bento #59: Meta Knight
July 30, 2009
Posted by AnnaTheRed in bento blog (all), bento blog - video game Tags: meta knight, SSBB, super smash bros. brawl
5 comments
I finally decided to make this after making two Kirbys in a row.
Bento #59: Meta Knight
Created and eaten on 7/29/2009
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new light
July 28, 2009
Posted by AnnaTheRed in Everything else Tags: Lowel EGO Digital Imaging, Tabletop Fluorescent Light Unit
4 comments
I’ve been wanting to do a blog about this for a long time, but for some reason we never actually took good comparison photos. So we decided to do it tonight!
When I started my blog, my boyfriend was using my Canon PowerShot SD600 to take pictures of my bento. I got it because it was small enough to carry it around in my bag, and my friend was able to get it me for pretty cheap using her employee discount. My boyfriend had a much better camera (Canon PowerShot G2) but it had stopped working around the time. He studied photography in NYU before he changed his major to film, so after we started getting mentioned in other websites, it really made him want to take better pictures of my bento. Then he heard about Canon’s trade-in program. You can ship them your working or non-working Canon camera and get a refurbished camera for cheap. (not all models though) He traded in his broken PowerShot G2 and got a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT at a super discounted price!
Anyway, even with a good camera, it was very hard to work with the lighting in the kitchen. The bento is always shot in natural light, but when I did how-tos at night, the pictures would come out orange-ish. My boyfriend would try his best to color correct the photos but it’d take long, and the photos would still look very very warm. A couple of month ago, we finally decided to get a light kit. After he did some research, we purchased “Lowel EGO Digital Imaging, Tabletop Fluorescent Light Unit.” It was around $96 and came with a white reflector.
Lowel EGO Digital Imaging, Tabletop Fluorescent Light Unit
The light unit may look like a lamp from IKEA, but look at the difference between the photo taken with regular kitchen light at night, and one with the light unit! The most important difference is that the light is daylight balanced which gives a more natural look. It’s also bright enough that photos can be shot at 100 ISO speed for optimal color quality.
Regular kitchen light at night
With Lowel EGO light unit at night
A big difference, isn’t it?
Now we can do a how-to in the middle of night. If you’re crafty, you probably can make it on your own too, but we think this light unit is worth every penny!
EDIT: My boyfriend found a webpage that has more pictures comparing a regular light and Lowel EGO light unit. The review and comparison are so easy to understand (even for me) on the site. Go check out Lowel EGO lights for food photography on SteamyKitchen.
how to make Kirby sandwich
July 26, 2009
Posted by AnnaTheRed in how-to (all), how-to - characters (Ghibli, video game, Wall-E) Tags: kirby. sandwich
13 comments
I’ve already made a Kirby rice ball, but I wanted to make Kirby with more accessible food materials for those people who don’t eat rice regularly.
[How to make a Kirby sandwich]
- bread
- ham (2 ~ 3 slices)
- cheese
- seaweed
- *mayonnaise
- *ketchup
*optional
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stuffed stuff: Dana doll
July 25, 2009
Posted by AnnaTheRed in stuffed stuff Tags: Dana, plush toy
1 comment so far
I wrote a little about a doll of my friend I made in my “Master Chief plush” post. This is one and only Dana doll. My friend and I wanted our friend, Dana, to wear a maid outfit, but we figured that she was too shy to wear it. So I decided to make her a doll of her wearing a maid outfit. I know it sounds very weird, but she (Dana) is adorable enough to be made into a doll. Still sounds creepy? I know. But if you’ve met her, you know why I made a doll of her. 
Stuffed stuff: Dana doll
Created and stuffed: November 2006
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how to make Kirby rice ball
July 23, 2009
Posted by AnnaTheRed in how-to (all), how-to - characters (Ghibli, video game, Wall-E) Tags: kirby, rice ball
5 comments
I’m pretty surprised that “how to make radish mushroom / Mario mushroom” got so much attention in the past couple of days. Especially because when I did the how-to, my main focus was just a regular mushroom. I thought a regular mushroom would be more useful for regular kyaraben, and the Mario mushroom was just spur of the moment kind of thing. I ended up using the picture of Mario mushroom for the main picture of the set because, well, it looked cute. 
If I had used the picture of the regular radish mushroom, it probably wouldn’t have spread everywhere like this.
Anyway, the whole radish Mario mushroom thing reminded me that I haven’t done a how-to in a while. So I was going through my old bento photos, and saw a character that would be easy to make and nerdy at the same time.
[How to make Kirby rice ball]
- freshly cooked or warm sticky rice (Japanese or Korean rice)
- ham
- carrot
- seaweed
- *ketchup
- *mayonnaise or cheese
*optional
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non-bento #17: Moogle and Boo Ghost onigiri
July 21, 2009
Posted by AnnaTheRed in bento blog (all), bento blog - non bento Tags: mario boo ghost, moogle
1 comment so far
We just got back from Otakon! Which means that we have no food in the fridge yet… So I decided to make onigiri (rice balls) for breakfast again.
