How to make Slime Marshmallows
December 20, 2009
Posted by AnnaTheRed in how-to (all), how-to - characters (Ghibli, video game, Wall-E) Tags: Dragon Quest, marshmallow, Slime
4 comments
My company does a potluck for its Christmas party. It’s fun that you get to taste the dishes cooked by people you know. This year, one of my friends/graphic designer at the company decided to make a recipe book of everyone’s potluck food. I thought of making Totoro cream puffs, Domo-kun chocolate covered marshmallows, but I wanted to make new kyara-sweets. (Kyara-sweets mean “Character themed sweets.”)
Even though I don’t eat sweet stuff that much, I always wanted to make marshmallows. I was going to make some elaborate marshmallows, but since I had to make at least dozens of them I had to pick a simpler character. As I was looking through recipes, the one that looks like Hershey’s kisses reminded me of Slimes from Dragon Quest. (”Dragon Warrior” in English) So I decided to make Slimes! NOTE: Sorry for the quality of the pictures for the How-to. I shot them myself since I made this when my boyfriend wasn’t home. >_<
Slime Marshmallows (makes about 30~ Hershey’s kisses size marshmallow)
Gelatin – 1 TBS
Water – 1/4 cup
Egg white – 1
Sugar A – 1/2 TBS
Sugar B – 1 cup
Vanilla essence – about 2 drops
Corn starch – enough to dust a pan and marshmallows
Food coloring (For “slime” marshmallow)
White and red icing (For “slime” marshmallow)
Brown decorating gel/chocolate (For “slime” marshmallow)
*If you’re making regular marshmallows by pouring the mixture into a tupperware or pan, you can double the measurement, but I won’t recommend doing it for the slime marshmallows. Gelatin hardens pretty fast, and if you have more mixture than what the recipe says, it’ll get hard before you can squeeze it all out. I learned this the hard way…
Prep:
- Separate egg white from egg yolk, and bring the egg white to room temperature. (let it sit for 20-30 minutes)
- Put cooking sheet (parchment paper/wax paper) on a pan, dust it well with corn starch
- Put water into a large microwavable bowl, add gelatin and leave it for about 15 minutes.
*Use a large bowl for gelatin. Gelatin will get really bubbly while being microwaved and it can boil over.
*Make sure you put the gelatin into the water, do not pour water over the gelatin.
1. Put the egg white into a dry bowl and beat it until it gets fluffy.
Make sure the bowl is dry.
2. Add “sugar A” (1/2 TBS) to the egg white and continue beating until it holds a stiff peak.
Sugar will make the egg white shiny and harder.
3. Microwave the bowl of gelatin uncovered for 45 seconds.
4. Add “sugar B” (1 cup) to the gelatin in the bowl (you don’t need to mix it), and microwave it uncovered for a minute and a half.
Make sure you use a large bowl.
5. Slowly add the hot gelatin mixture into the egg white, and whip it until it’s mixed.
Do it quickly gelatin starts getting hard.
6. Add vanilla essence and 2-3 drops of food coloring. (If you want, you can also add 1 and 1/2 TBS of jam, or 1 TBS of diluted coffee or cocoa while you’re mixing instead of food coloring.)
Do it quickly before gelatin starts getting hard.
7. Put the mixture into a pastry bag and squeeze it out on the pan dusted with corn starch. Put the pan into the fridge for 20-30 minutes.
The mixture might be a little too loose to form this shape at first, but just keep testing by squeezing it out a little bit at a time. Once the mixture is hard enough, don't waste your time and squeeze it out as fast as you can!
*You can also just use a well dusted pan or tupperware for making marshmallows. You just pour the mixture in and put it in the fridge. Remove it from the container, and cut it up with a knife or use various cookie cutters to cut out marshmallows.
7. When the marshmallows harden, dust them lightly with corn starch.
Dust them well otherwise they'll stick together.
8. Dust off excess corn starch very well. (I used a brush.) If there’s excess starch on the slime, the icing will not stick.
9. Squeeze 2 dots of white icing onto the slime face. Then gently push the icing on the face with a wet finger to flatten it.
