Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!

Christmas Bento 2
Originally uploaded by ♥JB♥

Halloween Sandwich Bento Lunch

Halloween Bento
Originally uploaded by JB Doodles
I love Halloween. I love costumes and pumpkins and scary movies, but most of all I love candy!

This lunch has been packed in a collapsible sandwich bento box. I lined it with a cute spider napkin and wrapped my sandwich (tofurkey and provolone) in plastic to keep it fresh. It is adorned with some fresh veggies, olives, and a little bag of candy corn (yum...). The little pumpkin is an orange pepper decorated with nori.

I would love to do an involved Halloween charaben this week, but I'm not sure if I will have the time. Speaking of charaben, our Flickr group Kyaraben (Charaben) has been slowly growing. I absolutely adore the amazingly cute lunches that contributors have made. So be sure to visit and check them out.

Boba Fett Bento Lunch

Boba Fett Bento Lunch
Originally uploaded by JB Doodles

Well, there isn't much to say about this bento. I need to break out of my comfort zone when it comes to charaben. I always just cut out tofurkey lunch meat into shapes. I experimented a little by painting food coloring on the tofurkey to make Boba Fett's green and red armor. I didn't really want to eat it though, because I was afraid of a green mouth.

The rest of the bento contains Quorn Chik'n nuggets and fresh veggies from my garden (tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, and basil). There is a little piece of fresh mozzarella in the front too.

If you like decorative cakes, check out my flickr photo of the Harley Davidson birthday cake I made for my dad. I think it came out pretty good, except I wasn't happy with the piping on the logo.

Wallace and Gromit Bento

It has been a while since I made a charaben or character bento. So, in honor of the new Flickr group Kyaraben (Charaben) I made this Wallace and Gromit Bento lunch.

This bento contains a cucumber sandwich, a veggie buffalo wing, some veggies, and of course *Cheese!!* If you haven't seen Wallace and Gromit, Wallace really likes cheese. W&G looked a bit washed out brown on white sandwich bread, so I put some sushi grass and some veggie bacon behind them.

If you would like details on how I created the characters, see my post for my Twilight Bella bento which details the process. I did essentially the same thing here. And although I mention it in that post, I want to point out a really handy trick I came across. I first create the characters, then I assemble them on wax paper and stick them in the freezer while I put together the rest of the lunch. This makes it so much easier to put the characters in the actual lunch without messing up the little details. As long as you don't leave them in the freezer too long, they still taste fine.

This was my original drawing on an index card. I knew W&G would be good characters because they are mostly tan and black, which suits cheese and lunchmeat (or in my case, veggie lunchmeat) well. An important thing to remember is that you can't make it perfect. Wallace's shirt is green, not black. His face is more pink than Gromit's, but you have to work with your ingredients, and a little artistic license doesn't detract from the final product (in my opinion).

So, in case you have never seen Wallace and Gromit, here are a few links:

Wallace and Gromit official site

Aardman's YouTube

Wallace and Gromit DVDs on Amazon.com

My favorite episode is The Wrong Trousers, mostly because I love this character Feather's McGraw. He is a fugitive penguin:

Fancy Napkins, Bento Shopping, and a Charaben Photo Pool

These lunches aren't very interesting because they are just salads. The reason I'm posting them is because of the super cute napkins in the background. I got them at Pier 1. I love browsing through their cloth napkins and picking up a random selection. Of course, besides being 'super cute,' using cloth napkins reduces waste, and can be used as a Furoshiki.



Also...
I have been doing a bit of traveling this summer (if you can call day trips and visiting my grandma 'traveling') and I came across a few stores on the East Coast that sell bento boxes.

First, I found this selection of Shinzi Katoh boxes at Yo Mamma's Home in Belfast Maine:


Next, I found these two snack-sized boxes randomly mixed in with novelty items at the Grasshopper Shop in Searsport Maine:


And lastly, I found this GIANT selection at Kinokuniya Bookstore in NYC (across from Bryant Park):
I couldn't resist at Kinokuniya. I ended up getting the three-pack froggy boxes in the lower right corner. All of these stores charge around $16 per box, which is pretty pricey, but Kinokuniya had some upwards of $40! It was really fun to find bento boxes in stores, since I usually have to order them online. It was especially exciting to see them in Maine, which I would have never expected.

Also...
For all you Flickr users out there, I started a Flickr Charaben/Kyaraben group photo pool. I thought that it would be nice to have a place to look at and discuss everything charaben. So, even if you don't make charaben, come check out the group! (I only just started the group, so there isn't much on it yet, but keep checking back).

I hope to see you all there!

Bob the Builder Charaben Bento

It has been a while since I made a Charaben (or Kyaraben) style bento. Charaben is a type of food art in which a bento lunch is designed to look like a character (character + bento = Charaben). The reason I started making bento lunches was because I loved charabens and I figured I would give it a try. Unfortunately, since my lunches are always vegetarian, I have a more limited ingredient selection which makes designing charaben difficult. I have imposed an even greater restriction on myself by not using rice (a staple in bento making, especially character sculpting) in my lunches because it isn't a food that I am particularly fond of. I do occassionally use rice in my lunches, but it certainly isn't often. So, lately I have had charaben writer's block.

Recently I purchased the "Chuck Charles" dress from ModCloth for an upcoming event, and while browsing through the clearance section for some deals, I came across some adorable nail-shaped party picks. I couldn't resist. Of course, my first thought was "Bob the Builder!"

I have never actually seen the Bob the Builder show, but I know it is popular, and he is a pretty cute character. In fact, last summer I made a Bob the Builder birthday cake. I think this bento came out much better. Look at the detail on the nail-shaped picks below, aren't they adorable?!? (note: if you are thinking of ordering these, you should know that the ends are very sharp, and may not be appropriate for kids lunches).

For Bob's face I used Lightlife imitation turkey lunchmeat. As you can see in the picture below (top left corner) I drew a sketch of Bob to work off of in the kitchen. Using a dedicated-to-food xacto blade, I cut the shape of Bob's head freehand (hence the odd looking ears). I then cut his hard hat from a yellow American cheese slice. Lucky for me, Bob's smile is exactly the same as the smile on my Nori-punch, which saved me a lot of trouble. I gobbled up the scraps as I was preparing the rest of the lunch, although I could have included them in the sandwhich he rested on.
The final lunch contained an imitation turkey and swiss sandwich on rye flatbread. Tomato and Peppers on the side, and some grapes for dessert.

Personally, I think this is my best Charaben yet, which is amazing considering the fact that it took me less than 10 minutes to prepare, which is highly unusual. Some charaben take hours. I guess keeping things simple is sometimes best.