Love is in the air~~ Baymax Bento!

Here is a super cute Baymax bento, Baymax is giving Hiro-san a big big bear hug!

Do you want a hug too?

So I decided to make this Valentine’s Day Baymax bento in celebration of unconditional love.

I know many of you have been asking me to teach a Valentine’s Day Bento workshop but it has been really busy lately leading up to CNY. But don’t worry, I have two surprises for you!

This Valentine’s Day Baymax bento tutorial as well as a festive giveaway by Scotch™ for 3 lucky winners!!

I love Baymax! Do you too??

Today’s Baymax bento design was inspired by the Japanese movie poster of Big Hero 6 that depicts Baymax hugging Hiro-san in his arms.

I received a very special gift from 3M Scotch™ recently to welcome the festive season – their latest cutters: Scotch™ Titanium Kitchen Scissors and the Scotch™  Portable Food Scissors.

Together with the gift set, came a recipe to prepare a festive foodart for Lunar New Year as well as the required food ingredients.

I did a little spin on this and created my own creation.

A Valentine’s Day Baymax bento  using my new Scotch™ Titanium Kitchen Scissors ;)

Bento Tutorial – Baymax Bento

Recipe steps

1. Sketch the design of Hiro-san on baking sheet. Cut the parts using  Scotch™ Titanium Kitchen Scissors.

2. Cut a slit on the crabstick and remove the white parts, leaving just the red layer. Soak a small square of kombu seaweed.

3. Place the baking sheet cut outs on the different food ingredients. Follow the outlines and cut using  Scotch™ Titanium Kitchen Scissors. Over here I used chicken ham for the head/skin part, kombu seaweed for the hair and red crabstick for the clothes.

4. Place some cooked Japanese rice on heat resistant cling wrap. Tighten and shape into a compact round ovalish rice ball. This is for Baymax’s head.

5. Similarly, shape a triangle for Baymax’s body.

7. Lay the ham, crabstick and kombu parts on the triangular rice-ball and then arrange rice at both sides and shape into the arms of Baymax.

8. Prepare your bento box, line with some wax paper.

9. Transfer the rice-ball and the parts into the bento box.

10. Cover with cling wrap gently and prepare your side dishes. I used the side dish recipe in the kit provided by  Scotch™ to make festive tangerine peel chicken.

11. For easy preparation and packing into the bento box, I cut the chicken thigh meat into smaller cubes before cooking.

12. To make the ham flower, I fold the slice ham into half gently and cut small slits along the side.

13. Roll it up tightly and voila – ham flower is done!

14. Some of the remaining items include making cut outs using the pink kamaboko.

15. I detached the  Scotch™ Titanium Kitchen Scissors  and the single blade actually acts as a knife.

16. I cut the pink layer of the kamaboko and used the heart shape cutter to make the shapes. You can also use other cutters as preferred.

17. Need to slice the cherry tomatoes? Similarly, I used the Scotch™ Titanium Kitchen Scissors to do the job.

18. After all these is done, I simply packed the sides into the bento box.

19. Lastly is to complete the characters and their features. Using some seaweed, I cut the circles and line for Baymax. Using edible pen, I draw on the features for Hiro-san.

And this kawaii Baymax Valentine’s Day Bento is done!!

**Giveaway by Scotch™**

Scotch™ will also be giving away away 3 sets of Scotch™ Titanium Kitchen Scissors &  Scotch™ Portable Food Scissors!

I will be hosting this giveaway on my my blog, facebook and instagram.

Take part in more and stand a higher chance to win!

The Scotch™ Titanium Kitchen Scissors is designed with blades which are 4X stronger than stainless steel allowing it to stay sharper longer and has superior sharpness for easy cutting.

Its micro-serration blades also add an extra level of sharpness, so the device is strong enough to cut through meat and bones!

In this Baymax bento tutorial, you have seen how this scissors played a huge role in making the different parts of the bento. Both for Baymax as well as the side dishes and decorations.

Do you have children?

Don’t worry, then the Scotch™ Portable Food Scissors will be perfect for the little ones.

It comes with a safety lock feature and cover to reduce the risk of young children injuring themselves

***********

TO TAKE PART 

Facebook

1. Like the Scotch™ Brand SG Facebook page and the Little Miss Bento FB page.
2. Leave a comment on the giveaway post on a creative food idea you’ll use the scissors for, the FB name used to like the FB pages as well as your email add.
3. Share the post, remember to set your privacy setting to public

Blog

1. Follow me on Instagram @littlemissbento
2. Leave a comment on this blog post on a creative food idea you’ll use the scissors for, the Instagram username used to follow my IG account as well as your email address.