Dust the marshmallows very well. If the marshmallow is too dusty, icing won't stick.
10. Squeeze red icing for its mouth onto the slime face. Then push the icing on the face with a wet finger to flatten it.
Slimes smile : )
11. Squeeze brown decorating gel or apply melted chocolate with a toothpick on the white icing. I used gel because I didn’t have time to melt chocolate, but if you have time use chocolate instead. (Gel will not get hard.)
BLUE SLIMES HAVE APPEARED! COMMAND?
- FIGHT
- SPELL
- RUN
- ITEM
- EAT!!
Homemade marshmallows are definitely softer and they will melt in your mouth. I’m sure it’ll be so good in hot cocoa, but I haven’t tried it yet. Just like I mentioned in the beginning, you can just pour the mixture into a well dusted pan or tupperwear after step 6. When you use cookie cutters, make sure you dust the cutters with corn starch. It’ll make it easier to cut the marshmallows. I think I’ll use the Rabbid cutter next time, or maybe make a Totoro cutter. : )
How to make Slime marshmallows on my flickr.
For more pictures of my bento, visit Bento! set and Bento details! set on my flickr page.
If you have any questions about any of my how-to’s, please feel free to leave a comment or email me!
Momofuku’s Bossam
December 16, 2009
Posted by AnnaTheRed in how-to (all), how-to - fundamentals Tags: bossam, hungry nation, Momofuku
4 comments
Christmas is coming! So I decided to do a post about what I did for Thanksgiving before it’s way too late. 
Since I couldn’t get in touch with my cat sitter this Thanksgiving I stayed at home while my boyfriend was back home in Boston. One night I couldn’t sleep so I was watching non-stop NY at around 4 in the morning. (I don’t have cable) And a program called Hungry Nation came on. One of the segments on Hungry Nation is called “Working class foodies.” It’s about two siblings cooking affordable yummy food. On that particular episode, they were making “Working class Momofuku – Bossam.”
It made me droll, and I had to make it. (sorry for the poor picture quality. I shot them.)
I burned it a little bit, but it was still so moist inside!
The written recipe is here.
I like the Jalapeno sauce. It’s a great substitute for ssamjang sauce (the sauce used for bossam) if you can’t get the real ssamjang sauce. The ginger and scallion sauce was a bit too oily for my taste. Maybe because I used cheap vegetable oil. I added a bit of sesame oil to remove the overwhelming oily flavor, and I basically just scooped the scallion and put it on my pork. I cheated and used sushi powder to make sushi rice though.
I got an 8lbs pork shoulder for about $9. My boyfriend and I ate it like regular bossam couple of times, and ate it with ramen (just like they did in the video) a couple of times, and there was still a LOT of it left!
Ramen with bossam, poached egg, scallion and seaweed
After we had the bossam ramen the first night, I remembered that I had special ramen bowls my friend gave us... so we had to eat bossam ramen again with the bowls. (sounds like a good excuse, right?)
Just out of curiosity, I made a roll with it. Seaweed, sushi rice (seasoned with vinegar and sugar), lettuce, pork, scallion and left over Jalapeno sauce. I ate it with soy sauce and wasabi like a regular roll and it was pretty good!
I used pretty much the same ingredients I used for the bossam.
For two people this pork shoulder lasted a little more than a week. We didn’t really try to eat it for every meal though, actually. If you keep it in an air tight container, it’ll stay soft when you heat it up.
And now, for those who aren’t turned off by the idea of eating pork skin, read on. If you are, stop reading here…
As you can see it in the video, if you buy a pork shoulder with skin, you’re going to have to remove a lot of skin. I could only find pork shoulder with skin, and it seemed like a lot of waste to just throw it away. Besides, pork skin contains a lot of natural collagen, and it’s considered a beauty food in Japan. A couple of minutes of googling in Japanese, I found a recipe. There are some Asian ingredients, but you’ll probably be able to find them at an Asian food section in a super market like Whole Foods.
