non-bento #26: the very hungry caterpillar
August 25, 2010
Posted by AnnaTheRed in bento blog (all), bento blog - american, bento blog - non bento Tags: avocado, sushi, the very hungry caterpillar
6 comments
When I did the Bento Contest for EpiCute and My Food Looks Funny site, I saw some very interesting requests. And one of them was the Very Hungry Caterpillar. I thought it’d be a bit too easy to make a bento of it, so I didn’t pick it. But it turns out my boyfriend loved the book as a child, and that was enough reason for me to make it with food!
The local market I always shop at has a decent fresh fish selection and they also have a little sushi counter where a guy makes sushi and sells them in a package. When I was looking at it, this idea came to my mind.
Non-bento #26: The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Created and eaten on: 8/21/2010
For this, I decided to try using the hangiri (wooden shallow bowl to mix sushi rice in) I got recently. Hangiri literally means “cutting rice.” Because when you mix the rice for sushi, you move the spatula to cut/slice rice sideways rather than “mixing” it. I always wanted to get one of these so I was happy to find this one at Sunrise mart (Japanese supermarket) in NYC. I don’t make sushi that regularly, so this was good enough for me.
It's up to 3 cup of rice, comes with a wooden shallow bowl, two spatulas and two sushi roller. It was $19.99, and you can also buy it from Amazon.com too.
*If you’re serious about making sushi and considering buying a hangiri, make sure you buy the one made with cypress. The one I bought is made with pine, which is a lot cheaper than cypress, but it won’t last as long as the one made with cypress.
The spatulas and sushi roller that came with it were very small. I was wondering why, but then I realized it was for “hand rolls” as you can see in the package. Duh.
On the left: The spatulas and sushi rollers that came with it. On the right: A regular spatula and sushi roller.
I wet the hangiri first, then dumped the freshly cooked rice in it. I cheated and used the sushi rice powder though. (for those who want to make sushi rice from scratch, check out “how to make sushi rice.”)
The rice came out definitely better than the rice mixed in a metal bowl. It’s very easy to mix rice in a shallow big space without crushing rice grains. Also with a regular bowl, even if you wet the bowl, some rice still stick to the bowl. But with the wooden hangiri, the wood absorbs the moisture so the rice won’t stick to it at all.
This really isn’t meant to be a how-to post, but I took some pictures as I made it, so I’m going to post them here.
I put avocado, fake crab meat, and scallion inside this time, but I don’t think there are any rules to what you can put inside. (Sorry for some photos being a bit orangey. We didn’t use the lighting kit we have this time.)
Put sushi rice on the half of seaweed.
Put it upside down on a plastic wrap.
We put avocado, fake crab meat and scallion inside this time.
And roll it!
Take off the plastic cover, and carefully put thinly sliced avocado on top of the roll.
Cover it with a plastic wrap.
And very gently roll it again. (Don't squish the avocado.)
You definitely want to use the sharpest knife you have. I cut it with the plastic cover on so I could hold the roll as I cut it.
After you cut the roll, carefully place them onto a plate just like the Very Hungry Caterpillar.
No special technique involved! Just make a wave with the avocado roll.
And make a small sushi with tuna, make the eyes with egg sheet (see “how to make an egg sheet”) and lettuce, cut seaweed for the mouth, and purple cabbage for antenna. If you don’t have an egg sheet ready, you can also use cheese.
He looks kind of surprised than hungry. Maybe he realized that he's the one that gets eaten this time.
I cut seaweed for his tiny little legs.
This very hungry caterpillar sure makes me hungry.
Even his cute little butt looks tasty.
The avocado we picked was maybe too ripe. Ripe avocado is melty and tasty, but very fragile and starts to change its color rather fast.
I know lemon juice is known to preserve avocado’s color, so maybe I’ll try sprinkle some on avocado next time.
I didn’t really make anything special for this Very Hungry Caterpillar dinner. I just put them in a certain way, and added a couple of things for his face and legs. If you’re feeling super lazy, you can even buy avocado rolls! 
You can use a mini tomato for his face if you aren’t into raw fish. We also made salmon and tuna sushi addition to the Very Hungry Caterpillar. It’s amazing how cheap it is to make sushi at home.
Were we still hungry after eating the hungry caterpillar, dozen pieces of salmon sushi and dozen pieces of tuna sushi? NO. We were stuffed. We actually couldn’t finish them all that night and ate them next day. But we know we can always get hungry for the very hungry caterpillar any day. Especially my boyfriend!
As I mentioned in the beginning, there are some very interesting requests on EpiCute and My Food Looks Funny sites. Maybe I might try making them later!
For more pictures of my bento, visit Bento! set and Bento details! set on my flickr page.