When I was looking into the fridge, I saw the pickled daikon (Asian radish) that I had made. (see “how to make sweet and sour pickled radish”) The daikon was pinkish because it had been soaked in radish, and I started thinking what I could make with pink (pickled daikon), white (rice) and black (seaweed). I looked my flickr “bento sets”, and found the perfect characters.
Non-bento #17: Moogle and Boo Ghost onigiri
Created and eaten on : 7/21/2009
If you follow my blog, this might seem familiar to you. I’ve made the same characters with pork buns before.
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Otakon! part 2
July 19, 2009
Posted by AnnaTheRed in Everything else Tags: conventions, otakon, tachikoma
7 comments
When we work at the convention, none of us really gets a break, but we take turns to see and shop at other booths. I was going to check out the concession stand and walked by this cute booth. It was called Happy Japan. First I saw bento boxes, then I saw bento gadgets on the wall!! I immediately went in there and grabbed a bunch of stuff.
Various cutters for kyaraben!
I soooo wanted these!! I often use a part of a cookie cutter to cut food, but usually they are little too big for the characters in bento box. I also use plastic bottle caps as a cutter for my bento, but they’re caps, so they are all circles. I’ve been wanting these since I saw it on a Japanese kyaraben site, but I’d never though I’d find it at Otakon. Hooray for bento trends! They were all $18. The retail in Japan is 1260 yen (about $13.50), so I think it’s very reasonably priced. When I was paying for these stuff, one of the employees said “Aww, your bento is gonna be sooo cute!”
The great thing about this cutters is that each one comes with a little booklet explaining how to use it. (all in color and pictures!)
How-to kyaraben booklet
Tons of pictures with detailed instructions.
I don’t usually buy rice molds since most rice molds are way too small for my boyfriend, and I can mold rice into any shape I want with plastic wrap. But I just couldn’t resist this one… It’s a Doraemon rice mold!
Doraemon rice mold
Completed with cutters for his whiskers, nose, eyes, and even the bell! Honestly, I don’t think it’ll work like it says in the packaging. (Or maybe it’ll work, who knows.) but I’m probably going to end up using it to make jello or something.
Check out Happy Japan for bento, Anime, and Studio Ghibli products!
*When I checked their site 2 days ago, they still had the food/quail egg cutters that I bought, but I don’t see them now… If you really want them, you might want to contact them.
And here is something else that made me super happy.
Tachikoma Collection Only $20!!
They're all mine. 
Otakon! part 1
July 19, 2009
Posted by AnnaTheRed in Everything else Tags: conventions, cosplay, otakon
4 comments
That’s right, we were at Otakon in Baltimore! I wanted to blog while I was in Baltimore, but I had a very crazy schedule everyday, so I decided to do two blog posts today, a cosplay post and a post of stuff I got at the con.
If you’re reading my blog, there’s a good chance that you’re an otaku. (a.k.a. anime nerd) And if you are, you probably know what Otakon is. It’s one of the biggest anime conventions in the U.S., and it’s definitely the biggest one in east coast. We weren’t there for fun but we were working at the con.
My company licenses and sells anime dvds, Japanese live action film dvds (with English subtitles), and also operates a Japanese online card game called Alteil, which we brought over here from Japan last year. When we go to a convention, I work at Alteil booth, and my boyfriend works on the dvd side.
We got to Baltimore on Thursday and set up the booth. On Friday, we worked from 12 to 8, and on Saturday it was from 10 to 6. Today (Sunday) was a short day, and it was from 10 to 3. Standing on my feet for 5 to 8 hours straight for 3 days in a row, teaching people how to play the game can be exhausting. Good thing I like what I do.
Anyway, here are some pictures of amazing cosplay from Otakon! (*The fuzz ball they’re holding is called Kesaran Pasaran and it’s a character from a card in Alteil.)
Dethler and Susumu Kodai (Derek Wildstar) from Space Battleship Yamato
Creepy woman with a rabbit mask from BioShock
Major Motoko Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell
1st Colossi from Shadow of the Colossus
Silent Bob
Anime Tencho
Ultraman
Yoshi
Kanchi (Canti) from flcl
ZIM from Invader ZIM
Companion Cube and GLaDOS from Portal
non-bento #16: Kaonashi and kodama onigiri
July 16, 2009
Posted by AnnaTheRed in bento blog (all), bento blog - non bento Tags: kaonashi, kodama, onigiri, princess mononoke, rice ball, spirited away
3 comments
My boyfriend and I are on the road again! We’ve been trying to empty the fridge, so I’ve been making regular bento. But I still wanted to make a kyaraben-ish thing, so I decided to make breakfast.
Non-bento #16: Kaonashi and Kodama onigiri (rice ball)
Created and eaten on: 7/15/2009
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bento #58: Sitting Totoro
July 14, 2009
Posted by AnnaTheRed in bento blog (all), bento blog - ghibli (totoro, etc...) Tags: makkurokurosuke, mini-totoro, studio ghibli, totoro
3 comments
Since my previous bento was a big failure, I needed to make something I’m more comfortable with. And nothing makes me feel better than this guy.
Bento #58: Totoro sitting on a tree
Created and eaten on : 7/14/2009