Soft pork skin
- pork skin (left over from the 8 lbs pork shoulder)
- 1/4 of a leek
- ginger (about half of a thumb), sliced
- 7 TBS (approx. 100ml) soy sauce
- 7 TBS (100ml) mirin (Japanese sweet rice wine) OR sherry
- 7/8 cups (200ml) konbu dashi (stock made with dried kelp)
- 1 tbs of sugar
- 5 TS (25ml) cooking sake OR cooking wine
*the original recipe had twice as much as ingredients, but after I cooked it, I realized that the half of it should do just fine.
All you have to do is cut up skin into smaller pieces, and boil it with all the ingredients in low heat for 30 minutes.
That’s it! The hard pork skin will become very soft. The soup is just to season the pork skin, so you don’t actually eat it, but if you aren’t eating the pork skin right away, put both the pork and the soup into a tupperware and keep it in the fridge.
If you put it in the fridge, the pork fat will harden on the top, and the whole soup will be very jelly but don’t worry, that’s how it’s supposed to be. You can just take pork skin out, heat it up and eat or use it.
You can eat the pork as is. It’s a bit salty by itself, it’s more like a side dish than a main dish. But you can also make it into a main dish cooking the pork skin with other food.
Stir fry vegetable with soft pork skin
- ginger (about half of a thumb), chopped
- *2 red hot chili pepper without seed, chopped *only if you want it spicy
- *1 and 1/2 TS of Tobanjan (hot bean paste) *only if you want it spicy
- various veggies (I used left over leeks, carrot, shiitake, snow pea)
- 4 TS (20ml) cooking sake or white wine
- 2 TS of oyster sauce
- 1 TS of soy sauce
1. Heat up oil, and put ginger and *hot chili pepper
2. When ginger begins to smell nice, put *tobanjan
3. Put vegetables in and stir fry.
4. Put pork skin in and mix it well with vegetables.
5. Pour cooking sake in, and let the alcohol evaporate.
6. Put oyster sauce and soy sauce mix it well.
*Only if you like spicy
Soft pork skin and stir-fried vegetables
I think baby corn and water chestnuts will also go well with this dish. You can just throw the pork skin into pretty much any stir fried vegetables.
Make sure you visit “Hungry Nation: Real people. Real food.” for more affordable & easy & delicious food!
How to make Max
October 17, 2009
Posted by AnnaTheRed in how-to (all), how-to - characters (Ghibli, video game, Wall-E) Tags: Maurice Sendak, Where The Wild Things Are
4 comments
[How to make Max] (without the crown)
- rice
- ham (or bologna, turkey, etc…)
- sliced cheddar cheese
- seaweed
– cupcake cup (I used foil cupcake cups, but if you need to microwave your food, use a paper cupcake cup instead. I’ve tried it, and the paper cup handled the moisture pretty well.)
– hole punch
– straw
– scissors
1. Make a rice ball and put it in the cupcake cup. (You can put stuff inside the rice ball if you want.)
2. Cut ham with a plastic cap (I used a cap from a can of hair mousse), and put it on the rice.
3. Use a straw to cut ham for his nose.
4. Slice radish (or sliced cheese, or kamaboko, or hard boiled egg white), and cut triangles for his ears.
I trimmed the top part of ham, but it's not necessary.
5. Cut strips of seaweed and for his hair and whiskers.
6-A. If you have a seaweed cutter for a smiling face like I do, use it to cut out seaweed.
Tips: If you put very thin paper under seaweed, it's easier to cut the seaweed out.
6-B. If you don’t have a special seaweed cutter, cut it freehand with scissors, an cut seaweed out with a hole punch, and put it for the eyes.
6-C. If you want to make smiling Max (like the one in the picture) use a hole punch to make a hole in the seaweed, then slide the punch a little bit and punched it again to make ” C ” shaped seaweed.
You can use the top " c " part or just the round part.
...his mother called him "WILD THING!"
*You can cut sliced cheddar cheese to add crown you if you want to make “Max the king of the wild things.”
For more pictures of my bento, visit Bento! set and Bento details! set on my flickr page.
If you have any questions about any of my how-to’s, please feel free to leave a comment or email me!
