Bento #72: Setsubun Totoro
February 3, 2010
Posted by AnnaTheRed in bento blog (all), bento blog - ghibli (totoro, etc...) Tags: makkurokurosuke, oni, setsubun, studio ghibli, totoro
2 comments
Today, February 3rd, is the day of Setsubun in Japan. It’s the day to drive away evil spirits, which means to throw roasted soybeans at Oni (evil creature/ogres from Japanese myths). In almost all kindergartens and schools, students make an Oni mask for Setsubun, so that kids can take the mask home, have someone wear it, and throw soybeans at them.
“Roasted soybeans are thrown either out the door or at a member of the family wearing an Oni (demon or ogre) mask, while the throwers chant “Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!”. The words roughly translate to “Demons out! Luck in!” (wikipedia)”… bizarre, isn’t it?
Bento #72: Setsubun Totoro
Created and eaten on: 2/2/2010
First I put sauteed renkon (lotus root) on the bento box and lettuce at the bottom part of the bento box. Then I mixed rice with black sesame seed and using plastic wrap molded it into the shape of Totoro. I molded Totoro’s stomach with a little bit of plain rice also using plastic wrap. (see “how to make Totoro with rice”)
Look out! It's Oni Totoro!
I wanted to use edamame instead of soybeans for this bento, and I also wanted to make Totoro look like he’s eating all the edamame that were thrown at him. I dug a hole in his face, put ham for the inside of his mouth, and made his teeth with kamaboko (fish cake). Then I stuffed edamame inside his mouth.
Totoro looks always hungry.
Classic Japanese Oni have curly hair and horns, and wears tiger striped clothes. So I put broccoli on top of his head and cut carrot for his horns.
Look at his scary horns! He makes one mean Oni.
I wasn’t planning on making tiger striped clothes for him at first but he looked very naked, so at the very end I decided to make an egg sheet with seaweed for the stripes and put it on him .
Who knew Totoro looks good in tiger striped clothes?
I still had a little bit of rice left, so I made Chu-Totoro (medium Totoro) by wrapping a small rice ball with seaweed. I was going to use string beans for his ears, but I realized that there was already too much green in this bento. So I cut the left over egg sheet for his ears.
His eyes are all funky, but I'm glad that I could put him in the bento. (I tend to forget Chu-Totoro when I make Totoro bento)
As usual, I used a hard boiled quail egg to make Chibi-Totoro (mini Totoro). (see “how to make Chibi-Totoro”)
The kamaboko was very moist. =/ As you can see, seaweed quickly started absorbing the moisture.
For meat, I put four homemade frozen meatballs as makkurokurosuke on each corner. I also wrapped asparagus and carrot in the middle with bacon, pinned it with toothpicks, and cooked in a pan. Bacon shrinks and wraps around veggies tightly, so you can take the toothpicks out and it won’t fall apart.
Makkurokurosuke were bigger than usual, but still very yummy.
To fill the empty spaces I put broccoli, the rest of the asparagus, some edamame and snow peas. I felt like it needed more color, so I took out carrot flowers I had made before from the fridge (see “how to freeze carrot flowers”) and sprinkled them around the bento box.
Oni-wa soto! Fuku-wa uchi!
To finish it off I cut kamaboko for their eyes and cut seaweed for Totoro’s whiskers, nose, and eyes.
Although it took a longer than I expected (because I didn’t prepare the night before >_<), it came out pretty okay. I think the frozen carrot flowers really brighten up the bento.
This was my third bento that had Totoro with his mouth open. This one was harder to work on than the other bento because he was smaller than the other two. I don’t know why but I just love Totoro with his mouth open. =D
Oni Totoro:
- rice mixed with ground black sesame seed and salt, plain rice, seaweed, kamaboko, ham, edamame, broccoli and carrot, egg sheet
Chu-Totoro (medium Totoro):
- rice wrapped with seaweed, kamaboko, egg sheet
Chibi-Totoro (mini Totoro):
- quail egg, seaweed, kamaboko
Makkurokurosuke:
- beef meatball, seaweed, kamaboko
Vegetable flowers:
- carrot
- asparagus and carrot wrapped with bacon
Other food:
- rencon
- lettuce
- broccoli
- edamame
- asparagus
- snow peas
For more pictures of my bento, visit Bento! set and Bento details! set on my flickr page.
