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