How to make Moishe
October 16, 2009
Posted by AnnaTheRed in how-to (all), how-to - characters (Ghibli, video game, Wall-E) Tags: Maurice Sendak, Where The Wild Things Are
1 comment so far
[How to make Moishe]
- rice
- ham (or bologna, turkey, etc…)
- sliced cheddar cheese
- seaweed
– cupcake cup (I used foil cupcake cups, but if you need to microwave your food, use a paper cupcake cup instead. I’ve tried it, and the paper cup handled the moisture pretty well.)
– hole punch
– straw
– scissors
1. Make a rice ball and put it in the cupcake cup. (You can put stuff inside the rice ball if you want.)
2. Cut ham with a plastic cap (I used a cap from a can of hair mousse), and put it on the rice.
3. Use a straw to cut ham for his nose.
4. Slice radish (or sliced cheese, or kamaboko, or hard boiled egg white), and use a plastic bottle cap to cut out a “C” shape for the horn. Stick it on the head.
5. Cut sliced cheddar cheese with a plastic cap or biｇ straw (I used a straw for bubble tea) for his terrible yellow eyes.
6-A.If you have a seaweed cutter for a smiling face like I do, use it to cut out seaweed.
6-B. If you don’t have a special seaweed cutter, cut it freehand with scissors, cut seaweed out with a hole punch, and put it for the eyes.
7. Cut strips of seaweed and fill it around the ham.
"...and Max said "I'LL EAT YOU UP!!"
This is something I came up with while making Moishe. I know that some people might not like seaweed that much, so I made a veggie version of Moishe.
"...and Max said "I'LL EAT YOU UP!!"
[Mashed potato and broccoli Moishe]
You put potato salad in the cup, put ham on top and surround it with boiled broccoli. Not sure if kids love it, but hey it’s a wild thing! (strange I never hated any veggies when I was little)
How to make Moishe on my flickr
For more pictures of my bento, visit Bento! set and Bento details! set on my flickr page.
If you have any questions about any of my how-to’s, please feel free to leave a comment or email me!
How to make Bernard
October 15, 2009
Posted by AnnaTheRed in how-to (all), how-to - characters (Ghibli, video game, Wall-E) Tags: Maurice Sendak, Where The Wild Things Are
1 comment so far
[How to make Bernard from Where the Wild Things Are]
- rice
- black sesame seed
- seaweed
- sliced cheese
- radish or white-ish sliced cheese or kamaboko (fish cake), or even left over hard boiled egg white from mashed potato. In other words, you can use any white food!
– cupcake cup (I used foil cupcake cups, but if you need to microwave your food, use a paper cupcake cup instead. I’ve tried it, and the paper cup handled the moisture pretty well.)
– hole punch
– straw
– scissors
– round plastic cap
1. Put plain rice in a bowl, and mix it with black sesame seed (I used ground sesame seed but non-grounded sesame seeds are also fine)
2. Make a small rice ball, and put it in a cupcake cup.
3. Make a smaller rice ball, and put it on top of the rice ball.
4. Slice radish (or sliced cheese, or kamaboko, or hard boiled egg whites), and use a plastic bottle cap to cut out “C” shape for the horn. Stick it on his head.
5. Cut sliced cheddar cheese with a plastic cap or biｇ straw (I used a bubble tea straw) for his terrible yellow eyes, and cut the top part off. If you don’t have any plastic cap to cut cheese, you can just use a spoon to trim it.
If you don't have any plastic cap to cut cheese, you can just use a spoon to trim it.
6. Cut seaweed into ” V ” and ” l ” shape with scissors. Also cut seaweed into a round shape and cut it in half for his ears. (forgot to take pictures >_<)
7. If you have a seaweed cutter for a smiling face like I do, use it to cut out seaweed.
Tips: If you put very thin paper under seaweed, it's easier to cut the seaweed out.
7. If you don’t have a special seaweed cutter, cut it freehand with scissors, an cut seaweed out with a hole punch, and put it for the eyes.
...and Max said "I'LL EAT YOU UP!!"
*For step 7, if you don’t have access to seaweed, you can use black sesame seeds for the pupils.
