busy wonderful week and Bento workshop
March 4, 2010
Posted by AnnaTheRed in bento blog (all), bento blog - ghibli (totoro, etc...) Tags: makkurokurosuke, mini-totoro, totoro
8 comments
Oh where do I start…
The short version of the story is, I’ve been super busy and so many wonderful things happened!
Here’s the long version.
This past week, I had visitors from Japan at work for the online card game I work for. They were in NYC from Monday through Thursday. I’m the only Japanese English speaker in my team, so that means I was interpreting them from 10 AM to… whenever we finished working/our meeting/business dinner everyday. It wasn’t too bad this time though. When they visited us two years ago, we all stayed at the office until 2:00 AM!
They left on Friday morning as a huge snow storm hit NYC. I usually wouldn’t mind snow, but the problem was I had to get to Boston Friday night to teach a bento workshop at Wellesley college on Saturday. Yes! Me, teaching a workshop! O_O I’m so clumsy and not very skilled (no, really), I would never have done this on my own but this is a very special case. My boyfriend’s sister is a Jewett Gallery Director & Applied Arts Coordinator at Wellesley college, and she encouraged me to do this workshop.
My boyfriend and I headed to Boston on Friday night, and we were worried about the snow situation in Boston. But to our surprise, it didn’t snow at all in Boston on Friday. His sister got most of the food, tools and appliances ready, all we had to do was show up.
We had the workshop in the kitchen in one the dorms on campus, and this kitchen was gigantic! We cleaned the kitchen, laid out some tools and waited. The workshop was from 1:00~4:00, and around 12:50, a couple of people showed up. I was told that 20 people had signed up, but sometimes the students bail out at the last minute, so I was just relieved that at least someone showed up. Then around 12:55, 15~16 people came into the room. By 1:00, 21 students were in the kitchen. We even had an extra person!
The way we did it was I’d demonstrate first and say “Now you do this!” then they’d work on their bento, and when they were about to be done, I’d do another demonstration. I don’t think I explained anything, actually. I just showed them how.
I doodled this before the workshop and gave it to each student. A sketch always helps!
Three hours flew by and everyone started finishing the bento. Between each demonstration, I was too busy getting ready for the next demonstration and didn’t get to see students’ bento too much. (Yes, I’m a horrible workshop teacher. T_T) I was completely speechless when I saw their bento in the end. They were all really well done and absolutely adorable! It was the first kyaraben they made for most of them. Actually, my Totoro had huge rabbit-like ears, and didn’t look very good. If you put mine next to any of the bento they made, you wouldn’t be able to tell which one was mine. I really wish I could’ve talked to everyone more. That’s the only thing I regret.
This was mine. Look at how HUGE his ears are! Oh and I even forgot to put his mouth.
The radishes we got came in various sizes, and I picked the biggest one! Great for a demonstration, but it didn't fit in my bento, so I ate it there.
I can’t describe how awesome their bento looked with my poor vocabulary, I’ll post the amazing creations by the students here.
I’d like to thank Clara for organizing this workshop and everyone who participated! And also my boyfriend for cooking asparagus wrapped with bacon for 21 people!
Oh and the bento workshop wasn’t the only wonderful thing… More wonderful things to be posted, but I think I’m going to do a how-to next, especially since I’ve been very lazy on posting actual food related stuff.
Go check out more pictures of bento on Jewett Gallery’s flickr page.
Also you can read the blog post (written by Clara) about the bento workshop.
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
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
8 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
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bento #52: Rainy day Totoro
June 4, 2009
Posted by AnnaTheRed in bento blog (all), bento blog - ghibli (totoro, etc...) Tags: frog, mini-totoro, snail, studio ghibli, totoro
6 comments
I wasn’t planning on making a bento this morning. I didn’t do any drawing the night before and I woke up late. (the time I usually wake up when I don’t make bento) I looked outside and it was raining. Again. So I decided to make a bento to cheer my boyfriend (and me) up.
Bento #52: Rainy Day Totoro
Created and eaten on: 6/4/2009
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bento #46: Totoro with cherry blossoms
April 30, 2009
Posted by AnnaTheRed in bento blog (all), bento blog - ghibli (totoro, etc...) Tags: inari, makkurokurosuke, mini-totoro, nekobus, studio ghibli, totoro
6 comments
After making three Castle Crashers related bento in a row, I needed to take a break. I do adore the characters from the game, but every bento is a challenge for me. I struggle, get frustrated and learn (from big mistakes, usually) while making them. Those three bento definitely were not an easy challenge. So, again, it was time for Totoro for me.
Bento #46: Totoro with Cherry Blossoms
Created and eaten on: 4/29/2009
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