non-bento #22: Laputa robot fossil toast
February 9, 2010
Posted by AnnaTheRed in bento blog (all), bento blog - non bento Tags: Laputa robot, studio ghibli
6 comments
Just like any other kyaraben/bento makers, I have some Japanese kyaraben sites bookmarked. I don’t check those sites too often, but I saw a great idea on this one site the other day and I had to try it for myself.
Non-bento #22: Laputa robot fossil toast
Created and eaten on: 1/24/2010
The site owner, Chibubu-san, makes cute yet delicious kyaraben with very simple ingredients. The site is in Japanese (she has a translating tool on the right top corner), but there are many pictures on the site so I don’t think you need detailed instructions.
Chibubu-san’s E-Obento site ->http://www.e-obento.com
This one was called “fossil toast.” You put a slice of cheese on top of a piece of toast, and cut sausage to make bone structures of something. When you toast it, the cheese around the sausage will melt and it makes it look like a fossil! When I saw the page, it reminded me of Laputa robot in the very first scene when Sheeta sees Laputa robot in Muska’s fortress.
Not much to explain for this one. I just cut up sausage for the robot, placed it on the cheese, and put it in the toaster. This one isn’t complicated but is more about how patient and anal you are.
I made a mistake by not bringing the sliced cheese to the room temperature before toasting. It didn’t melt the way I wanted on the first try… So I lowered the heat, put it back in the toaster and waited for a bit. And the cheese finally started to bubble!
I realized it later that one of his breast plates had fallen off... But I think it made it look more like a real fossil. 
Of course, the thinly sliced wheat bread got burned around the edge… but my boyfriend said that it was just crispier than the other part.
Aside from the little burning, I was pretty happy that it really did look like Laputa robot fossil!
After we took pictures of regular fossil Laputa robot toast, I sprinkled powdered seaweed so that it’d look like he was covered with moss.
If you’re using a single slice of cheese like I did, you might find it hard to cut a sausage into small pieces, but you can definitely use a bigger bread and more cheese. I think ham is easier to handle than sausage, but I think sausage will give it more “fossil” look.
This may not be the healthiest snack, but you get to enjoy fossil hunting AND eat it too!
Laputa robot:
- sausage
Other food:
- toast, cheese
For more pictures of my bento, visit Bento! set and Bento details! set on my flickr page.
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
4 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
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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
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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
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Happy Happy New Year!
January 1, 2010
Posted by AnnaTheRed in Everything else, bento blog (all) Tags: soba, studio ghibli, totoro
1 comment so far
We didn’t go out on New year’s eve. We stayed home and I cooked “toshikoshi soba,” and we just watched the ball drop on TV. “Toshikoshi-soba” means “the end of the year soba noodle.” In Japan, people eat soba at night before the year’s over. Any soba eaten on the night of December 31st is “toshikoshi-soba.” What kind of soba you’ll eat depends on your family tradition, where you’re from, etc… For us, I just cooked soba and ate it with a little bit of scallions, kamaboko (fish cake), carrot and enoki.
Our toshikoshi soba 2009!
And to start off 2010, I made this for my boyfriend’s brunch! It’s not very special, but since we make rice balls for brunch almost every weekend, I thought I’d play with it a little this morning. I’ll do a post about this later, but here’s a picture.
It’s “kagami-mochi” Totoro! Well, it’s not mochi (rice cake), but I decided to stack them on top of each other like “kagami-mochi.”
Just like my any other Totoro, they’re made with rice mixed with black sesame seed and seaweed powder, stuffed with tarako (cod roe), and the chibi-Totoro is made with a quail egg.
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. But my grandma wasn’t that strict about when we broke the kagami-mochi though. I remember her beating the crap out of a kagami-mochi with the back of a knife because mochi gets rock hard after being displayed for a couple of days. (A lot of time, people use a mallet or hammer to break it.) Most of kagami-mochi sold in a store is shrink-wrapped now so it will never get too hard or moldy. We stopped by at Sunrise mart (a local Japanese grocery store) the other day and got ourselves a “kagami-mochi.”
This year is the year of tiger, so it came with a cute little tiger figure.
Have a happy new year, everyone!
新年明けましておめでとうございます。
今年もどうぞよろしくお願いいたします。
アンナ
Happy Holidays!
December 26, 2009
Posted by AnnaTheRed in Everything else, stuffed stuff Tags: Christmas tree, fox squirrel, laputa, studio ghibli
2 comments
Sorry about the lack of blogging lately. My boyfriend and I are on a pretty long holiday vacation (we’re off until the beginning of the next year!), so I don’t have to make bento. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop making them! As soon as we finish watching DVDs & blu-rays and playing games we got for Christmas (maybe get some inspiration from them for my bento, who knows ), I’m going to be making more bento!
We had a little early gift exchange party at our friend’s place. I got my boyfriend Beatles Rock Band for Xbox 360, Jet Li’s “Fearless” on blu-ray (we own the DVD, but blu-ray looks so pretty) and the 1st volume of Moyashimon in English. He got me an amazing statue of pure awesomeness.
He looks just like my bento!
Check out my Laputa robot bento HERE and HERE!
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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)
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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 #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
