o-tsukimi bento

my dear twitter friend lisa recently educated me about the japanese holiday o-tsukimi… as a fanatic for all things autumnal, i was eager to try my hand at a bento celebrating this lovely tradition.  but being a bit out of practice with kyaraben, i turned to the best for guidance on how to interpret the themes of this celebration (the harvest moon, bunny, mochi, and fall foods such as squash/pumpkin) into a bento.  hippomum is a bento-maker whose work i have admired ever since i started making my own bento boxes, and looking back through her archives, i found several o-tsukimi-themed bentos.  specifically, these examples from 2009 and 2010 were just the inspiration i needed.  i followed her model of a cheerful rabbit with a mochi pyramid atop a ceremonial stand, and a partially-clouded-over moon against a night sky, switching out only the ingredients.

baseball bears bento

last week i received an unexpected package from a kind and thoughtful friend — it contained picks galore!  i wanted to use the cute baseball cap and flag picks, and it’s baseball season (almost all-star time, in fact), so i put together a baseball bears bento.

i root for the san francisco giants, whose colors are orange and black… but these adorable caps were blue, so just use your imagination!  certainly the sentiments on the flags (やったね translates to “you did it!” and がんばりましよう translates variously, according to my japanese-speaking twitter pals, as “go get ’em,” “hang in there,” “keep trying,” “work harder” or “give it your best shot!”) apply to my team… it’s been a rocky season so far, with some great moments (posey’s brilliant debut; beating the hyped-up red sox), and some not-so-great moments (getting swept by the dodgers; the shameful and disgusting decision to trade loyal veteran and mentor catcher bengie molina mid-season).  um, keep trying, brian sabean. work a little harder, tim lincecum. sigh.

anyway, sorry for the baseball tangent, and thanks for the picks you-know-who, i love them!

i made these bears from a chicken egg and a quail egg, soaked in hot water with 4 drops of red food coloring.  i cut the eggs in half the long way, and added ears/muzzles made from fish sausage and eyes/noses/mouths made from nori.  my bears sit atop turmeric-dyed rice, which is layered on top of my favorite spicy stewed tofu.  i have a butter lettuce “baran” to separate the rice from one vegetarian chicken tender, a vegetarian-ham-wrapped okra pod, two grape tomatoes, more CSA blueberries (plus two lovely golden raspberries, also from my share), and a few pea pods.

GO GIANTS! (and go bengie, even if you’re on the rangers!)

croquette bento

veggie croquettes (from frozen section at JASmart), tomato skewers, checkered cucumber, carrot sticks, edamame cup, and hard boiled egg with nori face.  top tier of tiffin:  steamed rice with takuwan heart and shiso leaf furikake.