Bento #69: Nekobus #3
January 19, 2010
Posted by AnnaTheRed in bento blog (all), bento blog - ghibli (totoro, etc...) Tags: makkurokurosuke, nekobus, studio ghibli, totoro
6 comments
Hooray! I finally made the first kyaraben of this year!
I wanted to make it a lot sooner, but I just couldn’t come up with an idea. I thought of making a different/easier bento but I really wanted the first kyaraben to be “new year themed.” I was worried about not finishing it on time since I was so out of touch, so I made it on our day-off. 
Bento #69: Neko bus #3
Created and eaten on: 1/18/2010
After I sauteed renkon (lotus root) and put it in the bento box, I started making kadomatsu. In Japan, they display a kadomatsu for new year. “A kadomatsu (”gate pine”) is a traditional Japanese decoration of the New Year placed in pairs in front of homes supposedly to welcome ancestral spirits or kami of the harvest.” (from wikipedia) It looks like three pieces of bamboo stuck on a big pot with some pine. I cut string beans like bamboo and used chikuwa, a tube-like fish cake, to wrap around it as the bottom part of kadomatsu. Chikuwa was a bit small for three string beans, so I cut the back of chikuwa for three string beans to fit. I used the pink part of kamaboko and wrapped around chikuwa.
Looks kind of like bamboo, doesn't it?
Pine and plums are also believed to bring good luck and often used on new year’s cards. So I carved a carrot in the shape of plum and boiled it together with asparagus. Then I wrapped them with thinly sliced pork and cooked it. (Three green round shapes side-ways with the middle one sticking out a little bit higher than the other two symbolizes the classic shape of pine.)
Actually, carving carrot wasn't that hard.
For the Nekobus, I mixed rice with ketchup and molded the rice using plastic wrap, put cheese on its stomach, and placed it on lettuce.
Now that I look at this Nekobus, he is very simplified.
I made Totoro using rice with ground black sesame seed and a bit of salt with salmon flakes inside, and molded him with plastic wrap. (see “how to make Totoro with rice”)I made chibi-Totoro with a quail egg, kamaboko and black sesame seeds. (see “how to make chibi-Totoro”)
Oh good ol' Totoro. I've missed you~.
I had frozen meatballs I had made previously, so I put them in the bento, sliced kamaboko and cut out makkurokurosuke’s eyes with a round plastic cap.
Makkurokurosuke are more curious this year.
After everything was in place, I put broccoli, snowpeas and asparagus to fill some spaces between the food. I cut seaweed and cheese for Neko Bus’ eyes and mouth. Lastly I also cut out seaweed for Makkurokurosuke’s eyes and Totoro’s face.
Nekobus says "Happy New Year!"
If I had a little more time, I would’ve definitely made it with Neko bus’ mouth open… This new year’s bento made me realize that I’m soooo out of touch, and I need to keep making bento and practice more! Yes, that’s definitely one of my new year’s resolutions!
Well, happy new year (again) everyone!
Neko bus:
- rice mixed with ketchup, cheese, carrot, kamaboko, seaweed
Totoro:
- rice mixed with ground black sesame seed with salmon flakes inside, kamaboko, seaweed
Chibi-Totoro:
- quail egg, kamaboko, black sesame seed
Makkurokurosuke:
- meatballs, kamaboko, seaweed
Kadomatsu:
- string beans, chikuwa, kamaboko
Pine:
- asparagus wrapped with thinly sliced pork
Plum:
- plum wrapped with thinly sliced pork
Other food:
- renkon
- snowpeas
For more pictures of my bento, visit Bento! set and Bento details! set on my flickr page.
non-bento #21: kagami-”onigiri” Totoro
January 7, 2010
Posted by AnnaTheRed in bento blog (all), bento blog - ghibli (totoro, etc...), bento blog - non bento Tags: rice ball, studio ghibli, totoro
3 comments
For those who have missed my previous post… Kagami-mochi is a decoration for the New Year in Japan. It’s made with 2~3 round rice cakes stacked on top of each other. Traditionally, you break it and eat it on the second Saturday or Sunday of January. I wanted to make some easy non-bento food on January 1st. It was really nothing special but I thought I’d just post some more pictures of this anyway.
Non-bento #21: Kagami-”onigiri” Totoro
Created and eaten on: 1/1/2010
W hen we’re home on weekend or on a vacation my boyfriend and I usually make rice balls with cod roe inside for brunch, so I decided to make Totoro rice balls. But when I was preparing the rice balls, the kagami-mochi in the kitchen gave me this idea.
