and edamame pods, cherry tomatoes, clementines and apple slices.

Ehehe, yep I noticed the bear on the left has weird eyes ^_^. It is the love ♡♥ ! :D

Snack bento: it is the bunny year!

Is that so my last obento was the puppy one? It has been ages then!! X)

Today´s bento is a very simple one. No intricate designs or anything like that (boring?). I’ve prepared them quickly for my girls´ snack time, in the afternoon (we call it “välipala” in Finnish).

I still intend to make another bunny bento later, to celebrate the Year of the Rabbit (Hare). But for now, this is the one I made to join the “theme”.  ^_^

Contents of the boxes: lettuce, cherry tomatoes, red grapes, half clementine, dried prunes, usagi ringo (apple bunnies),  homemade pizza “cubes” (with tomato sauce, mozzarella, msg-free ham, onions, pineapple pieces and fresh tomato) and twin rabbits made with cheese and nori details.

I thought it would be too much food for them, but Luonnonvoima ate everything, including the lettuce :). (Mom secretly smiles with delight :D)

Puppy bento

When I was a child I loved to eat fried minced meat on japanese rice. I could eat tons of it. Another combo that I enjoyed was Japanese rice, Brazilian cooked beans and fried minced meat on top. ^_^   So good!

Today´s bento features fried minced meat. Not exactly a meat “soboro”, but quite close. Hubs said that it was almost the filling of “lihapiirakka” (a sort of Finnish meat doughnut) that he loves =). Lihapiirakka looks like a rissole but the pastry is made of bread dough, deep fried. Insides, a mixture of cooked porridge rice and fried minced meat with spices.

Hmm, “mmmkay” … should I get back to the subject :P..?

Contents of the boxes: fried minced meat with spices, on top of  cooked rice with mixed grains, cucumbers, pan fried tofu cubes with sesame seeds, turkey roll with steamed green beans, cherry tomato, carrots, lettuce and green apple slices. Little puppy made with cheese, nori and steamed carrot.

Girls liked the dog´s “bone” but they commented on the fact it was “fake” :D ahahahha. They pulled it out from the “ground” and added “hey mom, this is wrong, there´s no other edge! This is NOT a bone!” . All that remained me to say was “oh, SO sorry!” ^_^