shy giraffe bento

my  latest j-list order arrived yesterday, woo hoo!  one of the items i’ve been eagerly awaiting is this cute set of animal picks, and tonight i decided to use the giraffe (which the boyfriend insists looks like a cross between a giraffe and a duck).  i also got one of the slender bento boxes i’ve been wanting to experiment with.  i’m pretty happy with how this turned out!

i have last night’s leftover dinner rice, layered over a bit of black beans, with a gentle giraffe on top.  a few fish sausage flowers and parsley leaves decorate the giraffe’s “habitat.”  the giraffe was made from a free-hand drawing (referencing some online photos), which i made into a simple template and then cut out of cheese.  his spots are made from the orange sheet of that cool colored soy paper i received from a bento pal — those colored sheets sure do come in handy!

in the top section, i have a few clementine wedges, some broccoli, a few fried tofu slices, a pea pod, an asparagus tip, and some japanese pickled cucumber (i love the purple color).  my new giraffe pick, spearing a grape tomato, tops this presentation off!  oh, and jello for dessert… yum.

ghost onigiri bento

ghost onigiri (filled with sauteed mushrooms and miso paste), nori and cheese eyes, nori mouth, pickled radish cheeks. he’s peeking out from behind a “bush” made from parsley.

also in this bento:  a carved jack-o-lantern mini pepper, made with sherimiya’s excellent tutorial (thanks sheri!), snap peas and two red grape tomatoes, a silicon cup filled with asparagus and takuwan sticks and purple potato stars, and a spider food pick.

[as seen on holidash and japanisches allerlei (all things japanese)]