Monday, June 27, 2011

Come Together, right now. . .

Are you singing that Beatles' song?  Well, sing something. . .or grab your (air)guitar and join me on my Bento journey.  Watch it come together.

The first thing I did was line my bento box with some pretty pale green cabbage.
Then I layered in black quinoa, small cooked red bliss potatoes, some baby spinach leaves and a large area of quinoa.

A hard-boiled egg became the skull shape, with purple cabbage letters and a red pepper guitar body.
I added some color and some crunch with sliced green beans--two small pieces became the pick-ups--and a row of carrot circles. I tucked in two raspberries for color and piped on a row of tarragon-dill egg salad. I needed at LEAST a gesture of cuteness/kawaii, I mean after all this IS #bentocuteness, right? So to add a little bit of whimsy I trimmed some carrots into the shape of musical notes.

My little rock stars were suitably impressed, but they did suggest one change. . .putting the STAR in my rock star bento!
In the smaller top compartment I packed a small squeeze bottle of lemon-flax vinaigrette and a small fork. In the bottom compartment I included a simple but VERY well received desert: raspberries threaded on "pirate swords" and a dip made of drained whole-milk plain yogurt swirled with caramel sauce.
And that is how I attempted to ROCK the bento challenge.

***note!****I could never have made this, or any deco cute food item, without my favorite little scissors.  These are a little gem I snagged from my "real" toolbag which I use in my "real" job as a floral designer.  The blades are titanium, stay-sharp and absolutely non-stick, with a short and ultra-control friendly run.  I spoke to Rick Constantine, the wonderful guy who runs the Clauss brand, and he told me that they are tested with gorilla glue, Krazy Glue, and residues from many kinds of tape and have been proven to be truly, 100% non-stick, which is handy for food styling as well as floral design.  Once the world of food stylists discovers these babies, they WILL become the new "it" tool. Learn what the florists know, and get a pair.  They are less than 10 dollars and worth their weight in gold. 
ARIGATO GOZAIMAS to all for checking out my attempt at #BENTOCUTENESS!   Can't wait to see all the rest!


8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nancy, I absolutely LOVE this :D you did an amazing job, its badass and cute at the same time. 3 more days to do the roundup, I think you are the first one to post!

Daily Spud said...

Has to be said, this bento rocks! :D

Jenni said...

This is Awesome!!! I love it--very, very impressive! And, even in its badassedness, it still has plenty of #bentocuteness!

Nancy said...

big hugs and thanks to all, here and on Twitter, who have been so welcoming and complimentary. . .I'm grateful to be part of such a ROCKIN' (and of course CUTE)tribe. Looking forward to the round-up :)

Elizabeth Q of AsianinAmericamag said...

What a cute post ! Love the color and creativity. So great to do this bento challenge with you & the rest of the cuties !

Elizabeth Q of AsianinAmericamag said...

What a cute post ! Love the color and creativity. So great to do this bento challenge with you & the rest of the cuties !

Cherrie Pie said...

you rock! This is so creative.

Happy Little Bento said...

Rock ON! Love love love it!