First I made a big rice ball with cod roe inside for Totoro. I usually mix rice with ground black sesame seeds to make gray colored rice, but this time I tried sprinkling ground black sesame seed on top of rice. I cut and held a piece of paper over his stomach for the white part of his belly. It came out too spotty and dark though. I think I prefer mixing rice and black sesame seed. I cut seaweed for his eyes, nose and whiskers.
I wanted to make them look sleeping, but black sesame seed was so dark that you can't really see Totoro's eyes. T_T
For the chu-Totoro, I made a smaller rice ball with cod roe inside. Just like Totoro, I cut and held a piece of paper on over his stomach for the white part of his belly, and sprinkled seaweed powder. I cut seaweed for his eyes, nose, whiskers, the pattern on his stomach, and his ears with dried kelp.
The best way to spend a new year. Sleeping in!
I boiled a quail egg and made the chibi-Totoro, and made eyes with kamaboko (fish cake) and sesame seed. (see “how to make chibi-Totoro”)
I think chibi-Totoro is too excited to sleep in with all that snow ouside.
2010 has already started! Hopefully, I can get back to bento-ing after a loooong hiatus!
Totoro:
- rice with cod roe inside, black sesame seed, seaweed
Chu-Totoro:
- rice with cod roe inside, black sesame seed, seaweed, dried kelp
Chibi-Totoro:
- quail egg, kamaboko, black sesame seed
For more pictures of my bento, visit Bento! set and Bento details! set on my flickr page.
bento #65: Where the Wild Things Are #2
October 8, 2009
Posted by AnnaTheRed in bento blog (all), bento blog - ghibli (totoro, etc...) 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
Terrible Yellow Eyes is a collection of amazing art works inspired by Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. If you’re a Sendak fan, you MUST take a look at the site, this site is absolutely brilliant!
I’ve made a Where the Wild Things Are bento around the end of last year. It was two-sided bento so my boyfriend ate the right side, and I ate the left side. Making the body of the Wild Things was very time consuming and hard… So this time I decided to make just the head.
Inarizushi is usually seen with the rice side down, but it’s actually easier to eat with the rice side up. I’ve seen people put shredded egg sheet, ginger, etc… to decorate the rice part, so I decided to make it into a face.
First I put lettuce around the edge of bento box, and put fried chicken at the bottom. I stuffed rice into the Inarizushi skin for Moishe, Max, and Tzippy, and put them rice side up in the bento box. I cut ham with a round bottle cap (I think it was from a hair mousse can) and put it on the rice of each Inarizushi. For their noses I used a straw to cut out ham.
... and Max said "I'LL EAT YOU UP!"
Moishe
For Tzippy’s hair I cooked a little bit of pasta, mixed the half of the pasta with ketchup, and filled around the top half of her head with it.
Tzippy
For Aaron, I stuffed rice in another Inarizushi skin, put it rice side down in the bento box, and I used the rest of pasta to make his hair.
Aaron
Inarizushi skin is pretty sweet, so I made Bernard with plain rice mixed with black sesame seed and a bit of salt. I wanted to make this as simple as possible, so I just made a small rice ball, and put an even smaller rice ball on top for his mouth.
Bernard (and yes, I forgot to put ears on him T_T)
In my first Wild Thing bento, I made Emil (the bird) with mashed potato with cheese on top. But I wanted every wild thing to have a similar shape this time, so I made mashed potato with yam, wrapped it in plastic wrap to make a small ball, and dropped it the bento box. To make his beak I sliced a carrot and cut out using a round plastic bottle cap. Because yam is mushy, I could just stick it in and it stayed! This worked out a lot better than I thought.
Emil
I filled the empty spaces with broccoli, asparagus and snowpeas. I sliced daikon (Asian radish) and cut it to make the ears for Max’s wolf suit, the horns for Moishe, Aaron and Bernard, and the feathers for Emil.
I could've used kamaboko (fish cake) but it was very frozen, so I used radish instead.
For their terrible yellow eyes, I cut out cheese with a small plastic bottle cap (trimmed them for Tzippy and Bernard) and put them on their faces. I also cut the cheese for Max’s crown.
"...and made him king of all wild things."