How to make Bernard on my flickr
For more pictures of my bento, visit Bento! set and Bento details! set on my flickr page.
If you have any questions about any of my how-to’s, please feel free to leave a comment or email me!
How to make Emil
October 15, 2009
Posted by AnnaTheRed in how-to (all), how-to - characters (Ghibli, video game, Wall-E) Tags: Maurice Sendak, Where The Wild Things Are
add a comment
[How to make Emil from Where the Wild Things Are]
- mashed yam
- seaweed
- sliced cheese
- radish or white-ish sliced cheese or kamaboko (fish cake), or even left over hard boiled egg white from mashed potato. In other words, you can use any white food!
– cupcake cup (I used foil cupcake cups, but if you need to microwave your food, use paper cupcake cup instead. I’ve tried it, and the paper cup handled the moisture pretty well.)
– hole punch
– straw
– round plastic cap
1. Make mashed potato with yam! (Mash boiled yam with butter)
2. Wrap it with plastic wrap, make a small ball, and put it in the cupcake cup.
3. This isn’t necessary, but you can use a fork to make wavy lines on the yam to make it look like feathers.
4. Slice radish (or sliced cheese, or kamaboko, or hard boiled egg whites), and use a plastic bottle cap to cut out “C” shape for the horn. Stick it on his head.
5. Slice carrot and use a plastic bottle cap to cut out “O” shape and cut it in half for the beak. Stick it on his face.
6. Cut sliced cheddar cheese with a plastic cap or biｇ straw (I used a bubble tea straw) for his terrible yellow eyes. And cut out a bigger circle on sliced American cheese.
If you don't have any plastic cap to cut cheese, you can just use a spoon to trim it.
7. Cut seaweed out with a hole punch and put it for the eyes.
...and Max said "I'LL EAT YOU UP!!"
For more pictures of my bento, visit Bento! set and Bento details! set on my flickr page.
If you have any questions about any of my how-to’s, please feel free to leave a comment or email me!
How to make Tzippy
October 14, 2009
Posted by AnnaTheRed in how-to (all), how-to - characters (Ghibli, video game, Wall-E) Tags: Maurice Sendak, Where The Wild Things Are
1 comment so far
[How to make Tzippy]
- spaghetti
- ketchup (or tomato sauce)
- ham (or bologna, turkey, etc…)
- sliced cheddar cheese
- seaweed
– cupcake cup (I used foil cupcake cups, but if you need to microwave your food, use a paper cupcake cup instead. I’ve tried it, and the paper cup handled the moisture pretty well.)
– hole punch
– straw
– scissors
– round plastic cap
1. Make some spaghetti!
2. Mix it with ketchup. (or tomato sauce if you prefer)
3. Take some pasta and put it in a cupcake cup.
Tips: Stick a spoon in the pasta, put a fork on the spoon, and slowly spin the fork to get the pasta around the fork. Put the spoon & pasta & fork into the cup, slide the spoon out, then remove the fork.
4. Cut ham with a plastic cap (I used a cap from a can of hair mousse), and put it on the pasta.
5. Use a straw to cut ham for her nose.
6. Cut sliced cheddar cheese with a plastic cap or biｇ straw (I used a straw for bubble tea) for her terrible yellow eyes, and cut the top part off.
If you don't have any plastic caps to cut cheese, you can just use a spoon to trim it.
7-A. If you have a seaweed cutter for a smiling face like I do, use it to cut out seaweed.
Tips: If you put very thin paper under seaweed, it's easier to cut the seaweed out.
7-B. If you don’t have a special seaweed cutter, cut it freehand with scissors, cut seaweed out with a hole punch, and put it for the eyes.
...and Max said "I'LL EAT YOU UP!!"
*For step 7, if you don’t have access to seaweed, you can use black sesame seeds for the pupils, and a strand of pasta for her mouth.
How to make Tzippy on my flickr
For more pictures of my bento, visit Bento! set and Bento details! set on my flickr page.
If you have any questions about any of my how-to’s, please feel free to leave a comment or email me!