***********

Terms and Conditions

• Contest is open to participants residing in Singapore only for local delivery of the prizes.
• Winners need to write a review of the scissors on the brand’s website (after winners have been decided)
• Contest will run until 18 Jan and 3 lucky winners will be selected for the giveaway.
• Winners need to respond within 3 days time if not a next winner may be selected.
• Prizes cannot be exchanged or refunded for cash.
• Scotch™ reserves the right to amend the contest’s terms and conditions.

The post Baymax Bento and Scotch™ Giveaway appeared first on Little Miss Bento.

I made Bunny Valentine’s Bento today!

Inspired by two super cute mini bunny plushies that I bought last night, I decided to make these bunnies.

Do you like bunnies too?

For this Bunny Valentine’s Bento, I made the two bunny characters from rice. Technique of shaping rice balls is as per what I shared in my Kawaii Bento cookbook.

I made one larger oval rice-ball for the head, a smaller one for the body. Two rice-balls, flatten to create the floppy bunny ears and another rice-sheet (rice ball flattened between cling wrap) for the hands and feet.

To create the hands and feet, I use a small oval punch to ‘punch’ the rice-sheet. Tip: please do it while the cling wrap is still on the rice, if not the rice will stick to your cutter.

To colour the rice brown, I added some teriyaki sauce to the rice.

Can you spot the little mini ‘love letter’ that the white bunny is holding? hahha the heart shape is too large but I was lazy to trim it down. :P

I packed my Bunny Valentine’s Bento in my Magewappa Hina Bento Box that I bought from Bento&co last year when I visited Kyoto.

This oval-shape bent wood bento box is of a perfect size and great for ladies :)

The side dishes for today’s Bunny Valentine’s Bento included spicy tomato tiger prawns, sautéed vegetables sprouts, Japanese cucumber and sautéed mixed mushrooms.

Follow my food art and bento creations on my Facebook my page here or my Instagram here.

More information about my bento cookbook title ‘Kawaii Bento’  here. 

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Black Cat Bento! So happy to make this Monochrome thematic black cat bento.

After seeing one of my IG friend posting about these super cute black and white farfelle pasta that were sold at Mustafa, I went down last week and bought a pack of the pasta.

Frankly, the quality of the pasta pales in comparison to the ones I buy in Japan. Not all the prints and shapes of the pasta were consistent, so I had to pick and choose the pretty farfelle pasta pieces for the bento.

To match the monochromatic colors, I wanted a black and white theme bento today. And decided to make a black cat bento.

Also pretty nice for the upcoming Halloween too ^ ^

The bento was packed in my white monbento from Bento&co. The side dishes included teriyaki salmon fillet, tamagoyaki (Japanese egg roll omelette), and vegetables.

To kick start the week, I also included a bento tutorial to make the black cat. Have fun~

Bento Tutorial – Black Cat Bento

Ingredients

• Rice
• Seaweed 1 sheet
• White egg sheet
• Deep fried pasta
• Corn kernel
• Farfelle pasta

Tools

• Cling wrap
• Scissors
• Round cutter
• Tweezer
• Toothpick

Method

1. Using cling wrap, shape the rice into an oval shape for the head and 2 triangles for the ears.

2. Wrap the rice ball with seaweed.

3. Using round cutter, cut 2 circles for the whites of the eyes from thin white egg sheet.
4. Using scissors, cut two triangles for the inner ears from thin white egg sheets.
5. Cut 2 circles for the eyes from seaweed.
6. Prepare 4 pieces of deep fried pasta sticks for the whiskers.
7. Prepare one corn kernel for the nose.

8. Assemble the features and details on the rice ball. To insert the pasta sticks, use a toothpick to create inserts before sticking in the pasta sticks.

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It has been a while since I made Olaf Bento :) Seems like the Frozen fever has not died off, many of my friends and their children are still in love with the movie characters.

Japanese curry has always been a dish I enjoy very much. While I also like the usual Peranakan and Chinese style curry, I also love eating Japanese curry.

Decided to make vegetarian Japanese curry, consisting of potatoes, carrots, onions, mushrooms and baby corn.

I also packed some greens (shredded cabbage, edamame beans) and fruits (kiwis and strawberries)  in the other tin carrier. The third layer of the tin carrier was used to pack my breakfast (not in photo).

This limited edition old-fashioned tin carrier is designed by local artist Eeshaun, a very talented old school mate of mine (We studied in the same university). Eeshuan is a self taught Singaporean artist and illustrator, his works are of child-like imagery and well known for the spontaneity, free lines and improvisation.

Made in collaboration with Centerpiece Creation. Each tiffin carrier is made of enamel, autographed and limited to 100 pieces. 

I was really glad to get my hands one a set of this beautifully designed tin carrier. It is also a priviledge to use such a beautifully designed tin carrier.

