Thursday, February 7, 2013

Hello Kitty Garden Bento


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I had wanted to try out my new Hello Kitty sandwich press from a friend in Japan (*swoon*) and the rest of the lunch kind of fell right into place!
Cheddar and Mozzarella flowers, PB-chocolate almond butter sandwich, taffy flowers,
 apples, home-made "cookie spread" fail, purple carrots
Packed in an EasyLunchbox. Cloth napkin from Red Poppy Crafts on Etsy.

Floral Arrangements: I had also wanted to try out my new flower cutters, and had fun with the cheese. And by "fun," I mean "wanted to tear my hair out with frustration." These graduated flower cutters are just adorable. But they're also very hard to work with! They not only have no "dull" side, so I had to use the flat of a knife blade to press them down or risk cutting my hand, but it's hard to get anything out intact. Those super-cute little petals are very narrow in the middle, and they like to break right off! Doh!

But I persevered for the sake of my art! I made the two largest flowers extra thick to stick leaf picks into.

And while the carrots were harder to push the mini cutter through, they came out a lot easier.

Cookie Spread: I had attempted to make a gluten-free cookie spread for a friend. And while it was very tasty, the texture was quite gritty, and it didn't spread well. Little Z thought it was "crazy delicious," and was thrilled when I decided not to send it all to my friend after all! Even though after being in the fridge for over a week it was too gritty to do anything but crumble over the top, I packed a flower cupcake topper spoon/spreader to help her pile it onto her apples.

Hello Kitty!: The taffy hair flower (I was too lazy to try and make a bow, plus I already had the cutters out) was much easier to work with, as it was more like fondant than the cheese had been. I used two different colors of Trader Joe's dye-free taffy.

For the sandwich, I followed the photo instructions on the box, with only a few almost-mishaps as I tried to figure out what each of the FOUR PIECES was for! I had originally cut out orange and yellow carrot eyes and nose, but I didn't like how they looked. Much happier with the dot picks! And I just used the blade of my butter knife to "paint" chocolate almond butter whiskers!

 Snacky Lunch for Baby
Since I already had the cutters out, I went ahead and cut some bread flowers for Baby's lunch, to go with her steamed carrot cubes. She was able to easily tear off the petal lobes with her little fangs. She wasn't a fan of the carrots though. Especially after they got cold. Blech.

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8 comments:

  1. Cute Hello Kitty lunch!

    I like the snacky lunch for the baby. So cute!

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  2. The flowers turned out really nicely! Looks lovely!

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  3. That's bloomin' fabulous! I love those cutters, and the taffy was brilliant. Did you roll it out first? LOVE!

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    Replies
    1. Yes. The first time I used this (also for a Hello Kitty lunch. Go figure.) I warmed it in the microwave first. But it was soooo sticky, and kept pulling and stretching when I tried to get it out of the cutter.
      So this time I just warmed it in my hands for a bit (still in the wax paper) and then pressed REALLY hard. I used the wax paper between the taffy and the rolling pin to prevent sticking. And to leave a nice smooth side!

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  4. LOVE this lunch! It is sooo pretty!

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