How to make Aaron
October 14, 2009
Posted by AnnaTheRed in how-to (all), how-to - characters (Ghibli, video game, Wall-E) Tags: Maurice Sendak, Where The Wild Things Are
add a comment
[How to make Aaron]
- spaghetti
- mashed potato
*- egg yolk
- sliced cheddar cheese
- seaweed
- radish or white-ish sliced cheese or kamaboko (fish cake), or even left over hard boiled egg white from mashed potato. In other words, you can use any white food!
– cupcake cup (I used foil cupcake cups, but if you need to microwave your food, use paper cupcake cup instead. I’ve tried it, and the paper cup handled the moisture pretty well.)
– hole punch
– straw
– scissors
– round plastic cap
*optional
1. Make some spaghetti! (You can mix the pasta with your favorite salad dressing if you like.)
2. Take some pasta and put it in a cupcake cup.
Tips: Stick a spoon in the pasta, put a fork on the spoon, and slowly spin the fork to get the pasta on around the fork. Put the spoon & pasta & fork into the cup, slide the spoon out, and then remove the fork. It'll be less messy.
3. Make mashed potato and mix it egg yolk. (Egg yolk is just to make his face yellow, so if you don’t like egg, you don’t have to mix it in.)
4. Wrap it in plastic wrap, make an oval shape, and put it on the pasta.
5. Slice radish (or sliced cheese, or kamaboko, or hard boiled egg white), and use a plastic bottle cap to cut out a “C” shape for the horn. Stick it on the head.
6. Cut sliced cheddar cheese with a plastic cap or biｇ straw (I used a bubble tea straw) for his terrible yellow eyes.
If you don't have any plastic caps to cut cheese, you can just use a spoon to trim it.
7. If you have a seaweed cutter for a smiling face like I do, use it to cut out seaweed.
Tips: If you put very thin paper under seaweed, it's easier to cut the seaweed out.
7. If you don’t have a special seaweed cutter, cut it freehand with scissors, an cut seaweed out with a hole punch, and put it for the eyes.
...and Max said "I'LL EAT YOU UP!!"
*For step 7, if you don’t have access to seaweed, you can use black sesame seeds for the pupils.
How to make Aaron on my flickr
For more pictures of my bento, visit Bento! set and Bento details! set on my flickr page.
If you have any questions about any of my how-to’s, please feel free to leave a comment or email me!
How to make Ponyo’s sisters
September 28, 2009
Posted by AnnaTheRed in how-to (all), how-to - characters (Ghibli, video game, Wall-E) Tags: ponyo, studio ghibli
6 comments
When I made the “Ponyo bento” I made bunch of Ponyo’s sisters. It was very easy, and you can make it with only four ingredients, so I thought I’d share it with you!
[How to make Ponyo sisters]
- Ham!
- Grape tomatoes (of course, you can use regular cherry tomato, but where I live, grape tomatoes are a LOT cheaper, and for Ponyo’s sister, it looks kind of better than regular cherry tomato.)
- Sliced cheddar cheese
- Black sesame seed
– Tweezers (not necessary but it’s super useful)
Click to continue reading "How to make Ponyo’s sisters"
How to make sheep rice ball
August 13, 2009
Posted by AnnaTheRed in how-to (all), how-to - characters (Ghibli, video game, Wall-E) Tags: farm bento, onigiri, rice ball, sheep
11 comments
My day job, an online card game Alteil did a HUGE system update for the game about a week ago. So I’ve been online, writing emails, checking for bugs, chatting with the Japanese developers (Alteil is originally a Japanese game, my company brought it over to the U.S.) days and nights… and I just couldn’t make the time to update my blog. T_T
Anyway, I still wanted to do a how-to on something simple, so I was looking at my old bento, and decided to do this one. This is something I made for my only original bento “Farm bento.” It’s sooo easy and you don’t need too many ingredients, and with right tools, it’s even easier!
I made this bento a long time ago. The sheep are on the left side.
[How to make sheep rice ball]
- sticky rice (Any regular Japanese or Korean rice is “sticky rice”)
- ham (or cheddar cheese)
- seaweed
- *cheese
- *anything you want to put in the rice ball
– *hole punch
*optional