Do you like my Olaf? Personally I am quite pleased that the Olaf character turned out quite well.

I made a simple bento tutorial below and hope you will enjoy making Olaf as much as I did.

1. Japanese Curry Recipe

• Potato small 1 pcs *diced
• Carrot (half) *diced
• Shimeiji Mushrooms approx 50-60g
• Onion (1/3) * diced finely
• Chicken thigh meat approx 200g *choped
• Cooking oil 1 tbsp
• Japanese curry powder 3tbsp
• Water 500ml

Method

2. Cooking Japanese Rice

Ingredients

• 1 cup japonica rice
• 1 & 1/3 cup mineral water

Method

1. Wash and rinse the rice grains. Measure the water and add to the rice in the rice cooker pot
2. Soak for at least 30mins before cooking

3. Bento Tutorial for Olaf

Ingredients

• rice
• seaweed
• thin egg sheet (white)
• kombu seaweed
• carrot

Method

(1) Using cling wrap, shape the rice tightly into the parts of Olaf. This includes the head, mid section of the body, lower section of the body, feet, as well as a thin strip. This is to be added on the head to give it a more 3-D look and feel.

(2) Cut and create the features of Olaf using seaweed, kombu seaweed, thin egg sheet and carrots

• seaweed (eyes, buttons, mouth)
• thin egg sheet (eyes, teeth)
• kombu seaweed (hair, hands)
• carrot (nose)

(3) Assemble and arrange the parts on the rice ball.

(4) Transfer the Olaf character on some Japanese curry in a bowl or your bento  box.

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2 years ago, I made Totoro Sausages for the first time. I even forgot to include whiskers in the final creation then. Now that I looked back at them, hahah I think they were not very well made. haha

Fast forward 2 years now, I am now happy with my Totoro sausages creation today and excited  to share the bento tutorial with you.

Totoro character is definitely a hot favourite among many people, not just bento makers but different people all around the world. Totoro comes from the famous Japanese animation film, My Neighbour Totoro directed by the now retired Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli. There is even a Ghibli Museum in Japan – so want to go!

Today I cooked asari clams pasta with mushrooms and some chinese leek. Seasoned with some butter, garlic, chilli, parsley, sea salt – this simple pasta is so yummy. I decided to make two Totoro sausages to add some cuteness to my lunch.

I also packed some fruits including strawberries and fresh figs to go along with the bento.

Hope you like the Totoro Sausages and the bento tutorial below ^^

-Bento Tutorial-

Totoro Sausages

Ingredients

• small sausage (I got mine from GoGo Franks)
• slice cheese
• seaweed

Tools

• small scissors
• round cutters
• seaweed punch/nori punch

Method

(1) Press the big round cutter on the sausage to make a slight indented mark. Then use a small sharp scissors to cut out the circle thin layer of the sausage.

(2) Punch and cut slice cheese into circle using the cutter

(3) Place the slice cheese on the sausage from step 1 and wrap tightly with cling wrap. This step helps the cheese mold to the sausage and fit perfectly with the cut out circle.

(4) To the small circle layer cutouts from step 1, cut the ears of totoro. Make a slit about 1cm deep at the top of the sausage and slot it in.

(5) Cut the remaing parts of Totoro using slice cheese and seaweed. To cut the small curves and circles. I used seaweed/nori punch.

Point:  To cut the slice cheese for the eyes, you can use small straws or mini cutters

(6) Assemble the parts on the sausage. You can dab a little mayo to help the seaweed parts adhere better to the sausage.

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In about a month’s time, I will be in Japan! For this holiday, I want to experience autumn and momiji.

Momiji is the Japanese name for maple tree. Just like sakura flowers viewing is the must-do during spring, the viewing of autumn leaves is an equally a popular activity in Japan during the autumn seasons.

I will be going to Nikko (up north of Tokyo), which is one of the well known viewing spots for  momiji. Am excited! And made a autumn bento ahead of time~ heheh.

In this autumn bento, I made layers of maple leaves from egg sheet, carrot and maple shape mochi. I also sprinkled some furikake (rice topping) at the base and along the curve edges of the magewappa bento box.

Do you spot a character in this bento – It is fox! (or kitsune in Japanese).

This is my first fox character bento. It is so super easy, made from sliced carrots and seaweed for its features. A creative use of my cutters – oval cutter (for head), sakura petal cutter (for hands and legs), bird cutter (for tail).

I simply cut a small triangle at one end of the oval for the head. And for the tail, I trimmed off the ‘beak’ of the bird shape.

 The side dishes were grilled prawns and mushrooms, sweet peas, baby corn, edamame beans and lettuce. I also cooked a homely vegetables and pork rib soup (not in picture) for a nice warm lunch.