Bento #76: The Lorax
July 10, 2010
Posted by AnnaTheRed in bento blog (all), bento blog - american Tags: Dr. Seuss, the Lorax
13 comments
Have you checked out the results for the Dream Bento Contest at EpiCute and My Food Looks Funny yet?
It wasn’t easy by any means, but it was a lot of fun. I initially picked the Lorax by Dr. Seuss but after I got an extension for the deadline, I decided do the Moomins as well.
I’m usually against taking requests for bento, but that’s because it’s hard to make something that I don’t know too much about. Little details make a huge difference when making kyaraben, and it takes a lot longer than usual to plan and make a bento based on something you aren’t familiar with.
I’ll first do a blog post about the Lorax since it was my first pick.
Bento #76: the Lorax
After I decide to do a bento of the Lorax, I watched a video of the Lorax, gathered reference images, and studied what makes the world of the Lorax “Lorax-like.” His beard, the pile of rocks, Truffula trees, Humming Fish, Swomee Swans, Bar-ba-Loots (which I couldn’t make), the Once-ler’s house, and his green arms.
For the green field, I mixed rice with sea kelp furikake (seasoning), and for the sky, I mixed rice with black sesame seed.
I cut meatballs in half and buried them into the rice for the top of the Truffula tree. I tried making Truffula trees fluffy, but it didn’t really work out, so I used a cutter to cut out cheese and carrot and put it on the meatball. For the pink one, I made a small rice ball and put sakura denbu (sweet pink fish flakes) all over it. Then I cut an egg sheet to make the tree part.
For the bush around the tree, I cut purple cabbage into thin strips, dressed it in vinegar and sesame oil, and left it sit until it softened. Then I put it around the bottom of the tree.
I knew I didn’t have enough meatballs so at the lower part of the bento I cooked asparagus and carrot wrapped it with bacon, and grape tomato with corn.
For the pile of rocks, I carved a potato, fried it, and put it on the rice. It’s the same way I made the body of the Big Daddy from BioShock bento.
I made mashed yam, shaped it like the Lorax and put it above the pile of rocks made with potato. Then I cut an egg sheet for his beard, and used a straw to cut out carrot for his nose.
I made Humming Fish with cheese and Swomee Swans with egg sheet and cheese.
I previously had cut seaweed into the shape of the Once-ler’s house, so I put it on cheese, and cut it around the seaweed. To finish it, I cut fishcake for clouds and everyone’s eyes, put black sesame seeds on, and put pieces of broccoli for the Once-ler’s arms.
The hardest thing about this bento was that there were sooooooo many small pieces of food, which I couldn’t prepare in advance because the cheese would either melt or get hard, and seaweed on any food would get wrinkly.
The story in this bento may not be consistent with the book since I have all Truffula trees, the pile of rocks and Once-ler’s house in the same scene, but this was the best I could do.There are a lot of things I wanted to do better in this bento, but I do like how the Lorax came out.
"I speak for the trees!"
If you’re just making the Lorax, it’s very easy! You just need mashed yam, a tiny piece of carrot, cheese and black sesame seeds. For his beard, you can use cheese instead of egg sheet!
For more pictures of my bento, visit Bento! set and Bento details! set on my flickr page.
Bento #70: Babar
January 27, 2010
Posted by AnnaTheRed in bento blog (all), bento blog - american Tags: Babar
5 comments
I usually sleep in on Saturday morning. When I get up, I watch “qubo.” Qubo is programming for kids. We don’t have cable TV, so there’s not much choice, but I do like a couple of shows that are on qubo on Saturday morning. This one is a favorite of ours.
Bento #70: Babar
Created and eaten on: 1/23/2010
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Bento #67: Keepon
November 17, 2009
Posted by AnnaTheRed in bento blog (all), bento blog - american Tags: BeatBots, Hideki Kozima, Keepon, Marek Michalowski
6 comments
I wrote before how much my boyfriend likes Keepon. He asked me to make Keepon bento many times so I finally gave in.
Bento #67: Keepon
Created and eaten on: 11/9/2009
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bento #65: Where the Wild Things Are #2
October 8, 2009
Posted by AnnaTheRed in bento blog (all), bento blog - american Tags: Maurice Sendak, Where The Wild Things Are
7 comments
I still had Inarizushi skins from when I made the Little Big Planet bento, and I was thinking of how I can use it. I’ve already used them to make Totoro & Neko bus, Laputa robot, and Meat with a bone before, so I wanted to make something different. My friend sent me a link to a wonderful website called “Terrible Yellow Eyes” the other day, and it just made me want to make a bento of them again.
Bento #65: Where the Wild Things Are #2
Created and eaten on: 10/6/2009
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