Finally the seaweed part. When seaweed absorbs moisture, it wrinkles up fast. So I usually put seaweed on at the very end. I used a hole punch to cut out seaweed for their eyes. For their mouths I used a seaweed cutter. Thanks goodness I had the cutter. 
I cut seaweed into small strips for Max’s whiskers and Moishe’s hair. Looks like he’s lost a lot of hair and has some bald spots… I ran out of time!! I could’ve cut the seaweed the night before, but then again, I’m lazy. My “I can easily do this in the morning” mentality always comes back to haunt me.
Poor bald Moishe... 
You can see the seaweed is already curling up. >_<
Aside from bald spots on Moishe, Bernard’s missing ears this was very easy & simple & fun bento. It gave me some ideas for how-tos I’ll do later. 
Max:
- inarizushi
- rice
- ham
- cheese
- seaweed
- radish
Moishe:
- inarizushi
- rice
- ham
- cheese
- seaweed
- radish
Tzippy:
- inarizushi
- rice
- ham
- cheese
- seaweed
- pasta
Aaron:
- inarizushi
- rice
- ham
- cheese
- seaweed
- radish
Bernard:
- rice mixed with black sesame seed and salt
- cheese
- seaweed
- radish
Emil:
- yam
- cheese
- seaweed
- radish
- carrot
Other food:
- chicken
- lettuce
- asparagus
- broccoli
For more pictures of my bento, visit Bento! set and Bento details! set on my flickr page.
bento #64: Gardening Mama
October 7, 2009
Posted by AnnaTheRed in bento blog (all), bento blog - ghibli (totoro, etc...) Tags: DS game, gardening mama
7 comments
As a big fan of Cooking Mama, I couldn’t resist making this bento after getting Mama’s new game.
Bento #63: Gardening Mama
Created and eaten on: 10/3/2009
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bento #63: Little Big Planet
October 1, 2009
Posted by AnnaTheRed in bento blog (all), bento blog - ghibli (totoro, etc...) Tags: Little Big Planet, Media Molecule, Sackboy
5 comments
The price of the PS3 went down about a month ago, and Dell.com was having a sale so my boyfriend finally caved and bought a PS3 slim! There aren’t that many PS3 games we wanted to play but we were going to buy it eventually. Besides, in the mean time we can use it as a blu-ray player. (My latop also plays blu-ray and has HDMI, but it’s a pain to hook it up to the TV) Other day, my boyfriend finally got a game.
Bento #62: Little Big Planet (LBP)
Created and eaten on: 9/30/2009
EDIT: Oh snap! Media Molecule (the company that made Little Big Planet) already posted my bento on their blog!
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bento #62: Ponyo
September 16, 2009
Posted by AnnaTheRed in bento blog (all), bento blog - ghibli (totoro, etc...) Tags: ponyo, studio ghibli
10 comments
We finally watched “Ponyo on the Cliff.” I’m not going to review the movie, but I didn’t feel the same excitement as when I watched Totoro or Laputa or Nausicaa.
Since I make a lot of Studio Ghibli themed bento, I actually received a couple of emails requesting me to make Ponyo bento. But I can’t make something that I haven’t watched. So after watching Ponyo, I finally got to make one.
Bento #62: Ponyo bento
Created and eaten on: 9/14/2009
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bento #61: Summer Totoro
September 11, 2009
Posted by AnnaTheRed in bento blog (all), bento blog - ghibli (totoro, etc...) Tags: makkurokurosuke, mini-totoro, totoro, watermelon
6 comments
I made kyaraben the day I left for PAX. It had been awhile since the last time I made one… but the weather was getting no so summery, and I wanted to make something before the summer was over.
Bento #61: Summer Totoro
Created and eaten on: 9/3/2009
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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
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bento #56: Moving day Totoro
July 2, 2009
Posted by AnnaTheRed in bento blog (all), bento blog - ghibli (totoro, etc...) Tags: makkurokurosuke, mini-totoro, mushroom, studio ghibli, totoro
10 comments
Like I mentioned in my previous blog post, my company has been in the process of moving for the past week, and because of this we had July 1st off. I knew I wouldn’t be able to make bento until next week, so I decided to try making a “stay-home” bento. When I decided to make a bento to eat at home, I realized something. “I don’t have to close the lid of the bento box!”
Bento #56: Moving day Totoro
Created and eaten on: 7/1/2009