The bento was packed in my lacquered magewappa bento box, from Asakusa Magewappa Store. Each of their bento boxes are handcrafted by master craftsman Yoshinobu Shibata and his son Masahisa Shibata. I had a opportunity to visit their amazing store when I went to Japan in my earlier trips.

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Anyone watched Channel 8 latest morning news programme Morning Express’s first episode last Friday (5 Sept) from 9 to 930pm? I was featured!!!

I started receiving sms texts while I was working prompting me to realise that the television feature was airing then! Don’t worry if you missed it, you can watch my segment online that MediaCorp Channel 8 has uploaded. Please visit the television show link here.

They also uploaded a second link on how to make the ladybugs sandwich bento, and a third link for the inari sushi bento.

The show’s write up in Mandarin is below. MediaCorp Channel 8’s Morning Express is a new news programme airing every Friday. In each episode, a special segment will feature interesting skills and hobby. For this first episode that was aired on 5 September 2014, they featured me as the bento advisor to guide the audience on how to make cute character lunch boxes.

新传媒8频道《晨光第一线》之玩物壮志：便当达人

每个星期五《晨光第一线》的“玩物壮志”单元会为您介绍一个有趣的爱好。今天，“便当达人”教您如何制作可爱造型的便当。

The post [Media Coverage] MediaCorp Channel 8 Morning Express appeared first on Little Miss Bento.

I love Totoro~ do you love Totoro too? ^ ^

A perfect way to start the day by enjoying  Totoro Sesame Sandwich Bento. This bento was packed in my Black + Blum Sandiwch Bento Box from Bento & co.

The side dishes for this Totoro Bento included homemade matcha pudding, fruits, lettuce, hard boil egg and edamame beans.

Its bento tutorial day! ^^ Today I will be sharing with you how to make a super yummy Totoro sandwich!

I found a Japanese sesame bread spread at Meidiya Supermarket (Liang Court Basement Level) – it is perfect for making this Totoro sandwich. The Japanese says ‘for bread – Whipped Cream, Black Sesame flavour’.

The bread spread is really very yummy. It has a mousse-like texture, very creamy and yet feels light on the tongue. The sesame flavour really popped and you can even taste sesame bits in the spread. I wanted more after finishing my sandwich~

Bento Tutorial – Totoro Bento

Ingredients

• 2 slices of white bread
• black sesame bread spread
• seaweed

Tools

• large oval cutter
• tweezer
• small scissors

Method

1. Spread some sesame spread on a slice of white. Place the second slice on top.

2. Cut the bread using the large oval cutter. I actually used one of my bento boxes :P

3. Using the remaining bread, cut the ears for Totoro. Using the bread spread, cover the areas of grey for the Totoro character, including the ears.

4. To insert the ears, I cut two slits at the top of the bread.

5. Flatten the remaining bread and make 2 circles and 1 oval cut outs for the eyes and nose.

6. Complete the features using seaweed. You can dab a little mayonnaise to help the seaweed parts stick to the white bread parts.

The post Totoro Sandwich Bento appeared first on Little Miss Bento.

Decided to make a disney theme bento today – presenting Mickey and Minnie Bento!

Today’s bento was packed in my white 2-tier monbento box from Bento & co. The side dishes included butter garlic asari clams, sauteed vegetables and tofu, pumpkin and and sweet potato salad. I also added my last two super kawaii Mickey and Minnie sausages I bought in Japan.

Partly in view of an upcoming class that I was going to teach, decided to make this rice based bento. I also included some simple step-but-step photos of making the Mickey and Minnie rice balls. Have fun~~

Method

1.  Shape the rice balls to form the head and ears
2. Trim and cut seaweed pieces for the head and ears
3. Wrap the seaweed pieces around the rice ball for the Mickey and Minnie characters

The post Mickey Minnie Bento appeared first on Little Miss Bento.

 

Recipe for Kawaii Banana Sushi Art Roll

4. Join 1 sheet and 0.5 sheet of seaweed sheets together. To do so, simply ‘smear’ some rice grains to make one end of the seaweed sheet sticky, then overlap the other seaweed piece slightly. 

5. Spread a thin even layer of rice on the seaweed, leaving about 4-5cm gap on both ends. Then place the cucumber half with flat side down in the middle. 

6. Arrange the 3 tamagoyaki rolls then add rice on the rightmost and leftmost corners of the sushi roll to keep them in position. 

7. Continue to roll up the sushi. Do fill in the more rice as you need, wrap it up tightly. 

8. Using a sharp kitchen knife, cut and divide the sushi roll into 4 pieces. 

 

The post Recipe for Kawaii Banana Sushi　バナナの飾り巻きすし・レシピ appeared first on Little Miss Bento.