kabaya petit pastel

my favorite new sweet treat!

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valentine’s day is almost here… looking for something cute to include in your sweetie’s bento?  i just had to share this adorable candy i found this week at my korean grocer.  it’s called “petit pastel,” and as you can see, it’s shaped like tiny ice cream cones!  the cones are chocolate, and the colored “scoops” are white-chocolate-covered malt balls.

you can view some cute engrish about the product at the manufacturer’s website, and you can buy it online at ebay (here or here), or at this japanese candy site.  (check your local asian market though — they were $1 cheaper at mine!)

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and if you like what you see, stay tuned… tomorrow i’ll be posting details of this week’s giveaway, and the prize package includes an unopened box of petit pastel!

“brothers and sister” bento

the top tier of this bento got a little cluttered, as i didn’t sketch in advance.  all i knew was that i wanted to use this new onigiri mold from daiso (makes three mini face-shaped onigiri), and then i kept adding more and more random stuff from the fridge and all of a sudden it was crazy.  oh well, at least i wasn’t drunk this time, haha!

top tier has two brothers and a sister (plain brown rice, too small for filling, nori hair and sesame eyes, cheese bow on the sister’s hair) sitting on top of some spicy korean tofu that’s completely hidden, and, clockwise from top left:  yellow cauliflower with cheese and veggie pepperoni flower, carrot sticks and baby orange tomato, red tomato half, tamagoyaki slices, and two edamame skewers on top of fried veggie dumplings (ajinomoto brand), and more carrot sticks (plus one more red baby tomato half to prop up brother #2′s chin!).

simple dessert tier has:  pomegranate seeds in a heart food cup from daiso, chocolate-covered almonds in a square food cup from daiso, asian pear fan, starfruit slices, kumquat slices and a cherry.

i’m really enjoying all of my new picks and cups from my trip to the west coast — this bento is a daiso bonanza!

cold soba bento

quick box based around my leftover soba noodles (from terikyaki boy).  top tier: two slices of last night’s hobak jun, three slices of tamagoyaki, a row of pea pods and carrot slices, the yummy soba (topped with a takuwan and sweet potato flower), and three red grape tomatoes.  bottom tier:  golden plum fan, apple fan, pomegranate seeds, foil-wrapped chocolate “leaf,” yellow wax beans, cucumber sticks, broccoli, and one beautiful ripe strawberry.

onigiri bear bento

top tier:  pomegranate seeds, foil-covered chocolate leaf, pear fan, plum fan, takuwan cloud, purple potato and sweet potato leaves, blueberries in silicone cup, and grape halves.

bottom tier:  onigiri (salmon and wasabi mayo filling) with sweet potato muzzle/ears and nori eyes/nose/mouth, tamagoyaki slice with tiny green tomato, takuwan flower with red tomatoes on a bed of enoki mushrooms, spicy korean tofu with scallion garnish.

[as seen on "cute food - the adorable, edible art of kawaii cooking"]

panda pizza bento

happy november!  (no more halloween bentos, but still plenty of cuteness, hopefully.)

3 mini pizzas (from the freezer section in trader joe’s), with a cheese and nori “panda” face on the top pie (umeboshi cheeks), and a hot dog “flower”  (green pea center).

red plum fan, snow peas, blackberries in a silicone food cup with a yellow beet butterfly, blueberries and cookies in a flower-shaped silicone food cup, and a chocolate leaf (wrapped in copper-colored foil).

[as seen on chow, the chowhound blog]

buffalo wing bento

i didn’t sketch before i put this together and it took FOREVER, waaah, i kept changing where things were, and then i dropped the whole sidecar on the floor, sigh.  main box: vegetarian “buffalo wings,” pea pod border, purple beans and yellow grape tomatoes, “twisted” cucumber, orange and red grape tomatoes, purple and yellow cauliflower with a jack cheese flower.  sidecar: pomegranate seeds and kiwi slices in silicone cups; grapes and fig quarters; chocolate biscuit mushrooms.